All forms of life destroyed because of one imperfect species - Genesis
6:5,7, 7:23.Human sacrifice commanded by God -
Leviticus 27:28,29.God agrees that Jephthah sacrifices his daughter as a thanksgiving -
Judges 11:29-40.God sends ten plagues on Egypt because Pharaoh will not release the
Hebrews, but he deliberately hardens Pharaoh's heart so he refuses to
release the Hebrews making the plagues necessary in the first place
- God admits that this is so he can perform 'his wonders' (Exodus 11:9),
i.e., wholesale mass slaughter of life in Egypt - Exodus 7:3-4,13-14,
10:1,20.God sanctions slavery and a man selling his daughter - Exodus 21:2-
6,7.Death demanded for heresy - Deuteronomy 13:1,2,5,14,15.God says that if a man strikes 'his slave', male or female, and they
do not die immediately, the man shall not be punished because 'the
slave is his money (i.e., property)' - Exodus 21:20-21.God orders people to slaughter their own relatives because they
rejected Moses' religion; 3000 killed. Moses tells the killers that
God would bless them for doing this by making them ordained for his
service - Exodus 32:27-29.A person to kill their own family for a difference of religion -
Deuteronomy 13:6-10.God demands death for anyone not circumcised - Genesis 17:9-14.God demands the sick are to be driven out of the community - Numbers
5:1-4.God burns people to death for complaining - Numbers 11:1.God kills 24,000 people by a plague because one of them brought a
Midianite woman to his tent - Numbers 25:6-9.The curses of God upon the Hebrews (e.g. eating their own children) -
Leviticus 26:14-39, Deuteronomy 28:15-68.God arranges the Midianite slaughter - Judges 7:2,9,22. (Note:
Numbers 31:1-18 states that God instructed the mass slaughter
of Midianites, and the Lord 'slew every male', alongwith their rulers
(31:7), and the Midianite women and children and animals were
captured; Moses then demanded all the males, including babies and the
women were to be slaughtered, but the young girls could be 'kept alive
for yourselves' (31:18). This story records the extermination of the
Midianites, but later on, God again instructs the slaugher of
the Midianites (Judges 6:16), It is the same with the Amalekites - they
are 'all destroyed' in 1 Samuel 15:8, but they are destroyed yet again
in 1 Samuel 27:8-9 and everyone - men and women - are killed;
however, they are killed (- for the 3rd time) in 1 Samuel 30:1,16-17
except for 400 young men. At long last, they are are finally killed
off in 1 Chronicles 4:43 when the 'remnant' were destroyed.The Spirit of God comes upon Samson and he murders over a thousand
people - Judges 14:19, 15:14-15.The Psalmist praises God for his 'steadfast love' but then details his
slaughtering in the past - Psalm 136:10-21.God deliberately deludes people so they will not be saved - 2 Thess
2:11-12.A girl not found to be a virgin was to be killed - Deuteronomy 22:13-
21 (Note the same did not apply to men).God kills a baby for its father's wrongdoing, ignoring the father's
pleas - 2 Samuel 12:15-20.God kills 70,000 men - 2 Samuel 24:15.God meets his arch enemy Satan - whom he does not
even recognise (Job 1:6-7), and they have a wager (Job 1:8-12) over
how much suffering it would take before 'righteous' Job will reject God.
Job then has his family killed and livelihood ruined (1:13-19) and is then afflicted by a loathsome plague (2:7-8).The Bible presents an interesting picture of God, i.e., a god who never changes (Malachi 3:6) but actually does frequently change his mind and even regrets what he's done ('repents') - Genesis 6:6,7, Exodus 32:14, 1 Samuel 15:35, 2 Samuel 24:16, 1 Chronicles 21:l5, Jeremiah l8:8,10, 26:3,l3,l9, 42:l0, Ezekiel 24:14, Joel 2:13, Amos 7:3. However, Numbers 23:19 and 1 Samuel 15:2 say that God never repents.
It is said that God is 'spirit', i.e., non-physical (John 4:24) and yet he is always called 'him' or 'he' as if he had a male body, and it is also said that although spirit, he has feet (Psalm 18:9), arms (Jeremiah 27:5), wings (Psalm 36:7), hands (Job 27:11), eyes (Deuteronomy 8:3), a mouth (Isaiah 1:20), ears (2 Chronicles 6:40), nostrils (Exodus 15:8) and legs (Genesis 3:8). He also uses a razor - Isaiah 7:20. He also occasionally roars (Joel 3:16) and sometimes he even whistles (Isaiah 5:26). Although he has never been seen (John 1:18), he has been seen (Isa 6:1), and he even revealed his rear to Moses (Exodus 33:21-22)...
Christian theology asserts that evil exists because of the disobedience/sin of Adam (and Eve), and it is because of their transgression that all humans must die: this is taught by Paul in Rom 5:12,17,18 and is the central theology of Christianity. However, this contradicts 2 Kings 14:6, Ezekiel 18:20, Jeremiah 31:30 that state a person will not suffer for an ancestor's wrongdoing.
If the God of the Bible is truly God, then there is a dilemma; for God to be God, he has to be omnipotent, responsible for the creation of everything, and this includes evil; if he did not create evil, then he was not wholly creative, and therefore cannot be God. In fact the Bible does say that God commits and/or is responsible for evil, e.g., Exodus 32:l4, 2 Sam 24:l6, 1 Chron 21:l5, Jer l8:8, 26:3,13,19, Jonah 3:l0. Furthermore, he sends lying spirits (1 Kings 22:23, 2 Chronicles 18:22) and deliberately deceives people (2 Thessalonians 2:11). And not only this, he admits to being responsible for the creation of evil and misery (Isaiah 45:7), and that he has deliberately made people so he can destroy them (Proverbs 16:4). The Christian 'explanation' that evil occurs because 'God allows free will' is absurd as evil occurs without the involvement of any supposed 'free will'. Moreover, free will is an illusion as cognitive science demonstrates humans (and animals) behave according to their genetic and environmental origins (i.e,, determinism).
God is also said to condemn killing (Exodus 20:13) and yet he orders it (Exodus 32:27); he encourages wisdom (Proverbs 4:7) but condemns it (1 Corinthians 1:19); he protects the righteous (Proverbs 12:21) but does not (Hebrews 11:36-37); he cuts off the wicked (Proverbs 10:27) but does not (Job 21:7-9); he commands respect for parents (Exodus 20:12) but encourages hatred for them (Luke 16:9); he blesses peace (Matt 5:9) but brings war (Matt 10:34, Revelation 19:11).
God will keep the earth (Ecclesiastes 1:4), but destroy it (2 Peter 3:10); is invisible and unseen (John 1:18, 1 Timothy 6:15-16) but has been seen (Amos 9:1, Deuteronomy 5:24); he lives in dazzling light (1 Timothy 6:15-16), but lives in darkness (l Kings 8:12)......
Another example of how the Christian God appears unable to make up his mind which naturally leads to problems for Christian belief is how the Old Testament portrays family life, i.e., being married with children, as God's goal for each human being, whereas in the New Testament, this no longer applies.
As far as Jesus' teaching about the 'sanctity' of marriage or even family life, the Gospels say virtually nothing concerning this. In the case of Jesus' teaching regarding divorce in Matt 19:3-12, Mark 10:2-12 and Luke 16:18 (John omits this passage), even this appears suspect. In Mark, Jesus speaks to his Jewish audience about a woman divorcing her husband (10:12), but no such thing was possible in first cent. Palestine and thereby indicates: (i)Mark was written in an area where a woman divorcing her husband was possible, e.g., Rome, and (ii)the author of Mark was ignorant of Palestinian/Jewish life and customs, and (iii)the author of Mark betrays the fact that he was not an eyewitness of the events about which he wrote. This of course conflicts with the Christian belief that the author of Mark is the John Mark mentioned in Acts 12:12. Matt's author omits Mark's statement about women divorcing their husbands as he realized the error.
While Mark also allows no reason for divorce (10:12), the author of Matt has Jesus saying that one reason was acceptable for divorce (i.e., unfaithfulness) in 19:9. Presumably by the time Matt was written, Christians (particularly Gentiles) were finding Jesus' instruction in Mark impossible to follow, so Matt's author introduced an escape clause.
One of the very few occasions when Jesus is said to refer or rather, allude to family life is when he lists some of the Ten Commandments to the man asking about acquiring eternal life, and repeats the commandment about honouring parents. This appears in Matt 19:16-22 where the enquirer is a young man. In Luke 18:18-23 he is a ruler, and in Mark 10:17-22 he is clearly not 'young' as he recalls his youth (10:20). In Mark, Jesus lists some of the Ten Commandments including 'Honour your parents', but he also lists 'Do not defraud' (10:19) as one of the Commandments: however, this is not one of the Ten Commandments (These are found in Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21): Matt (19:18) and Luke (18:20), correct Mark's error. This again is an example of how Mark's author could not have been a Jew or used the apostle Peter's recollections (as the church claims) as a Jew would at least know the Ten Commandments. Furthermore, it shows how Matt and Luke's authors freely changed Mark when they saw a mistake; thus, their compositions cannot be reliable accounts either.
There is also the factor that it is somewhat inappropriate for Jesus to preach about the honouring of parents when he also said, for example, people should hate their own family (Luke 14:26), and not bury relatives when they die (Matt 8:21-22): he also said his purpose was to break up families (Matt 10:34-36, Luke 12:51-53), and people should desert their family (resulting in a reward) (Luke 18:29-30). In fact Jesus refers to becoming 'eunuchs' for the sake of the kingdom (Matt 19:12) and Paul says it is preferable to be single (1 Cor 7:27,29,32-34,39-40): in Revelation, the redeemed are depicted as celibate males (Rev 14:4).
Another anomaly in traditional Christian preaching is that in raising a family, it is inevitable to have full-time employment, but this conflicts with the New Testament call to Christians to give up everything to preach the gospel. Christians invariably excuse having to work (rather than obeying the New Testament to give up everything in order to preach the gospel) because of their family commitments. But as we have seen above, the New Testament favours the single/celibate life in order that Christians can devote themselves full-time to the gospel.
Indeed, Jesus is reported as telling his disciples that they should take up their cross and follow him and 'he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me' (Matt 10:37-38). It is therefore difficult to see how Christians, who spend most of their time in secular employment in order to finance the raising of a family, etc., are complying with Jesus' supposed request. In reality they are not, as they obviously prefer earning a full-time salary to buy luxuries and material goods, pensions, investments, etc., etc., in order to provide and ensure a comfortable home for themselves and their children rather than 'picking up their cross' and going out into the world to preach (Matt 28:19).
As 'rich' and 'wealthy' in the New Testament would have meant anyone with money or assets beyond his daily need, the irony is that the vast majority of today's Christians, by New Testament standards, would be considered 'rich'. And yet the rich are the very people condemned in James (James 1:9-10, 5:1) and by the Gospel Jesus.
One naturally wonders how the life enjoyed by so many Christians particularly in the West, can be reconciled with Jesus' supposed command to his followers not to have wealth (Matt 5:42), to sell all they have and give this to the poor (Luke 12:22,32-33; see also Luke 14:33), and the instruction not to consider the future but only be concerned about the present (Matt 6:25-34): the very fact that virtually all Christians ignore this instruction indicates that they realize the foolishness of such a grossly irresponsible command.
Nonetheless, the statements attributed to Jesus are very straightforward:
"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures upon earth...but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven ...for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also." (Matt 6:19-21)But for nearly all Bible-believing Christians, such passages are conveniently 'reinterpreted' or deemed 'purely symbolic', i.e., wholly ignored so as not to upset the blatant and dishonest double-standards in which they so willingly participate and uphold. In desperation to avoid what these texts say, various wild claims are made: one such attempt argues that the texts only condemn the unspiritual behaviour sometimes created by wealth. But this is not what is stated at all; the texts clearly state that those with wealth or who are rich are destined for hell (and belief is apparently irrelevant to the matter).
"No one can serve two masters...You cannot serve God and mammon." (Matt 6:24)
The cares of the world and delight in riches destroys the word (Matt 13:22 and Mark 4:19).
The rich go to hell and the poor go to paradise (the story makes no mention of what either man believed, but only that the beggar went to paradise and the wealthy man to hell) (Luke 16:19-31).
"It will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (Matt 19:23-24)
"Blessed are you poor: for yours is the kingdom of God...But woe to you that are rich for you have received your consolation." (Luke 6:20,24).
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