B4-BibleD.txt Graham L. Kendall Modified 1/07/2003 Email grahamkendall74135@yahoo.com I am found on IRC Efnet/Undernet as glk http://www.grahamkendall.net/ All are free to use any of this material without limit. ******************************************************************************* Bank of Wisdom Box 926, Louisville, KY 40201 The Hebrew little books, thirty-nine in number according to the accepted Hebrew and Protestant canon, forty-six according to the Catholic, were written, of course, mainly in the Hebrew language, though Aramaic elements enter into some of the later compositions. This Hebrew language, like several others of the allied Semitic languages, was written entirely with consonants, having no written means of expressing vowel sounds; their words consist mostly of only three consonantal letters. The whole Hebrew Scriptures is a solid mass of words in consonants only, with not a single vowel among them. This consonantal mass of words was written from right to left, without spacing between words, and without a single mark of punctuation from end to end. To give a visual illustration of the practical difficulties, and frequent impossibilities, of decipherment and translation of the Old Testament texts, I present one of the best known passages in the Hebrew Bible, printed in Hebrew characters as Yahveh himself is said to have written it: In handwritten Hebrew characters it is in many cases impossible to distinguish one from another. Jerome, who made the Vulgate Version of the Old Testament, says: When we translate the Hebrew into Latin, we are sometimes guided by conjecture. Le Clere says: The learned merely guess at the sense of the Old Testament in an infinity of places. But what they have guessed it to mean we must believe or be damned. Here is the same passage composed in the same manner in English consonants: Hnrthfthrndthmthrthtthdysmyblngpntlilndwhchthlrdthgd gvthththshltntkllthshltntemmtdltrythshltntstlthshltntbr flswtnssgnstthnghbr Who can guess what familiar passage this printers pie is? There were no divisions, as at present, into chapters and verses, these divisions having been invented only some three or four centuries ago to facilitate quotations and references; even now the chapter and verse divisions differ considerably between the Hebrew text and the English translations. The Hebrew rabbis and scholars, somewhere between the fifth and eighth centuries A.D., devised and put into use in their manuscripts of the Bible a system of so-called vowel points -- dots and dashes as in modern shorthand -- to express and preserve what they considered to be the probable ancient pronunciation of the Hebrew words. No wonder there are infinite doubts and difficulties as to the original words and their vowelization, and therefore even of their meaning. Many of the Hebrew words are almost untranslatable, and the same Hebrew word is often given scores of wholly different meanings in translation. A glance at the index-lexicon to the Old Testament in Youngs Analytical Concordance to the Bible, demonstrates the difficulties, or the ingenuity, of the King James translators. For example, the word abar is given 88 different meanings; amar, 51; asah, 96; nathan, 94; nephesh (soul), 27; and so throughout the list -- many of these renditions being totally unrelated to each other, as nephesh; soul, appetite, pleasure, fish, heairty, ghost. This results from the rude nature of the Hebrew language, which has only about 2050 root words, of which only 500 make up the bulk of the Old Testament. (Cath. Encyc., Vol. VII, p. 177). THE BIBLE LANGUAGE -- HEBREW Such a thing as the Hebrew language, as a separate and distinctive speech of the ancient Israelites, in which they held familiar converse with Yahveh, and in which Yahveh spoke with Adam and Eve and with the patriarchs and Moses, never existed; no more than an American language now exists as distinct from the mother speech of England, or than the Latin languages of South America are distinct from the Spanish and Portuguese of the Iberian peninsula. As to the language of Yahveh and Adam and Eve, says the Catholic Encyclopedia: The contention that Hebrew was the original language bestowed upon mankind may be left out of discussion, being based merely on pietistic a priori considerations. Abraham was a native of Ur of the Chaldees, and hence naturally, with all his family and people, spoke the Chaldean or Babylonian language, which was very much akin to that of Canaan, where Abraham migrated, and was spoken by him and his descendants until the Seventy migrated to Egypt, 215 years later. Indeed, even as late as Isaiah; the language of the Chosen People is expressly said to be the language of Canaan (Isa. xix, 18). The Catholic Encyclopedia further says: The name Hebrew (as applied to the language spoken by the ancient Israelites, and in which are composed nearly all the books of the Old Testament) is quite recent in biblical usage, occurring for the first time in the Greek prologue of Ecclesiastics, about 130 B.C. (Cath. Encyc. Vol. VII, 176). And further, as to the language of Abraham and the patriarchs: That it was simply a dialect belonging to the Chanaanitish group of Semitic languages is plain from its many recognized affinities with the Phoenician and Moabitic dialects. Its beginnings are consequently bound up with the origin of this group of dialects. ... The language spoken by the clan of Abraham was a dialect closely akin to those of Moab, Tyre, and Sidon, and it bore a greater resemblance to Assyrian and Arabic than to Aramaic (Id.). Indeed, the dictionary of the Hebrew language which lies before me is called The Analytical Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon -- so nearly one and the same are the two dialects. So, if Yahveh, God of Abraham and of Israel, spoke all these wonderful things to his Chosen People, he spoke them in the common language of the peoples and gods of Canaan and Assyria, and not in some choice and peculiar Hebrew language as a special idiom of his Chosen People and of his divine revelations to his people and through them to mankind. Highly important sidelights on inspiration and the verity of sundry characteristic Scripture histories flow from this fact, so that its importance and interest justify this brief paragraph. So obsolete did the Hebrew language become, following the world-conquests of Alexander the Great and the almost universal spread of the Greek language and culture throughout the Orient, that several centuries before the time of Christ even the form and proper pronunciation of the name YHVH of the Hebrew tribal deity were lost and unknown; though a few Jews, as Philo of Alexandria and Josephus, a generation after the time of Christ, professed to know it, but held it unlawful to pronounce or divulge it (Josephus, Antiq., II, xii, 4; see Cath. Encyc., Vol. VIII, art. Jehovah). Again the authoritative Catholic Encyclopedia speaks on this very significant point: The modern Jews are as uncertain of the proper pronunciation of the Sacred Name as their Christian contemporaries. ... The name was not pronounced after the destruction of the temple (Vol. VIII, p. 329). On page 330 it gives a list of the forms of the name as found in ancient writers, and lists: Jao, Jaoth, Jaou, Jeuo, Ja, Jabe, Jahb, Jehjeh. It then comments: The judicious reader will perceive that the Samaritan pronunciation Jabe probably approaches the real sound of the Divine Name closest. Inserting the vowels of Jabe into the original Hebrew consonantal text, we obtain the form Jahweh (Yahweh), which has been generally accepted by modern scholars as the true pronunciation of the Divine Name (p. 330). Very remarkably, for an orthodox Christian authority, this scholarly thesaurus of theology -- which so often seems to forget orthodox theology when engaged in questions of pure scholarship -- reviews at some length inquiries of scholars to discover the origin of the old Hebrew tribal Yahveh -- that is, whence the Chosen People got or borrowed their tribal god. The colloquy between the God and Moses at the burning bush demonstrates that neither Moses nor the Chosen People knew or ever had heard of Yahveh, or of any other God of their fathers; for Moses says to the God: Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? (Ex. iii, 13). The matter of the traditional revelation of the name of the God to Moses we will duly consider a few pages later. The article referred to reviews amply the suggested origins of Yahveh and his adoption by the Chosen People, of which but one or two very significant ones may be here noticed. Under the sub- caption, Origin of the name Jahveh (Yahweh), this high authority says: The opinion that the name Jahveh was adopted by the Jews from the Canaanites, has been defended by [a number of eminent scholars], but has been rejected by [others]. It is antecedently improbable that Jahveh, the irreconcilable enemy of the Canaanites, should be originally a Chanaanite god (Vol. VIII, p. 331). Passing other suggested origins, it says: The theory that Jahveh is of Egyptian origin may have a certain amount of a priori probability, as Moses was educated in Egypt. Still, the proofs are not convincing. ... Plutarch (De Iside, 9) tells us that a statue of Athene (Neith) in Sais bore the inscription, I am all that has been, is, and will be, ... the common Egyptian formula, Nuk pu Nuk, but though its literal signification is I am I, its real IS IT GODS WORD? meaning is It is I who (Id.). Again: As to the theory that Jahveh has a Chaldean or Aceadian origin, its foundation is not very solid, and the familiar Assyrian forms Yahu or Yah and Yau are cited, with the statement added, Jahveh is said to be merely an artificial form introduced to put a meaning into the name of the national god (Id.). The immense significance of this scholarly confession that the theory of Egyptian origin of Yahveh may have a certain amount of a priori probability, and that this name is said to have been adopted to put meaning into the name of the national god Yahveh, or that the Hebrews may have adopted or adapted their tribal or national god from Egypt, Chaldea, or some other of their heathen neighbors, is that such concessions, or their bare possibility as fact, destroy at once utterly the Bible revelations and the pietistic Hebrao-Christian assertions that YHVH is eternal and self-revealed God since before the foundations of the world. It totally explodes the pretended revelation to Moses at the Burning Bush, soon to be noticed. In a word, such fact or the admission of it wholly destroys Yahveh except as a pagan Hebrew myth and a Christian strong delusion to believe ancient primitive myths for revealed truth of God. Tyndale translated the Bible into English. Tyndale was finally trapped by the wiley priests, and after two miserable years in prison was strangled and burned. -------- PAULS naive confession that he told lies that the truth of God might the more abound (Rom. iii, 7) we have found to be about the only true thing he is recorded as saying. ------ copied from: http://www.pcbc.org/LifeTime/LifetimeText01102001.htm : ENCYCLOPADIA BRITANNICA Masoretic text (from Hebrew masoreth, \tradition\), traditional Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible, meticulously assembled and codified, and supplied with diacritical marks to enable correct pronunciation. This monumental work was begun around the 6th century AD and completed in the 10th by scholars at Talmudic academies in Babylonia and Palestine, in an effort to reproduce, as far as possible, the original text of the Hebrew Old Testament. Their intention was not to interpret the meaning of the Scriptures but to transmit to future generations the authentic Word of God. To this end they gathered manuscripts and whatever oral traditions were available to them. The Masoretic text that resulted from their work shows that every word and every letter was checked with care. In Hebrew or Aramaic, they called attention to strange spellings and unusual grammar and noted discrepancies in various texts. Since texts traditionally omitted vowels in writing, the Masoretes introduced vowel signs to guarantee correct pronunciation. Among the various systems of vocalization that were invented, the one fashioned in the city of Tiberias, Galilee, eventually gained ascendancy. In addition, signs for stress and pause were added to the text to facilitate public reading of the Scriptures in the synagogue. When the final codification of each section was complete, the Masoretes not only counted and noted down the total number of verses, words, and letters in the text but further indicated which verse, which word, and which letter marked the centre of the text. In this way any future emendation could be detected. The rigorous care given the Masoretic text in its preparation is credited for the remarkable consistency found in Old Testament Hebrew texts since that time. The Masoretic work enjoyed an absolute monopoly for 600 years, and experts have been astonished at the fidelity of the earliest printed version (late 15th century) to the earliest surviving codices (late 9th century). The Masoretic text is universally accepted as the authentic Hebrew Bible. == The distinguished Bishop Colenso, Church of England divine, may be instanced. Being appointed, in the good mid-Victorian era, bishop of Natal, so great was his zeal to spread the saving truth in Darkest Africa that be learned the Zulu language, wrote a grammar and dictionary of the idiom, and then taught English to a number of bright native converts to the Christian faith. With their aid he then began the work of translating the Bible into Zulu, for the conversion of the heathen natives. Before long the good bishops troubles began, and he began to see a great light. His intelligent Zulu collaborators, who had been converted to Christianity by hearsay and not upon knowledge, would come to him in great amazement and point out to him things encountered in the Bible, as they worked in translating, which to their untutored minds seemed shocking contradictions of text; absurdities and untruths in what they had been taught was the inerrant inspired Word of God. The Bishops attention being thus for the first time challenged, he thoroughly studied the whole matter of inspiration and revelation in this new light. The result was his monumental seven-volume work The Pentateuch and Book of Joshua Critically Examined (1862-1879), in which the inspiration and truth of the Old Testament were denied and disproved. The bishops conversion caused great sensation and scandal in England; he was excommunicated and deposed by his indignant church, and his salary stopped; but the courts held this action invalid and decreed full payment of salary with all arrears. Similar cases of conversion to reason have been known. == ANTHOLOGY includes the so-called \Apocrypha\ and giving it the name \BIBLE\. In fact some of the apocrypha were even quoted by some writers included in the \New Testament\. Clement, Polycarp, the author of the Epistle of Barnabas, of the pseudo-Clementine homilies, and the \Shepherd\ of Hermas, contain implicit quotations from or allusions to the so-called \apocryphal\ of \deutero-canonical\ books. Furthermore, Baruch is cited by Athenagoras as a prophet, and Justin Martyr noted that the Church has a number of Old Testament Scriptures in addition to the list approved by the Jews. (SEE: CANON OF THE OLD TESTAMENT at http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03267a.htm) Libertarius == If I were Satan I would strongly encourage Bible reading. Biblical exegesis has caused more dissent, intolerance, hatred and bloody conflict over the centuries than any other single influence.In the opinion of many post-Holocaust Christian theologians, the roots of modern antisemitism lie in the NT. It is dishonest henceforth to refuse to face the fact that the basic root of modern antisemitism lies squarely in the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Rev. James Parkes in Davies A.T. (ed) Antisemitism and the Foundations of Christianity, Paulist Press, New York, 1979, p. xi. http://users.bournemouth-net.co.uk/~lloyd/antisem/idx.htm I consider the Virgin birth to be an unhelpful myth, I suspect that it was not originaly part of Lukes text, as the gospel of Luke is considered to be derived from two or more earlier sources. I think it is reasonable to assume, therefore, that parts of the account derive from an earlier historical narrative and that some parts were added by a later need to explain things that appeared to be lacking from the original document. Therefore, taking Luke to be the original author, it was not he but a later editor who initroduced the error. I personaly suspect that the Myth came from Zoroastrian rather than greek sources. ( Although it has to be said that the cult of the virgin that later arose has many parralels with Greek Godess cults, but I think this was a later adition to the Virgin Birth story ). Christianity is evidently closer in mind set to Zoroastrianism as practiced in that age; Zoroastrianism forms a kind of half way house between pagan and monotheistic religions, and shares much of the angelic eschatology with Christianity and other ibrahmistic religions that it largly predated. And the virgin birth? Zarathustra himself was born of a virgin and prophesied that the three great prophets to come after him would likewise be born of virgins. The Virgin birth itself doesnt seem to fit in with the rest of Jesus birth story. Born of lowly parents in a deserted stable the birth was clearly gauged to attract as little attention and establish as few earthly credentials as possible. Why then be born of a virgin, a very clear and blatant sign? It seems contradictory. I am the Lord Your God. I am a jealous God. I plague the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who hate me with their ancestors sin. But I make whole those who love me for a thousand generations. (Exodus 20:5b-6 and Deuteronomy 5:9b-10) Why punish the grandchildren for the sins of grandparents? (Prov 20:30 NRSV) Blows that wound cleanse away evil; beatings make clean the innermost parts. (1 Sam 6:19 RSV) And he (God) slew some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked into the ark of the LORD; he slew seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the Lord had made a great slaughter among the people. (Josh 10:11) As they fled before Israel, while they were going down the slope of Beth-horon, the LORD threw down huge stones from heaven on them as far as Azekah, and they died; there were more who died because of the hailstones than the Israelites killed with the sword. (Josh 6:21) Then they devoted to destruction by the edge of the sword all in the city, both men and women, young and old, oxen, sheep, and donkeys. (Josh 8:22)Israel struck them down until no one was left who survived or escaped. (Josh 8:29) And he hanged the king of Ai on a tree until evening; and at sunset Joshua commanded, and they took his body down from the tree, threw it down at the entrance of the gate of the city ... (Exo 32:27-29 NRSV) He said to them, Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, Put your sword on your side, each of you! Go back and forth from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill your brother, your friend, and your neighbor. Deut. 2:33-34 - the men, women & children of Sihon are wiped out. Deut. 3:6 - the men, women & children of Og are wiped out. Deut. 7:2 - The Lord commands the Israelites to utterly destroy & show no mercy to those he wants them to defeat. Deut. 20:13-14 - The Lord tells the Israelites to put all male captives to the sword, b ut to keep the women, children, livestock, etc. as plunder. Deut. 20:16 - But as for the towns of these peoples that the Lord your God Joshua and Judges - both books are about one slaughter after another - Jericho, Ai, Makkedah, the Gibeonites, the Libnahites, the Eglonites, the Hebronites, the Debirites, the people of Lachish and on and on and on... If a girl is raped, HER punishment is that she is to be married off to her rapist (deu 22:28). I guess your fairy tale god considers the misfortune of being raped a sin. If a family memeber, or even someone you do not know does not worship the biblical god, it *IS* you duty to kill that person WITH YOUR OWN HAND! (deu 15). 31:15-18 After Moses soldiers had murdered all of the native Midianite men, he got angered off at them because they spared the women and children. He then ordered them to kill the http://members.xoom.com/kzonline/ and women and save the virgin girls. Keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the childrens children, to the third and fourth generation -- Exodus 34:7 --- Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. (Matt. xvi, 28; Mark. ix, 1) Verily I say unto you, that this generation shall not pass, till all these things be done. (Mark xiii, 30) Explain why the God you have faith in ordered the deaths of an entire nation of innocent people in 1 Samuel 15:1-3, specifically including women, children, and infants, simply to re-punish the minor offenses of their ancestors who had already been punished by being wiped out 350 years prior. For those and other atrocities, you have to do an about-face and retreat into the God works in mysterious ways cop-out. Proverbs 6:16 God hates a false witness who pours out lies. [NIV] The LORD mighty in battle. Psalms 24:8 Galatians 5:Brothers, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been abolished. As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves! SLAVERY The right of holding slaves is clearly established in the Holy Scriptures, both by precept and example. [Rev. R. Furman, D.D., Baptist, of South Carolina] There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral. [Rev. Alexander Campbell] The extracts from Holy Writ unequivocally assert the right of property in slaves. [Rev. E.D. Simms, professor, Randolph-Macon College] I draw my warrant from the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to hold the slave in bondage. [Rev. Thomas Witherspoon, Presbyterian, of Alabama] In another area of human rights, many Christian clergymen advocated slavery. Historian Larry Hise notes in his book Pro-Slavery that ministers wrote almost half of all defenses of slavery published in America. He lists 275 men of the cloth who used the Bible to prove that white people were entitled to own black people as work animals. [James A. Haught, Holy Horrors] The delegates of the annual conference are decidedly opposed to modern abolitionism, and wholly disclaim any right, wish, or intention to interfere in the civil and political relation between master and slave in the slave-holding states of the union. [Methodist Episcopal Church, Statement of the General Conference, Cincinnati, May 1836] Montgomery, Alabama. A white Republican state senator running for Congress wrote a speech in which he argued that slavery is justified by the Bible and was good for African Americans. ...People who are bitter and hateful about slavery are obviously bitter and hateful against God and his word, because they reject what God says and embrace what mere humans say concerning slavery, Charles Davidson wrote. [San Francisco Chronicle, 10 May 1996 (Associated Press)] There were day and night, morning and evening, but not until the fourth day were sun, moon and stars made. Genesis 1:14. And God said Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night and let them serve as as signs to mark the seasons and the days and the years, 15. and let them be lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth. And it was so. 16. God made two great lights-the greater light to govern day and the lesser light to govern night. He also made the stars. 17. God set them in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth, 18. to govern the day and the night, and it separated light from darkness. And God saw it was good. 19. And there was evening, and there was morning-the forth day. Joshua 10: 12-14) (KJV). Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight ofIsrael, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven. Then spake Joshua to the Lord in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley eaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel. ) Nature magazine is reporting that only 7% of scientists (American Acedemy of Sciences) believe in a personal god. Heretics are to be classed with thieves and murderers. (Pope Innocent IV) OK, here is the beggining of the list of "Christian weirdness": ------------------------------------------------------- God's clever, talking serpent. Gen.3:1 The "sons of God" copulated with the "daughters of men," and has sons who became "the mighty men of old, men of renown." Gen.6:2-4 "And Cain knew his wife." That's nice, but where the hell did she come from? Gen.4:17 "There were giants in the earth in those days." Gen.6:4 God repents. Gen.6:6-7, Ex.32:14, 1 Chr.21:15 Noah, the just and righteous. Gen.7:1 Noah, the drunk and naked. Gen.9:20-21 Lot [the just and righteous (2 Pet.2:7-8)] offers his daughters to a crowd of angel rapers. Gen.19:8 Jacob goes in unto Leah by mistake. Gen.29:23, 25 God teaches Moses some magic tricks. Ex.4:2-9, 7:8-11, 7:17-20 God tries to kill Moses. Ex.4:23-25 Moses has uncircumcised lips. Ex.6:12, 6:30 God's first plague on the Egyptians: Rivers turned to blood. Ex.7:17-22 (Pharaoh's magicians knew this trick, too.) Second Plague: Frogs. (Pharaoh's magicians do likewise.) Ex.8:2-7 Third Plague: Lice. (Pharaoh's magicians couldn't do this one!) Ex.8:16-18 Fourth Plague: Flies. Ex.8:21-24 Fifth Plague: God kills the cattle. Ex.9:3 Sixth Plague: Boils. Ex.9:9 Seventh Plague: Hail. Ex.9:19 Eighth Plague: Locusts. Ex.10:5 Ninth Plague: Darkness. Ex.10:21 Tenth Plague: God kills firstborn children and animals. Ex.12:29-30 God shows Moses his "back parts." Ex.33:23 God's name is "Jealous." Ex.34:14 Moses puts blood on Aaron's right ear, thumb, and big toe. Lev.8:23-24 Hares are unclean since they chew the cud. Lev.11:6 To God, bats are just unclean birds. Lev.11:13, 19, Dt.14:11, 18 Four-legged birds are an abomination to God. Lev.11:20 Insects have four legs. Lev.11:21, 23 Baby girls are twice as dirty as baby boys. Lev.12:1-8 God's cure for leprosy. Lev.14:2-32 What to do if "he that hath the issue spit upon him that is clean." Lev.15:8 What to do "if any man's seed of copulation go out from him." Lev.15:16-18 Menstruating women are unclean to God. Lev.15:19-30 God's law for wet dreams. Lev.15:16-17, 32 Uncovering the nakedness of your mother, father, aunts, uncles, etc. Lev.18:8-18 Don't even look at any naked menstruating women. Lev.18:19 Try not to have sex with animals. Lev.18:23 Don't mix seeds when sowing a field or wear a garment with mixed fibers. Lev.19:19 Don't round the corners of your head or mar the corners of your beard. Lev.19:27 God makes the Israelites eat flesh until it come out their nostrils. Num.11:19-20 300 foot tall giants. Num.13:33 The Israelites see God "face to face." Num.14:14 What to do if you "sin through ignorance." Num.15:27 God's instructions for making fringes in the borders of your garments. Num.15:38 Aaron's rod buds, blossoms, and yields almonds. Num.17:8 Moses hits a rock with his rod and Presto! -- water comes out. Num.20:11 God sends "fiery serpent" to bite the people. Num.21:6 Moses' amazing serpent of brass. Num.21:9 Balaam's talking ass. Num.22:28-30 Og, king of the giants, had a bed that measured 15 by 6 feet. Dt.3:11 "Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart." Dt.10:16 Don't "make any baldness between your eyes for the dead." Dt.14:1 Woman that wear men's clothing are an "abomination unto the Lord." Dt.22:5 Don't "wear a garment of divers sorts, as of woolen and linen together." Dt.22:11 Don't discover your father's skirt. Dt.23:20 You can't go to church if your testicles are damaged or your penis has been cut off. Dt.23:1 A bastard can't attend church "even to his tenth generation." Dt.23:2 God's rule for wet dreams. Dt.23:10 How to shit in the woods so that God doesn't step in it. Dt.23:12-14 You must cut off a woman's hand if she touches the "secrets" of a man who is fighting with her husband. "And thine eye shall not pity her." Dt.25:11-12 The work of a craftsman is "an abomination unto the Lord." Dt.27:15 "Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother" or that "removeth his neighbors landmark." Dt.27:16-17 Joshua circumcises "again the children of Israel the second time." Jos.5:2-3 Watch out for "the accursed thing." Jos.6:18, 7:1, 7:11, 7:13, 7:15, 22:20 If you happen to see "the accursed thing," don't touch it. If you do, you, your family, and all of your animals must be burned. Jos.7:1-26 God gets right in and fights with the Israelites. He "slew them with a great slaughter" and even "chased them along the way." What a guy. Jos.10:10 God threw down "great stones from heaven" so that he could kill even more people than the Israelites "slew with the sword." Jos.10:11 God makes the sun and moon stand still so that Joshua could get all his killing done before dark. It was the first Daylight Savings Time. Jos.10:12-13 Cutting off the thumbs and big toes of 71 kings. Jg.1:6-7 God couldn't drive out the valley people because they had chariots of iron. Jg.1:19 Jael drives a tent stake through her guest's head. For this she is "blessed above women." Jg.4:17-23, 5:24-26 God takes Gideon's fleece/dew test. Jg.6:36-40 God finds a few good men with a dog-lapping test. Jg.7:4-7 God sends an evil spirit. Jg.9:23 The spirit of God comes mightily upon Samson (and he kills things). Jg.14:6, 14:19, 15:14-16 Samson catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, and sets them on fire. Jg.15:4-5 Samson kills 1000 men with the jawbone of an ass. Jg.14:15-16 God smites the Philistines with hemorrhoids in their secret parts. 1 Sam.5:9 God asks the Philistines to make him five golden hemorrhoids. 1 Sam.6:4-5 The spirit of the Lord comes upon Samuel so he hacks some oxen in pieces and sends the pieces to all the coasts of Israel. 1 Sam.11:7 Saul is haunted by "an evil spirit from the Lord." 1 Sam.16:14-16, 23, 18:10, 19:9 David buys a wife with 200 Philistine foreskins (twice the asking price). 1 Sam.18:25-27 Killing those that "pisseth against the wall." 1 Sam.25:22, 26:34 David kills all the Amalekites again (see 1 Sam.15:7-8 where Saul kills them all the first time). 1 Sam.27:8-11 Saul has a witch bring back Samuel from the dead. 1 Sam.29:8-15 After being completely killed off by Saul (1 Sam.15:7-8) and then David (1 Sam.27:8-11), the Amalekites invade again. 1 Sam.30:1 Smiting "under the fifth rib." 2 Sam.2:23, 3:27, 4:6, 20:10 God's nostrils. 2 Sam.22:8-11 Solomon's 700 wives and 300 concubines. 2 Kg.11:3 God kills everyone "that pisseth against the wall." 2 Kg.14:10, 16:11, 21:21 God's dog food. 1 Kg.21:19, 21:23 Elisha makes an iron axe head swim. 2 Kg.6:6 God vows to "cut off from Ahab him that pisseth against the wall." 2 Kg.9:8 Ahaz fathered Hezakiah when he was only eleven years old. 2 Kg.16:2, 18:1-2 Eating dung and drinking piss. 2 Kg.18:27 An angel of the Lord kills 185,000 men while they sleep. "And when they arose, behold, they were all dead corpses." 2 Kg.19:35 God will "bring such evil upon Jerusalem and Judah, that whosoever heareth of it, both his ears shall tingle." 2 Kg.21:12 The Israelites offend God by "taking" foreign wives and thereby corrupting the "holy seed." 2 Chr.9:2 When Ezra hears of the intermarriages he tears his clothes, plucks out his hair and beard, and sits down astonished. Ezra 9:3 Nehemiah rebukes the men for marrying "strange wives." To punish them he "contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair." Neh.13:25-27 God asks Satan where he's been. Satan answers, "From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up an down in it." Job 1:7, 2:2 God gives Job to Satan, saying: "Behold, all that he hath is in thy power." Job 1:12, 2:6 Satan (or God) smites Job with boils from the "sole of his foot unto his crown." Job 2:7 God has eyelids. Ps.11:4 Atheists are fools who never do anything good. Ps.14:1, 53:1 Smoke comes out of God's nose and fire comes out of his mouth. Ps.18:8 God has feet. Ps.18:9 God rides upon cherubs and can fly. Ps.18:10 The sun moves around the earth. Ps.19:6 The heathen "make a noise like a dog ... Behold, they belch out with their mouths." Ps.59:5 "Let their eyes be darkened ... and make their loins continually to shake." Ps.69:22-23 The earth is stationary and does not move. Ps.93:1, 104:5 God is in hell. Ps.139:8 Watch out for those strange, brawling, angry, contentious, adulterous, odious women. Pr.2:16-18, 5:3-5, 6:24-26, 7:5-27, 21:19 22:14, 23:27-28, 25:24, 27:15, 30:20, 30:23 Foolish women are simple and know nothing; they drag innocent men into hell. Pr.9:13 "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion." Pr.11:22 Watch out for those with an "evil eye." Pr.23:6, 28:22 "The Lord shall hiss for the fly ... and for the bee." Is.7:18 God will shave men's "hair of the feet." ("Feet" and "hair" are biblical euphemisms for male sexual organs and pubic hair, respectively.) Is.7:20 Cockatrices, satyrs, dragons, leviathans, unicorns, and fiery flying serpents. Is.11:8, 13:21-22, 14:29, 27:1, 30:6, 34:7, 34:13-14, 43:20, 59:5 God sends a "perverse spirit" among the Egyptians and causes them to err "as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit." Is.19:14 God tells Isaiah to take off all his clothes and to wander around completely naked for three years as a "sign and a wonder." Is.20:2-5 God's lips, tongue, and breath. Is.30:27-28, 30:33 Eating dung and drink piss. Is.36:12 God will "go forth as a mighty man" who cries and roars, and "will cry like a travailing woman." Is.42:13 Sucking the breasts of kings. Is.60:16 God's clothes will get stained with the blood of humans. Is.63:3-6 God gives Judah a bill of divorce. Jer.3:8 Circumcise the foreskin of your heart or God will burn you to death. Jer.4:2 "Behold, their ear is uncircumcised." Jer.6:10 God says he "will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you." Jer.8:17 Dragons Jer.9:11, 10:22, 14:6, 49:33, 51:37 God says that he will do so much evil to the people that whoever learns of it will have ears that tingle. Jer.19:3 Ezekiel sees God's loins. Ezek.1:27, 8:2 Ezekiel, at God's command, eats a book that tastes as sweet as honey. Ezek.2:9 - 3:3 God makes Ezekiel lay on his right side for 390 days, and then on his left side for another 40 days. "And thou shalt not turn thee from one side to another, till thou hast ended the days." I'll bet he had some killer bed sores after that! Ezek.4:4-8 God tells Ezekiel to eat barley cakes that are made with the "dung that cometh out of man." Ezek.4:12 God trades "cow's dung for man's dung" and then tells Ezekiel to make bread out of the cow's dung. Ezek.4:15 God tells Ezekiel to shave his head and beard, divide the cut hair into thirds, burn one portion, smite the second with a knife, and scatter the third in the wind. Ezek.5:1-3 God dislikes women and pillows. He says, "Woe to the women that sew pillows ... behold, I am against your pillows." Ezek.13:15-20 God shows Ezekiel how to join together dead peoples bones and then bring them back to life. Ezek.37:7-10 Daniel's dream tree is tall enough to see to the end of the earth. Only on a flat earth would this be possible. Dan.4:10-11 Nebuchadnezzar eats grass, grows hair like eagle feathers, and has nails like bird claws. Dan.4:32-33 A detached hand writes upon a wall. Dan.5:5-6 The Lord will roar and the heavens will shake. Jl.3:16 The divine pyromaniac sets fire to Hazel, Gaza, Teman, Rabbah, and Moab. Am.1:4 - 2:2 God stands on a wall holding a plumb line while he talks to Amos. Am.7:7 Amos sees God standing on the altar. Am.9:1 God makes "a great fish" [Jesus said it was a whale (Mt.12:40)] to swallow Jonah. And Jonah stayed in the fish's belly for three days and three nights. Jon 1:17 God talks to the fish, and it vomits out Jonah upon dry land. Jon 2:10 God wants the "beasts" to cover themselves with sackcloth and "cry mightily unto God." Jon.3:8 God repents. Jon.3:10 God prepares a gourd to shade Jonah's head. Then he prepares a worm to destroy the gourd. Jon.4:6-7 God will "wail and howl" and "go stripped and naked." Mic.1:8 God is jealous and gets furious. Nah.1:2 God makes the mountains quake and the hills melt. Nah.1:5 There is "much pain in all loins." Nah.2:10 God will "discover thy skirts upon thy face, ... show the nations thy nakedness" and "will cast abominable filth upon thee." Nah.3:4 God has "horns coming out of his hand." Hab.3:4 "Before him [God] went the pestilence, and burning coals at his feet." Hab.3:5 God will be "terrible" to humans and will "famish all the gods." Zeph.2:11 Be careful not to let any holy flesh touch any food or wine, because if you do your flesh won't be holy any more. Hag.2:12 Zechariah sees a flying roll. Zech.5:1-2 God will "go forth and fight" with "his feet" on the mount of Olives. Zech.14:3 God "will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces." Mal.2:3 Jesus casts out a devil from a man who was blind and dumb (blind and dumb people are possessed by devils). Mt.12:22 Jesus cures an epileptic "lunatic" by "rebuking the devil." (Epilepsy is caused by devils.) Mt.17:15 Matthew has Jesus ride into Jerusalem sitting on both an ass and a colt (must have taken some practice!). Mt.21:2-7 The true followers of Christ routinely perform the following tricks: 1) cast out devils, 2)speak in tongues, 3) take up serpents, 4) drink poisons without harm, and 5) cure the sick by touching them. Mk.16:17-18 The disciples are thrilled that "even the devils are subject" to them. To this Jesus replies, "I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions ... and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Lk.10:17-19 Jesus says that married people cannot go to heaven. Lk.20:35 Jesus says that everyone will hate Christians, and some Christians will be killed, yet no Christian will be harmed in any way. Lk.21:16 Sick people were cured by touching the handkerchief or apron of Paul. And the evil spirits when out of them." Acts 19:12 Evil spirits know Jesus and Paul. They also jump on people and strip them of their clothes. Acts 19:15-16 Saved people smell good to God. 2 Cor.2:15 Paul, knowing that their faith would crumble if subjected to free and critical inquiry, tells his followers to avoid philosophy. Col.2:8 Paul, who was something of a couch potato, thought that "bodily exercise profiteth little." 1 Tim.4:8 "All scripture is given by the inspiration of God." Even Judges 19:22-30 and Ezek. 23:20? 2 Tim.32:16 According to Paul, the people of Crete are "always liars, evil beasts, slow bellies." I'll take his word for it, but what is a slow belly? Tit.1:12 Paul says to disregard Jewish fables. Like the entire Bible, maybe? Tit.1:14 Paul instructs us to "avoid ... genealogies." Like Gen.10, 1 Chr.1-9, and Lk.3, Tit.3:9 Paul says we should avoid "strange doctrines." Those who do so will avoid nearly everything that the Bible teaches. Heb.13:9 James says that, even in his day, all beasts, birds, serpents, and sea creatures had been tamed by humans. Jas.3:7 Noah was the first drunken preacher . 2 Pet.2:5 Peter describes Lot, who in Gen.19:8 offers his two virgin daughters to a crowd of angel rapers and later (19:30-38) impregnates them, as a "righteous man." 2 Pet.2:8 Peter believes the story in Numbers (22:28-30) about the talking ass. 2 Pet.2:16 Peter says that Paul's epistles are hard to understand. And that those who try to understand them, as with the other scriptures, do so "unto their own destruction." 2 Pet.3:16 John thinks he is living in "the last times." He "knows" this because he sees so many antichrists around. 1 Jn.2:18 Jude informs us that Michael the Archangel argued with the devil about the body of Moses. Jude 9 Jude says Enoch prophesied that God would come with 10,000 of his saints "to execute judgment upon all." But where did he make such a prophecy? It is not recorded in the Bible. Jude 14 John believes "the time is at hand," and that the things that he writes about in Revelation will "shortly come to pass." Rev.1:1, 3 Jesus has white hair, eyes of fire, feet of brass, and has a sword sticking out of his mouth. Rev.1:13-16 God has seven spirits. Rev.3:1, 5:6 John has Jesus lie by saying: "Behold, I come quickly." Rev.3:11 God makes some horse-like locusts with human heads, women's hair, lion's teeth, and scorpion's tails. They sting people and hurt them for five months. Rev.9:7-10 An angel tells John to eat a book. He does, and it tastes good, but it makes his belly bitter. Rev.10:10 " And there was a war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon." So even in heaven, one can't be safe from war or dragons. Rev.12:7 Only 144,00 celibate men will be saved. (Those who were not "defiled with women.") Rev.14:3-4 The seven vials of wrath: 1) sores, 2) sea turned to blood, 3) rivers turned to blood, 4) people scorched with fire, 5) people gnaw their tongues in pain, 6) Euphrates dries up, 7) thunder, lightening, earthquake, and hail. Rev.16:1-21 Jesus, whose clothes are dipped in blood, has a sharp sword sticking out of his mouth. Thus attired, he treads the winepress of the wrath of God. Rev.19:13-15 John quotes Jesus (1900 years ago) as saying he will come "quickly." Rev.22:7, 12, 20 Anyone who adds to the words in Revelation (or to the rest of the Bible) will be struck with plagues, and anyone that tries to remove anything from it will have his name removed from the book of life. Rev.22:18-19 From: http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/absurdities.htm Q9: How do errantists challenge inerrancy? A: On several basic grounds - 1. Source ambiguity 2. Grammatical errors 3. Intentional, biased translation errors 4. Copying errors 5. Symbolic vs Literal interpretation 6. Multiple authorship vs traditional attribution to single author 7. Multiple versions of various books of the canon 8. Interpretation Conflicts 9. Internal conflicts/contradictions 10. Nature of truth - eternal or specific to time and place? More detail on these challenges - "Problems With Inerrancy" http://www.religioustolerance.org/inerrant.htm#prob -- For instance, Croatia is predominantly Roman Catholic. During the Second World War, the Nazis established a Catholic rump-government presided over by church officials and the notorious Ustashi movement. In addition to supporting the geopolitical and military goals of the Third Reich, the Ustashi regime engaged in a ruthless policy of exterminating Jews, Orthodox-slav, nonbelievers, and anyone else who would not succumb to the policy of forced religious conversions. Writer Avro Manhattan, author of the The Vaticans Holocaust, observed, During the existence of Croatia as an independent Catholic State, over 700,000 men, women and children perished. Many were executed, tortured, died of starvation, buried alive, or were burned to death... The Independent Catholic State of Croatia was under the nominal leadership of Ante Pavelic (1889-1959) who had been President of the Yugoslav Senate, and later an outspoken supporter of the Nazi axis powers. The Ustashi had ties to numerous clerical groups as well as the Vatican-backed Croat Peasant Party, and the powerful Roman Catholic prelate, Archbishop Stepinac. Stepinac served as Head Military Chaplain for the Croatian Ustashi army, and even helped to arrange for a private audience of over 200 Ustashi youth with Pope Pius XII at the Vatican on February 6, 1942. In the midst of all the carnage, Stepinac declared on March 28, 1941: All in all, Croats and Serbs are of two worlds, northpole (sic) and southpole (sic), never will they be able to get together unless by a miracle of God. The schism (Eastern Orthodoxy) is the greatest curse in Europe, almost greater than Protestantism. Here there is no moral, no principles, no truth, no justice, no honesty... Stepinacs place in history continues to be a focus of considerable debate among historians who remain divided over his role in the Croat-Ustashi- Catholic genocide against Slavs and others. There is evidence that the gruesome atrocities became even too much for the Archbishop, and in May, 1943, the Axis demanded that the Vatican remove him from his post. By then, the whole course of the war was beginning to shift in favor of the western allies. After the collapse of the Third Reich, Archbishop Stepinac was arrested by the new Yugoslav government, and he was transmogrified into a liberatory figure in the battle against godless communism. He died while under house arrest in 1960. Last year during a visit to Croatia, Pope John Paul II beatified Stepinac (the step before canonization and sainthood) in a religious service at the shrine in Marija Boistica. Many saw this as an unpleasant reminder of the ethnic cleansing days of World War II, and for Serbs it only underscored the continued confrontation between Orthodoxy and western-Vatican Christianity. Ironically, the inhabitants of the region are united in a common language. Approximately 16 million denizens of Bosnia, Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia all speak Serbo-Croatian, but even here, historical roots have an important role to play. The modern literary language developed thanks to the 1850 Vienna Agreement which found Croatian and Serbian linguists and writers helping to establish a united literary language. There are still regional difference though, in both vocabulary and dialect. Religion and national identification thus emerge as two of the leading civilizational fault-line indicators. Whereas the Serbs identify with Orthodox Christianity, distinct from their Roman Catholic Croat neighbors, another group is the Muslims, found mostly in Albania. The Vaticans Holocaust (Ozark Books, 1986) by Avro Manhattan On a historical note: Christians and other monotheists were in Greece/Roman times known as atheists for lack of believing in several gods and the divinity of emporers (this is an ancient, not present, definition). [NIV] Mark 8:12 He sighed deeply and said, Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it. What were all the miracles, including the Resurrection, if not a sign? But of that day and [that] hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father... Mark 13:32-33 If Jesus was ignorant of something, was he a deity? Maybe Jesus was not cleared for TOP SACRED. Matt 24:1-34 ......Likewise, when YOU see ALL these things, know that it is near, at the very threshold. Truly I say: THIS GENERATION WILL NOT PASS AWAY UNTIL ALL THESE THINGS OCCUR. Matt 16:27-28 ...Truly I say, there are some standing here, who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom. Matt 10:22-23 ...he who endures until the End shall be saved. And, when they persecute you in one city, flee to another:\for I say, YOU WILL NOT HAVE MADE YOUR WAY THROUGH ALL THE CITIES OF ISRAEL BEFORE THE SON OF MAN COMES! Religion books Skeptics Answered: Handling tough questions about the Christian faith. (1997) D. James Kennedy. Multnomah Books: Sisters, OR. ISBN: 1-57673-148-0. In Defense of the Faith: Biblical answers to challenging questions. (1996) Dave Hunt. Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, OR. ISBN: 1-56507-495-5. History and Cristianity: A vigorous, convincing presentation of the evidence for a historical Jesus. (1964) John Warwick Montgomery. Bethany House Publishers: Minneapolis, Minnesota. ISBN: 0-87123-890-X Understanding the Times: The religious worldviews of our day and the search for truth. (1991) David A. Noebell. Harvest House Publishers: Eugene, OR. ISBN: 1-56507-2685 [Noebell compares 1) Secular humanism, 2) Marxism/Leninism, 3) Christian theism, and 4) New age across the ten catagories of: theology, philosophy, ethics, biology, psychology, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history. 891 pages/hardcover.] The Genesis Flood: the biblical record and its scientific implications. (1961) By John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris. Baker Book House: Grand Rapids, Michigan. ISBN: 0-8010-9501-8. [A much more persuasive argument for the reality of the Genesis flood than skeptics would believe possible.] http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/7.html http://encyclopedia.com/articles/06170.html Jan Huss, burned in 1415 AD Psalms 77:18 (English-NIV) Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Psalm 10.7 His mouth is full of cursing and deceit and fraud. Under his tongue is mischief and vanity. [NIV] Exodus 32:27 Then he said to them, This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor. Deuteronomy 7:2 and when the LORD your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Leviticus 25:44 Both thy bondmen, and thy bondmaids, which thou shalt have, [shall be] of the heathen that are round about you; of them shall ye buy bondmen and bondmaids. ] Deuteronomy 20:16 But of the cities of these people, which the LORD thy God doth give thee [for] an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: Deuteronomy 7:2 And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, [and] utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them: [NIV] Psalms 2:7 I will proclaim the decree of the LORD: He said to me, You are my Son; today I have become your Father.