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Murder in the Bible
The act of murder is rampant in the Bible. In much of the Bible,
especially the Old Testament, there are laws that command that people be
killed for absurd reasons such as
working on the Sabbath,
being gay,
cursing your parents,
or
not being a virgin on your wedding night.
In addition to these crazy and immoral laws, there are plenty of examples of
God's irrationality by his direct killing of many people for reasons that
defy any rational explanation such as killing
children who make fun of bald people,
and the killing of a
man who tried to keep the ark of God from falling
during transport.
There are also countless examples of mass murders commanded by God,
including the murder of women, infants, and children.
The following passages are a very small percentage of the total passages
approving of murder in the Bible. They are divided here into three parts:
1)
Capital Punishment Crimes,
2)
God's Murders for Stupid Reasons,
3)
Murdering Children,
and 4)
Miscellaneous Murders.
This list is long, but it barely scratches the surface of all the murders
approved of in the Bible.
1) Capital Punishment Crimes:
Kill People Who Don't Listen to Priests
Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge or of the
priest who represents the LORD your God must be put to death. Such evil
must be purged from Israel. (Deuteronomy 17:12 NLT)
Kill Witches
You should not let a sorceress live. (Exodus 22:17 NAB)
Kill Homosexuals
"If a man lies with a male as with a women, both of them shall be put
to death for their abominable deed; they have forfeited their lives."
(Leviticus 20:13 NAB)
Kill Fortunetellers
A man or a woman who acts as a medium or fortuneteller shall be put
to death by stoning; they have no one but themselves to blame for their
death. (Leviticus 20:27 NAB)
Death for Hitting Dad
Whoever strikes his father or mother shall be put to death.
(Exodus 21:15 NAB)
Death for Cursing Parents
1) If one curses his father or mother, his lamp will go out at
the coming of darkness. (Proverbs 20:20 NAB)
2) All who curse their father or mother must be put to death. They
are guilty of a capital offense. (Leviticus 20:9 NLT)
Death for Adultery
If a man commits adultery with another man's wife, both the man and
the woman must be put to death. (Leviticus 20:10 NLT)
Death for Fornication
A priest's daughter who loses her honor by committing fornication and
thereby dishonors her father also, shall be burned to death. (Leviticus
21:9 NAB)
Death to Followers of Other Religions
Whoever sacrifices to any god, except the Lord alone, shall be
doomed. (Exodus 22:19 NAB)
Kill Nonbelievers
They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord, the God of their
fathers, with all their heart and soul; and everyone who would not seek the
Lord, the God of Israel, was to be put to death, whether small or great,
whether man or woman. (2 Chronicles 15:12-13 NAB)
Kill False Prophets
If a man still prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall say
to him, "You shall not live, because you have spoken a lie in the name of
the Lord." When he prophesies, his parents, father and mother, shall thrust
him through. (Zechariah 13:3 NAB)
Kill the Entire Town if One Person Worships Another God
Suppose you hear in one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you
that some worthless rabble among you have led their fellow citizens astray
by encouraging them to worship foreign gods. In such cases, you must
examine the facts carefully. If you find it is true and can prove that such
a detestable act has occurred among you, you must attack that town and
completely destroy all its inhabitants, as well as all the livestock. Then
you must pile all the plunder in the middle of the street and burn it. Put
the entire town to the torch as a burnt offering to the LORD your God. That
town must remain a ruin forever; it may never be rebuilt. Keep none of the
plunder that has been set apart for destruction. Then the LORD will turn
from his fierce anger and be merciful to you. He will have compassion on
you and make you a great nation, just as he solemnly promised your
ancestors. "The LORD your God will be merciful only if you obey him and
keep all the commands I am giving you today, doing what is pleasing to him."
(Deuteronomy 13:13-19 NLT)
Kill Women Who Are Not Virgins On Their Wedding Night
But if this charge is true (that she wasn't a virgin on her
wedding night), and evidence of the girls virginity is not found, they
shall bring the girl to the entrance of her fathers house and there her
townsman shall stone her to death, because she committed a crime against
Israel by her unchasteness in her father's house. Thus shall you purge the
evil from your midst. (Deuteronomy 22:20-21 NAB)
Kill Followers of Other Religions.
1) If your own full brother, or your son or daughter,
or your beloved wife, or you intimate friend, entices you secretly to serve
other gods, whom you and your fathers have not known, gods of any other
nations, near at hand or far away, from one end of the earth to the other:
do not yield to him or listen to him, nor look with pity upon him, to spare
or shield him, but kill him. Your hand shall be the first raised to slay
him; the rest of the people shall join in with you. You shall stone him to
death, because he sought to lead you astray from the Lord, your God, who
brought you out of the land of Egypt, that place of slavery. And all
Israel, hearing of this, shall fear and never do such evil as this in your
midst. (Deuteronomy 13:7-12 NAB)
2) Suppose a man or woman among you, in one of your towns that the
LORD your God is giving you, has done evil in the sight of the LORD your God
and has violated the covenant by serving other gods or by worshiping the
sun, the moon, or any of the forces of heaven, which I have strictly
forbidden. When you hear about it, investigate the matter thoroughly. If it
is true that this detestable thing has been done in Israel, then that man or
woman must be taken to the gates of the town and stoned to death.
(Deuteronomy 17:2-5 NLT)
Death for Blasphemy
One day a man who had an Israelite mother and an Egyptian father got
into a fight with one of the Israelite men. During the fight, this son of
an Israelite woman blasphemed the LORD's name. So the man was brought to
Moses for judgment. His mother's name was Shelomith. She was the daughter
of Dibri of the tribe of Dan. They put the man in custody until the LORD's
will in the matter should become clear. Then the LORD said to Moses, "Take
the blasphemer outside the camp, and tell all those who heard him to lay
their hands on his head. Then let the entire community stone him to death.
Say to the people of Israel: Those who blaspheme God will suffer the
consequences of their guilt and be punished. Anyone who blasphemes the
LORD's name must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any
Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the LORD's name will surely
die. (Leviticus 24:10-16 NLT)
Kill False Prophets
1) Suppose there are prophets among you, or those who have dreams
about the future, and they promise you signs or miracles, and the predicted
signs or miracles take place. If the prophets then say, 'Come, let us
worship the gods of foreign nations,' do not listen to them. The LORD your
God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul.
Serve only the LORD your God and fear him alone. Obey his commands, listen
to his voice, and cling to him. The false prophets or dreamers who try to
lead you astray must be put to death, for they encourage rebellion against
the LORD your God, who brought you out of slavery in the land of Egypt.
Since they try to keep you from following the LORD your God, you must
execute them to remove the evil from among you. (Deuteronomy 13:1-5
NLT)
2) But any prophet who claims to give a message from another god or
who falsely claims to speak for me must die.' You may wonder, 'How will we
know whether the prophecy is from the LORD or not?' If the prophet predicts
something in the LORD's name and it does not happen, the LORD did not give
the message. That prophet has spoken on his own and need not be feared.
(Deuteronomy 18:20-22 NLT)
Infidels and Gays Should Die
So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts
desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's
bodies. Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they
deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made
but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever. Amen. That is
why God abandoned them to their shameful desires. Even the women turned
against the natural way to have sex and instead indulged in sex with each
other. And the men, instead of having normal sexual relationships with
women, burned with lust for each other. Men did shameful things with other
men and, as a result, suffered within themselves the penalty they so richly
deserved. When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their
evil minds and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives
became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder,
fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers,
haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing
new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents. They refuse to
understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving. They
are fully aware of God's death penalty for those who do these things, yet
they go right ahead and do them anyway. And, worse yet, they encourage
others to do them, too. (Romans 1:24-32 NLT)
Kill Anyone who Approaches the Tabernacle
For the LORD had said to Moses, 'Exempt the tribe of Levi from the
census; do not include them when you count the rest of the Israelites. You
must put the Levites in charge of the Tabernacle of the Covenant, along with
its furnishings and equipment. They must carry the Tabernacle and its
equipment as you travel, and they must care for it and camp around it.
Whenever the Tabernacle is moved, the Levites will take it down and set it
up again. Anyone else who goes too near the Tabernacle will be executed.'
(Numbers 1:48-51 NLT)
Kill People for Working on the Sabbath
The LORD then gave these further instructions to Moses: 'Tell the
people of Israel to keep my Sabbath day, for the Sabbath is a sign of the
covenant between me and you forever. It helps you to remember that I am the
LORD, who makes you holy. Yes, keep the Sabbath day, for it is holy.
Anyone who desecrates it must die; anyone who works on that day will be cut
off from the community. Work six days only, but the seventh day must be a
day of total rest. I repeat: Because the LORD considers it a holy day,
anyone who works on the Sabbath must be put to death.' (Exodus 31:12-15
NLT)
2) God's Murders for Stupid Reasons:
Kill Brats
From there Elisha went up to Bethel. While he was on his way, some
small boys came out of the city and jeered at him. "Go up baldhead," they
shouted, "go up baldhead!" The prophet turned and saw them, and he cursed
them in the name of the Lord. Then two shebears came out of the woods and
tore forty two of the children to pieces. (2 Kings 2:23-24 NAB)
God Kills the Curious
And he smote of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they had looked into
the ark of Jehovah, he smote of the people seventy men, `and' fifty thousand
men; and the people mourned, because Jehovah had smitten the people with a
great slaughter. And the men of Beth-shemesh said, Who is able to stand
before Jehovah, this holy God? and to whom shall he go up from us?
(1Samuel 6:19-20 ASV)
Killed by a Lion
Meanwhile, the LORD instructed one of the group of prophets to say to
another man, "Strike me!" But the man refused to strike the prophet. Then
the prophet told him, "Because you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, a
lion will kill you as soon as you leave me." And sure enough, when he had
gone, a lion attacked and killed him. (1 Kings 20:35-36 NLT)
Killing the Good Samaritan
The ark of God was placed on a new cart and taken away from the house
of Abinadab on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab guided the cart,
with Ahio walking before it, while David and all the Israelites made merry
before the Lord with all their strength, with singing and with citharas,
harps, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.
When they came to the threshing floor of Nodan, Uzzah reached out his
hand to the ark of God to steady it, for the oxen were making it tip. But
the Lord was angry with Uzzah; God struck him on that spot, and he died
there before God.
(2 Samuel 6:3-7 NAB)
3) Murdering Children
Kill Sons of Sinners
Make ready to slaughter his sons for the guilt of their fathers; Lest
they rise and posses the earth, and fill the breadth of the world with
tyrants. (Isaiah 14:21 NAB)
God Will Kill Children
The glory of Israel will fly away like a bird, for your children will
die at birth or perish in the womb or never even be conceived. Even if your
children do survive to grow up, I will take them from you. It will be a
terrible day when I turn away and leave you alone. I have watched Israel
become as beautiful and pleasant as Tyre. But now Israel will bring out her
children to be slaughtered." O LORD, what should I request for your
people? I will ask for wombs that don't give birth and breasts that give no
milk. The LORD says, "All their wickedness began at Gilgal; there I began
to hate them. I will drive them from my land because of their evil
actions. I will love them no more because all their leaders are rebels.
The people of Israel are stricken. Their roots are dried up; they will bear
no more fruit. And if they give birth, I will slaughter their beloved
children." (Hosea 9:11-16 NLT)
Kill Men, Women, and Children
"Then I heard the LORD say to the other men, "Follow him through the
city and kill everyone whose forehead is not marked. Show no mercy; have no
pity! Kill them all – old and young, girls and women and little children.
But do not touch anyone with the mark. Begin your task right here at the
Temple." So they began by killing the seventy leaders. "Defile the
Temple!" the LORD commanded. "Fill its courtyards with the bodies of those
you kill! Go!" So they went throughout the city and did as they were
told." (Ezekiel 9:5-7 NLT)
God Kills all the First Born of Egypt
And at midnight the LORD killed all the firstborn sons in the land of
Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the
firstborn son of the captive in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their
livestock were killed. Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of
Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the
land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.
(Exodus 12:29-30 NLT)
Kill Old Men and Young Women
"You are my battle-ax and sword," says the LORD. "With you I will
shatter nations and destroy many kingdoms. With you I will shatter armies,
destroying the horse and rider, the chariot and charioteer. With you I will
shatter men and women, old people and children, young men and maidens. With
you I will shatter shepherds and flocks, farmers and oxen, captains and
rulers. "As you watch, I will repay Babylon and the people of Babylonia for
all the wrong they have done to my people in Jerusalem," says the LORD.
"Look, O mighty mountain, destroyer of the earth! I am your enemy," says
the LORD. "I will raise my fist against you, to roll you down from the
heights. When I am finished, you will be nothing but a heap of rubble. You
will be desolate forever. Even your stones will never again be used for
building. You will be completely wiped out," says the LORD. (Jeremiah
51:20-26)
(Note that after God promises the Israelites a victory against Babylon,
the Israelites actually get their butts kicked by them in the next chapter.
So much for an all-knowing and all-powerful God.)
God Will Kill the Children of Sinners
If even then you remain hostile toward me and refuse to obey, I will
inflict you with seven more disasters for your sins. I will release wild
animals that will kill your children and destroy your cattle, so your
numbers will dwindle and your roads will be deserted. (Leviticus
26:21-22 NLT)
More Rape and Baby Killing
Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their
little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their
homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I
will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will
buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with
arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no
compassion for the children. (Isaiah 13:15-18 NLT)
4) Miscellaneous Murders
More of Samson's Murders
(The Lord saves Sampson from standing trial for 30 murders and arson by
allowing him to kill 1000 more men.) When he reached Lehi, and the
Philistines came shouting to meet him, the spirit of the Lord came upon him:
the ropes around his arms become as flax that is consumed by fire and the
bonds melted away from his hands. Near him was the fresh jawbone of an ass;
he reached out, grasped it, and with it killed a thousand men. (Judges
15:14-15 NAB)
Peter Kills Two People
There was also a man named Ananias who, with his wife, Sapphira, sold
some property. He brought part of the money to the apostles, but he claimed
it was the full amount. His wife had agreed to this deception. Then Peter
said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart? You lied to the Holy
Spirit, and you kept some of the money for yourself. The property was yours
to sell or not sell, as you wished. And after selling it, the money was
yours to give away. How could you do a thing like this? You weren't lying
to us but to God." As soon as Ananias heard these words, he fell to the
floor and died. Everyone who heard about it was terrified. Then some young
men wrapped him in a sheet and took him out and buried him. About three
hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. Peter asked
her, "Was this the price you and your husband received for your land?"
"Yes," she replied, "that was the price." And Peter said, "How could the
two of you even think of doing a thing like this – conspiring together to
test the Spirit of the Lord? Just outside that door are the young men who
buried your husband, and they will carry you out, too." Instantly, she fell
to the floor and died. When the young men came in and saw that she was
dead, they carried her out and buried her beside her husband. Great fear
gripped the entire church and all others who heard what had happened.
(Acts 5:1-11 NLT)
Mass Murder
This is what the Lord of hosts has to say: 'I will punish what
Amalek did to Israel when he barred his way as he was coming up from Egypt.
Go, now, attack Amalek, and deal with him and all that he has under the
ban. Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants, oxen
and sheep, camels and asses.' (1 Samuel 15:2-3 NAB)
You Have to Kill
Cursed be he who does the Lords work remissly, cursed he who holds
back his sword from blood. (Jeremiah 48:10 NAB)
The Danites Kill the Next Town
But the territory of the Danites was too small for them; so the
Danites marched up and attacked Leshem, which they captured and put to the
sword. Once they had taken possession of Lesham, they renamed the
settlement after their ancestor Dan. (Joshua 19:47 NAB)
God Kills Some More
Then the LORD said to me, "Even if Moses and Samuel stood before me
pleading for these people, I wouldn't help them. Away with them! Get them
out of my sight! And if they say to you, 'But where can we go?' tell them,
'This is what the LORD says: Those who are destined for death, to death;
those who are destined for war, to war; those who are destined for famine,
to famine; those who are destined for captivity, to captivity.' "I will
send four kinds of destroyers against them," says the LORD. "I will send
the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, the vultures to devour, and the
wild animals to finish up what is left. Because of the wicked things
Manasseh son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem, I will make my
people an object of horror to all the kingdoms of the earth." (Jeremiah
15:1-4 NLT)
God Promises More Killing
I will make Mount Seir utterly desolate, killing off all who try to
escape and any who return. I will fill your mountains with the dead. Your
hills, your valleys, and your streams will be filled with people slaughtered
by the sword. I will make you desolate forever. Your cities will never be
rebuilt. Then you will know that I am the LORD. (Ezekiel 35:7-9 NLT)
The Angel of Death
My angel will go before you and bring you to the Amorites, Hittites,
Perizzites, Canaanites, Hivites, and Jebusites; and I will wipe them out.
(Exodus 23:23 NAB)
Destruction of Ai
Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Do not be afraid or discouraged. Take
the entire army and attack Ai, for I have given to you the king of Ai, his
people, his city, and his land. You will destroy them as you destroyed
Jericho and its king. But this time you may keep the captured goods and the
cattle for yourselves. Set an ambush behind the city." So Joshua and the
army of Israel set out to attack Ai. Joshua chose thirty thousand fighting
men and sent them out at night with these orders: "Hide in ambush close
behind the city and be ready for action. When our main army attacks, the
men of Ai will come out to fight as they did before, and we will run away
from them. We will let them chase us until they have all left the city. For
they will say, 'The Israelites are running away from us as they did
before.' Then you will jump up from your ambush and take possession of the
city, for the LORD your God will give it to you. Set the city on fire, as
the LORD has commanded. You have your orders." So they left that night and
lay in ambush between Bethel and the west side of Ai. But Joshua remained
among the people in the camp that night.
Early the next morning Joshua roused his men and started toward Ai,
accompanied by the leaders of Israel. They camped on the north side of Ai,
with a valley between them and the city. That night Joshua sent five
thousand men to lie in ambush between Bethel and Ai, on the west side of the
city. So they stationed the main army north of the city and the ambush west
of the city. Joshua himself spent that night in the valley. When the king
of Ai saw the Israelites across the valley, he and all his army hurriedly
went out early the next morning and attacked the Israelites at a place
overlooking the Jordan Valley. But he didn't realize there was an ambush
behind the city. Joshua and the Israelite army fled toward the wilderness
as though they were badly beaten, and all the men in the city were called
out to chase after them. In this way, they were lured away from the city.
There was not a man left in Ai or Bethel who did not chase after the
Israelites, and the city was left wide open.
Then the LORD said to Joshua, "Point your spear toward Ai, for I will
give you the city." Joshua did as he was commanded. As soon as Joshua gave
the signal, the men in ambush jumped up and poured into the city. They
quickly captured it and set it on fire. When the men of Ai looked behind
them, smoke from the city was filling the sky, and they had nowhere to go.
For the Israelites who had fled in the direction of the wilderness now
turned on their pursuers. When Joshua and the other Israelites saw that the
ambush had succeeded and that smoke was rising from the city, they turned
and attacked the men of Ai. Then the Israelites who were inside the city
came out and started killing the enemy from the rear. So the men of Ai were
caught in a trap, and all of them died. Not a single person survived or
escaped. Only the king of Ai was taken alive and brought to Joshua.
When the Israelite army finished killing all the men outside the city,
they went back and finished off everyone inside. So the entire population
of Ai was wiped out that day – twelve thousand in all. For Joshua kept
holding out his spear until everyone who had lived in Ai was completely
destroyed. Only the cattle and the treasures of the city were not
destroyed, for the Israelites kept these for themselves, as the LORD had
commanded Joshua. So Ai became a permanent mound of ruins, desolate to this
very day. Joshua hung the king of Ai on a tree and left him there until
evening. At sunset the Israelites took down the body and threw it in front
of the city gate. They piled a great heap of stones over him that can still
be seen today.
(Joshua 8:1-29 NLT)
Killing at Jericho
When the people heard the sound of the horns, they shouted as loud as
they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites
charged straight into the city from every side and captured it. They
completely destroyed everything in it – men and women, young and old,
cattle, sheep, donkeys – everything. (Joshua 6:20-21 NLT)
God Kills an Extended Family
"You have done more evil than all who lived before you. You have made
other gods and have made me furious with your gold calves. And since you
have turned your back on me, I will bring disaster on your dynasty and kill
all your sons, slave or free alike. I will burn up your royal dynasty as
one burns up trash until it is all gone. I, the LORD, vow that the members
of your family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die
in the field will be eaten by vultures.'" Then Ahijah said to Jeroboam's
wife, "Go on home, and when you enter the city, the child will die. All
Israel will mourn for him and bury him. He is the only member of your
family who will have a proper burial, for this child is the only good thing
that the LORD, the God of Israel, sees in the entire family of Jeroboam.
And the LORD will raise up a king over Israel who will destroy the family of
Jeroboam. This will happen today, even now! Then the LORD will shake
Israel like a reed whipped about in a stream. He will uproot the people of
Israel from this good land that he gave their ancestors and will scatter
them beyond the Euphrates River, for they have angered the LORD by
worshiping Asherah poles. He will abandon Israel because Jeroboam sinned
and made all of Israel sin along with him."
(1 Kings 14:9-16 NLT)
Mass Murder
The men of Israel withdrew through the territory of the Benjaminites,
putting to the sword the inhabitants of the city, the livestock, and all
they chanced upon. Moreover they destroyed by fire all the cities they came
upon. (Judges 20:48 NAB)
The Angel of Death
That night the angel of the Lord went forth and struck down one
hundred and eighty five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. Early the next
morning, there they were, all the corpuses of the dead. (2 Kings 19:35
NAB)
Kill Your Neighbors
(Moses) stood at the entrance to the camp and shouted, "All of you
who are on the LORD's side, come over here and join me." And all the Levites
came. He told them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Strap
on your swords! Go back and forth from one end of the camp to the other,
killing even your brothers, friends, and neighbors." The Levites obeyed
Moses, and about three thousand people died that day. Then Moses told the
Levites, "Today you have been ordained for the service of the LORD, for you
obeyed him even though it meant killing your own sons and brothers. Because
of this, he will now give you a great blessing." (Exodus 32:26-29 NLT)
Kill the Family of Sinners
And Joshua said to Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the
LORD God of Israel, and make confession to him; and tell me now what thou
hast done, hide it not from me. And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed
I have sinned against the LORD God of Israel, and thus and thus have I
done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two
hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then
I coveted them, and took them, and behold, they are hid in the earth in the
midst of my tent, and the silver under it." [Note that the sin is not
looting, but failing to give the loot to the treasury of the Lord.] "So
Joshua sent messengers, and they ran to the tent, and behold, it was hid in
his tent, and the silver under it. And they took them from the midst of the
tent, and brought them to Joshua, and to all the children of Israel, and
laid them out before the LORD. And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took
Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of
gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his
sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them to the
valley of Achor. And Joshua said, why hast thou troubled us? the LORD
shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and
burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. And they
raised over him a great heap of stones to this day. So the LORD turned from
the fierceness of his anger: wherefore the name of that place was called the
valley of Achor to this day. (Joshua 7:19-26 Webster's Bible)
Kill Followers of Other Religions
While the Israelites were camped at Acacia, some of the men defiled
themselves by sleeping with the local Moabite women. These women invited
them to attend sacrifices to their gods, and soon the Israelites were
feasting with them and worshiping the gods of Moab. Before long Israel was
joining in the worship of Baal of Peor, causing the LORD's anger to blaze
against his people. The LORD issued the following command to Moses: "Seize
all the ringleaders and execute them before the LORD in broad daylight, so
his fierce anger will turn away from the people of Israel." So Moses
ordered Israel's judges to execute everyone who had joined in worshiping
Baal of Peor. Just then one of the Israelite men brought a Midianite woman
into the camp, right before the eyes of Moses and all the people, as they
were weeping at the entrance of the Tabernacle. When Phinehas son of
Eleazar and grandson of Aaron the priest saw this, he jumped up and left the
assembly. Then he took a spear and rushed after the man into his tent.
Phinehas thrust the spear all the way through the man's body and into the
woman's stomach. So the plague against the Israelites was stopped, but not
before 24,000 people had died. (Numbers 25:1-9 NLT)
Murder
At the customary time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah the
prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, "O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your
servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. O LORD, answer
me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O LORD, are God and that
you have brought them back to yourself." Immediately the fire of the LORD
flashed down from heaven and burned up the young bull, the wood, the stones,
and the dust. It even licked up all the water in the ditch! And when the
people saw it, they fell on their faces and cried out, "The LORD is God!
The LORD is God!" Then Elijah commanded, "Seize all the prophets of Baal.
Don't let a single one escape!" So the people seized them all, and Elijah
took them down to the Kishon Valley and killed them there. (1 Kings
18:36-40 NLT)
Kill All of Babylon
"Go up, my warriors, against the land of Merathaim and against the
people of Pekod. Yes, march against Babylon, the land of rebels, a land that
I will judge! Pursue, kill, and completely destroy them, as I have
commanded you," says the LORD. "Let the battle cry be heard in the land, a
shout of great destruction". (Jeremiah 50:21-22 NLT)
Micah Kills a Whole Town
Then, with Micah's idols and his priest, the men of Dan came to the
town of Laish, whose people were peaceful and secure. They attacked and
killed all the people and burned the town to the ground. There was no one
to rescue the residents of the town, for they lived a great distance from
Sidon and had no allies nearby. This happened in the valley near
Beth-rehob.Then the people of the tribe of Dan rebuilt the town and lived
there. They renamed the town Dan after their ancestor, Israel's son, but it
had originally been called Laish. (Judges 18:27-29 NLT) (Note that God
approves of this slaughter in verse 6.)

           

Biblical Paraphilias & Sex Crimes
Posted by Dee in
Bizarre
on 01 7th, 2010 |
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I don’t know what is more bizarre, the fact that evangelism follows the
Bible in detail or the fact that a lot of Biblical detail features sordid
stories that include tales of incest, necrophlia and rape. This is the Bible
I’m talking about and a forensic researcher has written a paper about this
while researching a book.
I’m reading a paper from the Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine titled
‘References to Paraphilia and Sexual Crimes in the Bible’. Call it writer
research.Call it whatever you want, but it is really writer research. I was
actually researching something for a mystery story and became sidetracked by
the title in one of my searches.
Anywho, I agree with the paper’s author, a professor of forensic medicine.
He introduces his paper by saying that, “Few topics in the realm of human
behavior are more fascinating, exciting, or perhaps contentious and
controversial than sex.” Few can disagree with that statement. He also
defines paraphilias as being:
“characterized by arousal in response to sexual objects or situations not
part of normal arousal-activity patterns, and which may interfere with a
capacity for reciprocal, affectionate sexual activity.”
Incest isn’t considered a paraphilia, but is considered a crime, and the
Bible contains a lot of it! For example, Moses was conceived via an
incestuous union:
And Amram took him Joch’ebed his father’s sister to wife; and she bare him
Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and
thirty and seven years.
There is also Lot, he whose wife turns into a pillar of salt. After the
destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah by God, and this situation is ironic and,
well, contradictory to say the least, Lot is left with his two daughters and
the dilemma of repopulating. The onus seems to fall on the daughters (why
are women placed in these compromising situations?) to repopulate via …you
guessed it…sexual intercourse with their dad.
And Lot went up out of Zo’ar, and dwelt in the mountain, and his two
daughters with him; for he feared to dwell in Zo’ar:and he dwelt in a cave,
he and his two daughters. And the firstborn said unto the younger, Our
father is old, and there is not a man in the earth to come in unto us after
the manner of all the earth: come, let us make our father drink wine, and we
will lie with him, that we may preserve seed of our father.
So what do Lot’s daughter’s do? They ply him with alcohol. I’m not kidding!
And they made their father drink wine that night: and the firstborn went in,
and lay with her father; and he perceived not when she lay down, nor when
she arose. And it came to pass on the morrow, that the firstborn said unto
the younger, Behold, I lay yesternight with my father: let us make him drink
wine this night also; and go thou in, and lie with him, that we may preserve
seed of our father. And they made their father drink wine that night also:
and the younger arose, and lay with him; and he perceived not when she lay
down, nor when she arose. Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by
their father. And the firstborn bare a son, and called his name Moab: the
same is
the father of the Moabites unto this day. And the younger, she also bare a
son, and called his name Ben–am’mi: the same is the father of the children
of Ammon unto this day.
Notice how some Biblical names, like Ammon are similar to the names of
ancient Egyptian gods, like Amun? Anyway, that’s beside the point. What is
going on in the Bible? And children are encouraged to read the wretched
thing! I can think of more appealing things than having sex with a hundred
year old man. The Bible is contradictory, in that later references don’t
approve of incest, but it still doesn’t explain why it is approved of in
earlier references. The very first reference of incest in the Bible is that
which occurs via Adam and Eve, right through to their son Cain.
The Biblical rules of rape tend to make modern day Sharia Law female
friendly. No joke. According to the paper’s author Anil Aggrawal, “The Bible
clearly lays down the law of rape. If the woman who was raped was already
married, then the penalty was death. If she was unmarried, the ravisher must
pay 50 shekels of silver to her as
well as marry her. And if a man entice a maid that is not betrothed, and lie
with her, he shall surely endow her to be his wife. If her father utterly
refuse to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry of
virgins.”
Also, there appear to be shades of ’sadism and necrophilia’ in Salome’s
dance of the seven veils. The quick part of the story is that John the
Baptist didn’t approve of the impending marriage between Salome’s mother and
Herod Antipas (her uncle), because a relationship with a brother-in-law was
considered incestuous. Thus, John had to be silenced but they couldn’t kill
him openly because he was revered as a prophet. Moving along, Salome lived
with her mother and Herod, and during Herod’s birthday party, danced for
Herod – her stepdad and uncle. After the veils were gone, she was next to
nothing or almost nothing and Herod, in the presence of his guests, was so
thrilled that he promised to give her anything she wanted. Salome requested
John’s head on a plate and Herod was unable to reverse his oath, so complied
(I’m guessing he didn’t mind).
So there you have it, a quick tour of Biblical perversity. If you want to
read further and have access to journals online, you can read the journal
article below or email me for a copy.
Source:
Aggrawal, Anil. 2009. ‘References to the paraphilias and sexual crimes in
the Bible’. Journal of Forensic and Legal Medicine. 16. 109-114.
The Bible Unmasked
by Joseph Lewis
The Bible Unmasked
Table of Contents
Chapter XVIII.
Jesus and the Sinner.
Far be it from me to question the acquaintances and companions of a person
and least of all those of Jesus Christ. If Jesus chose to associate with
women of questionable virtue and chastity surely he had a perfect right to
do so. He is not the only one who has had such associates; but whether this
choice was of his own free will or of necessity I do not know. But I do know
this: Were I to write a story glorifying the prostitute; and accord to her
the same social privileges; and act towards her with the same dignity; and
place her upon the same level with virtuous women, there would rise a hue
and cry from the religious forces that I was advocating "free love" and
"undermining the foundation of the home"; and is it "spiritual
righteousness" to have in your home a book detailing the scenes between a
"woman of the street" -- a sinner, passionately displaying her attachment
for a man while he is receiving the hospitality of another person, because
this degrading scene is related in the Bible? As much as I sympathize with
the prostitute; as much as I will do all in my power to alleviate the
prejudice against her and help her to a worthy position in society, I
strenuously object to her public performance of displaying her affection for
Jesus as being fit material for the edification of our children.
Having in mind the adage that a person is known by the company he keeps, I
will proceed with the Biblical narrative of Jesus and the Sinner.
I quote the Gospel according to St. Luke, Chapter 7, Verses 36-38.
36. And one of the Pharisees desired him that he would eat with
him. And he went into the Pharisee's house, and sat down to
meat.
37. And, behold, a woman in the city, which was a sinner, when
she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisee's house,
brought a alabaster box of ointment,
38. And stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began
to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the
hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them
with the ointment. |
Let us for the moment put ourselves in the position in which we find Jesus.
What a compromising position it must have been to have a "sinner" (and the
inference is only too plain) follow you about, enter the house where you are
a guest, begin to inundate you with her tears, wash your feet and then wipe
them with her hair, then kiss them, and finally annoint you with perfumed
ointment! Mind you, after she had sprinkled his feet with tears and
smothered them with kisses, she dries them with the silken tresses of her
hair!
What more could any man receive? Surely the manifestation of a supreme love.
No wonder she followed him about and only awaited the opportunity to show in
an unmistakable manner her real affection for him.
What do you think of a man who allows a woman to do to him what this woman
did to Jesus? Don't you think he could have been just as appreciative of her
affection without this elaborate public display of washing, kissing, and
anointing? Can you imagine Jesus after the washing he got and the anointing
of the sweet-smelling ointment over him?
If Jesus did not object to artificial means of beautifying and making
himself smell sweetly, what objection, I pray, can there be against the
girls of to-day who devise means of artificially beautifying themselves?
Didn't Jesus favor it? Didn't he like it? Then why shouldn't girls practise
what Jesus himself was so much in favor of?
To those ministers who have so loudly denounced the girls of to-day and yet
hold Jesus up as a model for mankind, I say, be consistent, ye hypocritical
reformers. What was good enough for Jesus should certainly not be too vulgar
for the girls of to-day. However, I would not advise any of our girls of
to-day to do to the man they love what this woman did to Jesus. It is
unbecoming not only to womankind, but is a mark of degeneration in a man.
In order to continue consecutively with the story I will quote the
interpolated part between verses 38 to 44 of this chapter; for if these
verses were not interpolated by some smart translator, who knew the effect
this story would have upon thinking people, then they prove Jesus to have
been the supreme hypocrite and impostor.
The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 7, Verses 39-43.
39. Now when the Pharisee which had bidden him saw it, he
spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet,
would have known who and what manner of a woman this is
that toucheth him; for she is a sinner.
40. And Jesus answering said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to
say unto thee. And he saith, Master, say on.
41. There was a certain creditor which had two debtors: the one
owed him five hundred pence, and the other fifty.
42. And when they had nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them
both. Tell me therefore, which of them will love him most?
43. Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to whom
he forgave most. And he said unto him, Thou has rightly judged. |
This is pure camouflage, and does not in any way mitigate the nauseous
washing, drying, kissing and anointing.
The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 7, Verses 44-46.
44. And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou
this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gayest me no water
for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped
them with the hairs of her head.
45. Thou gayest me no kiss: but this woman, since the time I
came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
46. My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath
anointed my feet with ointment. |
Monumental conceit and the currying of favors from "women of the street" are
attributes of the hero of Christianity upon which the leaders of this creed
have failed to enlighten us. The insolence of Jesus in telling the man who
had invited him to his home to partake of a meal with him, that this woman
-- this sinner, mind you -- had washed his feet and wiped them with her hair
and kissed and anointed them in the bargain, while he, his host, was guilty
of such neglect, is without parallel.
Why, if I were Simon, I would have told Jesus that the function of washing
one's feet is a personal task, and that if there were any woman of the
street desirous of doing this service for him she should do it elsewhere.
Simon would have been perfectly justified in making such a rejoinder.
And now for the climax of the episode.
The Gospel According to St. Luke, Chapter 7, Verses 47-48.
47. Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are
forgiven: for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven,
the same loveth little.
48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven. |
Let me repeat the last line of the above quotation. "And he said unto her,
Thy sins are forgiven." Now who wouldn't have forgiven her her sins for what
she had done? Certainly she earned forgiveness. And the man would have been
an ingrate had he not forgiven her. I would have forgiven the woman without
the ministrations with which she attended Jesus.
It may be of interest to the reader to know that the Gospel according to St.
Matthew records this scene somewhat differently. In the Gospel of St.
Matthew it says that while Jesus was at meat with Simon, this woman of the
street poured sweet-smelling ointment on his head, and the other
guests objected to this lavish expenditure, because the ointment could be
sold and the money given to the poor; which I think was a very sensible and
commendable thought. To this proposal Jesus magnanimously replied: "Why
trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. For ye have
the poor always with you; but me ye have not always." I want this distinctly
understood that it was the Son of God who was speaking!
Chapter XIX.
Conclusion.
As we concluded our review of the Old Testament while there still remained
additional matter that was fit subject for our investigation; so we find the
same condition prevailing in the New Testament. Enough subject matter still
remains to be exposed; but were I to relate in detail all the vulgar sayings
and repeat the indelicate expressions, I fear my task would never end.
Again I must say, the best evidence of the Bible's unworthiness lies in the
Bible itself. To read it is sufficient to condemn it.
It is a tragedy to think that there are millions of people actually
worshipping the Bible when the book is not fit even to receive their
respect. I say this is a tragedy, because it shows the fearful ignorance and
still more fearful superstition of a great portion of the living world, in
an age of such marvelous scientific achievements and progress. Is it any
wonder that the morality of mankind has not reached the heights man has
achieved in other realms when we have such a spectacle as the following
advertisement, "paid for by a native Pittsburgh Catholic business man who
believes in his religion," which appeared in the New York Times,
October 22, 1925?
Catholics Love the Bible
The Catholic Church cherishes the Bible. ALL OF IT. She believes
the Bible to be the Word of God -- not a mere human document.
She believes the Bible contains no errors. Catholics reverence
the Bible so much that they rise and stand when it is read and
KISS IT DEVOUTLY after reading it. |
Ridicule or sympathy should be meted out to those who still accept the Bible
as divine truth, when they have at their disposal the accumulated knowledge
of the ages -- knowledge which not only proves the Bible to be false in
every department in which it claims authority, but distinctly pernicious in
its influence as well. If a man chooses to "kiss devoutly" the Bible,
I pray that he will not force this humiliation upon his children.
We can only conclude that those who still accept the Bible as the infallible
Word of God are so sadly deluded by superstition and fear that they haven't
the courage and mental strength to throw off this paralyzing poison. But no
matter for what cause, the time has come when such people should no longer
be able to dictate to others in the intellectual and moral spheres of man.
If there were a real Bible for the human race, that book would contain all
that this so-called Bible does not contain. The real Bible would
begin with the alphabet and the multiplication table and contain every law
and principle of nature. We would constantly consult its pages to determine
our proper course through life. It would be our Guide and Enlightener. It
would be the Text-book of our Existence; the Dictionary of our acts.
One thing is certain and beyond the peradventure of a doubt, and that is
this: The real Bible would not contain the immoral stories that make up the
major part of this fraudulent one. Why, Satan, if he existed, would loudly
protest the charge that he was the author of such a shameful and degrading
book as now bears the title of "Holy Scriptures." And mark this: In no other
volume would this vulgar insult to the human race be tolerated.
Abraham Lincoln used the expression of "sinners calling the righteous to
repentance"; and do we need a better illustration of the truth of it than in
the statement of the Reverend George Elliott, editor of the "Methodist
Review," a minister of the church and an advocate of the Bible's teachings,
when he says in a protest against the books of to-day that "never in the
history of American literature has it been so soiled by the stink of sex."[14]
Is it possible that the Reverend George Elliott has never read the Bible? Or
is he like the little boy who was asked if he knew what was in the Bible and
who replied, "Oh! yes; I know everything that's in it. Sister's young man's
photo is in it, and ma's recipe for face cream, an' a lock of my hair cut
off when I was a baby, an' the ticket for Pa's watch."
Where can you find another volume, Reverend George Elliott, that contains as
many "sex stories" as does the Bible? If the story of "Lot and His
Daughters" -- where a father is made drunk so his two virgin daughters may
effect an incestuous union with him; and the story of "Tamar and her
father-in-law Judah" -- where a daughter-in-law is with "child by whoredom"
by her father-in-law; and the story of the "Rape of Tamar By Her Brother
Amnon" -- a story where a loving and dutiful sister is outrageously ravished
by her brother; if the adulterous episodes of David; the seduction of Mary,
and the unfaithfulness of her cousin Elisabeth, do not "stink of sex," then
pray what name would you give to their foul odor?
The time has come when the Bible must be stripped of all its false halos and
be measured for what it actually is; and I make this prediction: when the
Bible is considered in its true light, it will be relegated to a position of
utter disrespect -- without foundation, not alone in fact, but in decency as
well. For a clergyman to call the stories of other books obscene when he
recommends the Bible, is like "the pot calling the kettle black." Instead of
boasting of their connection with and support of the Bible, they should
rightly hang their heads in shame.
On another occasion the Reverend Ralph W. Kohr,[15]
writing to the editor and publisher of a popular magazine, had this to say
concerning the stories it published.
"...is a dirty and suggestive publication coming pretty close to
abuse of the legal use of the U.S. mails. It plays up the sexual
passions and depicts the decadent and salacious tendencies in
modern life. So far I suppose it is true to life, but life on
its lower and baser side. It is destructive and subversive of
what good remains in modern society, and helps give the car of
modern civilization a further push down the road to ruin.
"I am thankful that there are a number of publishers in our fair
land who would not be guilty of putting such a magazine on the
market. As a man, and one who may consider himself a gentleman,
I think the whole tone and moral influence of the publication is
unworthy of you or any honorable person. Would you want your
high-school daughter, if you have one, to read such trash?
"Burn the stuff and start a paper that has an ideal and is not
lower even than the low average of many modern homes. Papers
should not merely reflect life as it is, the petty and wicked
phases of it, but should be constructive, helpful. Surely a
publisher has a duty to society and a responsibility for the
influence of the stories he permits to get into print. The
tendency is downward, but that is no reason why it should be
accelerated by exploitation."
(Signed) Ralph W. Kohr. |
More appropriate language, or a more truthful statement could not be made in
characterizing the stories of the Bible, than the above letter, sent by the
Reverend Ralph W. Kohr, to the editor of the magazine in question. Could
there be "dirtier" and more suggestive stories than the ones we have just
reproduced from the Bible? And could there be stories which come closer to
the "abuse of the legal use of the United States mails?"
Have you ever read stories which played up the sexual passions and depicted
the "salacious tendencies of life" better than the narratives we have just
taken from the Bible? The stories we have quoted from the Bible "may be true
to life," but surely "life on its lower and baser side." If such stories are
"destructive and subversive of modern society and help give the car of
modern civilization a further push down the road to ruin," then I cry that
the Bible is the most destructive and subversive influence of modern
civilization.
Lucky indeed are we that there are in this fair land of ours publishers who
have not taken inspiration from the Bible in the kind of stories they supply
to the public. Lucky, indeed, are we! And I wonder if the Bible, as
clergymen are so boastful in maintaining, is the "best seller" because of
its stories.
And if the Reverend Ralph W. Kohr considers himself a gentleman, then I
consider the "whole tone and moral influence" of the Bible unworthy the
support of any "honorable person." The Reverend Ralph W. Kohr asks this
question and I use the same words in reference to the Bible: "Would you want
your high-school daughter, if you have one, to read such trash?" Would you
want your daughter, Reverend Ralph W. Kohr, if you have one, to read such
trash as "Isaac and His Wife Rebekah," "The Rape of Dinah," "The Story of
Esther," "Joseph and Potiphar's Wife," "Mary, Joseph and the 'Holy Ghost,'"
"Elisabeth, Zacharias and Angel Gabriel" or any one of the salacious
narratives from "Abram and Sarai" to "Jesus and the Sinner"?
If such literature as this is being blindly and madly circulated, then is it
not time that some one who is not blind and some one who is not mad cry
"Halt" to the further corruption of our children by the Bible? Or has the
prophetic utterance of Shakespeare
"O, Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts
And men have lost their reason" |
come to pass?
Is the Bible the book our daughter should read to become familiar with the
Prince Charming of Life, that subtle magic that gives life a little bloom
and a little sweetness? Should she read the Bible so as to fashion her life
upon the acts of Sarai, or Potiphar's Wife, or Esther, or Mary, or
Elisabeth? Should she read the Bible in the expectation that her lover,
husband and life's companion should possess the "sterling" character of an
Abraham, Isaac or a David?
If we give a child a book and tell that child in that book will be found
"the key to happiness and duty," can we honestly and rightfully punish that
child if he should follow the examples and precepts that the book contains?
If the Government sanctions the Bible, by giving exemption of taxation to
the institutions that expound it, what a paradox it is to penalize those who
are guilty of the very crimes which in the leaders of the Bible are
condoned! Surely if David was pardoned by God for the crimes he committed,
and we are told that David "was a man after God's own heart," should we not
pardon those guilty of the same crimes that David committed? And what
hypocrisy it is on the part of our Government to have the Bible in our
courts of law for the culprit to take his oath upon and then be tried for
the very crimes which the Bible itself sanctions. Is the blindness of the
Statue of Justice to be taken as literally true -- because this travesty and
parody of justice continues day after day?
Could there be a more ludicrous situation than this? Recently I attended the
court session of a man being tried for rape. In taking the stand in his own
behalf the man was given the Bible to place his hand upon and made to take
an oath "that he would tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the
truth, so help me God," and yet in that very Bible is recorded one of the
most heartrending cases of rape known to man!
Since we are instructed to read the Bible for our "key to happiness and
duty," is it not reasonable to suppose that the reading of the Bible
prompted this act of rape? And is it not also reasonable to suppose that
ministers of the gospel, whose profession has supplied perpetrators of every
crime on the calendar, from petty larceny and disorderly conduct to rape and
murder, are prompted in their acts by the reading of the Bible? Shades of
Father Hans Schmidt and Pastor Richardson!
And my reasonableness to suppose this, comes from the fact that the greatest
number of inmates in our penal institutions are those who have received
Biblical instruction. So great an authority as Havelock Ellis, in his
masterful book, "The Criminal"[16]
makes this statement: "In all countries religion, or superstition, is
closely related to crime."
And why should it be otherwise, when it is not our relation to our
fellow-men that will save our "souls" but "by grace are ye saved thru faith;
and that not of ourselves."[17]
And "without shedding of blood is no emission."[18]
And "He that believeth and is baptised shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned."[19]
Do we need a better illustration of religious homicidal mania, induced by
Bible reading, than the case reported in the New York Times, November
28, 1924:
Crazed by Religion, Maid With
Axe Kills One and Gashes Two.
This was the case of a woman who brutally killed her employer, fatally
injured his wife, and wounded their daughter, who attempted to intercede in
their behalf. When arrested for the crime and subjected to examination by
the police, the woman said, "Why should I be sorry when the Lord told me
to do it?" But a few months before this horrible crime the world was
appalled and shocked by the burning to death of three members of a man's
family because of his delusion that the "Holy Ghost" had whispered to him
that only "through fire" could he purge his soul of sin. And let us not
forget the brutal murder of a crippled father by a mother and daughter, who,
after listening to a revivalist at a Bible meeting, "heard the voice of
God," went to their home, and murdered the old man while he lay helpless in
bed.
Let me recall a case as reported in the New York Times of April 27,
1922. John Cornyn, of San Francisco, shot and killed his two boys, one seven
and the other eight, because, according to the police, he had been in
"communication" with his wife who had been dead a year and she had asked him
to "send all of her five children to her."[20]
It is not generally known that Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President
Garfield, was a devout religious believer, and was engaged in writing a
book, entitled, "The Truth a Companion to the Bible," when he was inspired
by God to commit this dastardly crime against the Republic by the murder of
the President.[21]
And in the New York American, August 20, 1925, appears this tragic
item:
Kills Her Baby in Crib at
Angel's Call
Amityville Woman Stabs Sleeping Infant
with Table Knife to "Send
It To Heaven."
Did the reading of the story of the sacrifice of Isaac by his father Abraham
prompt this poor deluded woman to murder her child?
And yet we have certain judges, suspending sentences upon culprits only upon
condition that they attend church and read the Bible! I could cite instances
of this kind to fill an entire volume, but merely refer you to the daily
newspapers to supply this information. And now, if you will, let me quote an
item which shows the "direful" result of those who "have no religion" and
are minus "that great consolation that comes from a belief in the saving
grace of Christ."
I quote from the New York Evening Mail of November 16, 1921:
There are two institutions that Walcott, Iowa, the richest town
per capita in Iowa, prides itself in not possessing. These are
churches and jails. In its religious beliefs, Walcott is unique.
For more than fifty years the town has been without a church. It
once had a jail, but like its only church, established
sixty-five years ago and which existed but a few years, it was
put in the discard. While the jail building stands, there is no
vestige of a church edifice. But there are no locks to the jail,
and the hinges have rotted off. "We are freethinkers and believe
in free American citizenship seven days a week. We do not need
preachers to dictate to us. We are better off without them,"
states Mayor Strohbeen, in expressing Walcott's lack of
churches. "We are getting along very well as we are -- much
better than with churches. We like to be let alone. There is no
more peaceful or law-abiding town in the United States than
Walcott. Why should we want churches? They bring strife and
dissension -- we want peace and quietude," commented the town's
popular mayor. In a business and commercial way Walcott is a
thriving town. It has two banks with combined deposits of
$1,500,000. This is a remarkable showing when it is considered
that the population of the town is but 384. It has a
consolidated school -- second to none in this part of the state.
Recently the citizens erected a fine auditorium. There
Chautauquas and musical entertainments are held on week days and
dances on Sundays. |
Since the appearance of this item in the newspapers, I am informed that the
religious forces of nearby towns have contributed enough money to erect a
church. The building of the jail will have to be done at the town's expense.
But let us get back to our subject and the Reverend Ralph W. Kohr, while I
tell him that not only are the Bible's stories unfit to be read by our
daughters, but I will go a step farther and say, that the children sent to
Sunday School to have the Bible expounded to them and to be inculcated with
a reverence for it as being the Word of God are being tainted with utter
stupidity and degrading superstition.
If the Bible contained only the trash that the Reverend in his letter to the
editor said that his magazine contained, then the Bible would be only as
"trashy" as that magazine; but as it is, the Bible contains matter a
thousand times more harmful and pernicious. One thing is certain, this
editor does not claim that the stories appearing in his magazine are touched
by divine inspiration.
If corruption in one instance is punishable by law, then contamination by
any other method should meet the same penalty. If bastardy, adultery,
prostitution, rape, and incest are unfit subjects for our children, the
title of "Holy Bible" upon the covers of a book, cannot, magic-like,
transform these immoralities into cultural virtues!
And the following letter written by Mark Twain, in answer to a protest of a
young woman superintendent in the Children's Department of the Brooklyn
Public Library, who charged that "Tom Sawyer" and "Huckleberry Finn" were
corrupting the morals of the children, is indeed pertinent.[22]
"I am greatly troubled by what you say. I wrote Tom Sawyer and
Huck Finn for adults exclusively, and it always distresses me
when I find that boys and girls have been allowed access to
them. The mind that becomes soiled in youth can never again be
washed clean; I know this by my own experience, and to this day
I cherish an unappeasable bitterness against the unfaithful
guardians of my young life, who not only permitted but compelled
me to read an unexpurgated Bible through before I was 15 years
old. None can do that and ever draw a clean, sweet breath again
this side of the grave. Ask that young lady -- she will tell you
so.
"Most honestly do I wish I could say a softening word or two in
defense of Huck's character, since you wish it, but really in my
opinion it is no better than those of Solomon, David, Satan, and
the rest of the sacred brotherhood.
"If there is an unexpurgated [Bible] in the Children's
Department, won't you please help that young woman remove Huck
and Tom from that questionable companionship?" |
"Burn the stuff and start a paper that has an ideal and is not lower even
than the low average of many modern homes," cries the Reverend Mr. Kohr. I
do not say "burn the Bible." I am not as bigoted as the Reverend Ralph W.
Kohr about those things which I do not accept. I say preserve the
Bible. Preserve it for the sake of exposure. Hold it high and flaunt it
before all the people that its true worth may be known. Spread it far and
wide, only do not contaminate our children with its contagiously vile pages.
And again I make this prediction: When the Bible is once read and understood
like other books, it will be rejected and discarded as being unfit and
unworthy the attention and respect of man.
There is no home in America whose "low average" is lower than the morality
found in the Bible. No home in America, no home in this great Republic of
ours, should permit its sacred confines to be polluted by the presence of
the Holy Scriptures.
And what right has the Reverend Ralph W. Kohr to refer to "even the low
average of many modern homes," when he is engaged in the distribution of the
very book that may be responsible for the reduction of many modern homes to
the low level of which he speaks? I dare say that if a modern volume were to
be found in any home, containing the demoralizing stories that the Bible
contains, the Reverend Ralph w. Kohr would become livid with rage and
expostulate upon such a brazen disregard of modesty and the contamination of
our lives with the "decadent and the salacious" element of life.
Do not burn any book.
The greatest destroyer of falsehood is truth. Although truth at times
appears lazy and apathetic it will eventually triumph. The searchlight of
truth will burn falsehood with a fiercer intensity of destruction than the
heat from the phosphorus flame.
Remember it is only in comparatively recent times that the glorious public
schools were instituted to teach the people to read. And it will not be long
before the believer in the Bible will be the exception rather than the rule.
"Papers (books) should not merely reflect life as it is, the petty and
wicked phases of it, but should be constructive, helpful." If the Reverend
Ralph W. Kohr is an honest man, and these are his honest sentiments, then
how is it possible for him to be a minister of the Bible? How can he be
honest, and at the same time preach from the book which contains the stories
we have recorded?
Does he call the recording of such phases of life "constructive and
helpful," or are they more truthfully, "the petty and wicked part of it"? I
am sure I do not need to explain their reflections of the pettiness and
wickedness of life. Your own conscience tells you that! If as he
says, "a publisher has a duty to society and a responsibility for the
influence of the stories he permits to get into print," then surely the
printers of the Bible are guilty of a monumental crime. And every man
connected with its distribution and dissemination is equally guilty.
And if the tendency and impulse of life is downward, as he says, certainly
"there is no reason why it should be accelerated by exploitation."
And now I ask you this pertinent question, Reverend Ralph W. Kohr, and
all clergymen and ministers of religion: What right have you to
exploit the Bible and prey upon the ignorant and credulous, when you know,
measured for what it actually is, the Bible, as far as its stories are
concerned, is not entitled to the respect of Man?
What right have you to exploit the Bible as the Word of God and wear the
sanctimonious livery of a man of God, when the Bible has been shown to
contain the most foul, repulsive, disgusting, licentious, repugnant,
indecent, lascivious, wicked and corrupting episodes capable of performance
by the vilest of beings? It is not necessary for me to tell you how vile and
degrading is this so-called "Book of God." It is only too plainly evident to
those who read it. Its stories, in their brazen disregard of modesty, prove
my contention that they pollute the very pages upon which they are written.
No greater fraud has been committed than to exploit the ignorant and the
superstitious under the sanction that the Bible is the divinely inspired
word of God and that "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him, should not perish, but have
everlasting life."[23]
Until recently, I was told, the custom prevailing at the inauguration of
some of our governors and Presidents, after the oath of office had been
administered, was for the elected official to open the Bible and kiss a
verse at random. The official would then mark the verse which he had kissed
and give it to the press representatives to broadcast to the people.
This custom in part, however, has now been abandoned, for it is said that on
one occasion the elected official kissed one of the verses of the Bible
which, when marked and read, was discovered to be absolutely and positively
filthy.
If an elected official now chooses to kiss the Bible at his inauguration (or
her inauguration as in the case of "Ma" Ferguson of Texas, or Mrs. Nellie
Ross of Wyoming) he either kisses the cover of the Bible, or a verse
selected beforehand. In some cases a verse is merely indicated by placing a
finger upon it.[24]
It is certainly an anomaly and an incongruity that there are verses in the
Bible which cannot be mentioned separately and which are so grossly vile
that extreme caution must be exercised so as to prevent their becoming
public.
The sanction of the Bible in our Courts of Law, where a person is almost
actually made to take an oath upon it before he is permitted to testify, is
a travesty of justice.
The Bible itself, as a book of revealed truth, is a monumental lie!
Judges are continually complaining of the perjury of witnesses, and lawyers
know only too well its prevalence. The oath, taken on the Bible, as now
administered, is nothing but a formality. It has absolutely no restraining
influence. The honest man will tell the truth irrespective of his oath upon
the Bible, and the thief will lie, his oath upon the Bible notwithstanding.
The religious conviction of a person does not prevent him from violating his
oath, nor does the unbelief of a person hinder him from performing his
sacred duty to the fullest measure of integrity.
There is a case on record where a man was actually fined for sending a verse
of the Bible openly through the mail! Just think of it. There are verses in
the Bible which are too indecent to enjoy the privileges of the United
States mail! -- verses which a Federal Court has officially condemned as
being vile and vulgar, and in violation of the obscenity law.[25]
(I call the attention of the Rev. Ralph W. Kohr to this situation.)
Is it possible? Is it really possible, that there are passages in the Bible
which cannot be sent openly through the mail? Is it possible that God (and
the religious elect solemnly swear that he wrote every word of the Bible)
used obscene language in imparting his sacred knowledge to the world?
If this is true, and the records prove it to be true, this alone should
be sufficient to condemn the Bible as a cultural book and destroy utterly
the thought that it is the inspired word of God.
I could give the names of literally thousands of books that contain the very
highest moral precepts which any one could open at any page and read any
line and not have the slightest fear of shocking the tenderest sensibilities
of a child.
And then again, why not use the Declaration of Independence, or more
properly the Constitution of the United States, in the ceremony of inducting
our officials into office? To swear upon the Bible allegiance to uphold the
Constitution is a paradox, for the system of government as advocated in the
Bible is the antithesis of our Republic, and the social order which it
maintains is the direct contrary of the ideals of this great Democracy.
In some states, particularly in New York, where the Bible is permitted to be
read in the public schools, the provision granting this privilege is
generally stipulated in words to the effect: that upon the opening of
school, a verse from the Bible, may be read "without note or comment."
Judging from the stipulation which is incorporated in the charters of the
Boards of Education, it would appear that any verse in the Bible could be
selected and read and that the one doing so would be performing his full
duty. But nothing could be further from the truth. If any one dared to read
some of the verses in the Bible, "without note or comment," he would be
expelled from the school for grossly insulting the pupils.
It is amazing to me that so many people are ignorant of what the Bible
actually contains. And it is still more amazing to me that educators,
knowing what the Bible contains (for surely they know as much about the
Bible as I do), permit this outrageous performance of reading the Bible to
our public school children, to continue day after day. As educators, it is
their duty to protest against this insult to the intelligence of the people
and to the educational system of this country. To permit the Bible to be
read daily to our public school children and to impress upon their tender
minds a reverence for it as the infallible word of God, is to me not only a
dereliction of duty which should be censured in the severest of terms, but
is positively criminal. As I wish to avoid any interference with the
distribution of my book I will refrain from quoting those verses which the
Court has condemned as being obscene, but which nevertheless deserve to be
exposed to the pitiless rays of the light of day.
"But if you take away our Bible, what will you give us in exchange," is the
cry of the stupid and ignorant. If we eradicate fear, prejudice, hatred and
superstition from the human mind, must we replace them with equally
objectionable traits? Is not the glorious gift of reason a sufficient
compensation? Is not freedom of the mind a glorious enough exchange?
But to those who insist that they "must have something," to them I say:
If you must have a Bible; if you must hoodwink the ignorant; if you must
bamboozle the herd; if you must cower the superstitious; if you must have
something "divine"; if you must have a "revelation," then by all means let
us have something with a little merit in it; something comparable to the
intelligence of the day; something representative of the spirit of progress;
something actually conducive to the Brotherhood of Man. If you must have
"faith in something," have it not in filth.
And in writing your creed and formulating your doctrines, always remember,
that
"any system of religion that has anything in it that shocks the
mind of a child, cannot be a true system." |
The Creed of Science
By Robert G. Ingersoll
To love justice, to long for the right, to love mercy, to pity the
suffering, to assist the weak, to forget wrongs and remember benefits -- to
love the truth, to be sincere, to utter honest words, to love liberty, to
wage relentless war_ against slavery in all its forms, to love wife and
child and friend, to make a happy home, to love the beautiful in art, in
nature, to cultivate the mind, to be familiar with the mighty thoughts that
genius has expressed, the noble deeds of all the world, to cultivate courage
and cheerfulness, to make others happy, to fill life with the splendor of
generous acts, the warmth of loving words, to discard error, to destroy
prejudice, to receive new truths with gladness, to cultivate hope, to see
the calm beyond the storm, the dawn beyond the night, to do the best that
can be done and then to be resigned -- this is the religion of reason, the
creed of science. This satisfies the heart and brain.
Notes for
File 1;
File 2;
File 4;
File 5;
File 6;
File 7
-
14. "Methodist
Review," January-February, 1924.
-
15. I have made
repeated attempts to secure his address, and the church with which he is
connected, but have been unable to do so. The editor in whose magazine
his communication appeared, writes me as follows: "Replying to
communication with further reference to Reverend Ralph W. Kohr's
address, I regret to have to inform you that a diligent search of our
files fails to reveal the information desired, and I cannot therefore
comply with your request."
-
16. Page 185.
-
17. Ephesians,
2:8.
-
18. Hebrews,
9:22.
-
19. Mark, 16:16.
-
20. Quoted from
"A Magician Among the Spirits," by Houdini. Page 182.
-
21. "A Magician
Among the Spirits," Page 188.
-
22. Mark Twain's
Autobiography, Vol. 2, Page 335.
-
23. John 3:16.
-
24. At the first
inauguration of Woodrow Wilson he opened the Bible at a specified
chapter and "kissed it fervently." At the inauguration of Warren G.
Harding he placed his finger on a selected text. Theodore Roosevelt
merely placed his hand upon the Bible while the oath was administered.
Both William Howard Taft and Calvin Coolidge kissed a page of the Bible
without reference to any particular text (newspaper reports). The oath
of office prescribed by the Constitution is purely secular, and does not
call for the use of the Bible.
-
25. In 1895, John
B. Wise, of Clay Center, Kansas, was arrested for sending obscene matter
through the mails, which consisted wholly of a quotation from the Bible.
In the United States Court, after a contest, he was found guilty and
fined. -- Page 257, "Free Press Anthology," by Theodore Schroeder.
|
Moses Was A War Criminal (The Bible Tells Us So) |
by Carol A. Valentine – via The Ugly Truth
“If only Jews would return to the Law of Moses!
“Instead, they follow their secular, atheistic, and Zionist
ways!”
So say some, expressing horror at the recent deliberate
slaughter of Gazans, particularly the slaughter of women and
children. The BBC article below (1) and many others tell the
story.
Some critics, like Michael Hoffman, blame barbaric Jewish
behavior on the Talmud (2). Others, like Henry Makow, blame
secular Zionism (3).
But haven’t these folks ever read the Bible? Are they unaware of
the influence of the Old Testament on Judaism?
Please, dear reader, open your Bible. Turn to the Old Testament.
For the moment, focus your attention on the Book of Numbers.
You are about to learn that Moses, the great “law giver,” was a
war criminal who ORDERED his followers to commit war crimes. The
most heinous were crimes were committed against women and
children. Moses ordered:
* The slaughter of non-combatant women prisoners.
* The slaughter of non-combatant young boy prisoners.
* The use of young girl prisoners as Israelite sex slaves.
Some strike at the branches of evil, some at the root. Why
strike at secular Zionism, so-called, or the Talmud, and ignore
the root of the evil, found in the Old Testament?
Let’s get some specifics on how Moses treated Gentile women and
children.
Background: In Exodus Chapter 2, Moses flees Egypt because he
has killed an Egyptian. He passes through the land of the
Midianites, who befriend him. Moses lived among them for a while
and “took to wife” a Midianite woman, Zipporah. Moses and
Zipporah have a son, Gershom.
Sometime later, Moses develops in-law problems. By the time we
reach Numbers Chapter 25, we know that the Israelites under
Moses’ command are getting too friendly with the Midianites. A
significant number of Israelites start cohabiting with Midianite
girls and worshipping Midianite gods.
Moses orders the beheading of the Israelites who are encouraging
the mix. For good measure, a plague — presumably sent by Jehovah
— kills 24,000 of the offending Israelites. Chapter 25 ends with
Jehovah urging his people to “vex” and “smite” or “harass” the
Midianites. Why? What wrong did the Midianites do? No one forced
the God’s Chosen People to party with the Midianite girls and
worship their gods. Whatever . . .
Time passes. Jehovah and Moses spend Chapter 26 of Numbers
organizing a huge census and Chapters 27, 28, 29 and 30 laying
down various laws for the Israelites.
But by Numbers Chapter 31 — for reasons not explained —
Jehovah’s attention becomes fastened once more on the
Midianites. He orders Moses to kill them. Why? For what happened
in Chapter 25.
Thus Jehovah orders an unprovoked attack on Moses’ in-laws. Not
a problem. Moses sends off thousands of his troops to slay them.
The Israelites kill the five Midianite kings and all the other
Midianite adult males. They loot the cities and burn them, and
take the women and children in captivity.
But when they return, Moses is furious. “Have you kept all the
women alive? These women caused the children of Israel to
trespass against the Lord . . .” (New King James translation,
Verses 15, 16).
Moses then orders:
1) all the non-virgin women captives to be killed
2) all the boy children captives to be killed
3) all the virgin girl captives to be saved for the use of the
Israelite men.
Check out
Numbers, Chapter 31, King James Version
(13) And Moses, and Eleazar the priest, and all the princes of
the congregation, went forth to meet them without the camp.
(14) And Moses was wroth with the officers of the host, with the
captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, which came
from the battle.
(15) And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women
alive?
(16) Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the
counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the
matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of
the LORD.
(17) Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and
kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
( 18 ) But all the women children, that have not known a man by
lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.
Here is the
link for Numbers Chapter 31, New Living Translation;
(13) Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the
community went to meet them outside the camp. (14) But Moses was
furious with all the generals and captains [a] who had returned
from the battle.
(15) “Why have you let all the women live?” he demanded.
(16) “These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and
caused the people of Israel to rebel against the Lord at Mount
Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the
Lord’s people.
(17) So kill all the boys and all the women who have had
intercourse with a man.
1 Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep
them for yourselves.
The rest of Chapter 31 is concerned with distributing the
Midianite plunder. Thirty-two thousand (32,000) virgin girls
were counted in the booty (Verse 35). Thirty-two of these were
given to “the Lord.” That is, 32 of these little girls were set
aside for the Levities (heave offerings), to be used as
concubines (Verses 40 and 41).
Yes, Numbers 31 says what it says. The Talmud sages used Numbers
31 to justify having sex with children. And since the Talmud
sages, along with Christians, regard the Old Testament as “the
word of God,” why beat up on the Talmud sages? Why not beat up
on Jehovah and Moses, who set the standards?
For further discussion of Jewish teachings on sex with children,
see the Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Yebamoth 60b, Soncino 1961
Edition, page 402. Discussion and links at
www.come-and-hear.com/editor/america_2.html
It’s true. Moses was a war criminal. The Bible tells you so.
Should we be surprised at how women and children were treated in
Gaza?
Footnotes
New Evidence of Gaza Child Deaths, BBC, 22 January, 2009
(3) Henry Makow blames secular Zionism and the banksters for
Jewish barbarity. See Henry Makow’s “The Worst Anti-semites Are
Zionists” at:
www.rense.com/general79/antiz.htm
and
www.henrymakow.com/michael_hoffmans_judaism_disco.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7843307.stm
(2) Michael Hoffman is author of “Judaism Discovered, A Study of
the Anti-Biblical Religion of Racism, Self-Worship, Superstition
and Deceit.” Mr. Hoffman calls Israel’s Gaza war crimes
“‘Talmudic’ War Crimes” rather than “Old Testament” or “Mosaic”
war crimes.
www.radicalpress.com/?p=855
Original source:
http://theuglytruth.wordpress.com/2009/01/30/moses-was-a-war-criminal-the-bible-tells-us-so/
|
The Dark Bible
Atrocities (only a few)
Blue words
represent Bible quotes
Babylon Is Fallen
"And, behold,
here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen. And he answered and
said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods he
hath broken unto the ground."
(Isaiah
21:9)
Comment
Many soldiers have used Bible verses to justify horrific destruction against
their enemy. Such beliefs can comfort the minds of men to do virtually any
kind of atrocity against men, women, and children of the enemy. The
Crusaders of the 12th century, slaughtered or tortured anyone who stood in
their way. The Bible's words gave them their justification.
Even today, our government, military and religious leaders judge wars as
"moral" based on Biblical reasoning. Fighting men feel, not only comforted,
but glorious in their actions against the destruction of fellow human
beings. In the Gulf War, for example, an F-16 fighter/bomber had "Isaiah
21:9" written on its bombs.
David Slaughters Them
"And he brought
out the people that were in it, and cut them with saws, and with harrows of
iron, and with axes..."
(I
Chronicles 20:3)
Comment
Chapters 17-19 (17-18-19)
tells us that David killed 22,000 Syrians and that Abishai killed 18,000
Edomites. No one expresses shame at such slaughters.
Here in
20:3,
we have David, counted as a great leader of the Israelites, slaughtering
captives after the cessation of hostilities. From what high moral ground
should we admire this action?
Decapitate Them!
"And Israel
joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against
Israel. And the LORD said unto Moses, 'Take all the heads of the people and
hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the
LORD may be turned away from Israel.'"
(Numbers
25:3-4)
Comment
Those who worshipped other gods must die, and even more horribly, their
heads displayed publicly.
Either God never said anything so
cruel, or we truly live in a cursed universe, ruled by a maniac Supreme
Being.
Millions of people, today, switch their religions. If God had any interest
in this ongoing process, there appears no evidence of this.
Gideon Slaughters
"And Gideon
said, Therefore when the Lord hath delivered Zebah and Zalmunna into mine
hand, then I will tear your flesh with the thorns of the wilderness and with
briers"
(Judges
8:7)
"Now Zebah and
Zalmunna were Karkor, and their hosts with them, about fifteen thousand men,
all that were left of all the hosts of the children of the east: for there
fell an hundred and twenty thousand men that drew sword."
(Judges
8:10)
Comment
The Gideon Society places Bibles into motels and hotels across America. One
would assume Gideon lived as a person of exemplary character and great worth
to have a worldwide society named after him. Below describes some of
Gideon's accomplishments:
-
Gideon slaughtered thousands in battle by plotting with the "Lord" to
use Treachery.
-
Gideon murdered thousands more for worshipping "false Gods."
-
Gideon tortured and killed still more for daring to taunt him.
-
Gideon plundered the bodies of his victims (to fashion a jeweled
priestly vestment).
-
Gideon fathered an offspring who killed 69 of his stepbrothers.
Read the story of Gideon in Judges, chapters thru 6-9 (
6-7-8-9).
The tale of Gideon describes just one of the many horror stories in the
Bible, a book that glorifies behavior abysmal to modern society. The clergy
and leaders have hoodwinked millions of people about the stories in the
Bible. Don't let others decide for yourself.
God Buries Them Alive
"And the earth
opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men
that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that
appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon
them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that
were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth
swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed
the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense."
(Numbers
16:32-35)
Comment
Moses relays a sadistic threat that asks us to believe that God punishes
members of families, including innocent infants. And again we have the
Satanic fire coming from God burning his creations.
God Kills The Firstborns!
"And it came to
pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of
Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the
firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of
cattle. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all
the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house
where there was not one dead."
(Exodus
12:29-30)
Comment
If we believe every word in the Bible as coming from God, then it stands to
reason that the violent actions from the God described in Exodus cannot give
us a moral comparison to live our lives in a peaceful world.
If one wishes to believe that God possess love for His creations, then the
killing of innocent children cannot possibly come from God, and therefore,
these verses from the Bible must have come elsewhere. But note that if one
takes the Bible's words as absolute truth, then not only did God smote the
firstborn children, but all firstborn regardless of age. This means
all firstborn teenagers, firstborn men & women, firstborn octogenarians, and
even all firstborn cows and bulls. Regardless of how much love, charity, or
goodness they may have imparted to the world, if they had the unfortunate
luck to have first passed through their mother's vagina in the land of
Egypt, according to the Bible, God killed them!
God Sends Pestilence
"Either three
years' famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that
the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of
the LORD, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the LORD
destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel..."
(I
Chronicles 21:12)
"So the LORD
sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men."
(I
Chronicles 21:14)
Comment
David made an offense against God in taking a census of the people, so God
gave David a choice. Oddly enough, David ignores God and never actually gets
around to making a choice; so the Lord makes the decision for him and sends
pestilence upon Israel.
It appears unclear as to why David committed a crime, but why shouldn't God
have punished individual offenders instead of killing an army of innocent
bystanders? Atrocities such as this appear outrageous enough when
perpetrated by Attila the Hun, Hitler or Pol Pot, but when it comes from a,
supposedly, loving God, it should make one wonder if this represents a Devil
instead of a God.
God Slaughters Blacks
"And there came
out against them Zerah the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand,
and three hundred chariots..."
(II
Chronicles 14:9)
So the LORD
smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled.
(II
Chronicles 14:12)
Comment
It appears that Black Christian Bible studies programs ignore these verses,
for it says that the Lord God slaughtered over a million blacks.
The association of black with evil goes far back in Western Christian
culture. The early Church fathers, Origen, Jerome, and Augustine of Hippo
wrote about devils appearing as Ethiopians.
White racist groups (such as the Ku Klux Klan who think of themselves as
opposite of black devils) see these Biblical verses as evidence to justify
their beliefs. We still hear phrases such as "Prince of Darkness" or "Black
magic" which link blackness with sin.
In the story of Ham and Japheth, the word "ham" has connotations of "hot"
and "dark" in Semitic languages. To the ancient Israelites, as well as some
modern Jews and Christians, the "children of Ham" had dark skin and lived in
eastern Africa. Thus they see the "Curse of Ham" as a link with black skin
and sexual license.
God's Threat To Kill
"And Moses said,
Thus saith the LORD, About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt:
And all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of
Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the firstborn of the
maidservant that is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of beasts."
(Exodus
11:4-5)
Comment
After reading such verses, it would become apparent, even to a child, that
this does not describe the actions of a loving Being. Anyone who reconciles
the killing of innocent children with an intelligent and loving Creator can
only come from great ignorance under the addiction of blind faith.
"Whenever we read the obscene stories, the voluptuous debaucheries, the
cruel and tortuous 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 humankind."
--Thomas Paine
Godly Head Wounds
"But God shall
wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such a one as goeth on
still in his trespasses. The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I
will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: That thy foot may be
dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the
same."
(Psalms
68:21-23)
Comment
If anyone believes these sadistic words come from God, then it might serve
prudence to stay away from such people. For anyone who holds to such beliefs
may very well do the same to others.
Godly Mass Murder
"And he smote
the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD,
even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and
the people lamented, because the LORD had smitten many of the people with a
great slaughter."
(I
Samuel 6:19)
Comment
Here we have just one more instance of God performing mass murder, a
sadistic killer far worse than Hitler, Attila the Hun or Pol Pot.
These verses should insult the intelligence of any person who thinks that
God possesses a loving nature.
One should not dismiss the Old Testament's repeated demand for the vilest
atrocities as something peculiar to the early Hebrews. Even today, our most
atrocious wars, terrorism and hate crimes occur around the world based on
ancient religious beliefs, many of them coming directly from verses in the
Old and New Testament.
Kill All Unbelievers
"And that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams, shall be put to death; because he hath
spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God..."
(Deuteronomy
13: 5)
"If thy brother,
the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife of thy
bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee secretly,
saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor
thy fathers;"
(Deuteronomy
13: 6)
"Thou shalt not
consent unto him, nor hearken unto him; neither shall thine eye pity him,
neither shalt thou spare, neither shalt thou conceal him: But thou shalt
surely kill him; thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to death, and
afterwards the hand of all the people."
(Deuteronomy
13:8-9)
"Thou shalt
surely smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,
destroying it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with
the edge of the sword."
(Deuteronomy
13:15)
Comment
These severe laws commanded the members of the Hebrew religion to murder
even their own children if they did not worship Yahweh (God).
These Bible words can justify, to a fanatical fundamentalist believer, the
killing of friends or family simply because they may fail to change their
beliefs.
Why anyone today would accept these words, much less allow them to exist in
a sacred book goes against the nature of any tolerant and loving people.
Kill Man, Woman, Infant
"Thus saith the
LORD of hosts, I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait
for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt. Now go and smite Amalek, and
utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man
and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass."
(I
Samuel 15:2-3)
Comment
No matter how one can justify possible crimes from adults, suckling infants
have no means of acting out crimes. And what evil against God could the
animals have possibly performed? Only an evil entity could kill innocent
infants and animals, no matter what their parents and owners may have done.
King David's Holocaust
"And he brought
forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under
harrows of iron, and under the axes of iron, and made them pass through the
brickkiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So
David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem."
(II
Samuel 12:31)
Comment
From the sacred scripts from the Bible we learn that the great King David
carried out atrocities that rivaled the cruel acts from the holocaust of
World War II. If we condemn the Nazi's for their atrocities, why should we
not do the same for David's bloodthirsty actions?
Moses' Mass Murder
"Behold, these
caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit
trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague
among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the
little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But
all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep
alive for yourselves."
(Numbers
31:16-18)
Comment
Moses commands the murder of approximately 100,000 young males and, roughly,
68,000 helpless women.
Consider women and children of your own family: No matter how sick they may
lay, or how they may go against a religion, how would you feel if a man
named Moses, claiming to speak for God, sent men into your house and hacked
to pieces the women and male children? Also, how would you react if they
spotted a female child, dragged her off with them to do as they please with
her? Note that these innocent virgins served for their own sexual pleasures.
Midian, the land of the Midianites, did not reside in an area regarded as a
natural enemy of Israel for centuries, and in fact lay hundreds of miles
away from the Israelite encampment. Moses, himself, had lived in Midian as
fugitive after committing his first murder. In short, Midian presented no
threat to God's "Chosen People."
Nail His Head!
"Then Jael
Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and
went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it
into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."
(Judges
4:21)
Comment
In
verse 16
the Israelites surprise Sisera's army and that "there was not a man left,"
except Sisera who deserts his army and flees, a deed punishable by court
martial today. Sisera then goes to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber. Jael
takes him in, hides him under a blanket, gives him milk to quench his
thirst, and promises to stand guard at the door while he sleeps. Then Jael
kills Sisera!
We see no telling of the slightest shame, but rather, Jael proudly flaunts
her kill. The author of this piece of Scripture makes it clear that the
passage represents a deed, not only as grand and heroic but also consistent
with the will of God (see
Judges 4:23).
Raping And Killing
"Every one that
is found shall be thrust through; and every one that is joined unto them
shall fall by the sword. Their children also shall be dashed to pieces
before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished."
(Isaiah
13:15-16)
Comment
These verses foretold the deaths of the people of Babylon. Fortunately not
everyone in Babylon (now modern Iraq) fell by the sword or had their
children dashed to pieces or their wives raped (just another instance of
errors in the Bible). How some people who believe in an infallible Bible can
accept these verses as God inspired, or morally uplifting can only give
evidence to the blinding nature of belief. For if we believe these words as
God inspired, then the killing of children and the raping of wives must also
come as an inspiration from the Supreme Being.
Shed The Blood
"And surely your
blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I
require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will
I require the life of man. Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his
blood be shed: for in the image of God made the man."
(Genesis
9:5-6)
Comment
Some anti-abortionists have used these words to justify the killing of
abortionists. As such, these words helped inspire Michael Griffin to kill
Doctor David Gunn on March 10, 1993.
Consider that the Bible never directly addresses abortion, much the less the
condemnation of it. On the contrary, God himself has condoned, not only
miscarriages, but has personally called for the killing of suckling infants
and the bashing of children against the rocks.
(See
Numbers 5:26-27,
I Samuel 15:2-3,
and
Psalm 137:9)
Slaughter Of Innocents
"And we took all
his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed the men, and the women, and
the little ones, of every city, we left none to remain."
(Deuteronomy
2:34)
"And we utterly
destroyed them, as we did unto Sihon king of Hesbon, utterly destroying the
men, women, and children, of every city. But all the cattle, and the spoil
of the cities we took for a prey to ourselves."
(Deuteronomy
3:6-7)
Comment
Such words helped give justification to mediaeval Crusaders who slaughtered
men, women and children along their way to Jerusalem and stole the spoils of
the cities. Even today, many Christian military men use Scripture to justify
their actions. If any soldier harbors doubt about killing his fellow humans,
he need only consult a military chaplain or read the Bible to calm their
worries. Even George Bush (the First), with Billy Graham beside him,
proclaimed the Gulf War as "moral." George Bush (the Second) continued in
his father's steps by killing thousands of Iraqi civilians in the Iraqi war.
Such moral wars result in thousands of "utterly destroyed" innocent men,
women and children.;
(For a few more examples [but not all] see also
Deuteronomy 3:3,
7:2,
20:16-17
,
25:19;
Joshua 6:21,
8:26,
10-28-40;
Numbers 31:17-18;
I Samuel 15:3;
Isaiah 13:16;
and
Hosea 13:16)
Slay Old And Young
"And to the
others he said in mine hearing, Go ye after him through the city, and smite:
let not your eye spare, neither have ye pity: Slay utterly old and young,
both maids, and little children, and woman: but come not near any man upon
whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient
men which were before the house."
(Ezekiel
9:5-6)
Comment
These words, commanded by God, orders the slaying of not only women and the
old, but of little children. These accounts of cold-blooded massacres
occurred simply because people refused to accept Yahweh. These phrases
should give warning to anyone who knows a person who believes every word in
the Bible.
For what sense of moral reasoning should we allow ourselves to admire such
Biblical verses?
The Survivors
"Saying, Hurt
not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the
servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which
were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of
all the tribes of the children of Israel."
(Revelation
7:3-4)
"And there came
out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as
the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they
should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any
tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads."
(Revelation
9:3-4)
"And I looked,
and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty [and]
four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads." (Revelation
14:1)
"...the hundred
and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. These are
they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins." (Revelation
14:3-4)
Comment
Here we have the great future destruction where billions of people will die.
Only 144,000 virgin Jews with a protective mark on their heads will survive.
(I suppose the 'Jews for Jesus' cult would serve as the leading candidates.)
How many believers realize that this means the death of everyone on earth
but a few virgin Jews? And this includes the destruction of
all
Christians! (Of course the alleged Jesus, a virgin Jew, who claimed only a
few would enter heaven would agree with this).
|
Note:
Of course faithful Christians cannot accept the 144,000 figure so
they must either become atheists, ignore these verses, reject
Revelation as just dream nonsense, or try to revise its meaning to
something they can accept. Some try to get creative by claiming that
Rev. 7:-9,"...a
great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and
kindreds, and people, and tongues...," means an unlimited number
will enter heaven. Not so. The "all" in this verse speaks about all
the
tribes of Israel
(the Jews) scattered around the nations of the world.
The verse comes right after listing the tribes in
Rev. 7:1-8.
And man doesn't name the number but rather the angel who speaks in
John's dream. And John reports the number,
three times, in chapters 7 and 14, as shown above. Sorry
Christians but all of you will have to suffer with all the atheists
and unbelievers in God's hell. Welcome to the club! |
Beware of a future "Armageddon" caused by religious people.
Belief in self-fulfilling prophesies creates self-fulfilling acts.
Utter Destruction, 1
"And they
utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and
old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword."
(Joshua
6:21)
Comment
These "God inspired" words give not a hint of mercy to innocent slaughtered
women, children or the old.
After Moses and Aaron died, Joshua assumed command and the Israelites
entered Jericho. Note that in the same siege, "all the silver, and gold, and
vessels of brass and iron, are consecrated unto the Lord: they shall come
into the treasury of the Lord" (Joshua
6:19)
In the battle of Ai, the Bible tells that twelve thousand, the whole
population of Ai, got slaughtered. (Josh.
8:25)
Note that many invaders throughout history have used such words as
justification for wars and looting.
Utter Destruction, 2
"Ye shall
utterly destroy all the places, wherein the nations which ye shall possess
served their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under
every green tree: And ye shall overthrow their altars, and break their
pillars, and burn their groves with fire; and ye shall hew down the graven
images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place."
(Deuteronomy
12:2-3)
Comment
The Lord, here commands the destruction of all the places where people
worship other gods. There appears not a shred of religious tolerance here!
"I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his
creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own-- a God, in short, who is
but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual
survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts
through fear or ridiculous egotism."
--Albert Einstein
(For other examples of utter destructions, see
Numbers 21:2;
Deuteronomy 3:6-7,
7:2,
13:15,
20:17,
Judges 21:11,
II Chronicles 20:23;
I Kings 20-42;
Isaiah 11:15,
15:3,
9,
18;
Jeremiah 12:17,
25-9,
50;21,
26,
51:3;
Daniel 11;44;
Amos 9:8
)
Washing Feet In Blood
"The righteous
shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his feet in the
blood of the wicked."
(Psalms
58:10)
Comment
How many "good" Christians realize that such a verse appears in the Bible?
Of course most preachers keep these bloodthirsty words away from their
congregations, and the few Christians who do come across these verses,
re-interpret them for their own purposes, not realizing the impact these
words can have on others. Unfortunately the few that take these verses
literally can justify atrocities against anyone who they wish to define as
"wicked."
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occur.
Rape In The Bible
Rape is one of the most heinous crimes imaginable. Yet few people know
that the Bible often condones and even approves of rape. How anyone can get
their moral guidance from a book that allows rape escapes me. Perhaps they
have been lied to about the Bible and carefully detoured around all the
nasty stuff in the Bible.
So grab your Bibles and follow along as I show you all the nasty rapes
that your priests and preachers don't want to tell you about. Note that in
many places in the Bible there are references to "taking a wife". Don't be
fooled into thinking that these were voluntary marriages. This first quote
clearly shows that murder and force were used to "take" these wives.
1) Murder, rape, and pillage at Jabesh-gilead
(Judges 21:10-24 NLT)
So they sent twelve thousand warriors to Jabesh-gilead with orders to
kill everyone there, including women and children. "This is what you are to
do," they said. "Completely destroy all the males and every woman who is not
a virgin." Among the residents of Jabesh-gilead they found four hundred
young virgins who had never slept with a man, and they brought them to the
camp at Shiloh in the land of Canaan.
The Israelite assembly sent a peace delegation to the little remnant of
Benjamin who were living at the rock of Rimmon. Then the men of Benjamin
returned to their homes, and the four hundred women of Jabesh-gilead who
were spared were given to them as wives. But there were not enough women
for all of them. The people felt sorry for Benjamin because the LORD had
left this gap in the tribes of Israel. So the Israelite leaders asked, "How
can we find wives for the few who remain, since all the women of the tribe
of Benjamin are dead? There must be heirs for the survivors so that an
entire tribe of Israel will not be lost forever. But we cannot give them
our own daughters in marriage because we have sworn with a solemn oath that
anyone who does this will fall under God's curse."
Then they thought of the annual festival of the LORD held in Shiloh,
between Lebonah and Bethel, along the east side of the road that goes from
Bethel to Shechem. They told the men of Benjamin who still needed wives,
"Go and hide in the vineyards. When the women of Shiloh come out for their
dances, rush out from the vineyards, and each of you can take one of them
home to be your wife! And when their fathers and brothers come to us in
protest, we will tell them, 'Please be understanding. Let them have your
daughters, for we didn't find enough wives for them when we destroyed
Jabesh-gilead. And you are not guilty of breaking the vow since you did not
give your daughters in marriage to them.'" So the men of Benjamin did as
they were told. They kidnapped the women who took part in the celebration
and carried them off to the land of their own inheritance. Then they
rebuilt their towns and lived in them. So the assembly of Israel departed
by tribes and families, and they returned to their own homes.
Obviously these women were repeatedly raped. These sick bastards killed
and raped an entire town and then wanted more virgins, so they hid beside
the road to kidnap and rape some more. How can anyone see this as anything
but evil?
2) Murder, rape and pillage of the Midianites
(Numbers 31:7-18 NLT)
They attacked Midian just as the LORD had commanded Moses, and they
killed all the men. All five of the Midianite kings – Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur,
and Reba – died in the battle. They also killed Balaam son of Beor with the
sword. Then the Israelite army captured the Midianite women and children
and seized their cattle and flocks and all their wealth as plunder. They
burned all the towns and villages where the Midianites had lived. After
they had gathered the plunder and captives, both people and animals, they
brought them all to Moses and Eleazar the priest, and to the whole community
of Israel, which was camped on the plains of Moab beside the Jordan River,
across from Jericho.
Moses, Eleazar the priest, and all the leaders of the people went to
meet them outside the camp. But Moses was furious with all the military
commanders who had returned from the battle. "Why have you let all the
women live?" he demanded. "These are the very ones who followed Balaam's
advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount
Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD's people.
Now kill all the boys and all the women who have slept with a man. Only the
young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.
Clearly Moses and God approves of rape of virgins.
3) More Murder Rape and Pillage
(Deuteronomy 20:10-14)
As you approach a town to attack it, first offer its people terms for
peace. If they accept your terms and open the gates to you, then all the
people inside will serve you in forced labor. But if they refuse to make
peace and prepare to fight, you must attack the town. When the LORD your
God hands it over to you, kill every man in the town. But you may keep for
yourselves all the women, children, livestock, and other plunder. You may
enjoy the spoils of your enemies that the LORD your God has given you.
What kind of God approves of murder, rape, and slavery?
4) Laws of Rape
(Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT)
If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not
engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must
marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed
to divorce her.
What kind of lunatic would make a rape victim marry her attacker? Answer:
God.
5) Death to the Rape Victim
(Deuteronomy 22:23-24 NAB)
If within the city a man comes upon a maiden who is betrothed, and has
relations with her, you shall bring them both out of the gate of the city
and there stone them to death: the girl because she did not cry out for help
though she was in the city, and the man because he violated his neighbors
wife.
It is clear that God doesn't give a damn about the rape victim. He is
only concerned about the violation of another mans "property".
6) David's Punishment - Polygamy, Rape, Baby Killing, and God's
"Forgiveness"
(2 Samuel 12:11-14 NAB)
Thus says the Lord: 'I will bring evil upon you out of your own
house. I will take your wives [plural] while you live to see it, and
will give them to your neighbor. He shall lie with your wives in broad
daylight. You have done this deed in secret, but I will bring it about in
the presence of all Israel, and with the sun looking down.'
Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the Lord." Nathan
answered David: "The Lord on his part has forgiven your sin: you shall not
die. But since you have utterly spurned the Lord by this deed, the child
born to you must surely die."
[The child dies seven days later.]
This has got to be one of the sickest quotes of the Bible. God himself
brings the completely innocent rape victims to the rapist. What kind of
pathetic loser would do something so evil? And then he kills a child! This
is sick, really sick!
7) Rape of Female Captives
(Deuteronomy 21:10-14 NAB)
"When you go out to war against your enemies and the LORD, your God,
delivers them into your hand, so that you take captives, if you see a comely
woman among the captives and become so enamored of her that you wish to have
her as wife, you may take her home to your house. But before she may live
there, she must shave her head and pare her nails and lay aside her
captive's garb. After she has mourned her father and mother for a full
month, you may have relations with her, and you shall be her husband and she
shall be your wife. However, if later on you lose your liking for her, you
shall give her her freedom, if she wishes it; but you shall not sell her or
enslave her, since she was married to you under compulsion."
Once again God approves of forcible rape.
8) Rape and the Spoils of War
(Judges 5:30 NAB)
They must be dividing the spoils they took: there must be a damsel or
two for each man, Spoils of dyed cloth as Sisera's spoil, an ornate shawl or
two for me in the spoil. (Judges 5:30 NAB)
9) Sex Slaves
(Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she will not be freed at
the end of six years as the men are. If she does not please the man who
bought her, he may allow her to be bought back again. But he is not allowed
to sell her to foreigners, since he is the one who broke the contract with
her. And if the slave girl's owner arranges for her to marry his son, he
may no longer treat her as a slave girl, but he must treat her as his
daughter. If he himself marries her and then takes another wife, he may not
reduce her food or clothing or fail to sleep with her as his wife. If he
fails in any of these three ways, she may leave as a free woman without
making any payment. (Exodus 21:7-11 NLT)
10) God Assists Rape and Plunder (Zechariah
14:1-2 NAB)
Lo, a day shall come for the Lord when the spoils shall be divided in
your midst. And I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for battle:
the city shall be taken, houses plundered, women ravished; half of
the city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be
removed from the city. (Zechariah 14:1-2 NAB)
A Supernatural War Criminal
by Dave E. Matson
God commands his people not to kill, steal or covet other people's property.
Apparently, such protection does not apply to outsiders. Yahweh-God directs
the Israelites to kill Canaanites and to steal land that the
Israelites and their god covet. Under Yahweh's guidance the
Israelites slaughter all the Canaanites in Hormah, Heshbon and Bashan
(Numbers 21) in order to get their land. At Jericho, they massacre
every man, woman, child
and baby (Joshua 6:21) except the traitor Rahab and her household (who hid
Joshua's spies). Even the donkeys got the sword. Similar slaughters occur at
Ai (Joshua 8:25-27), Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Hebron, Debir (Joshua
10) and Hazor (Joshua 11). According to the Bible, that is how the
Israelites obtained their land.
Let us not forget about Moses and the rape of the Midianites (Numbers 31).
Here, following God's instructions, Moses orders the Israelites to murder
all men, women, children and babies. However, in this instance they were to
keep the young virgin girls alive for their own pleasure: "But
all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep
alive for yourselves" (Numbers 31:18). Nice touch, huh? How did
they know which teenage girls to rape and which to run through with the
sword? Did Moses and his officials finger each and every one? "Okay, honey,
just spread those legs and bend over," said the man of God with a sword in
one hand!
Some apologists have the gall to suggest that these girls were not really
raped, that they became "second wives." However, forced sex with girls who
have just had their entire families murdered, who are not the least
interested in their captors, is the moral equivalent of rape.
Here are God's instructions as to how an aggressive, holy war-criminal
should conduct himself (Deuteronomy 20:10-17):
When you go to
attack a city, first give its people a chance to surrender. If they open the
gates and surrender, they are all to become your slaves and do forced labor
for you. But if the people of that city will not surrender, but choose to
fight, surround it with your army. Then, when the Lord your God lets you
capture the city, kill every man in it. You may, however, take for
yourselves the women, the children, the livestock, and everything else in
the city. You may use everything that belongs to your enemies. The Lord has
given it to you. That is how you are to deal with those cities that are far
away from the land you will settle in.
But
when you capture cities in the land that the Lord your God is giving you,
kill everyone. Completely destroy all the people: the Hittites, the
Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as
the Lord ordered you to do.
(Today's English Version:
Deuteronomy 20:10-17)
Genghis Khan would have approved.
The Bible actually gives a reason for the latter part of the above
instruction, where
all
the people, including children and babies, are killed. It seems that poor,
limited God is afraid that any survivors would "contaminate" his precious
Israelites and win them over to foreign gods. He couldn't stand the
competition, I guess. How children and babies might "contaminate" the chosen
people is not made clear. One thing is
very clear, however. By
modern standards of morality, the above activities constitute war crimes of
the first order.
Fundamentalist apologists tie themselves in knots trying to explain why none
of the above constitutes immoral behavior. "If God does it, it must be
okay," they speculate
3.
God, no doubt, also supported the Spanish Inquisition and its torturing of
victims. Is there anything that cannot be justified in the name of God? The
working brain will have nothing to do with such drivel. It
immediately recognizes that a moral god is totally incompatible with the
above scenario. Common sense tells us that God, if he were truly powerful
and good, could have selected any number of solutions superior to the
wholesale slaughter given in the Bible. If you stop and think about it, I'm
sure that you, too, could find some improvements on God's supposed solution.
On the brighter side, things may not have been that bad. Archaeological digs
have destroyed the idea that Joshua just marched in and took over in a
bloody conquest. Even the Bible (Judges) strongly contradicts that idea. It
may surprise you to learn that the Canaanite civilization was quite
advanced, and as far as language and religion went, they were very similar
to the Israelites. The Bible tells us that Solomon hired artisans from Tyre
(part of Canaan) to work on God's Temple, because they were able to do the
metal-work and other artistic jobs that were beyond the reach of Israelite
artisans.
Archaeological work at Jericho by Kathleen Kenyon indicates that its walls
had been down 300 years before Joshua arrived on the scene. Joshua would
have found, if that, a small, seasonal occupation on part of the site. There
were no grand walls for him to knock down! There was no city to conquer! A
number of cities in the Moses-Joshua tales have stubbornly refused to show
any evidence of existence at the
time
of their "conquest." Ai, for example, was vacant when Joshua "conquered" it.
Most likely, the Israelite take-over of Canaan was by slow settlement and
assimilation. The supposed exodus from Egypt, if it ever occurred, involved
only a handful of Israelites who left
no
evidence of their presence in the Sinai. The great majority of
Israelites probably lived in Canaan, possibly as part of an outlying
population that later became independent. William Stiebing, Jr. will give
you a good feeling for the problems scientists and scholars have with the
Exodus. Do read his book,
Out of
the Desert?, which was published by Prometheus Books in 1989.
NOTES
3. The theologian has not demonstrated that God, in fact, has done these
deeds. He or she is merely proposing that God did them because the Bible
says so. However, if the Bible attributes questionable deeds to God, then it
undermines its own credibility.
Return to
Main Index
More publications from Dave Matson located
here.
Dark passages
Does the harsh language in the Koran explain Islamic violence? Don't answer
till you've taken a look inside the Bible
By
Philip Jenkins
March 8, 2009
·
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Print|
·
Single Page|
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Text size
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WE
HAVE A good idea what was passing through the minds of the Sept. 11
hijackers as they made their way to the airports.

Related
·
Kindness in the Koran
Their Al Qaeda handlers had instructed them to meditate on al-Tawba and
Anfal, two lengthy suras from the Koran, the holy scripture of Islam. The
passages make for harrowing reading. God promises to "cast terror into the
hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike, then, their
necks!" (Koran 8.12). God instructs his Muslim followers to kill
unbelievers, to capture them, to ambush them (Koran 9.5). Everything
contributes to advancing the holy goal: "Strike terror into God's enemies,
and your enemies" (Koran 8.60). Perhaps in their final moments, the
hijackers took refuge in these words, in which God lauds acts of terror and
massacre.
On
a much lesser scale, others have used the words of the Koran to sanction
violence. Even in cases of domestic violence and honor killing, perpetrators
can find passages that seem to justify brutal acts (Koran 4.34).
Citing examples such as these, some Westerners argue that the Muslim
scriptures themselves inspire terrorism, and drive violent jihad. Evangelist
Franklin Graham has described his horror on finding so many Koranic passages
that command the killing of infidels: the Koran, he thinks, "preaches
violence." Prominent conservatives Paul Weyrich and William Lind argued that
"Islam is, quite simply, a religion of war," and urged that Muslims be
encouraged to leave US soil. Today, Dutch politician Geert Wilders faces
trial for his film "Fitna," in which he demands that the Koran be suppressed
as the modern-day equivalent to Hitler's "Mein Kampf."
Even Westerners who have never opened the book - especially such people,
perhaps - assume that the Koran is filled with calls for militarism and
murder, and that those texts shape Islam.
Unconsciously, perhaps, many Christians consider Islam to be a kind of dark
shadow of their own faith, with the ugly words of the Koran standing in
absolute contrast to the scriptures they themselves cherish. In the minds of
ordinary Christians - and Jews - the Koran teaches savagery and warfare,
while the Bible offers a message of love, forgiveness, and charity. For the
prophet Micah, God's commands to his people are summarized in the words "act
justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
Christians recall the words of the dying Jesus: "Father, forgive them: they
know not what they do."
But
in terms of ordering violence and bloodshed, any simplistic claim about the
superiority of the Bible to the Koran would be wildly wrong. In fact, the
Bible overflows with "texts of terror," to borrow a phrase coined by the
American theologian Phyllis Trible. The Bible contains far more verses
praising or urging bloodshed than does the Koran, and biblical violence is
often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. The
Koran often urges believers to fight, yet it also commands that enemies be
shown mercy when they surrender. Some frightful portions of the Bible, by
contrast, go much further in ordering the total extermination of enemies, of
whole families and races - of men, women, and children, and even their
livestock, with no quarter granted. One cherished psalm (137) begins with
the lovely line, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept"; it ends by
blessing anyone who would seize Babylon's infants and smash their skulls
against the rocks.Continued...
To
say that terrorists can find religious texts to justify their acts does not
mean that their violence actually grows from those scriptural roots. Indeed,
such an assumption itself is based on the crude fundamentalist formulation
that everything in a given religion must somehow be authorized in scripture.
The difference between the Bible and the Koran is not that one book teaches
love while the other proclaims warfare and terrorism, rather it is a matter
of how the works are read. Yes, the Koran has been ransacked to supply texts
authorizing murder, but so has the Bible

Related
·
Kindness in the Koran
If
Christians or Jews want to point to violent parts of the Koran and suggest
that those elements taint the whole religion, they open themselves to the
obvious question: what about their own faiths? If the founding text shapes
the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost
condemnation as religions of savagery. Of course, they are no such thing;
nor is Islam.
But
the implications run still deeper. All faiths contain within them some
elements that are considered disturbing or unacceptable to modern eyes; all
must confront the problem of absorbing and reconciling those troubling texts
or doctrines. In some cases, religions evolve to the point where the ugly
texts so fade into obscurity that ordinary believers scarcely acknowledge
their existence, or at least deny them the slightest authority in the modern
world. In other cases, the troubling words remain dormant, but can return to
life in conditions of extreme stress and conflict. Texts, like people, can
live or die. This whole process of forgetting and remembering, of growing
beyond the harsh words found in a text, is one of the critical questions
that all religions must learn to address.
Faithful Muslims believe that the Koran is the inspired word of God,
delivered verbatim through the prophet Mohammed. Non-Muslims, of course, see
the text as the work of human hands, whether of Mohammed himself or of
schools of his early followers. But whichever view we take, the Koran as it
stands claims to speak in God's voice. That is one of the great differences
between the Bible and the Koran. Even for dedicated fundamentalists,
inspired Bible passages come through the pen of a venerated historical
individual, whether it's the Prophet Isaiah or the Apostle Paul, and that
leaves open some chance of blaming embarrassing views on that person's own
prejudices. The Koran gives no such option: For believers, every word in the
text - however horrendous a passage may sound to modern ears - came directly
from God.
We
don't have to range too far to find passages that horrify. The Koran warns,
"Those who make war against God and his apostle . . . shall be put to death
or crucified" (Koran 5.33). Other passages are equally threatening, though
they usually have to be wrenched out of context to achieve this effect. One
text from Sura (Chapter) 47 begins "O true believers, when you encounter the
unbelievers, strike off their heads."Continued...
Dark passages
Does the harsh language in the Koran explain Islamic violence? Don't answer
till you've taken a look inside the Bible
By
Philip Jenkins
March 8, 2009
·
Email|
·
Print|
·
Single Page|
·
Yahoo! Buzz|
·
ShareThis
Text size
–
+
WE
HAVE A good idea what was passing through the minds of the Sept. 11
hijackers as they made their way to the airports.
Their Al Qaeda handlers had instructed them to meditate on al-Tawba and
Anfal, two lengthy suras from the Koran, the holy scripture of Islam. The
passages make for harrowing reading. God promises to "cast terror into the
hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike, then, their
necks!" (Koran 8.12). God instructs his Muslim followers to kill
unbelievers, to capture them, to ambush them (Koran 9.5). Everything
contributes to advancing the holy goal: "Strike terror into God's enemies,
and your enemies" (Koran 8.60). Perhaps in their final moments, the
hijackers took refuge in these words, in which God lauds acts of terror and
massacre.
On
a much lesser scale, others have used the words of the Koran to sanction
violence. Even in cases of domestic violence and honor killing, perpetrators
can find passages that seem to justify brutal acts (Koran 4.34).
Citing examples such as these, some Westerners argue that the Muslim
scriptures themselves inspire terrorism, and drive violent jihad. Evangelist
Franklin Graham has described his horror on finding so many Koranic passages
that command the killing of infidels: the Koran, he thinks, "preaches
violence." Prominent conservatives Paul Weyrich and William Lind argued that
"Islam is, quite simply, a religion of war," and urged that Muslims be
encouraged to leave US soil. Today, Dutch politician Geert Wilders faces
trial for his film "Fitna," in which he demands that the Koran be suppressed
as the modern-day equivalent to Hitler's "Mein Kampf."
Even Westerners who have never opened the book - especially such people,
perhaps - assume that the Koran is filled with calls for militarism and
murder, and that those texts shape Islam.
Unconsciously, perhaps, many Christians consider Islam to be a kind of dark
shadow of their own faith, with the ugly words of the Koran standing in
absolute contrast to the scriptures they themselves cherish. In the minds of
ordinary Christians - and Jews - the Koran teaches savagery and warfare,
while the Bible offers a message of love, forgiveness, and charity. For the
prophet Micah, God's commands to his people are summarized in the words "act
justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
Christians recall the words of the dying Jesus: "Father, forgive them: they
know not what they do."
But
in terms of ordering violence and bloodshed, any simplistic claim about the
superiority of the Bible to the Koran would be wildly wrong. In fact, the
Bible overflows with "texts of terror," to borrow a phrase coined by the
American theologian Phyllis Trible. The Bible contains far more verses
praising or urging bloodshed than does the Koran, and biblical violence is
often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. The
Koran often urges believers to fight, yet it also commands that enemies be
shown mercy when they surrender. Some frightful portions of the Bible, by
contrast, go much further in ordering the total extermination of enemies, of
whole families and races - of men, women, and children, and even their
livestock, with no quarter granted. One cherished psalm (137) begins with
the lovely line, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept"; it ends by
blessing anyone who would seize Babylon's infants and smash their skulls
against the rocks.
To
say that terrorists can find religious texts to justify their acts does not
mean that their violence actually grows from those scriptural roots. Indeed,
such an assumption itself is based on the crude fundamentalist formulation
that everything in a given religion must somehow be authorized in scripture.
The difference between the Bible and the Koran is not that one book teaches
love while the other proclaims warfare and terrorism, rather it is a matter
of how the works are read. Yes, the Koran has been ransacked to supply texts
authorizing murder, but so has the Bible
If
Christians or Jews want to point to violent parts of the Koran and suggest
that those elements taint the whole religion, they open themselves to the
obvious question: what about their own faiths? If the founding text shapes
the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost
condemnation as religions of savagery. Of course, they are no such thing;
nor is Islam.
But
the implications run still deeper. All faiths contain within them some
elements that are considered disturbing or unacceptable to modern eyes; all
must confront the problem of absorbing and reconciling those troubling texts
or doctrines. In some cases, religions evolve to the point where the ugly
texts so fade into obscurity that ordinary believers scarcely acknowledge
their existence, or at least deny them the slightest authority in the modern
world. In other cases, the troubling words remain dormant, but can return to
life in conditions of extreme stress and conflict. Texts, like people, can
live or die. This whole process of forgetting and remembering, of growing
beyond the harsh words found in a text, is one of the critical questions
that all religions must learn to address.
Faithful Muslims believe that the Koran is the inspired word of God,
delivered verbatim through the prophet Mohammed. Non-Muslims, of course, see
the text as the work of human hands, whether of Mohammed himself or of
schools of his early followers. But whichever view we take, the Koran as it
stands claims to speak in God's voice. That is one of the great differences
between the Bible and the Koran. Even for dedicated fundamentalists,
inspired Bible passages come through the pen of a venerated historical
individual, whether it's the Prophet Isaiah or the Apostle Paul, and that
leaves open some chance of blaming embarrassing views on that person's own
prejudices. The Koran gives no such option: For believers, every word in the
text - however horrendous a passage may sound to modern ears - came directly
from God.
We
don't have to range too far to find passages that horrify. The Koran warns,
"Those who make war against God and his apostle . . . shall be put to death
or crucified" (Koran 5.33). Other passages are equally threatening, though
they usually have to be wrenched out of context to achieve this effect. One
text from Sura (Chapter) 47 begins "O true believers, when you encounter the
unbelievers, strike off their heads."
Page 3 of 5 --
But
in such matters, the Bible too has plenty of passages that read painfully
today. Tales of war and assassination pervade the four books of Samuel and
Kings, where it is hard to avoid verses justifying the destruction of God's
enemies. In a standard English translation of the Old Testament, the words
"war" and "battle" each occur more than 300 times, not to mention all the
bindings, beheadings, and rapes.

Related
·
Kindness in the Koran
The
richest harvest of gore comes from the books that tell the story of the
Children of Israel after their escape from Egypt, as they take over their
new land in Canaan. These events are foreshadowed in the book of
Deuteronomy, in which God proclaims "I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh" (Deut. 32:42). We then turn to the full
orgy of militarism, enslavement, and race war in the Books of Joshua and
Judges. Moses himself reputedly authorized this campaign when he told his
followers that, once they reached Canaan, they must annihilate all the
peoples they find in the cities specially reserved for them (Deut. 20:
16-18).
Joshua, Moses's successor, proves an apt pupil. When he conquers the city of
Ai, God commands that he take away the livestock and the loot, while
altogether exterminating the inhabitants, and he duly does this (Joshua 8).
When he defeats and captures five kings, he murders his prisoners of war,
either by hanging or crucifixion. (Joshua 10). Nor is there any suggestion
that the Canaanites and their kin were targeted for destruction because they
were uniquely evil or treacherous: They happened to be on the wrong land at
the wrong time. And Joshua himself was by no means alone. In Judges again,
other stories tell of the complete extermination of tribes with the
deliberate goal of ending their genetic lines.
In
modern times, we would call this genocide. If the forces of Joshua and his
successor judges committed their acts in the modern world, then observers
would not hesitate to speak of war crimes. They would draw comparisons with
the notorious guerrilla armies of Uganda and the Congo, groups like the
appalling Lord's Resistance Army. By comparison, the Koranic rules of war
were, by the standards of their time, quite civilized. Mohammed wanted to
win over his enemies, not slaughter them.
Not
only do the Israelites in the Bible commit repeated acts of genocide and
ethnic cleansing, but they do so under direct divine command. According to
the first book of Samuel, God orders King Saul to strike at the Amalekite
people, killing every man, woman, and child, and even wiping out their
livestock (1 Samuel 15:2-3). And it is this final detail that proves Saul's
undoing, as he keeps some of the animals, and thereby earns a scolding from
the prophet Samuel. Fortunately, Saul repents, and symbolizes his regrets by
dismembering the captured enemy king. Morality triumphs.Continued...
Dark passages
Does the harsh language in the Koran explain Islamic violence? Don't answer
till you've taken a look inside the Bible
By
Philip Jenkins
March 8, 2009
·
Email|
·
Print|
·
Single Page|
·
Yahoo! Buzz|
·
ShareThis
Text size
–
+
WE
HAVE A good idea what was passing through the minds of the Sept. 11
hijackers as they made their way to the airports.
Their Al Qaeda handlers had instructed them to meditate on al-Tawba and
Anfal, two lengthy suras from the Koran, the holy scripture of Islam. The
passages make for harrowing reading. God promises to "cast terror into the
hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike, then, their
necks!" (Koran 8.12). God instructs his Muslim followers to kill
unbelievers, to capture them, to ambush them (Koran 9.5). Everything
contributes to advancing the holy goal: "Strike terror into God's enemies,
and your enemies" (Koran 8.60). Perhaps in their final moments, the
hijackers took refuge in these words, in which God lauds acts of terror and
massacre.
On
a much lesser scale, others have used the words of the Koran to sanction
violence. Even in cases of domestic violence and honor killing, perpetrators
can find passages that seem to justify brutal acts (Koran 4.34).
Citing examples such as these, some Westerners argue that the Muslim
scriptures themselves inspire terrorism, and drive violent jihad. Evangelist
Franklin Graham has described his horror on finding so many Koranic passages
that command the killing of infidels: the Koran, he thinks, "preaches
violence." Prominent conservatives Paul Weyrich and William Lind argued that
"Islam is, quite simply, a religion of war," and urged that Muslims be
encouraged to leave US soil. Today, Dutch politician Geert Wilders faces
trial for his film "Fitna," in which he demands that the Koran be suppressed
as the modern-day equivalent to Hitler's "Mein Kampf."
Even Westerners who have never opened the book - especially such people,
perhaps - assume that the Koran is filled with calls for militarism and
murder, and that those texts shape Islam.
Unconsciously, perhaps, many Christians consider Islam to be a kind of dark
shadow of their own faith, with the ugly words of the Koran standing in
absolute contrast to the scriptures they themselves cherish. In the minds of
ordinary Christians - and Jews - the Koran teaches savagery and warfare,
while the Bible offers a message of love, forgiveness, and charity. For the
prophet Micah, God's commands to his people are summarized in the words "act
justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
Christians recall the words of the dying Jesus: "Father, forgive them: they
know not what they do."
But
in terms of ordering violence and bloodshed, any simplistic claim about the
superiority of the Bible to the Koran would be wildly wrong. In fact, the
Bible overflows with "texts of terror," to borrow a phrase coined by the
American theologian Phyllis Trible. The Bible contains far more verses
praising or urging bloodshed than does the Koran, and biblical violence is
often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. The
Koran often urges believers to fight, yet it also commands that enemies be
shown mercy when they surrender. Some frightful portions of the Bible, by
contrast, go much further in ordering the total extermination of enemies, of
whole families and races - of men, women, and children, and even their
livestock, with no quarter granted. One cherished psalm (137) begins with
the lovely line, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept"; it ends by
blessing anyone who would seize Babylon's infants and smash their skulls
against the rocks.
To
say that terrorists can find religious texts to justify their acts does not
mean that their violence actually grows from those scriptural roots. Indeed,
such an assumption itself is based on the crude fundamentalist formulation
that everything in a given religion must somehow be authorized in scripture.
The difference between the Bible and the Koran is not that one book teaches
love while the other proclaims warfare and terrorism, rather it is a matter
of how the works are read. Yes, the Koran has been ransacked to supply texts
authorizing murder, but so has the Bible
If
Christians or Jews want to point to violent parts of the Koran and suggest
that those elements taint the whole religion, they open themselves to the
obvious question: what about their own faiths? If the founding text shapes
the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost
condemnation as religions of savagery. Of course, they are no such thing;
nor is Islam.
But
the implications run still deeper. All faiths contain within them some
elements that are considered disturbing or unacceptable to modern eyes; all
must confront the problem of absorbing and reconciling those troubling texts
or doctrines. In some cases, religions evolve to the point where the ugly
texts so fade into obscurity that ordinary believers scarcely acknowledge
their existence, or at least deny them the slightest authority in the modern
world. In other cases, the troubling words remain dormant, but can return to
life in conditions of extreme stress and conflict. Texts, like people, can
live or die. This whole process of forgetting and remembering, of growing
beyond the harsh words found in a text, is one of the critical questions
that all religions must learn to address.
Faithful Muslims believe that the Koran is the inspired word of God,
delivered verbatim through the prophet Mohammed. Non-Muslims, of course, see
the text as the work of human hands, whether of Mohammed himself or of
schools of his early followers. But whichever view we take, the Koran as it
stands claims to speak in God's voice. That is one of the great differences
between the Bible and the Koran. Even for dedicated fundamentalists,
inspired Bible passages come through the pen of a venerated historical
individual, whether it's the Prophet Isaiah or the Apostle Paul, and that
leaves open some chance of blaming embarrassing views on that person's own
prejudices. The Koran gives no such option: For believers, every word in the
text - however horrendous a passage may sound to modern ears - came directly
from God.
We
don't have to range too far to find passages that horrify. The Koran warns,
"Those who make war against God and his apostle . . . shall be put to death
or crucified" (Koran 5.33). Other passages are equally threatening, though
they usually have to be wrenched out of context to achieve this effect. One
text from Sura (Chapter) 47 begins "O true believers, when you encounter the
unbelievers, strike off their heads."
But
in such matters, the Bible too has plenty of passages that read painfully
today. Tales of war and assassination pervade the four books of Samuel and
Kings, where it is hard to avoid verses justifying the destruction of God's
enemies. In a standard English translation of the Old Testament, the words
"war" and "battle" each occur more than 300 times, not to mention all the
bindings, beheadings, and rapes.
The
richest harvest of gore comes from the books that tell the story of the
Children of Israel after their escape from Egypt, as they take over their
new land in Canaan. These events are foreshadowed in the book of
Deuteronomy, in which God proclaims "I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh" (Deut. 32:42). We then turn to the full
orgy of militarism, enslavement, and race war in the Books of Joshua and
Judges. Moses himself reputedly authorized this campaign when he told his
followers that, once they reached Canaan, they must annihilate all the
peoples they find in the cities specially reserved for them (Deut. 20:
16-18).
Joshua, Moses's successor, proves an apt pupil. When he conquers the city of
Ai, God commands that he take away the livestock and the loot, while
altogether exterminating the inhabitants, and he duly does this (Joshua 8).
When he defeats and captures five kings, he murders his prisoners of war,
either by hanging or crucifixion. (Joshua 10). Nor is there any suggestion
that the Canaanites and their kin were targeted for destruction because they
were uniquely evil or treacherous: They happened to be on the wrong land at
the wrong time. And Joshua himself was by no means alone. In Judges again,
other stories tell of the complete extermination of tribes with the
deliberate goal of ending their genetic lines.
In
modern times, we would call this genocide. If the forces of Joshua and his
successor judges committed their acts in the modern world, then observers
would not hesitate to speak of war crimes. They would draw comparisons with
the notorious guerrilla armies of Uganda and the Congo, groups like the
appalling Lord's Resistance Army. By comparison, the Koranic rules of war
were, by the standards of their time, quite civilized. Mohammed wanted to
win over his enemies, not slaughter them.
Not
only do the Israelites in the Bible commit repeated acts of genocide and
ethnic cleansing, but they do so under direct divine command. According to
the first book of Samuel, God orders King Saul to strike at the Amalekite
people, killing every man, woman, and child, and even wiping out their
livestock (1 Samuel 15:2-3). And it is this final detail that proves Saul's
undoing, as he keeps some of the animals, and thereby earns a scolding from
the prophet Samuel. Fortunately, Saul repents, and symbolizes his regrets by
dismembering the captured enemy king. Morality triumphs.
Page 4 of 5 --
The
Bible also alleges divine approval of racism and segregation. If you had to
choose the single biblical story that most conspicuously outrages modern
sentiment, it might well be the tale of Phinehas, a story that remains
unknown to most Christian readers today (Numbers 25: 1-15). The story begins
when the children of Israel are threatened by a plague. Phinehas, however,
shrewdly identifies the cause of God's anger: God is outraged at the fact
that a Hebrew man has found a wife among the people of Midian, and through
her has imported an alien religion. Phinehas slaughters the offending couple
- and, mollified, God ends the plague and blesses Phinehas and his
descendants. Modern American racists love this passage. In 1990, Richard
Kelly Hoskins used the story as the basis for his manifesto "Vigilantes of
Christendom." Hoskins advocated the creation of a new order of militant
white supremacists, the Phineas Priesthood, and since then a number of
groups have assumed this title, claiming Phinehas as the justification for
terrorist attacks on mixed-race couples and abortion clinics.

Related
·Kindness
in the Koran
Modern Christians who believe the Bible offers only a message of love and
forgiveness are usually thinking only of the New Testament. Certainly, the
New Testament contains far fewer injunctions to kill or segregate. Yet it
has its own troublesome passages, especially when the Gospel of John
expresses such hostility to the Ioudaioi, a Greek word that usually
translates as "Jews." Ioudaioi plan to stone Jesus, they plot to kill him;
in turn, Jesus calls them liars, children of the Devil.
Various authorities approach the word differently: I might prefer, for
instance, to interpret it as "followers of the oppressive Judean religious
elite," Or perhaps "Judeans." But in practice, any reputable translation has
to use the simple and familiar word, "Jew," so that we read about the
disciples hiding out after the Crucifixion, huddled in a room that is locked
"for fear of the Jews." So harsh do these words sound to post-Holocaust ears
that some churches exclude them from public reading.
Commands to kill, to commit ethnic cleansing, to institutionalize
segregation, to hate and fear other races and religions . . . all are in the
Bible, and occur with a far greater frequency than in the Koran. At every
stage, we can argue what the passages in question mean, and certainly
whether they should have any relevance for later ages. But the fact remains
that the words are there, and their inclusion in the scripture means that
they are, literally, canonized, no less than in the Muslim scripture.
Whether they are used or not depends on wider social attitudes. When America
entered the First World War, for instance, firebrand preachers drew heavily
on Jesus' warning that he came not to bring peace, but a sword. As it
stands, that is not much of a text of terror, but if one is searching
desperately for a weapon-related verse, it will serve to justify what people
are going to do anywayContinued...
Dark passages
Does the harsh language in the Koran explain Islamic violence? Don't answer
till you've taken a look inside the Bible
By
Philip Jenkins
March 8, 2009
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WE
HAVE A good idea what was passing through the minds of the Sept. 11
hijackers as they made their way to the airports.
Their Al Qaeda handlers had instructed them to meditate on al-Tawba and
Anfal, two lengthy suras from the Koran, the holy scripture of Islam. The
passages make for harrowing reading. God promises to "cast terror into the
hearts of those who are bent on denying the truth; strike, then, their
necks!" (Koran 8.12). God instructs his Muslim followers to kill
unbelievers, to capture them, to ambush them (Koran 9.5). Everything
contributes to advancing the holy goal: "Strike terror into God's enemies,
and your enemies" (Koran 8.60). Perhaps in their final moments, the
hijackers took refuge in these words, in which God lauds acts of terror and
massacre.
On
a much lesser scale, others have used the words of the Koran to sanction
violence. Even in cases of domestic violence and honor killing, perpetrators
can find passages that seem to justify brutal acts (Koran 4.34).
Citing examples such as these, some Westerners argue that the Muslim
scriptures themselves inspire terrorism, and drive violent jihad. Evangelist
Franklin Graham has described his horror on finding so many Koranic passages
that command the killing of infidels: the Koran, he thinks, "preaches
violence." Prominent conservatives Paul Weyrich and William Lind argued that
"Islam is, quite simply, a religion of war," and urged that Muslims be
encouraged to leave US soil. Today, Dutch politician Geert Wilders faces
trial for his film "Fitna," in which he demands that the Koran be suppressed
as the modern-day equivalent to Hitler's "Mein Kampf."
Even Westerners who have never opened the book - especially such people,
perhaps - assume that the Koran is filled with calls for militarism and
murder, and that those texts shape Islam.
Unconsciously, perhaps, many Christians consider Islam to be a kind of dark
shadow of their own faith, with the ugly words of the Koran standing in
absolute contrast to the scriptures they themselves cherish. In the minds of
ordinary Christians - and Jews - the Koran teaches savagery and warfare,
while the Bible offers a message of love, forgiveness, and charity. For the
prophet Micah, God's commands to his people are summarized in the words "act
justly, and love mercy, and walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).
Christians recall the words of the dying Jesus: "Father, forgive them: they
know not what they do."
But
in terms of ordering violence and bloodshed, any simplistic claim about the
superiority of the Bible to the Koran would be wildly wrong. In fact, the
Bible overflows with "texts of terror," to borrow a phrase coined by the
American theologian Phyllis Trible. The Bible contains far more verses
praising or urging bloodshed than does the Koran, and biblical violence is
often far more extreme, and marked by more indiscriminate savagery. The
Koran often urges believers to fight, yet it also commands that enemies be
shown mercy when they surrender. Some frightful portions of the Bible, by
contrast, go much further in ordering the total extermination of enemies, of
whole families and races - of men, women, and children, and even their
livestock, with no quarter granted. One cherished psalm (137) begins with
the lovely line, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept"; it ends by
blessing anyone who would seize Babylon's infants and smash their skulls
against the rocks.
To
say that terrorists can find religious texts to justify their acts does not
mean that their violence actually grows from those scriptural roots. Indeed,
such an assumption itself is based on the crude fundamentalist formulation
that everything in a given religion must somehow be authorized in scripture.
The difference between the Bible and the Koran is not that one book teaches
love while the other proclaims warfare and terrorism, rather it is a matter
of how the works are read. Yes, the Koran has been ransacked to supply texts
authorizing murder, but so has the Bible
If
Christians or Jews want to point to violent parts of the Koran and suggest
that those elements taint the whole religion, they open themselves to the
obvious question: what about their own faiths? If the founding text shapes
the whole religion, then Judaism and Christianity deserve the utmost
condemnation as religions of savagery. Of course, they are no such thing;
nor is Islam.
But
the implications run still deeper. All faiths contain within them some
elements that are considered disturbing or unacceptable to modern eyes; all
must confront the problem of absorbing and reconciling those troubling texts
or doctrines. In some cases, religions evolve to the point where the ugly
texts so fade into obscurity that ordinary believers scarcely acknowledge
their existence, or at least deny them the slightest authority in the modern
world. In other cases, the troubling words remain dormant, but can return to
life in conditions of extreme stress and conflict. Texts, like people, can
live or die. This whole process of forgetting and remembering, of growing
beyond the harsh words found in a text, is one of the critical questions
that all religions must learn to address.
Faithful Muslims believe that the Koran is the inspired word of God,
delivered verbatim through the prophet Mohammed. Non-Muslims, of course, see
the text as the work of human hands, whether of Mohammed himself or of
schools of his early followers. But whichever view we take, the Koran as it
stands claims to speak in God's voice. That is one of the great differences
between the Bible and the Koran. Even for dedicated fundamentalists,
inspired Bible passages come through the pen of a venerated historical
individual, whether it's the Prophet Isaiah or the Apostle Paul, and that
leaves open some chance of blaming embarrassing views on that person's own
prejudices. The Koran gives no such option: For believers, every word in the
text - however horrendous a passage may sound to modern ears - came directly
from God.
We
don't have to range too far to find passages that horrify. The Koran warns,
"Those who make war against God and his apostle . . . shall be put to death
or crucified" (Koran 5.33). Other passages are equally threatening, though
they usually have to be wrenched out of context to achieve this effect. One
text from Sura (Chapter) 47 begins "O true believers, when you encounter the
unbelievers, strike off their heads."
But
in such matters, the Bible too has plenty of passages that read painfully
today. Tales of war and assassination pervade the four books of Samuel and
Kings, where it is hard to avoid verses justifying the destruction of God's
enemies. In a standard English translation of the Old Testament, the words
"war" and "battle" each occur more than 300 times, not to mention all the
bindings, beheadings, and rapes.
The
richest harvest of gore comes from the books that tell the story of the
Children of Israel after their escape from Egypt, as they take over their
new land in Canaan. These events are foreshadowed in the book of
Deuteronomy, in which God proclaims "I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh" (Deut. 32:42). We then turn to the full
orgy of militarism, enslavement, and race war in the Books of Joshua and
Judges. Moses himself reputedly authorized this campaign when he told his
followers that, once they reached Canaan, they must annihilate all the
peoples they find in the cities specially reserved for them (Deut. 20:
16-18).
Joshua, Moses's successor, proves an apt pupil. When he conquers the city of
Ai, God commands that he take away the livestock and the loot, while
altogether exterminating the inhabitants, and he duly does this (Joshua 8).
When he defeats and captures five kings, he murders his prisoners of war,
either by hanging or crucifixion. (Joshua 10). Nor is there any suggestion
that the Canaanites and their kin were targeted for destruction because they
were uniquely evil or treacherous: They happened to be on the wrong land at
the wrong time. And Joshua himself was by no means alone. In Judges again,
other stories tell of the complete extermination of tribes with the
deliberate goal of ending their genetic lines.
In
modern times, we would call this genocide. If the forces of Joshua and his
successor judges committed their acts in the modern world, then observers
would not hesitate to speak of war crimes. They would draw comparisons with
the notorious guerrilla armies of Uganda and the Congo, groups like the
appalling Lord's Resistance Army. By comparison, the Koranic rules of war
were, by the standards of their time, quite civilized. Mohammed wanted to
win over his enemies, not slaughter them.
Not
only do the Israelites in the Bible commit repeated acts of genocide and
ethnic cleansing, but they do so under direct divine command. According to
the first book of Samuel, God orders King Saul to strike at the Amalekite
people, killing every man, woman, and child, and even wiping out their
livestock (1 Samuel 15:2-3). And it is this final detail that proves Saul's
undoing, as he keeps some of the animals, and thereby earns a scolding from
the prophet Samuel. Fortunately, Saul repents, and symbolizes his regrets by
dismembering the captured enemy king. Morality triumphs.
The
Bible also alleges divine approval of racism and segregation. If you had to
choose the single biblical story that most conspicuously outrages modern
sentiment, it might well be the tale of Phinehas, a story that remains
unknown to most Christian readers today (Numbers 25: 1-15). The story begins
when the children of Israel are threatened by a plague. Phinehas, however,
shrewdly identifies the cause of God's anger: God is outraged at the fact
that a Hebrew man has found a wife among the people of Midian, and through
her has imported an alien religion. Phinehas slaughters the offending couple
- and, mollified, God ends the plague and blesses Phinehas and his
descendants. Modern American racists love this passage. In 1990, Richard
Kelly Hoskins used the story as the basis for his manifesto "Vigilantes of
Christendom." Hoskins advocated the creation of a new order of militant
white supremacists, the Phineas Priesthood, and since then a number of
groups have assumed this title, claiming Phinehas as the justification for
terrorist attacks on mixed-race couples and abortion clinics.
Modern Christians who believe the Bible offers only a message of love and
forgiveness are usually thinking only of the New Testament. Certainly, the
New Testament contains far fewer injunctions to kill or segregate. Yet it
has its own troublesome passages, especially when the Gospel of John
expresses such hostility to the Ioudaioi, a Greek word that usually
translates as "Jews." Ioudaioi plan to stone Jesus, they plot to kill him;
in turn, Jesus calls them liars, children of the Devil.
Various authorities approach the word differently: I might prefer, for
instance, to interpret it as "followers of the oppressive Judean religious
elite," Or perhaps "Judeans." But in practice, any reputable translation has
to use the simple and familiar word, "Jew," so that we read about the
disciples hiding out after the Crucifixion, huddled in a room that is locked
"for fear of the Jews." So harsh do these words sound to post-Holocaust ears
that some churches exclude them from public reading.
Commands to kill, to commit ethnic cleansing, to institutionalize
segregation, to hate and fear other races and religions . . . all are in the
Bible, and occur with a far greater frequency than in the Koran. At every
stage, we can argue what the passages in question mean, and certainly
whether they should have any relevance for later ages. But the fact remains
that the words are there, and their inclusion in the scripture means that
they are, literally, canonized, no less than in the Muslim scripture.
Whether they are used or not depends on wider social attitudes. When America
entered the First World War, for instance, firebrand preachers drew heavily
on Jesus' warning that he came not to bring peace, but a sword. As it
stands, that is not much of a text of terror, but if one is searching
desperately for a weapon-related verse, it will serve to justify what people
are going to do anyway
Page 5 of 5 --
Interpretation is all, and that changes over time. Religions have their core
values, their non-negotiable truths, but they also surround themselves with
many stories not essential to the message. Any religion that exists over
long eras absorbs many of the ideas and beliefs of the community in which it
finds itself, and reflects those in its writings. Over time, thinkers and
theologians reject or underplay those doctrines and texts that contradict
the underlying principles of the faith as it develops. However strong the
textual traditions justifying war and conflict, believers come instead to
stress love and justice. Of course Muslim societies throughout history have
engaged in jihad, in holy war, and have found textual warrant so to do. But
over time, other potent strains in the religion moved away from literal
warfare. However strong the calls to jihad, struggle, in Islamic thought,
the hugely influential Sufi orders taught that the real struggle was the
inner battle to control one's sinful human instincts, and this mattered
vastly more than any pathetic clash of swords and spears. The Greater Jihad
is one fought in the soul.

Related
·
Kindness in the Koran
Often, such reforming thinkers are so successful that the troublesome words
fade utterly from popular consciousness, even among believers who think of
themselves as true fundamentalists. Most Christian and Jewish believers,
even those who are moderately literate in scriptural terms, read their own
texts extraordinarily selectively. How many Christian preachers would today
find spiritual sustenance in Joshua's massacres? How many American
Christians know that the New Testament demands that women cover their hair,
at least in church settings, and that Paul's Epistles include more detailed
rules on the subject than anything written in the Koran? This kind of holy
amnesia is a basic component of religious development. It does not imply
rejecting scriptures, but rather reading them in the total context of the
religion as it progresses through history.
Alternatively, one can choose to deny that historical experience, and seize
on any available word or verse that authorizes the violence that is already
taking place - but once someone has decided to do that, it scarcely matters
what the text actually says.
Philip Jenkins teaches at Penn State University. He is the author of "The
Lost History of Christianity: The Thousand-Year Golden Age of the Church in
the Middle East, Africa, and Asia -- and How It Died."
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