Evil of the Bible (Part 5): Judges 20:48

The Israelites turned back against the rest of the Benjaminites and killed them all---men, women, and children, and animals as well. They burned every town in the area.-Judges 20:48

This delightful quote speaks for itself. Like in numerous parts of the 'good book' we have the mindless slaughter of women and children. Many Christians are unable to comprehend where nonbelievers get their morality from, perhaps they should ask themselves that very question. Some Believers are void of the modern morality we take for granted — many of them would view this quote as not evil, but righteous. By today's standards, this sort of action is not only immoral, it is a war-crime. To claim the Bible offers superior morality (then that of modern secular morality) is like claiming mule is better at plowing fields then a tractor.

Bible Bull!@#$ (Part 1): The Day the Earth Stopped Spinning.

It is widely accepted (by the rational) that the Bible is full of stories that are complete fabrications and/or exaggerations — tall-tales and so on. This blog series is focused on examples which would fall under the 'bull!@#$' category. The book of Joshua contains one of my favorite examples of this. The below quote makes the claim that the Sun stopped moving to provide light for a long battle; along with God dropping chunks of ice on Amorites to kill them.

While the Amorites were running down the pass from the Israelite army, the LORD made large hailstones fall down on them all the way to Azekah. More were killed by the hailstones than by the Israelites. On the day that the LORD gave the men of Israel victory over the Amorites, Joshua spoke to the LORD. In the presence of the Israelites he said, "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; Moon, stop over Aijalon Valley." The sun stood still and the moon did not move until the nation had conquered its enemies. This is written in The Book of Jashar. The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not go down for a whole day. Never before, and never since, has there been a day like it, when the LORD obeyed a human being. The LORD fought on Israel's side! -Joshua 10:11-14 GNB

This battle may or may not have happened. For the sake of argument, let's follow the assumption that it did. At the start of this quote, it describes the Lord as making hailstones "fall down" on the Amorites, killing many of them. In the past people would just assume God was on their side in conflicts, even to this day (e.g. war and sporting events). This shows how ignorant and self-centered some can be. How could it even be known that it was God who was responsible for the hail? They couldn't have seen him (without hallucinating). What does an invisible man throwing chunks of ice look like? What is the sound of one hand clapping? The point is: how can they writers know God was responsible? (answer: they can't).

Now to the next part of this quote: "Joshua spoke to the LORD. In the presence of the Israelites he said, "Sun, stand still over Gibeon; Moon, stop over Aijalon Valley." The sun stood still and the moon did not move until the nation had conquered its enemies". This egomaniacal/schizophrenic human believes that his invisible friend can stop the Sun from moving in the sky, along with the moon. The wording of this quote shows how knowledgeable the writers were. This is a great example for how accurate the Bible is scientifically (Sun does not go around the Earth). But let's ignore their ignorance and focus on the idea of the Earth ceasing to rotate for a period of time. That would be the only way to make the Sun appear to stop moving. But if this were to happen, the winds would prohibit any battle from occurring. In fact much of the Earth's surface would get torn apart from the incredibly high winds. The writers didn't know that the Earth was a sphere and that it rotated on an axis, they thought it was flat and the Sun went around it (but Believers have faith in them over modern science). Not only that, but there is no documentation outside of scripture describing such an event. If the Sun really had done this, it would have been one of the most spectacular events to have ever happened in the history of our species. It would have been a widely documented historical event.

And to the last segment of this quote: "The sun stood still in the middle of the sky and did not go down for a whole day. Never before, and never since, has there been a day like it, when the LORD obeyed a human being. The LORD fought on Israel's side!". How delusional, Joshua (if he existed) actually believes that the creator of the universe stopped the motion of the Sun (really should be Earth), just so he could win a battle. This is one of the greatest examples in the Bible of extreme narcissism. All in all, this quote is a good reflection for how historically accurate the Bible is, along with how delusional/ignorant those that believe in it's historical accuracy are.

Thanking God for Food.

During the holiday season, many families gather together: to eat dinner, exchange presents etc. During the meals, many thank God for the food (in the form of saying grace etc). This is a fairly common tradition. But putting tradition aside, what is the logic here? There are many elements to this which are illogical and pathetic. For the sake of argument, let's say there is a God (maybe throw in a pink unicorn as well). Here we have a group of people sitting around a table (keep in mind God created them). These people had no choice in whether or not they wanted to be born. If God did indeed create them, then does that not make them prisoners of this world (being that they are stuck here, and had no choice in the matter)? This is the same as getting kidnapped and thanking the kidnappers for being fed. It is the least they could do (a dead hostage is not of much use). This is why thanking God for merely providing food is pathetic.

What about in countries like Ethiopia? Where countless numbers of people (many of them children) are starving to death, or have already done so. Did these people not pray hard enough? Does God not like them (strange behavior for an all-loving god). If God is to be thanked for providing food, he has morality similar to the Germans during World War 2 (prisoners + Ethiopians, use your imagination).

Thanking an 'invisible guy' may seem a bit schizophrenic. However the real problem is the fear of pride. In reality, people are the ones that deserve the gratitude here (not some god). They are the ones that bought/grew the food. Why is feeling pride a sin? If only there was a way to feel more guilty and unworthy, the holidays would be that much more enjoyable.

God's Personality Disorder.

It is clear that God has a 'narcissistic personality disorder'. Personality disorders are no joking matter. For those that are not familiar with this personality disorder, here is the diagnostic criteria (source: Wikipedia)...

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders fourth edition, DSM IV-TR, a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders, defines narcissistic personality disorder (in Axis II Cluster B) as:[1]

    A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

       1. has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)
       2. is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love
       3. believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
       4. requires excessive admiration
       5. has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
       6. is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends
       7. lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others
       8. is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her
       9. shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes

This particular personality disorder fits like a glove, such a sad thing. The people that claim to love him so much, should reach out, to help him (hint: look within). It may be distressing for followers to learn he does not posses infinite power, love, and knowledge — being that it was all an exaggeration. They can however take comfort in knowing he does posses one quality which is infinite, even if it is only infinite-ego.

Thankful to be alive.

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, this message was up on the board of the local church. At first glace, the message seems straight forward, people should be "thankful" to be alive. Obviously being a Methodist church, God is the target of gratitude. This sort of idea is brought up time and time again throughout the holidays. While I do think people take being alive for granted, that is not the underlying message here (not only the sign but this common message). Here we have a church — a place to worship an invisible being that supposedly created everything.  While the message in a nonreligious context is alright, put it into a religious one, and the message becomes warped. This church is using the classic guilt trip: people do not thank God enough for allowing them to live. I do not understand why any religion would portray their god as this: a complete egomaniac. To get the story straight: God created us, why? So that we could worship and praise him our entire lives, but we cannot forget to be thanking him for allowing us the privilege to do so. If we choose not to, we can spend an eternity burning forever and ever in Hell. We should never take being alive for granted, but this message is pathetic, and only strokes the ego of a being which probably doesn't even exist. To really thank the source of existence, biological evolution should be look towards, and even more precisely, our parents.

Dirt or Apes?

 "Then the LORD God took some soil from the ground and formed a man out of it; he breathed life-giving breath into his nostrils and the man began to live." -Genesis 2:7 GNB

Oftentimes the religious are disgusted by the idea of humans evolving from apes. Many believe there is more dignity in the Genesis story. Disregarding all of the evidence supporting the side of evolution (and lack there of for the Genesis account). Which origin has more dignity in it?




Post your opinion on this in comment section below.

Ignorant Nonbelievers

This entry is on the view I hold towards ignorant Nonbelievers and why I don't view them much higher then the ignorant religious. I'm sure some will disagree with me on this. First let me break down what I mean by 'ignorant Nonbeliever'. This is a person whom is ignorant to both science and religion; only having the views that they do because of friends/family — not being informed on either side of the debate, but claiming to be on the side of science and rationality.

Many claim to "believe" in evolution, but a large portion of those people have a very weak understanding of the theory (sometimes as weak as the creationists). While this is fine, not everyone needs to have a great understanding of it (should but not need). The problem is that they are claiming to believe in something which they know very little about. On the flip side, they claim to not believe in something which they also know little about (sound familiar?).

Ignorant Nonbelievers are a big problem for those that wish for a more rational world. While many atheist/agnostics view them as "on their side" — it is really quite the opposite. The true problem is not religion. It is ignorance, lack of rationality, and lack of individual thinking. Ignorant Nonbelievers are not informed enough to claim to "believe" in evolution etc. It is irrational to believe in something, but not know what that something is. These people are mere sheep; in my opinion a sheep is a sheep is a sheep. The only distinction between the two is who the shepherd is.

This blog is obviously centered on criticizing religion; but it is the underlying problems which allow religion to thrive that I am most opposed to. As previously stated, the problems are: ignorance, lack of individual thinking, and lack of rationality. It just happens to be that religion promotes and thrives off these three things. But at the same time, I find it easier to respect a well-informed Believer, than an ignorant Nonbeliever. The big questions are at least thought about, and there is some sort of understanding of the opposing side (even if it is only to debate it). But well-informed Believers are few and far between.

The only reason ignorant Nonbelievers happen to be on this side of the fence is because they were led over here. Perhaps it is only me, but I dislike sheep on either side. The only thing that makes a religious sheep more undesirable would be that they may be more inclined to do destructive behavior (in the name of religion). Besides that, they are mirror images of each other.