NONSENSE FROM THE BIBLE (8 page)

Leviticus 20:10

And
the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall shurly be put to death.

DEATH BY FIRE

The death sentence also applies to a man who has sex with his wife together with her mother - all three to be burnt alive! A deadly threesome!

Leviticus 20:14  

And
if a man take a wife and her mother, it is wickedness: they shall be burnt with fire, both he and they
; that there be no wickedness among you. 

If the daughter of a priest has sex before marriage she is to be burnt to death.

Leviticus 21:9  

And
the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire. 

This all makes a complete mockery of verses that, as a pastor, I believed and preached regularly - it’s comforting and encouraging, but only out of context with the rest of the Bible!

Psalms 100:5  

For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations. 

Unfortunately, there are many more Bible verses which clearly demonstrate that God cannot be described in any way as a loving, merciful and just God. Here we have briefly considered some Bible texts which relate to ‘family values’ and as you can see, there is little or no evidence that the Bible provides good examples of family values. In fact as we have discovered many times, human values far surpass almost everything written in the Bible concerning family life.

Good family values?   Nonsense!

BIBLE NONSENSE NUMBER 4

Christians declare that ‘God Loves You’ or ‘Jesus loves you’ especially when they are seeking to convert an unbeliever and to make a commitment by accepting Jesus as their saviour. The Bible tells that ‘God is Love!’ (1 John 4:8/16) Love is the greatest human emotion which we all seek and it is also a wonderful tool for evangelists to use, especially to bring people ‘to Christ.’ If you have needs or feel unloved or have suffered great disappointments or tragedy in your life, you are then most likely to be in your most fragile and vulnerable condition. The thought that there is a loving God who loves and forgives you whatever you have done, or will provide help, no matter what has happened to you, is a most tempting alternative. A church filled with Christians with raised hands in praise and captivating music heightens the emotion and a positive response is almost irresistible.

Possibly the most quoted ‘love verse’ by Christians is John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 

Christians may claim that God’s love is available to everyone who inhabits this planet and according to the above verse God gives everyone the opportunity to experience eternal life in heaven. Or does he?

This however is a completely false assumption as this promise of eternal life is totally conditional:

1. Belief that Jesus is the son of God is an absolute requirement.

Christians will not argue with that – it is an acceptable condition and requirement. The second condition is not as simple:

2. The ability to hear or receive knowledge of this promise by God is itself conditional.

According to the Bible, salvation is completely dependent on whether you have been fortunate enough to actually hear about Jesus and have then believed in him as the son of God.  Again, Christians accept this without argument and quote several verses known as the ‘great commission’ to evangelise the whole world
:

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost

Matthew 28:19 (also see: Mark 16:15-18 & Acts 1:8)

Based on the requirement of belief in Jesus as the son of God (John 3:16) God’s love has
never
been available to everyone as only a very small number of human beings living on the planet 2,000+ years ago would have had the opportunity to experience the life and ministry of Jesus. He reputedly preached only for between 1-3 years at most and only travelled to cities within 170 km of Jerusalem. There were at the time millions of people living on all the continents of the world including India, China, the Americas and the rest of Europe and Asia. There was no satellite television to carry the news and message to the ends of the earth as we have today. The plan failed miserably to achieve great success during or immediately following the alleged lifetime of Jesus.

During the two thousand or so years of Christianity, missionaries and evangelists  have carried the message of the Gospel to every part of the world and Christianity in its’ many forms and colours now claims to have 2.1 billion adherents in the world and is in fact the largest religion, with over 33% of human beings claiming to be Christians. Success? Maybe, but there have also been millions of people in every century who have not been convinced or even had the opportunity to know this plan for their salvation. IF the promise of eternal life can only be obtained by hearing and accepting the Gospel then clearly God has missed reaching -
the world
- the vast majority of mankind from day one. We can also question the fairness and justice of such a plan. His love or plan of salvation has always been very selective, firstly, only for the Jewish nation and then only for those who have the opportunity to hear and hopefully believe the message of the gospel.

If God created the world, the universe and everything therein as we are expected to believe, it is more than reasonable to expect that this same all powerful, all loving God could have communicated and demonstrated his love and his will, his power and his plan for the salvation of the whole world, in a much better and more effective way. 

God is presented as the great lover of humanity and if we only read or listen to preaching confined to the verses and parts of the Bible which consistently support this hypothesis we may dwell in this new-found experience called, by some, the
new
  
birth
and all is well; until we begin to learn that ‘conditions apply’ for us to receive the love of God. Depending on which church or group you may have joined, the conditions will vary but all have the subtle element of ‘fear’ attached.  Failure to conform can bring some demanding and concerning situations and decisions must be made in order to fulfil a commitment to God. This new beginning and eternal life are promised for the faithful, the ultimate gift is offered to all – but there are conditions! 

For many Christians, a pure life is required and ‘salvation’ apparently can be lost if the rules of the church are disobeyed. A divorce, an abortion, sex outside marriage, failure to attend mass and other misdemeanours are generally counted as sins for Roman Catholics and must be confessed to, and absolved by, a priest. For others there is a requirement to be ‘born again,’ accepting that Jesus died for the sins of humankind. Another group requires the believers to ‘speak in tongues’ by being baptized with the Holy Spirit in order to be saved. Others require Baptism in water by total immersion for adults.

Some Christian groups or sects require their members to be in ‘submission’ to the leadership or elders. Members are required to seek guidance and permission concerning many private or family matters. A change of job, a holiday or the purchase of a new home, the marriage of your daughter - all should all be discussed and submitted to the eldership for prayer and guidance and ultimately for
them
to make the decision whether or not you should proceed. Failure to do so is not an option as it could mean complete separation from the group and from God! They definitely wouldn’t agree if you wished to move 100 miles away from their church!

Most denominations, sects and cults require total adherence to their own particular beliefs in order to qualify for a place in heaven. All others, they tell us, are in error and therefore forfeit eternal life and all the other benefits of being a believer. This makes it very difficult to actually discover which group, denomination, sect or cult you should join. There is always the danger that you will make the wrong choice!

Christian apologists have suggested the idea of ‘universal salvation’ whereby the suffering and crucifixion of Jesus Christ provided redemption for all humanity and atonement for sins. Many believe that God’s grace includes the reconciliation of the entire human race to God. This all would seem to be good news for everyone, whether you are a Christian or not, you are automatically ‘saved’. The problem is that this completely contradicts the conditions for salvation according to the New Testament of the Bible.
*18

Generally, people have a very hazy knowledge about God as portrayed in the Bible. They may go to Mass every Sunday or regularly attend a local church but they may also only have a very basic knowledge of the contents of the Bible. Many simply believe that God is the great loving and merciful heavenly father. They may never have considered that it is recorded in the Bible that God also has a dark side, and that he often showed no mercy or love to hundreds of thousands of people that inhabited the countries of the Middle East. God had told Moses and Aaron to occupy the lands that he had given them for an inheritance!  Obviously, Adolf Hitler had the same ideas as he occupied the sovereign countries of Europe. Although his occupation was brutal it did not compare to the action of God’s people. They destroyed entire nations, killing every man, woman and child without mercy! This was nothing less than total genocide as directed by the all loving almighty God!

If we study the New Testament1
*19
 and then turn to the Old Testament
*20
 we soon discover that God was not such a loving God - or was it a ‘different’ God that those Old Testament prophets wrote about? 
That
God certainly did NOT love the world – he only loved SOME of the inhabitants of the world. For the rest he hated them so much that he wanted them to be utterly destroyed whoever they were – babies, children, pregnant women,  all women and men, young or old!  Without mercy he ordered their destruction. The Bible contains a horrific record of his hate-filled vengeful acts! The story goes that on one occasion God, with the exception of a single family, wiped out the entire human race by a global flood. And more about this later.

Here are a few examples. If we were to simply use the Bible as evidence there would be sufficient information to charge, judge and convict God of a multitude of crimes against humanity!

GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE – THE NATION OF ISRAEL

In the Old Testament God clearly shows his preference for only a small part of the world’s population. His ‘chosen people’ were the Israelites – the Jewish nation. I had always considered that real love is without prejudice and is unconditional – obviously God’s definition of love, and actions, are not consistent with the Bible as quoted by the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Corinthians:

1 Corinthians 13:4-8   (For ‘charity’ read ‘Love’)

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,  Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;  Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth:

God had decided that the Israelites were his favourite human beings and the Bible records his instructions that they should destroy every other nation or ethnic group occupying the Middle East at that time. In fact God preceded Adolf Hitler’s
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obsession with racial supremacy by several thousand years. According to the Bible, ethnic cleansing was first practised by God.

Deuteronomy 7:6

For
thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God
:
the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth
.

Deuteronomy 7:9

Know therefore that the LORD your God is
God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

A demonstration of this preferential and prejudicial behaviour recorded in the Bible is concerning Moses and the plagues of Egypt. In the book of Exodus it is recorded that the descendants of Abraham had moved to Egypt because of famine in their land. Obviously they were not ‘blessed above all people!’

After many years they had become the slaves of the Egyptian Pharaoh and they were oppressed and suffering. Finally God heard their cries and spoke to a man called Moses from the midst of a ‘burning bush’ and appointed him as the leader who would deliver the people out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:1-10)

God then rescues the Israelites from bondage in Egypt, so the story goes, by a series of spectacular events, the plagues of Egypt. The Egyptians had held the Israelites in bondage as virtual slaves for 70 years. God instructed Moses to tell Pharaoh to release his people or face a series of plagues. The Bible says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart against the Israelites. In other words God had already made the  decision to carry out the terrible things he had planned for the Egyptian people, Pharaoh had no real choice but to resist Moses’ request. The plagues that followed were devastating according to the Biblical account but totally unbelievable!

1.      God turned all the river Nile and all the drinking water into blood killing all the fish and making the water to stink.

2.      God sent a plague of frogs to cover the entire country.

3.      God sent lice onto men and all the animals.

4.      God sent swarms of flies.

5.      God cursed all the cattle, and they all died.

6.      God sent a plague of boils upon all the Egyptian people and all the animals in the land.

7.      God sent a destructive hailstorm to cause death and great damage to humans, vegetation and animals.

8.      God sent a plague of locusts to devour all the remaining vegetation in the land of Egypt.

9.      God caused total darkness over the land for a period of three days.

10.  God
passed over
 the land of Egypt and killed every first-born member of every Egyptian family and beast of the field.
(see note 11 - Passover)
.

These events are recorded in the Bible Exodus Chapters.7 & 12

Finally, after all this, Pharaoh allowed the Israelites to leave Egypt. A choice he would no doubt had made after the first plague had he not, according to the Bible, already been programmed by God to refuse!  Then God said he would again harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he would pursue them out of the land. As soon as the huge entourage left Egypt led by Moses, Pharaoh decided to begin the chase with his great army in chariots. God led Moses in the direction of the Red Sea by a pillar of cloud by day and by a pillar of fire by night. At the Red Sea God told Moses to raise his staff over the waters and behold a great miracle - the sea opened up a path for the Children of Israel to cross over to the other side in safety. Hard on their heels were Pharaoh and his chariots, and then as the Children of Israel were safely on dry land and into the ‘Promised Land’ God closed up the sea and destroyed Pharaoh and his army! Finally God had delivered his chosen people from their enemy after they had suffered as slaves of the Egyptians for 70 years. Again – so goes the story.