Calling Perry Out (and any others who want to participate)

by OnTheWayOut 150 Replies latest members adult

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  OnTheWayOut

  Mindmelda, thanks for that contribution.

  I understand the stages that humans have gone through, the past cultures that seemed barbaric to us. I don't condone slavery, but I do not judge slaveowners for their fitting right in to the lifestyle at the time. I don't judge a soldier today for participating in the wars of politics. But I think the common thought among Bible-doubters and scoffers is that a book from God should show that God is above current culture. If rape (or genocide) is wrong, then God would not command/approve/encourage it. If the book indicates otherwise, it is a strong reason to believe that the book is not from God.
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  THE GLADIATOR

  garyneal You & PSacramento seem to have a sensible approach to these mind boggling ruminations and ponderances.

  As for Perry - he should keep quiet and let the Parrot talk!
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  tec

  However, I personally believe that God order the Israelites to wipe out the nations of Canaan, and that He was justified in doing so. - Sylvia

  Human sacrifice for one/ including child sacrifice to gods. If they were capable of that, then what else were they doing to the innocent among them? And keep in mind that all the things we're condemning the Israelites for doing in war (a few thousand barbaric years ago!) are no worse than the things these nations surrounding them did.

  Nor can we dismiss the customs of the people in that day - and while I take the info that Perry posted with a grain of salt, it still shows how we could easily have misunderstood many things about the time period.

  The Israelites also misunderstood and misapplied the law on many occasions. The prophets tell us this. Jesus tells us this - and then showed us what is expected of us. What was always expected of us, except that we were not willing.

  So no matter how long it took to get to that point - and could God have expected more from the Israelites than they were capable of giving? - we did get here. Now that we are capable of understanding and doing more, much more is expected of us. IMHO, judging people in the past by the standards of today is to be completely blind to the realities of the time they lived in.

  Tammy

  ...it reflects the culture and occasionally even somewhat civilizes it but it's not going to make it jump past a usual stage of cultural evolution.

  Ah... Mindmelda beat me to this.
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  snowbird

  But I think the common thought among Bible-doubters and scoffers is that a book from God should show that God is above current culture.

  He is above all cultures; that's why He told His people what they could or could not do in regard to warfare.

  Nonetheless, if circumstances called for it, He could throw down just as dirty as the enemies of His people.

  I admire and respect Him for that.

  Sylvia
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  THE GLADIATOR

  Nonetheless, if circumstances called for it, He could throw down just as dirty as the enemies of His people. I admire and respect Him for that.

  Ah! Snowbird - Sounds as though you would get on well with a gladiator!
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  misocup

  IF I believed for a moment that God ordered and was responsible for even half of ther atrocites commited in the OT, I would be the first to denounce God as the most horrid of things !

  PSacramento - Yet your God takes credit by leaving it in His "Holy" bible.
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  PSacramento

  If the book indicates otherwise, it is a strong reason to believe that the book is not from God.

  I think that there is strong reason NOT to take all the is written in the bible as a literal fact and to realize that MAN wrote it, inspiration or not, and that when things don't "add up" one must try to find why that is.

  If the OT prophets kept saying over and over how the Hebrews were going against the will of God and how God was unhappy with them, it does "reason" to think that many of the things that are attributed to God were doen so by scribes trying to justify what their people have done and in doing so, they were doing a disservice to God, whether they did it on purpose or not is another story.

  One can argue that they truly believed in what they were writing because it fit into their culture: "We won and did these things and God didn't stop us so he must be Ok with it and since all is Gods will then he must have willed this to happen".

  Liek I said, Free will and personal responsibility don't play very much in the OT, in their view (the writers) God is what makes people do and behave in these ways.
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  PSacramento

  PSacramento - Yet your God takes credit by leaving it in His "Holy" bible.

  Indeed, if I believed the bible to be infalliable and error free, it would be an issue for me, I don't.

  One can argue that, perhaps these things were left in there to see who would believe them, but I don't follow that view.

  The OT is the account of the Hebrew people and the views of their writers, some inspired, some not.

  The NT is an account of the life of Jesus and the beginnings of his church and christianity, written by writers inspired to write about what they saw, heard and read about.
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  snowbird

  Ah! Snowbird - Sounds as though you would get on well with a gladiator!

  Dealing with people according to their dealings is fair, just, and sensible.

  If you come around armed to the teeth, do you think I'm going to invite you in for teacakes and grape kool-aid?

  MindMelda, that rocked!

  Sylvia
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  OnTheWayOut

  Nonetheless, if circumstances called for it, He could throw down just as dirty as the enemies of His people.

  I admire and respect Him for that.

  Snowbird, I admire you for your honesty and for your convictions. You don't try to make the writings say something else. My quarrel is not with openminded people such as yourself. Thanks for contributing.