mikec (04/05/83)
"4. Committed to the impossible task of deriving a measure without a standard. Even as distance, weight, and time are based on unchanging standards, so must the measure of morality be based on an absolute. ..." Larry Bickford, like all fundamentalists, prefers an absolute morality to a relative one. Lets examine some of the morals that a god supposedly gave us in the Bible. Even the fundamentalists refuse to practice most of these anymore (loss of FAITH?). Just how "GOOD", "JUST", "KIND", "LOVING" and "MORAL" is this god? God is a being of terrific character ... cruel, vindictive, capricious, and unjust. Thomas Jefferson Exodus 12:29 God KILLS the first-born of every Egyptian family (even first-born cattle). This was a very common practice in primitive times. Check any book on mythology. Exodus 15:12..17 Moses sings a song saying God is WAR-LIKE. God the great bloody warrior. Exodus 21:2..6 God endorses SLAVERY and explains His law. Some other gods were against slavery. Which gods are the good ones? Exodus 21:7 God tells Moses that a man can SELL his daughter as a slave. Biblical morals in action. Exodus 21:17 God states that anyone who curses his father or mother must be KILLED. Who among you would kill your own children? Exodus 22:18 God states that any witch must be KILLED. The evidence for witchcraft is zero but God is always as ignorant as his followers. One wonders why God made witches in the first place? I personally know more than one fundamentalist who claims "if God says that witches must be killed, then, THEY MUST BE KILLED!" (yet they don't know just what constitutes a witch). Millions of innocent women and children have been butchered by the pious fanatics over the centuries because the Bible says so. I will provide evidence upon request. The list is very long and not for weak stomachs. Exodus 22:20 God claims that anyone appeasing any other gods will be utterly DISTROYED. So much for religious ecumenicism. Exodus 31:14..15 God says that anyone working on the sabbath must be KILLED. After all, he had to rest on the seventh day, so every else should too. Exodus 32:27 God tells Moses to KILL every man, his brother, his friend, and his neighbor. Biblical love? Leviticus 15:18 Sex is basically DIRTY. Why did God make sex? Leviticus 20:9 God states that anyone who curses his father or mother must be KILLED. See Exodus 21:17 above. Leviticus 20:10 God states that anyone committing adultery must be KILLED. Seems kind of extreme for any interaction between consenting adults. Leviticus 22:18..25 God demands animal SACRIFICES. The animal must be an unblemished male with undamaged testicles. Sacrifice is made by burning. This was very common in primitive times. See any book on mythology. Why do some people WANT to follow such asininity? Leviticus 24:16 God states that anyone committing blasphemy must be put to DEATH. God just can't stand any criticism (or is it his followers?). Leviticus 25:44..46 God sanctions SLAVERY and intends it to last FOREVER. This is very convenient for the Chosen People but bad for anyone else. Leviticus 27:28..29 God demands and receives human SACRIFICE. Extremely primitive. See mythology texts. Numbers 16:49 God KILLS 14,700 men who were mourning for their lost friends. Can't He stand the competition? Numbers 31:1..41 God DIRECTS and APPROVES murdering plunder. The National Catholic Almanac says that God is "... just, loving, merciful ..."; close? Numbers 31:17..18 God tells Moses to KILL all of the male children and to KILL all of the non-virgin women and to KEEP all of the virgin girls as SLAVES and concubines. Holy Butchery. Deuteronomy 13:6..10 God commands a man to KILL his brother, his son, his daughter, or his wife if any of them differ with him on religion. Religious tolerance? Talk about jealous! Deuteronomy 21:11..14 God tells Moses that a man may TAKE any captured woman as a wife and if he does not like her then he should let her go. Women were little more than property. So what's wrong with a little rape as long as God says it's allright. Note that some fundamentalist judges still let rapists off easy because "the Bible says so". Deuteronomy 21:18..21 A disobedient son must be stoned to DEATH by the city elders. Why is God always killing his children? Deuteronomy 22:20..21 God says that any bride who is not a virgin must be stoned to DEATH by the men of the city at the door of her fathers house. Proof of virginity is the bloodstained sheet. Note that God doesn't require a groom to be a virgin. Who made this law; some men or a god? Joshua 6:21 Gods people (with His help) utterly DESTROY all of a city. They KILL all men, women, children, oxen, sheep, and asses with swords. More Biblical love. Joshua 24:13 God BOASTS about giving the Jews property that they had not earned. If you have been Chosen then you need not "earn" anything. God will provide. Judges 11:30..39 Jephthan burns his only daughter to DEATH to keep a pact with God (human sacrifice). You don't break any contracts with God. 1 Samuel 15:2..3 God tells Samuel to utterly DESTROY Amalek. Kill every man, woman, child, baby, ox, sheep, camel, and ass. God has a real taste for blood of all kinds. 1 Samuel 18:27..28 With God's help David KILLS 200 men so that he can buy a wife with their foreskins. So this is why God made foreskins! Also for cutting off. (I escaped this one. Whew!) 2 Samuel 21:1..9 God DEMANDS and RECEIVES human sacrifice. Why is it that all those other "primitive religions" are founded on mere myths and the Christian Religion is not (even when virtually every miracle and god-like event recorded in the Bible can be found in far more ancient religious mythology)? 2 Samuel 24:15..17 God KILLS 70,000 men of Israel because David took a census. This is absolutely insane. 2 Samuel 24:1 claims that God TOLD David to take a censes. But then according to 1 Chronicles 21:1 Satan TOLD David to take a censes. Since this simply could not be a(nother) contradiction (Gods' word is inerrant, remember?) then God and Satan must be one and the same spook. 2 Kings 2:23..24 God sends two bears to SLAUGHTER 42 children. The blood of innocent children is the best. 2 Kings 15:16 One of God's kings (Menahem) KILLS all of the men of Tiphsah "and all of the women therein that were with child he RIPPED UP." Pregnant women get God's "special" treatment. 2 Chronicles 18:19..22 God advertises for a LIAR to be his messenger and puts a "lying spirit" in the messengers mouth. Now we know who the real author of lies is. Psalm 137 "Blessed be he that taketh thy children and THROWETH them against the stones." War in Biblical times was very primitive. Children were treated no differently than adults. The most common ways to murder children were to throw them on rocks from high places or to simply club them to death (the child killers did not want to dull their swords by killing mere children). If God "loves little children" like religionists claim, why are He and His followers such adept child killers? Note that this psalm is not among the top twenty sung in churches anymore. I wonder why? Proverbs 23:13..14 God commands us to BEAT our children. Ever wonder why some fundamentalists beat their children? God says so. Apparently, what is "Hell" for the child is "Heaven" for the parent (I am speaking as a victim). Isaiah 45:6..7 God claims that he is responsible for EVIL. Who would have guessed (by reading the Bible)? Lamentations 3:38 God is responsible for good and EVIL. But heavy on the evil and too light on the good. Amos 3:6 God is responsible for EVIL. There seems to be a trend here that even a "true believer" might spot. Matthew 10:34 Jesus says "Do NOT think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have NOT come to bring peace, but a SWORD." True believers claim that Jesus is the "prince of peace". God must have "revealed" this to them directly, since the Bible states quite the opposite. Matthew 10:35..36 Jesus says "For I have come to set a man AGAINST his father, and a daughter AGAINST her mother and a daughter-in-law AGAINST her mother-in-law; and a man's foes will be those of his own house-hold." Finally, a verified prophecy! Look at how many families have been broken up by Christianity. Matthew 19:12 Jesus APPROVES of self-castration "for the kingdom of heaven's sake". "The castrati (adult male sopranos) remained the musical glory and the moral shame of the papal choir till the ascension of Pope Leo XIII" (Ency. Britannica). Like foreskins, Testicles are for cutting off. Luke 12:49 Jesus has come to send FIRE on the earth. Just more peace through flames from one of the great spooks. Luke 12:51..53 Jesus says that he has NOT come to bring peace on earth "but rather division; ... father AGAINST son ... mother AGAINST daughter ... " and in-laws AGAINST in-laws. Yet the clergy continues to claim that Christ keeps families together. Luke 14:26 Jesus says that no man can be his disciple unless he HATES his father, mother, brothers, sisters, wife, children and his own life. Jesus taught love? Luke 18:29..30 Any man who LEAVES his family for God will be rewarded many times in this life and the next. There are many promises made in the Bible. Does anyone know of any that were kept? I know many that were not. I wonder what the "family" would say about this "wise promise"? Luke 20:35 Jesus says that to be worthy of resurrection, men should NOT marry. God sure does like virgins. The early Christians were against marriage but finally had to give in when the promised "second coming" failed so many times. Some fools are still waiting. Luke 22:36 Jesus tells his followers to sell their coats and BUY swords. Directly from the "Prince of Peace". Romans 3:7 LYING is not bad if it is done for God. Why do you think so many fraudulent miracles were perpetrated by the Christian Church? God says it's allright! (And yes, I am aware that "fraudulent miracles" is redundant. There is ZERO scientific evidence to support ANY miracles.) Romans 7:17..18 The human body is inherently BAD. One way to promote the "spiritual" (whatever that is) is to degrade the physical (known as reality). 1 Corinthians 7:1 Sex is basically BAD. Why did God "create" sex then? See Romans 7:17 above. 1 Corinthians 7:8..9 Sex is basically BAD. If you say some- thing enough times then it MUST be true. Never mind any evidence (thats physical). 1 Corinthians 11:8..9 Women are INFERIOR to men. If God were a woman and if She were as primitive and as hateful as the Christian spook, then, I think, the tables might be turned. 1 Corinthians 14:34..35 Women are NOT allowed to speak in church. If a woman wants to know something then she must ask her husband at home. What better way to keep women submissive than ignorance? Ephesians 5:22..24 Wives must be SUBMISSIVE to their husbands. You wouldn't guess that MEN wrote this one? Philippians 3:21 The human body is lowly or VILE. Doesn't it seem that God could have given us something "better" if He dislikes the current model? 2 Thessalonians 2:11 "God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a LIE." How does one tell God's "lies" from His "truths"? 1 Timothy 2:9..15 Women must NOT braid their hair or dress attractively. Women must learn in silence with submissiveness. NO woman can teach or have authority over any man. Fortunately, some women have the courage to recognize primitive male dominance (chauvinism) when they see it. For examples of COURAGE, try Ruth Hurmence Green, Anne Nicol Gaylor, Mary De Young and Susan B. Anthony. James 4:4 Anyone who is a friend of the world is God's ENEMY. God is very jealous. If you like the world then you are Hell-bound for sure. 1 Peter 3:1 Wives must be submissive to their husbands. How else could men dominate? See Ephesians 5:22 above. The above is a very SMALL sample of some of the less popular Biblical morals (supposedly) given to us by the Great Spook. An exhaustive list would fill a very large book. The inhumane treat- ment of women (or children) alone would fill several small books. Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and torturous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness, with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon, than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness, that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind; and, for my part, I sincerely detest it, as I detest everything that is cruel. Thomas Paine I couldn't have said it any better. Micheal D. Cranford Tektronix Teklabs