I've read the KJV and NIV Bible from end to end. It's remarkable that so many people who claim to have read the Bible can still retain any reverence for it, give it credibility, and not be disgusted / repelled by it. Perhaps the answer lays in the selectivity of what books of the bible they read, and which they ignore. Perhaps they prefer instead to see a kindley Magician-Man-god that does tricks and shows a kinder gentler, post therapy/rehab attitude ... while still retaining the ability to wantonly kill pigs, destroy fig trees, and steal donkeys.
In voicing this opinion I was taken to task by a fellow atheist:
“There's no point in being disgusted/repelled by the Bible. It portrays how we were more than two thousand years ago. The vengeful Old Testament God is how the primitive people of this time period would have imagined their deity.
Similarly, you can read The Iliad and observe how war and superstition were so predominant in the Greek world.” “Both The Iliad and the stories of the Bible were invented in an attempt to find meaning in a cruel, violent world.”
And he would be correct if the Bible were read by everyone as simply a reflection of an earlier civilization's thought processes and justifications. Then indeed the horrific acts can be viewed in the context of the times. Nothing more need be said
But that is far from the case with the Bible. The events depicted are attributed to a god who is still worshipped to this day. That god is credited in this scripture with establishing rules and instigating behaviors that by any reasonable interpretation are both cruel and counter productive to human development.
In voicing this opinion I was taken to task by a fellow atheist:
“There's no point in being disgusted/repelled by the Bible. It portrays how we were more than two thousand years ago. The vengeful Old Testament God is how the primitive people of this time period would have imagined their deity.
Similarly, you can read The Iliad and observe how war and superstition were so predominant in the Greek world.” “Both The Iliad and the stories of the Bible were invented in an attempt to find meaning in a cruel, violent world.”
And he would be correct if the Bible were read by everyone as simply a reflection of an earlier civilization's thought processes and justifications. Then indeed the horrific acts can be viewed in the context of the times. Nothing more need be said
But that is far from the case with the Bible. The events depicted are attributed to a god who is still worshipped to this day. That god is credited in this scripture with establishing rules and instigating behaviors that by any reasonable interpretation are both cruel and counter productive to human development.
When myth is assigned divine authority, by a god that is still worshipped and held in reverence today by millions of followers in spite of horrific wonton acts with which they credit it, acts that should be abhorrent to anyone with an objective perspective of humanity and morality; but instead is excused, apologized, rationalized and justified by the unthinking ... that is what makes it repellent and disgusting.
No one still worships Moloch who demanded live infant incineration (see picture above); nor the Greek pagan gods that chained men to rocks and sent birds of prey to eat their livers for eternity; nor the gods of the Aztecs and Mayans that thirsted for massive quantities of human blood, as many as twenty-thousand victims in a single day. If they still did, and if there were scripture for those religions, and if the modern day adherents praised those gods and that scripture and declared them good and just and worthy of respect -- I dare say every atheist, and every follower of the Abrahamic religions would be united in their repulsion and disgust for those religions' scriptures as well. Obscene would not be too strong a description.
No, there is "no point" in being disgusted / repelled by the Bible. There is no point to being saddend by "Old Yeller." There doesn’t have to be a point. Disgust and revulsion are emotions that the Bible envokes in me. Emotion doesn't need a point. It just is.
No, there is "no point" in being disgusted / repelled by the Bible. There is no point to being saddend by "Old Yeller." There doesn’t have to be a point. Disgust and revulsion are emotions that the Bible envokes in me. Emotion doesn't need a point. It just is.
I do not take the stories of any bible seriously and I haven't since childhood. Few of the stories are even interesting as story-telling or as literature. I take them about the same as any Steven King novel, which I don't care much for either.
ReplyDeleteIt is not the words from the books that is the bigger problem, it is organized religion and the insane interpretation of the books and the stupid rules that are followed (some from the books, others from nowhere) that bothers me.
I wouldn't even care about organized religion if its believers would practice it quietly and stop trying to force their ideas and rules on others.
I do want a kindly Magician-Man-god that does tricks and shows a kinder gentler, post therapy/rehab attitude! I also want him to be a woman and to care for every living thing on the planet. I think it's time for an animal activist God.
ReplyDeleteDo you think if I combed the Bible, I would find support for this god?
Sure, Andrea...
ReplyDeleteIf you comb the bible you can find support for any thing you want.
If you can't, just pick a verse and reinterpret it to mean what you want.
It's been working that way for almost 1700 years.
"It's not God I have a problem with, it's his fan-club!"
ReplyDeleteSelectiveness yes.
ReplyDeleteAs I continue to spread my satanic agenda of reason and logic upon my surroundings, such as getting upset and angry by Ezekiel 9:5-7
“Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children”.
Or those heartwarming lines from Isaiah 13:15-18
“Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes”. “They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children”
to name a few, I usually get two responses.
It is either shock or disbelief from the eternal ignorant Christian, or the second. “But you are taking it out of context.
The same goes for Muslims when I confront them with the Qur’anic verse (4:24) which tells the story of what happened when Mohammed sent a military expedition to Awtas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. The Muslims raped the town’s women in front of their captured husbands who would be executed after witnessing this.
It’s the same. Total denial, out of context, or a claim that pisses me off. It was voluntary from the women’s side.
And from this walking bags of manure we atheist are supposed to learn our moral conduct? I think not.
I don’t know how much this denial is based on ignorance or a true pure blooded lie, but a fleeting glance at the scriptures at hole will tell any honest person that something is really wrong.
I guess if you can’t see that, you would have no trouble accepting the earth’s age that is set to 6000 years by the very people who sleep tight clutching their book of genocidal murder, rape and mayhem.
Cool. Being a head injured chap, I saw how my sweetheart perished at 17; though her old house is an A frame ('anarchy' in the most passive sense), that doesn’t give me any right to diss God by being an atheist for we shall ALL perish. However, what works best for me is I think of how SHORT this life is and how LENGTHY eternity is where I can love forever; join me, please, for a celebration of our resurrection on my very own drawbridge in the Great Beyond? “It is impossible that anyone should not receive ALL that he has believed and hoped to obtain; it gives Me great pleasure when men hope great things from Me and I will always grant them more than they expect.” -God to Saint Gertrude --- Be at peace.
ReplyDeleteBrenden, that is quite an incoherent piece of random words placed together. Tell us when your condition improves.
ReplyDeleteBob...heheheh!!
ReplyDeleteBrenden,
Thanks for proving my point. I don't think I could have paid an atheist to make a parody of a theist as good as that.
So, brenden, please...do tell us..from a mind slave's perspective... exactly how do YOU reconcile the bloodletting and murder and all the horrors of the bible with a loving god who promises eternal life? Or haven't you read those parts?
Hello there. You might want to check out Douglas Rushkoff's book, Nothing Sacred, which posits that it was the intention of the writers of the Hebrew Bible to show what happens you do give up responsibility for your life to a Created Reality...if true, then, that would be pretty nifty -- that's why I am calling the Hebrew Bible one of the greatest Atheistic works of all time ;)
ReplyDeleteInanna,
ReplyDeleteHmmm..sounds like an interesting hypothesis. I'll look into "Nothing Sacred."
Thanks!