How is this Holy again?

Exodus 4:21 (New International Version)
21 The LORD said to Moses, "When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go. 22 Then say to Pharaoh, 'This is what the LORD says: Israel is my firstborn son, 23 and I told you, "Let my son go, so he may worship me." But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.' "

Meaning that God essentially broke his rule of free will in order to have an excuse to show his power by killing every firstborn.

 

Now, I'm agnostic, so I can't really be sure that a God exists. However, I am pretty daggurn sure that, if there is such an entity, it is not any God that is hailed as the Supreme Being in religion. At least, not most sects.

As for the quotes, I've known these for some time. One of the reasons for my doubt. Omnibenevolent my glutius maximus.

"But it was in a different time!! Society has changed!!!" Society changes, but not logic. If God is so omnipotent and omnibenevolent, he wouldn't let his followers write things that he now (apparently) shuns. Slavery in America was wrong way before the Thirteenth Amendment.

Granted, that doesn't mean there's nothing good in the Bible. Love thy neighbor, the parable of the Good Samaritan, (has more meaning than most think) etc., etc..

 

This is horrible and it sorta disgusts me.

This sort of thing makes me glad that I didn't go to church. Since I was 6.

 

Well, there might also be the possiblity that the bible is corrupted. And who knows? Maybe God let these things happen as a test to see how long it would take for us to make such a discovery and realize the truth.

lol Or maybe I'm just being a bit too optimistic?

 

Yeah, a bit optimistic. :P

If God was omniscient. (knows everything at all times and is everywhere and everyWHEN) then wouldn't tests be a little redundant? If it was a test, we were held back a few grades because of it.

 

this is why im a laveyan satanist because those quotes are just idiotic allow me to put a few quotes from the satanic bible to you and say which one sounds better these quotes or those christian ones

1. do not kill animals unless for your own food or survival
2. while in anothers domain treat them with respect, if you know that they will treat you badly do not go to their domain
3. while in an empty field if you meet a person treat them with respect unless they treat you badly then treat them cruelly and without mercy.
4. treat others how they treat you(no this is not reversed)
5. do not harm children!
6. love those who deserve it do not waste love on ingrates
7. be loyal to you and yourself

i paraphrased a little but this is very accurate so which sounds better?

 

I edited out the website because this is not a place to advertise, which includes advertising religion etc. If people are interested, they can look it up through search engine. If not, they won't.

 

Most of the Bible was written during a time when people had a more savage mindset and much less understanding of the world around them; I don't find most of the Old Testament to be applicable to modern society. The New Testament, however, is much different. I can see people hating YHWH, but not Jesus.

 

First of all I would like to say you are very brave for coming out with your beliefs, especially because I shitstorm is going to be coming soon.

Second of all I must say most of this does sound pretty good, except for the no mercy part... Thank you very much for the offer good sir, but I am not really intrested in joining.

He's right you have to pay the website first. lol jk.

The new testement is in my quotes from the bible on the first page. Read it please.

 

I won't type out a lengthy explanation, but I'll just say that you should never take any religious book completely as fact, but rather find interpretations from it to help make your own life and the lives of others nicer. And yeah, times change, along with morals, and all that.

 

So far so good, but if we look at the commandments of the Christian Bible, we get a good impression too. For me to take it as morally superior, I would require the Satanic bible to read through.

Linkie please.

 

Having read that, my argument still stands: different time and place. And as for the hand-cutting line, that was never meant to be taken literally. I think he just meant a quality or aspect of a person that caused them to sin, not necessarily a whole body part.

 

thats fine i just put the link so people would get accurate information because a LOT of people lie about satanists and will put up walls of crap to affect their results you know so if i broke a rule im sorry but its cool

 

Old or New Testament, you have to understand that this book was written by people in a society that accepted slavery, etc. as an essential part of life. In fact, the Romans regarded slavery as such -- they even treated their slaves well, to the point that people who visited couldn't tell the difference between a poor Roman citizen and a slave. They couldn't imagine a future society in which these things were gone or even considered taboo.
Secondly, very few people take this stuff literally. It's all figurative: Did the stuff in Genesis REALLY happen? Did the formation of Earth really take place over a matter of days; were the first people on Earth really Adam and Eve, and did they really just APPEAR there? Of course not, and in my opinion anyone who follows the Bible word-for-word is a complete idiot.
And last -- Yes, there is a crapload of really disgusting stuff in the Bible. To be honest, some of it scares me. There's also, however, a lot of stuff that speaks of hope and love and kindness. That's why people who are religious follow the Bible. I'll use an example (and I am not saying this relates in any way, shape, or form to the Bible, hahaha):

In the anime Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, which happens to be my favorite anime of all time,

Spoiler

The entire first season is spent watching teenagers around fifteen or so brutally murdering each other and then coming back to life without explanation and doing it again. Example -- One girl chained her friend to a cross (ironic for this discussion but bear with me) and stabbed her to death. She then lead her other friend into the same sort of torture chamber, knocked him unconsious, strapped him to a crosslike contraption (It had separate places for legs and it laid horizontal), and nearly drove nails through each of his fingers. She decided not to, though, and instead knocked him unconsious with a taser, switched clothes with her sister who she had been holding in a cell, and tasered her sister right at the edge of a cliff, so she fell off and died. Then she pretended to be her sister when the police showed up, so she was turned loose again. I could continue to go on about this because she did some more things before finally falling off of a building and dying, but I think you get the idea.

Fast forward to the second season, and we find out why everyone starts over again: They're stuck in a time loop, with only one girl (one of the younger, quieter ones named Rika) remembering the events of past worlds. She eventually gathers the courage to tell her friends about this, and they all work together to prevent all of the disasters that had happened before, armed with the subconsious memories of them. The show teaches, through all that brutality, that murder only leads to more disasters and that love and trust is essential. Nevermind the suspense and murder mystery elements. It teaches some of the same things that perhaps a Disney film would, but it has a million times more of an impact. (It also disguises all of this in a freaking kickass show but nevermind that xD)

The same might be said for some parts of the Bible. Notice I say some, not all, because the example above was written for a modern society in a modern society. The Bible was written for and by an ancient one.

In all honesty, though, this whole anti-Bible thing is really beginning to irritate me. The Bible isn't the only 'holy book' out there, and certainly not the only one with some grotesque content, so why is it always the only one being targeted? I'm not a religious person myself, but I come in contact with many and even a few priests as I go to a religious school, and I have to say that they're extremely nice people and the priests are ESPECIALLY. It's almost scary how nice they are. Please don't judge an entire religion based off of a few extremists.

 

I myself never agreed with the laws placed in the old testament. Aside from the ten commandments, the rest are ceremonial laws placed upon the people of Israel to differentiate them. We must bear in mind that most other nations worshipped gods that required very grotesque acts of sacrifice, incest, blood sacrifice and the list goes on. In the past times the ceremonial laws were required because people understood no better in diplomacy.

The laws there were sometimes broken, and their consequences were disastrous, of course at first I wasn't in accordance to so much killing and bloodshed, but we also have to consider the mindset of the past times. Those ceremonial laws are not required any more, but in the past the people of Israel had to establish themselves as a strong nation, and a strong God. Some acts in the bible do sound grotesque, yes, that much is true, but if you're willing to search that much, then you should also search for the reasons to such strict rules.

On a side note : Sacrificing the first-born refers to dedicating the son to the God, not sacrificing him; the main context of that law is specifying that the first comes God, so the first born would be dedicated to the Lord

 

All that time picking quotes from the Bible that would make any sane person rage shall be wasted and waved away by one Christian who decides to bring out the "argument" that God's laws surpass ours.

Oh don't mind me. Just predicting the inevitable course of this thread.

 

That actually reminds me of something.

What about all the good stuff in the bible? Like the Ten Commandments?
You can't just show the bad and condemn the religion.
I'm not saying the good outweighs the bad
But those quotes aren't what the whole religion is about.
And wasn't it Jesus himself that said in the New Testament, "We shall forget the ways of our fathers"? (I can't remember the exact words)
Which pretty much meant what was written in the Old Testament was null and void after that?



And speaking of that anime
If you watch the show Supernatural then you know in the previous season that

Spoiler

Sam and Dean (Demon hunters) are fighting the army of Hell and have discovered God (supposedly) exists, but his angels do. A man was having dreams of their adventures and used them to write books, not knowing they were real. It then turned out he was a prophet and the books would one day be known as the Winchester Gospel or something

In other words, it's possible for a religion to change with the times, like the Constitution can be amended.
In the way I follow religion, anyways.

 

The Ten Commandmants are as follows:

1. I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me, You shall not make for yourself an idol.
2. You shall not make wrongful use of the name of your God
3. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy
4. Honor your father and mother
5. You shall not murder
6. You shall not commit adultery
7. You shall not steal
8. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
9. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife
10. You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor



Numbers 1-3 are only relevant if you believe in a God, Numbers 4-8 are common sense, 9 is a repeat of 6, 10 is a repeat of 7. Doesn't really teach me much I didn't already know. If this amounts to the 'good part' of the bible (and indeed other religious texts, Stardust), then I see little point to it at all. I could probably find more detailed and thoughtful moral guidance in a randomly selected work of fiction next time I go shopping.

Some of the quotes were from the new testament as well.

 

Actually, they aren't repeats, you just didn't quote them entirely. I'm just gonna say that if you're gonna debate something, then at least understand the context in which it's used and why. quoting some parts does not give a clear picture of the context.

I'm not really taking any sides, just providing that it's important to have clear info and not be vague, so that the debates can be fair and clear.

 

Sorry if they were a bit vague, but the point still stands. I got this from Wiki seeing as its 11:00 PM and I don't have a Bible.