but it also says that if you touch a pigs skin it is also an abomination, if you ever played football get your speedos ready, you are going to a warm place.\nIt also endorses selling daughters to slavery\nit suggest that if your kid is disobidient you should take him out of the city and stone him\nand that if you have long hair you bring disgrace to your family, have you seen all the paintings of Jesus?\n\nwhy do religious folks cherry pick info from the bible? where is the consistency in that?
124029
It also says to stone people to death, kill them, slavery, all kinds of nasty things.  See the following link.  Yet people CHOSE to pull the one about homosexuality out and use it to be intolerant.  Here are some examples with the verses...\n\nGenesis\n\n"God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good." He purposefully designed a system that ensures the suffering and death of all his creatures, parasite and host, predator and prey. 1:31 \n\nGod likes Abel's dead animals better than Cain's fruits and vegetables. Why? Well, no reason is given, but it probably has something to do with the amount of pain, blood, and gore involved. 4:3-5 \n\nBecause God liked Abel's animal sacrifice more than Cain's vegetables, Cain kills his brother Abel in a fit of religious jealousy. 4:8 \n\nGod is angry. He decides to destroy all humans, beasts, creeping things, fowls, and "all flesh wherein there is breath of life." He plans to drown them all. 6:7, 17 \n\nGod repeats his intention to kill "every living substance ... from off the face of the earth." But why does God kill all the innocent animals? What had they done to deserve his wrath? It seems God never gets his fill of tormenting animals. 7:4 \n\nGod drowns everything that breathes air. From newborn babies to koala bears -- all creatures great and small, the Lord God drowned them all. 7:21-23 \n\nNoah kills the "clean beasts" and burns their dead bodies for God. According to 7:8 this would have caused the extinction of all "clean" animals since only two of each were taken onto the ark. "And the Lord smelled a sweet savor."  8:20 \n\nTo free Lot from captivity, Abram sends an army of slaves to pursue and smite his captors. 14:14-15 \n\nGod tells Abram to kill some animals for him. The needless slaughter makes God feel better. 15:9-10 \n\nHagar conceives, making Sarai jealous. Abram tells Sarai to do to Hagar whatever she wants. "And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled." 16:6 \n\nLot refuses to give up his angels to the perverted mob, offering his two "virgin daughters" instead. He tells the bunch of angel rapers to "do unto them [his daughters] as is good in your eyes." This is the same man that is called "just" and "righteous" in 2 Pet.2:7-8. 19:7-8 \n\nGod kills everyone (men, women, children, infants, newborns) in Sodom and Gomorrah by raining "fire and brimstone from the Lord out of heaven." Well, almost everyone -- he spares the "just and righteous" Lot and his family. 19:24 \n\nLot's nameless wife looks back, and God turns her into a pillar of salt. 19:26 \n\nGod threatens to kill Abimelech and his people for believing Abe's lie. 20:3-7 Gen.16:5-6) and tells Abraham to 'cast out this bondwoman and her son." God commands Abraham to "hearken unto her voice." So Abraham abandons Hagar and Ishmael, casting them out into the wilderness to die. 21:10-14 \n\nGod orders Abraham to kill Isaac as a burnt offering. Abraham shows his love for God by his willingness to murder his son. But finally, just before Isaac's throat is slit, God provides a goat to kill instead. 22:2-13 \n\nAbraham shows his willingness to kill his son for God. Only any evil God would ask a father to do that; only a bad father would be willing to do it. 22:10 \n\nDinah, the daughter of Jacob, is "defiled" by a man who seems to love her dearly. Her brothers trick all of the men of the town and kill them (after first having them all circumcised), and then take their wives and children captive. 34:1-31 \n\nThe sons of Jacob trick Shechem into getting circumcised. Then they murder him, his sons, and all the males of the city, while taking their wives captive. 34:24-29 \n\n"The terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them." 35:5 \n\n"And Er, Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight o
501747
well, there ya go.  what kind of parent would put the crayon drawing made by one of their children up on the frig but not the drawing made by the other?  wouldn't the obvious effect of such favoritism be sibling rivalry?   that Bible god seemed to get some kind of twisted enjoyment out of setting his pet humans against each other.   \n\npoor Cain.  he wasn't Abel.
604201
It is very sad. Anyone who does a good amount of reading on ethics will know better. Christians tend to not read good books. They just accept the beliefs they were raised with and stick to them out of loyalty, fear, and familiarity. A lot of people don't like to think that what their parents taught them was wrong. A lot of people also have a very hard time dealing with mortality without a belief in a Heaven and benevolent god waiting for them. The truth is, we really just do not know what happens. There could be a deeper purpose to our being here. There could of been an intelligence behind what is. I would never say there definitely is or is not. On the same token though I can see the works or man from a mile away. The Bible wreaks of man, and all his fears. It's far too obvious that a god had nothing to do with what's in that book. I can can spot it just like I can spot the hand writing of a three year old. It's a shame others have such a hard time seeing this. I think this goes beyond their intelligence or lack thereof. It comes from a much deeper emotional issue. To lose faith in God would be akin to losing meaning to everything and that would leave them horribly broken and lost. It's too bad they can't see the other alternatives. One can lead a very spiritual life without placing belief in ridiculous claims.
509598
It is a twist on scripture. My wife grew up in the same kind of church, a preachers daughter. If these bunch of legalisms would read the bible they would find out that that scripture ends with, "But we have no such customs in our churches." The original intent of this was concerning the Jewish law where women were supposed to cover their heads as a sign of subservience to God and their husbands. It's pure legalism. I have argued on the hair being a coverings also and how ridiculous this is. If hair is considered a covering, then men can go to church without pants on since we have hair covering our legs. It is legalism plain and simple.
166304
When you say "Whoa, parents please keep your kids away from this adult material" you have inadvertently made a valid point. The Bible isn't some kiddy book designed to delight children. It is the inspired Word of God that isn't afraid to tell the truth about every aspect of life from the glorious heights of God sending his beloved Son to pay for our sins to the depths of confronting bestiality and acts of cannibalism.\n\nThat's one reason why it's the best selling book of all time in all the world. As to the passage you've posted if you take it in context you will find that God had warned the Israelites hundreds of years before that they would end up resorting to cannibalism if they forsook Him and turned to worship false gods.\n\nHere is the prophecy God gave to Moses as a warning for them hundreds of years before this incident came to pass.\n\nDeuteronomy 28:52  "They shall besiege you in all your towns, until your high and fortified walls, in which you trusted, come down throughout all your land. And they shall besiege you in all your towns throughout all your land, which the LORD your God has given you.  (53)  And you shall eat the fruit of your womb, the flesh of your sons and daughters, whom the LORD your God has given you, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemies shall distress you.  (54)  The man who is the most tender and refined among you will begrudge food to his brother, to the wife he embraces, and to the last of the children whom he has left,  (55)  so that he will not give to any of them any of the flesh of his children whom he is eating, because he has nothing else left, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in all your towns.  (56)  The most tender and refined woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because she is so delicate and tender, will begrudge to the husband she embraces, to her son and to her daughter,  (57)  her afterbirth that comes out from between her feet and her children whom she bears, because lacking everything she will eat them secretly, in the siege and in the distress with which your enemy shall distress you in your towns.  (58)  "If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the LORD your God,  (59)  then the LORD will bring on you and your offspring extraordinary afflictions, afflictions severe and lasting, and sicknesses grievous and lasting.  (60)  And he will bring upon you again all the diseases of Egypt, of which you were afraid, and they shall cling to you.  (61)  Every sickness also and every affliction that is not recorded in the book of this law, the LORD will bring upon you, until you are destroyed.  (62)  Whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, you shall be left few in number, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
559109
There is no way to rationalize that.\nAnd this is quite different than a parent spanking a child that has done something wrong.  Egypts firstborn were killed because of the Pharoah (in other words, all those other families were punished because of what their leader did).  There is no way to say that was good.  Impossible to say it was Just or Merciful or Loving.  It was downright cold-hearted.\nI am amazed at the people who try to justify these things by trying to say this God is "Good".  He must have a different definition of Good than everyone else and should have sent down a dictionary to give us these definitions.
587959
That was society at the time. I'm an atheist (just for your info) and I think the Bible has a lot of good advice in it (don't kill etc), but you have to take it as something that was written a very long time ago. Your quotes are cultural, and of the time, more than religious, word-of-God and so on. That doesn't mean they're right though.
656515
This an article that I am copying from a website. But, you have to differentiate between the original Torah and Injil, what became the Bible of today, and the original Scriptures, which has delibrately been lost and corrupt by early jews and christians. As you can see from the text, it is clear, the languge and the level of barbarity can't be attributed to a Merciful Compassionate God. The link below may answer your questions with regards to Islam. Peace.\nhttp://www.understanding-islam.org/related/search.asp?searchstr=Slavery&lookin=1&x=0&y=0\n\nText: Slavery in the Bible\n \n    Except for murder, slavery has got to be one of the most immoral things a person can do.  Yet slavery is rampant throughout the Bible in both the Old and New Testaments.  The Bible clearly approves of slavery in many passages, and it goes so far as to tell how to obtain slaves, how hard you can beat them, and when you can have sex with the female slaves.\n \n    Many Jews and Christians will try to ignore the moral problems of slavery by saying that these slaves were actually servants or indentured servants.  Many translations of the Bible use the word "servant", "bondservant", or "manservant" instead of "slave" to make the Bible seem less immoral than it really is.  While many slaves may have worked as household servants, that doesn't mean that they were not slaves who were bought, sold, and treated worse than livestock.\n \n    The following passage shows that slaves are clearly property to be bought and sold like livestock.\n \n    However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you.  You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land.  You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance.  You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.  (Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT)\n \n    The following passage describes how the Hebrew slaves are to be treated.\n \n    If you buy a Hebrew slave, he is to serve for only six years.  Set him free in the seventh year, and he will owe you nothing for his freedom.  If he was single when he became your slave and then married afterward, only he will go free in the seventh year.  But if he was married before he became a slave, then his wife will be freed with him.  If his master gave him a wife while he was a slave, and they had sons or daughters, then the man will be free in the seventh year, but his wife and children will still belong to his master.  But the slave may plainly declare, 'I love my master, my wife, and my children.  I would rather not go free.'  If he does this, his master must present him before God.  Then his master must take him to the door and publicly pierce his ear with an awl.  After that, the slave will belong to his master forever.  (Exodus 21:2-6 NLT)\n \n    Notice how they can get a male Hebrew slave to become a permanent slave by keeping his wife and children hostage until he says he wants to become a permanent slave.  What kind of family values are these?\n \n    The following passage describes the sickening practice of sex slavery.  How can anyone think it is moral to sell your own daughter as a sex slave?\n \n    When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at the end of six years as the men are.  If she does not please the man who bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again.  But he is not allowed to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with her.  And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his daughter.  If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife.  If he fails in any of these three ways, she may
135810
i know this isn't really answering your question but i was kinda surprised to see what you said about "God looking like an unforgiving bully". I don't get that - He says do anything you want with this amazing garden I've given you, except one thing. If you do it, I'm going to punish you. So they do that one thing, and surprise surprise, they get punished. THEN He says, ok, so now you all do loads of stuff that goes against what i have said you should do, but I'll offer forgiveness through Jesus. That seems both pretty consistent and forgiving to me. \nSorry that doesn't answer your question, and I'm not ranting at you, just interested that you think that. I've never looked at it in that way. Hope other's answers are more on the point.\n\n\nAnd shadowalfalfa -sorry to disagree with you again, but Moses is thought to have written the first 5 books of the Bible.\n\nAn addition to my answer after your addition to your question - there is a prophecy in Daniel 7 that is entirely consistent with the acts of Alexander the Great many many many years later. There is historical evidence that Jesus existed and did many of the things the Bible says He did. So at least those things happened. Coincidence??? I don't think so.
313207
God hates a lot of things. He is quite vengeful and jealous. But I believe some people take the bible too seriously. For example, the bible says,"Honor thy mother and thy father.". An abused kid who's family is over-religious will take this as,"Obey like a slave." They won't do anything about. If you are so concerned about the bible and who's going to hell, have you not read the passage about who gets to cast the first stone? So if you are so concerned about Miscegenation, homosexuality, or inbred souls, then you should read Corinthians. \n\nBut just remember, God gave every one free will. The Bible contradicts itself a lot. So maybe you should question it a little bit.
363302
Well, apparently they do not understand the term "personal conviction".  God gave us the animals to not only keep under our domination but also to eat (it is in Genesis...through the rest of the OT you can read about the stuff they weren't supposed to eat).\n\nIn the NT, it specifically states that it isn't what is put INTO the body that makes someone "unclean" - it is what comes out of our heart.  Paul even spoke of eating meat made as a sacrifice to idols.
283267
sadly your friend is the victom of a good christian upbringing! jesus brought the word of love and pease. man, invented a religion! in this religion a bunch of wackoos got together and dreamed up a lot of sick ideas and made them law. so for 2000 years people fearing eternal damnation have followed these sick laws. now that people have out grown the need for self punishment, a lot of these sick ideas are now criminal offences. for example, your freind was referring to the old addage, "spare the rod, spoil the child" this means you can beat the hell out of your children and feel good about it because," GOD demands it!"  now days, IT'S CALLED CHILD ABUSE!!  a hopfully  the bitch will get turned in and have to sit her ass in jail or at least have her kid taken away from her! don't you just love that old time religion?
226054
No and if you listen to ignorant people who will just quote the bible at you--then ask them this.--The bible also says that a man should not cut the sides of his hair or trim his beard (Its in Leviticus) It also says it is okay to kill your slaves. Does that make any sense?!? God made us all who we are accept yourself for who you are and enjoy life. It is an adventure and you only get one shot.
255092
The bible should never be considered anything but a work of fiction.\nEdit: I'd also like to point something else out. A lot of people are making the statement that God threatening with the possibility of hell is like a parent warning a child against a blazing fire. For one, the act of burning a child, though perhaps practical, is very cruel and sadistic. Kind loving parents would take a more practical and less cruel approach: simply do all that is necessary to keep the child away from the fire. There are numerous other logical fallacies in this analogy, but I would hope that they are painfully obvious to anyone intelligent enough to consider religion critically.
434712
I posted a question a while back on discrepancies in the bible.  It was not an attacking question, not rude, not, IMHO, offensive.  It was a question.  It basically stated that I had read somewhere that every verse in the bible was directly contradicted elsewhere and I asked whether it was true and where I might find documentation if so. \n\nThe question was deleted.\n\nThe moral of the story is, hide in a corner and don't do anything to offend anyone.  Don't do anything anyone disagrees with.  Wait, some people might be offended if you hide in a corner.  Just kill yourself.  Oh, no, Christians are morally outraged at suicide (although not at murder of an unborn child, drug addiction, murder in the name of 'patriotism' or 'for God' or as punishment for crime....) so better not kill yourself.  Um.....I guess just stand around and try not to breathe anyone else's air and no one will get mad, report you, ask for your questions to be removed.....whatever.
67851
The Bible does not mention ************. ************ has been around for thousands of years - if God hated it, He would say so!\n\nThe Bible does say that God dislikes perverted thoughts about other people - so if you're fantasising about a married person whilst doing it, yes that would be wrong!!\n\nSome people are so desperate to 'prove' that the Bible disapproves of ************ that they misquote a single passage in the Old Testament where a man withdrew from his wife and 'spilled his seed on the floor' to use her and stop her having a baby that he'd promised to try for. Clearly that's condemning what he did to his wife - NOT ************.\n\nThe Christian life can be a very difficult one to live. When churches start to add 'extra' rules ("don't **********", "don't date anyone until you're 18", "no alcohol at all", etc etc) that aren't in the Bible, people always seem to break them. Then they FEEL as though they're sinning because they're disobeying the church - whn in reality, churches need to be very careful not to ask unnecessary and difficult things of their congregations.\n\n************ is not a sin BUT if it CAUSES you to sin, THEN you should stop!
574927
Here are some other gems for you(posted these in another thread) \n\nProof of the 'love' of God in the bible\n\n"God" slaughtered innocent babies because of Pharaoh's stubbornness: "At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock as well.” (Exod. 12:29)\n\n"God" had babies dashed to pieces and pregnant women ripped open: "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." (Hosea 13:16)\n\n"God" wanted children to be murdered as human sacrifices: "I let them become defiled through their gifts - the sacrifice of every firstborn - that I might fill them with horror so they would know that I am the Lord.” (Ezek. 20:26)\n\n"God" threatened to have innocent children be devoured by wild animals: “I will send wild animals against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few in number that your roads will be deserted.” (Lev. 26:22)\n\n"God" threatened to have children cannibalized: "If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.” (Lev. 26:27-29)\n\n"God" ordered the genocide of women, children and babies: "Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.”” (1 Sam. 15:2-3)\n\n"God" aborted fetuses and murdered children in answer to the prophet Hosea's prayer: "Give them, O Lord – what will you give them? Give them wombs that miscarry .... Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit. Even if they bear children, I will slay their cherished offspring." (Hosea 9:14-16)\n\n"God" murdered a baby because of David's adultery: “Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan replied, "The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the Lord show utter contempt, the son born to you will die." (2 Sam. 12:13-14)\n\n"God" ordered people to kill their brothers, friends and neighbors: “Then he said to them, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.'" (Exod. 32:27