Did God really have to kill the firstborn of every donkey in Egypt to prove his point?
967834
i don't know...there is a lot of violence in the bible, which is why i'm not particularly religious...a lot of it seems ridiculous to me.
802588
god murdered his bastard(no offense meant... check the dictionary) son... \n\nthe bible god is a middle eastern old wart that has an iq of 66
1187363
funny how you didn't point out how "GOD" made all of those people before kill people, he killed people himself with floods, he tortured people to prove their trust in him (Job), he is just so perfect, isn't he? you're right!
718642
It also says that God is VERY angry.  The bible clearly describes how he brought plagues, floods, and firestorms to kill thousands of people.  He also had millions more killed in the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Holocaust.  In the Bible people are supposed to be stoned for violating any one of the hundred biblical laws.  If the church got its way then very few of us would still be alive.  It is a good thing they lost the power to execute people at will without any justification.  I hear the church is still bitter about that fact.
607833
The making of a golden calf has to be understood in its ancient context.  In the ancient Near Eastern religions, the gods had thrones, or "vehicles" which were often depicted as animals.  Sometimes, the deity would be depicted on the animal, and at other times, only the animal was depicted, so as to make the worshipper aware of the unimaginable and esoteric God that "rode" the vehicle, or "sat" on the throne.  So an empty animal or throne was only a pointer to the God that was supposed to imaginarily sit or ride on it.  \n\nSo, it is very possible that what the people were doing was merely worshipping YHWH, but doing so by making the calf as a throne/vehicle for Him, and then imagining their un-depictable deity atop the calf.  This is not only an academic interpretation, but early Jewish sources also say that the sin of the golden calf was NOT that the people worshipped another God besides YHWH, but that they made the mistake of trying to depict him in some way.\n\nNotice that in the Jerusalem Temple, there is this exact same idea, and it was APPROVED.  There in the Holy of Holies, was a throne made in the likeness of a sphinx-type creature, with cherubs above it.  Why was it ok to have a sphinx for a throne/vehicle for God, but not a golden calf for one?\n\nIt is very possible that the answer is politics.  Jerusalem was the cult-center for Judah, the southern portion of Israel when Israel was divided.  The Northern Kingdom also had cult centers - one in the south and one in the North, and at each of the centers, was a golden calf in the holy of holies, depicting that throne/vehicle for God.  When Israel was defeated, the people from the Northern Kingdom had to assimilate their worship ways with those of the South.  Therefore, the Northern deity, El, became identified as the same God as YHWH.  But the priests of Jerusalem did not want anyone bringing sacrifices to any other place other than Jerusalem.  In an attempt to condemn the worship centers of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, they wrote this story of the golden calf into Exodus.  This gives their ruling against golden calves an ancient authority.\n\nIt also makes it seem totally ridiculous what the northerners did.  I mean, afterall, they were TOLD not to make golden calves at the exodus, right?!  And yet they turned around and did it anyway!?\nThe story is a metaphor.  It is a metaphor for condemning the worship practices of Northern Israel.\n\nIt is not historical.
1049863
Someone posted a question trying to justify incest with his daughters using the OT example of Lot as an example. I spent quite a time answering this, only to find the next morning that the question had been removed. Just in case anybody else has problems with the passage, here's my answer anyway.\n\nLot and his Daughters\n\nThank you for raising this question, it's caused me to get my Bible out and read the story again for myself. If anybody is actually interested in understanding it properly, they need to go back to Genesis 11 and start from the beginning.\n\nAn old pagan called Abram is worshipping one day at the local ziggurat in Ur of the Chaldees and Yahweh comes and reveals Himself to him. The Bible doesn't tell us that Abram did anything special to earn or merit this revelation, just that God, for His own reasons, chose to reveal Himself to him. This really upset the religious locals, who followed a mixture of astrology and Babylonian mystery religions. Abram was rejecting their pantheon of Gods and going round telling people there was only one true God. Talk about upsetting the neighbours. And you should have heard the gossip!\n\nAbram leaves Ur with his father Terah, his nephew Lot and their households. They passed through the Euphrates (a type of baptism) and arrived at Harran, where they got too comfortable and stayed until Terah dies. At this point Yahweh gives Abram a kick up the backside and points him towards the Promised Land.\n\nSome time after they arrive in Caanan there is a famine, and what happens next has a direct bearing on Genesis 19 as cited.\n\nAbram, taking Sarai his wife and Lot with him, goes down into Egypt (always a type for the world). Here they encounter all the corruption of Pharaoh’s court and the fleshpots of the most advanced nation on earth. After moving back to Caanan, Lot sits round the campfire and dreams of the forbidden things he has seen. If you carefully read the start of chapter 13, you will see that when Lot separated from Abram, he looked to the east, towards Sodom, and chose that because it reminded him of Egypt and the forbidden pleasures that he had been dreaming of.\n\nFast forward now to chapter 19 and Lot has given up farming on the plains outside of Sodom and has allowed the lure of sin to draw him inside the city. Lot had abandoned his God to the extent that he was prepared to allow his daughters to marry those that God called detestable, but even so, God did not abandon him.\n\nWe know what happened next, but if you really think that God condoned the sin you have to be crazy. The offspring of those illicit unions went on to form the Moabites and the Ammonites, two of the most cursed tribes in history.\n\nThis is a classic morality tale of reaping that which you have sown and is recorded not only as historical truth, but as an admonition to all of us. Genuine queries on any of this are welcome.
1160419
Hell Yes!\n\nREAD:\n\nKill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God\n\n    Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray by encouraging them to worship foreign gods.  In such cases, you must examine the facts carefully.  If you find it is true and can prove that such a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock.  Then you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it.  Put the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God.  That town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt.  Keep none of the plunder that has been set apart for destruction.  Then the LORD will turn from his fierce anger and be merciful to you.  He will have compassion on you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your ancestors.  "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him."  (Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)\n\n\n======================\n\n\nKill Nonbelievers\n\n    They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great, whether man or woman.  (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)\n\n\n===============================\n\n\nKill Followers of Other Religions.\n\n    1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter, or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other: do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare or shield him, but kill him.  Your hand shall be the first raised to slay him; the rest of the people shall join in with you.  You shall stone him to death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery.  And all Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your midst.  (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)\n\n \n\n    2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly forbidden.  When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death.  (Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
666089
Not only that but God told Joshua to go into a certain city, I believe it was Jericho and kill everyone, and not to leave anyone alive. Sounds more like Bin Laden than a loving God. The Old Testament God has been painted to look rather savage and bloodthirsty. I consider the fact that the Bible was written not by God but by humans with agendas and ambitions.
240209
None. Moses was the custodian of another type of Ark.The Ark of God. Not the Ark which Noah Built in which he put two of every kind of animal.\n\nGood Try if that was to fool me.\nBettel Luck next time.
792789
God does not make anything straight that is crooked. In fact, he smites all the bent gays in the Bible
1121701
Prior to revelation at Sinai, there were no ethical/moral laws.  Each group of people were governed by their own God, pharoah, king, etc. and were at his/her/its mercy.  \nAfter revelation at Sinai, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years as they learned to live in "freedom" with God and His laws as a guide.  Since the Israelites had never lived in freedom, they were doomed to wander in the wilderness until their children became of age and were able to function as a free people under God, their king, in the promised land.\nIn the promised land, everyone was held accountable to God's law -- especially the leaders.  It was a duty and privilege for everyone to study Torah, learn the law, and to assure that everyone received equal treatment under God's law.  Because everyone studied the law, the Levites could not invent and change laws willy-nilly.  They were accountable to God just the same as the lowly sheperd.\nOver time, God's laws have been adopted by other nations and justice for all has prevailed in some countries.\nWithout the laws of the Torah, insane leaders could commit monstrous acts of violence and atrocities without consequences.  Men could kill women and children simply from a fit of anger.  Everyone would live in constant terror not knowing from where the next threat would come.\nIn essence, we owe our freedom from terror to the words of wisdom found in this wonderful book we call our Bible!  \nIn today's world of terrorism, it makes one wonder how those words have become so distorted.
855019
No. You heard incorrectly. The deities of Egypt were left in Egypt when the Isrealites left their slavery behind (mostly, they backslid at least once).\n\nThe God, known as "YHWH" or "I AM" to the Isrealites, is known by many names. "EL" simply means "GOD". The Isrealites get their tribal name from one of their forfathers: Isreal.\n\nLong story made short:\n\nAbram the Aramean: Left home country to become a nomadic shepherd.  Name changed to Abraham by God. "Abram" means "father of a multitude", Abraham means "father of many nations".   Had  9  sons:  Ishmael  (by his concubine Hagar) the firstborn, Isaac (by his wife Sarah) the promised son and later heir, and by his 2nd wife Keturah, Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Hagar and Keturah were given gifts and sent away from their father, Isaac recieved the bulk of the inheiritance.\n\nIsaac married once: Rebekkah. They had twin boys: Esau and Jacob. Although he was second born, Jacob recieved the blessing of the firstborn by tricking his blind father. He had to split town: Esau was upset enough to kill him!    \n\nJacob went back to Aram. He married his distant cousins, Leah and Rachel, and later, their maids became his concubines (effectively 4 wives). These 4 women collectively bore 13 children: 12 sons and one daughter.\n\nAfter more than 20  years absence, Jacob decided to leave Aram and go home. Terrified of his ticked-off brother, he spends the last night away from his family, so his brother can come after him and spare his wives and children (if he wants to). While alone, an Angel attacks him, and they wrestle all night. At daybreak, the angel tries to get away, but Jacob pins it down and demands a blessing. The Angel replies by changing Jacob's name to ISRAEL, meaning  "Wrestles with God". The name, Isreal has applied to Jacob's decendents ever since.
1138186
The area around where this happened was divided into different ethinic groups and actually seperate countries, & the Jews where not the majority at all. So the Swine probably belonged to some Greeks or others. However it is more then likely that the whole story is an allegory and bull$hit. Surely an intelligent talented pig like yourself does not believe in demons or miracles and are aware the Bible is 90% lies, and as a pig you know you have a strong sense of self preservation. There is no such thing as Kosher bacon either.
34687
MOSES DID NOT TAKE ANYONE ABOARD AN ARK..HE PARTED THE RED SEA..HE TALKED TO A BURNING BUSH...NOAH TOOK 2 OF EVERY KIND OF ANIMAL ON THE ARK WITH HIM...ALL BUGS...ALL BIRDS..ALL MAMMALS..YES..OCEAN ANIMALS TOO...THEY ALL FIT ...GOD IS POWERFUL
267533
It was Moses.  In the OT, he was called by the Spirit of God to climb Mt. Sinai.  After Moses saw the burning bush, he asked God if he could see Him.  God said "No, you'd die if you looked directly at me" (I'm paraphrasing, of course).  So God told Moses to go to a cleft in the rock and hide his face and God would pass by.  That was all Moses could handle (as a human being).
967059
When Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt to the promised land. They were commanded to kill all the homosexual idol worshiping inhabitants before them.  They were instructed to not show mercy or spare anyone. Or in the latter days they would come back to hurt them.\n\nSo Israel went to Canna did not kill the homosexual worshipers of Baal and as you can see it has turned to their hurt.\n\n\nGo big Re Go
1092450
I assume you refer to the 40 years they wandered through the desert prior to entering the promised land?\n\nTwo, as far as I can recall:  the true God and the "god" they asked Aaron to make for them in the form of a golden calf.\n\nFYI:  they weren't properly called "Israelites" at that time, but you're forgiven.