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Adam, Eve, and the Serpent, by Elaine Pagels (1988)
Anatomy of Religion,
by Adrian Crees
Ancient Israel, by Roland de Vaux (1965)
Asimov's Guide
to the Bible (Vol 1 &2), by Isaac Asimov (1968-69)
Beyond Theology, by
Alan Watts (1964)
Holy Bible, King James Version, by God(?) (1611)
Holy
Bible, the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV), by revisionists
(1989)
Midrash Rabbah
Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, & Morality (1990)
More Steve Allen on the Bible, Religion, & Morality (1993)
Molech:
A God of Human sacrifice in the Old Testament, by John Day
Testament, by
John Romer (1988)
The Bible Handbook for Free Thinkers and Inquiring Christians,
by G.
W. Foote, et al
The Book of the Prophet, by A.S. Herbert (1973)
The Chalice & the Blade, by Riane Eisler (1987)
The Gnostic Gospels,
by Elaine Pagels (1979)
The Gospel Sources, by Dorthy F. Wilson
The
Interpreter's Bible
The Jewish Sources of the Sermon on the Mount, by G.
Friedlander
(1969)
The Masks of God, by Joseph Campbell (1964)
The
Old Testament Library, Isaiah 1-12, by Otto Kaiser (1972)
The Revell Bible
Dictionary (1984)
The Secret Teachings of Jesus, by Marvin W. Meyer (1984)
The X-Rated Bible, by Ben Edward Akerley (1989)
When God Was a Woman,
by Merlin Stone (1976)
The Dark Bible
Sex, Obscenities, Filth
Back To Table Of Contents
Biblical pornography
Cain's Wife?
David uncovers himself
Death
to adulterers
Drugs and aphrodisiacs
Eat human feces!
Eating dung
and drinking piss
Eating dung and son
Expose her breasts!
Fatal
orgasm
Fecal disposal
God given hemorrhoids
God's bowel diseases
God's fecal fetish
Howl and strip naked
Incestuous relations
Passing wind
Piss crimes
Pisseth against walls
Prophesy in the
nude
The sacred penis
Biblical Pornography
"Yet
she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her
youth,
wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she doted
upon
their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is
like the issue of horses." (Ezekiel 23: 20-21)
"and
lusted after her paramours there, whose members were like those of
donkeys,
and whose emission was like that of stallions." (Ezekiel 23: 21,
NRSV)
Comment
The
story of the sister whores, Aholah and Aholibah gives a moral lesson
against
the sins of the flesh. But why does God have to describe their
adventures
in such pornographic detail?
As
any adult should know, such descriptions might bring temptation for
anyone
reading these verses. For what moral lessen can this could this
possibly serve?
What parent would want
their children reading verse 21 about comparing the
size of men's penises
to donkey genitals and the sperm flow to that of horse
issues?
Cain's Wife?
"And Cain
knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded
a city, and
called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch."
(Genesis
4:17)
Comment
What
wife? At that time only Adam & Eve, Can and Abel existed on the
Earth.
The only possibility comes from, either a grave omission from the
Bible, or
his mother Eve served as his wife. The second possibility would
mean incest.
After Cain killed his
brother, God protected him by setting "a mark upon
Cain, lest any finding
him should kill him." (verse 14). Considering the earth
supposedly had
only Adam's family, who should kill him? And what kind of
mark could have
protected Cain? From the absurdity of this story, it should
not surprise why
anyone would read into it what they wanted. Certain inane
beliefs resulted
such as the common belief that the "mark of Cain" meant the
dark
skin of the "Negro" race.
David Uncovers Himself
"And
David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was
girded with
a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the
ark of
the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. And as
the ark
of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter
looked through
a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the
LORD; and she
despised him in her heart." (II Samuel 6:14-16)
"Then
David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of
Saul came
out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel
today, who
uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his
servants, as
one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself!" (II
Samuel 6:20)
Comment
Imagine
King David dancing and leaping with all his might while uncovering
himself
to the crowd.
David's
wife, in effect, says "Well, you certainly made an ass of yourself at
the temple today leaping and dancing about like an idiot and exposing
yourself."
An "ephod"
describes of an embroidered robe that looks similar to a
woman's dress.
Death To Adulterers
"And
the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that
committeth
adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress
shall
surely be put to death. And the man that lieth with his father's wife hath
uncovered his father's nakedness: both of them shall surely be put to death;
their blood shall be upon them." (Leviticus 20:10-11)
Comment
Few
Christians today consider death as a punishment for adultery; no doubt
because
so many Christians, themselves, practice sexual liaisons with other
people's
spouses.
Note, however,
that a growing number of heterosexual fundamentalists have
begun to call for
the death penalty for homosexuals simply because Leviticus
20:13 calls for
the death of a man who lies with mankind (homosexuality).
Drugs And Aphrodisiacs
"Come,
my beloved, let us go forth into the field; let us lodge in the villages.
Let us get up early to the vineyards; let us see if the vine flourish, whether
the
tender grape appear, and the pomegranates bud forth: there will I give
thee my
loves. The mandrakes give a smell, and at our gates are all manner
of pleasant
fruits, new and old, which I have laid up for thee, O my beloved."
(Song of
Solomon 7:11-13)
Comment
The
poetry of the Songs of Solomon give Scriptural testimony for love, sex
and
the beauty of the female body, a rare and usually ignored portion of the
Bible
by many fundamentalist Christians.
The
mandrakes mentioned here describe a Mediterranean herb of the
nightshade family
of plants. To this day in the Middle East, people believe it
overcomes impotence
in men and acts as a powerful aphrodisiac. Even the
roots have a decidedly
phallic appearance. Ancient physician, Galen, wrote
that pomegranate possessed
antifertility properties. Many women in ancient
days used pomegranate, (as
well as other plants) for birth control, with little
interference from religious
or political authorities. Studies in the 1930s
showed that pomegranate reduced
fertility in laboratory animals, much as
modern contraceptive pills do. [Archaeology,
March/April 1994]
(See also Genesis 30:14)
Eat Human Feces!
"And
thou shalt eat it as barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that
cometh
out of man, in their sight. And the LORD said, Even thus shall the
children
of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will
drive
them." (Ezekiel 4:12-13)
Comment
How
many good Christians today realize that their God has coprophilic
tendencies?
One wonders what value,
nutritional or moral, it would serve the people to eat
human feces with their
bread, as God ordered. Note, God here has also
ordered, the voyeuristic-like
observation of the feces coming out man.
Eating Dung And Drinking Piss
"But
Rabshakeh said unto them, Hath my master sent me to thy master, and
to thee,
to speak these words? hath he not sent me to the men which sit on
the wall,
that they may eat their own dung, and drink their own piss with
you?"
(II Kings 18:27)
Comment
Whatever
moral lesson an adult might gain from such vulgar verses, one can
only wonder.
How many parents realize that their children, who might come
across such filthy
passages, could get the wrong message?
Any
mention of drinking of feces and urine in any secular writing would get
considered
obscene and sick by any righteous minded Christian. Then why
should it not
receive the same consideration if found in a bible?
Note
the word "piss" stands as one of the vulgar words that does not get
allowed on television programming. If Christians wish to censor such
language
from secular sources, then it behooves them to give themselves as
an example
and thus censor the obscene verses from their own Bible.
(See also Isaiah 36:12)
Eating Dung And Son
"And
there was a great famine in Samaria: and, behold, they besieged it, until
an ass's head was sold for fourscore pieces of silver, and the fourth part of
a
cab of dove's dung for five pieces of silver." (II Kings 6:25)
"And
the king said unto her, What aileth thee? And she answered, This
woman said
unto me, Give thy son, that we may eat him to day, and we will
eat my son
to morrow. So we boiled my son, and did eat him: and I said unto
her on the
next day, Give thy son, that we may eat him: and she hath hid her
son...."
(II Kings 6:28-29)
Comment
According
to the Bible, a horrible famine took place in Samaria where in
desperation,
the people ate feces of doves, (strangely worth more than a
donkey's head).
The same chapter describes an incident of cannibalism-- a
son boiled alive
by his mother to provide food.
Expose Her Breasts!
"Behold,
I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts; and I will discover thy
skirts
upon thy face, and I will shew the nations thy nakedness, and the
kingdoms
thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make
the vile,
and will set thee as gazingstock." (Nahum 3:5-6) "Look, I am against
you!- declares Yahweh Saboath- I shall lift your skirts as high as your face
and show your nakedness to the nations, your shame to the kingdoms. I shall
pelt you with filth." (Nahum 3:6, The New Jerusalem Bible)
Comment
Some
think these verses describe a genius of a poet. If judged as such, it can
only come from its sharpness and vividness. But it also describes vulgarity
and hatred, even if it aims against the harlotry of the city of Nineveh.
Few
scholars today believe that these verses come as a direct quote from
God.
But a fundamentalist who believes every word of the Bible, must also
accept
these words as Godly. If so, then how can one not see God in a cruel
vulgar
light?
"Filth"
here refers to dung. (See also Malachi 2:2-3 where God says "I will
corrupt
your seed, and spread dung upon your faces...")
Fatal Orgasm
"And Er,
Judah's firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD; and the
LORD slew
him. And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother's wife,
and marry her,
and raise up seed to thy brother. And Onan knew that the seed
should not be
his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother's
wife, that he
spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his
brother. And
the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew
him also."
(Genesis 38:7-10)
Comment
The
term "onanism," from the name Onan, has come to stand for
masturbation
which has suffered a fate similar to sodomy in the sense that it
has evolved
to have a meaning far different from its original usage.
Dictionaries
define onanism as "male masturbation" or "Uncompleted
coitus."
According to interpretations of the Bible, Onan removed his penis
from his
partner's vagina before he ejaculated so that his seed fell onto the
ground.
This displeased God so much that he killed him! Onanism has also
received
a another definition of "self pollution" which has caused misery
throughout the centuries. God killed Onan because, rather than to impregnate
his brother's wife-- thus extending his line, Onan chose to interrupt his coitus
before he could impregnate Tamar. Onan had a logical reason for doing so,
one that involved Jewish law of those ancient days. During Biblical times, any
child born to the wife of the eldest son died without heirs - and if his wife
had
no children sired by a relative of her dead spouse - then the dominance
would
pass to the second son. Onan stood to lose a great deal if he complied
with
his father's order. Had he been asked to marry his brother's wife, thus
transferring her to his possession, he no doubt would have completed the act.
Then the resultant child would have been his, legally as well as physically.
Some
time during the centuries, the character of the sinful act was changed.
Instead
of being recognized as a seldom performed interrupting of coitus, it
became
accepted as any form of self-stimulation that resulted in orgasm. And
the
entire character of the deed became altered, and Onanism came to mean a
sinful
act of masturbation!
Fecal disposal
"And thou
shalt have a paddle upon thy weapon; and it shall be, when thou
wilt ease
thyself abroad, thou shalt dig therewith, and shalt turn back and
cover that
which cometh from thee: For the LORD thy God walketh in the
midst of thy camp,
to deliver thee, and to give up thine enemies before thee;
therefore shall
they camp be holy: that he see no unclean thing in thee, and
turn away from
thee." (Deuteronomy 23:13-14)
Comment
These
verses ask us to believe that God has concern for fecal waste disposal
outside
a military camp because God personally wishes to walk within the
camp. Now
really!
God Given Hemorrhoids
"The
LORD will smite thee with the botch of Egypt, and with the emerods,
and with
the scab, and with the itch, whereof thou canst not be healed."
(Deuteronomy
28:27)
Comment
When
Israel felt rebellious against God's plan, He threatened them with type
of
plague: "emerods" or by today's terminology, "hemorrhoids."
God also sent hemorrhoids
as a plague to the enemies. "...he destroyed them,
and smote them with
emerods..." and "... Lord was against the city with a
very great
destruction: and he smote the men of the city, both small and great,
and they
had emerods in their secret parts." (See I Samuel 5:6-12)
God's Bowel Diseases
"Behold
with a great plague will the LORD smite thy people and thy children,
and thy
wives, and all thy goods: And thou shalt have great sickness by
disease of
thy bowels, until thy bowels fall out by reason of the sickness day
by day."
(II Chronicles 21:14-15)
"And
after all this the LORD smote him in his bowels with an incurable
disease.
And it came to pass, that in process of time, after the end of two
years,
his bowels fell out by reason of sickness: so he died of sore diseases.
And
his people made no burning for him, like the burning of his fathers." (II
Chronicles 18:19)
Comment
Another
among many instances in the Bible where the Lord smites, not only
men, but
all the people including women and children.
Why
God would concern himself with giving an incurable cruel bowel disease
where
the person's guts spill out of the abdomen, goes beyond human
decency and
comprehension.
God's Fecal Fetish
"If
ye will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart, to give glory unto my
name, saith the LORD of hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will
curse your blessings: yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay
it to heart. Behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your
faces,
even the dung of your solemn feasts; and one shall take you away with
it."
(Malachi 2:2-3)
Comment
Amazingly God appears to have a fecal fetish.
This
commandment to the priests told by the Lord gives example of the
Satanic threats
of curses He seems to enjoy. What should one think of a God
that would smear
feces upon the faces of his creations? Such vulgarity can
hardly give good
example to high morality.
Howl And Strip Naked
"Therefore
I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a
wailing
like the dragons, and mourning as the owls." (Micah 1:8)
Comment
The
minor prophets felt influenced from Isaiah and these words of Micah
indicate
that he would imitate Isaiah's nudist actions as an adjunct to his
prophesying.
Picture in your mind
a religious man of today stripping and running around
totally nude and prophesying
in public, wailing and hooting at the top of his
lungs. No doubt the police
would snatch him up in a second while citizens
stare in embarrassment. It
just goes to show how far we have demeaned
ourselves and our bodies as shameful.
(See also Isaiah 20:2-4)
Incestuous Relations
"And
Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she
shall
be called Woman, because she was taken out of man." (Genesis 2:23)
"And
Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I
have
gotten a man from the LORD. And she again bare his brother Abel. and
Abel
was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground." (Genesis
4:1-2)
"And Cain
knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch..." (Genesis
4:17)
Comment
Since
Eve came from Adam and due to God's edict to "be fruitful and
multiply,"
this describes the first incestual relationship.
In
4:17 one must infer incest for Cain would have had to have sex with either
his own mother, Eve, or an unnamed sister.
For
other examples of Biblical incest see Gen. 20:12 where Abraham married
his
half-sister Sarah; Gen. 19:30-38 where Lot's daughters had intercourse
with
him; Gen. 38:16 where Tamar had sex with her father-in-law Judah.
People
should become aware that many of today's incestuous abuses occur
in Christian
families and many use Biblical scripture for its justification.
Passing Wind
Wherefore my bowels
shall sound like a harp for Moab, and mine inward
parts for Kirharesh. (Isaiah
16:11)
Comment
This
passage refers to the flatulent passing of gas in musical fashion from the
bowels of a prophet. Could this represent a rare instance of humor in the
Bible?
Piss Crimes
"therefore,
behold, I will bring evil upon the house of Jerobo'am, and will cut
off from
Jerobo'am him that pisseth against the wall..." (I Kings 14:10)
Comment
If God brings evil upon a house, then what makes Him different from Satan?
Although
the unsanitary practice of urinating on walls might have caused
serious erosion
of the mud walls, this appears too steep a punishment.
(See also I Kings 16:8-11, I Kings 21:21, and II Kings 9:8-10.)
Pisseth Against Walls
"And
it came to pass, when he began to reign, as soon as he sat on his
throne,
that he slew all the house of Baasha: he left him not one that pisseth
against
a wall, neither of his kinsfolks, nor of his friends." ( I Kings 16:11)
Comment
Consider
that many Christians tell us to believe all of the Bible, must we also
include
this vulgar language as the inspiration of God?
(See also I Kings 14:10, 21:21; II Kings 9:8.)
Prophesy in the nude
"At
the same time spake the LORD by Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, Go
and loose
the sackcloth from off thy lions, and put off thy shoe from thy
foot. And
he did so, walking naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, Like
as my servant
Isaiah hath walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign
and wonder upon
Egypt and upon Ethiopia; So shall the king of Assyria lead
away the Egyptians
prisoners, and the Ethiopians captives, young and old,
naked and barefoot,
even with their buttocks uncovered, to the shame of
Egypt." (Isaiah 20:2-4)
Comment
Although
Saul acted on his own, God gave Isaiah a direct injunction to
prophesy in
the nude, and it should continue for three years.
God
seems not the least offended by nudity when it comes to prophesying,
yet he
imbues his followers with shame over nudity associated with sex,
especially
when it involves pagan sex worship.
(See also Micah 1:8)
The Sacred Penis
"He
that is wounded in the stones, or hath his privy member cut off, shall not
enter into the congregation of the LORD. A bastard shall not enter into the
congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into
the congregation of the LORD." (Deuteronomy 23:1-2)
Comment
Consider
the religious man who happens to accidentally receive an injury that
results
in the loss of his penis. According to the Bible, and regardless of his
righteousness
or goodwill toward men, mind you, but just because he lacks a
penis, he should
never enter a Church or Temple again.
Also
pity a poor man born of a mother who, for whatever reason, including
rape,
may have born him out of wedlock. He too should, according to the
Bible, never
enter the Lord's congregation.
The Dark Bible
The Atrocities
Back To Table Of Contents
Babylon is fallen
David slaughters them
Decapitate them!
Gideon
slaughters
God buries them alive
God kills the firstborns!
God
sends pestilence
God slaughters blacks
God's threat to kill
Godly
head wounds
Godly mass murder
Kill all unbelievers
Kill man, woman,
infant
King David's holocaust
Moses' mass murder
Nail his head!
Raping and killing
Shed the blood
Slaughter of innocents
Slay
old and young
Stone the woman!
The survivors
Utter destruction,
1
Utter destruction, 2
Washing feet in blood
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 his bomb.
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
Chapter
17-19 tell 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 6-9. 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 truth, then not only did God smote the firstborn
children, but all
firstborn regardless of age. This means children of all ages,
teenagers, men,
women, and the aged. No matter how much love or
goodness they may have imparted
to the world, if they were unlucky to have
first passed through their mothers
vagina, they were to be killed by God.
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
"Zerah,
the Ethiopian came up against them with an army of a million and
three hundred
chariots..." (II Chronicles 14:9)
"Then
the LORD struck down the Ethiopians before Asa and Judah so that
the Ethiopians
fled." (II Chronicles 14:12)
Comment
It
appears doubtful that Black Christian Bible studies programs concentrate
on
these verses.
These Bibles verses say that the Lord God slaughtered over a million blacks.
The Klu Klux Klan have used such verses as evidence to justify their beliefs.
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 and stupidity 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." (Psalm 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.
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 little of the Bible even mentions 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 and stole the spoils of the cities.
Even
today, many Christian military men use Scripture to justify their actions.
Even George Bush, with Billy Graham beside him, proclaimed the Gulf War
as
"moral."
(See also Deuteronomy 20:16-17 and Joshua 6:2)
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." (Revelations 9:3-4)
Comment
Here
we have the great future destruction where millions of people will die.
Only
144,000 Jews with a protective mark on their heads will survive.
How
many believers realize that this means the death of everyone on earth but
a few Jews? And this includes the destruction of all Christians!
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" (Josh. 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.
(See alsoDeuteronomy 3:6-7)
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)
Washing Feet In Blood
"The
righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance. He shall wash his
feet
in the blood of the wicked." (Psalm 58:10)
Comment
How
many "good" Christians realize that such words appear in the Bible?
Of
course most preachers keep these immoral 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 some.
Unfortunately, the few that take these verses literally can
justify atrocities
against anyone who they wish to define as "wicked."
The Dark Bible
Morality And Paradoxes
Back To Table Of Contents
Be
wise as serpents
Burn the daughter!
Burn them!
Creation paradox,
1
Creation paradox, 2
Curse the children
Eat your children
God accepts slavery
God orders adultery
God's OK on abortion
God's
creation
Happy to kill children
Hate them!
Hate your family
Human sacrifice
Make weapons
More than one god
Rape my daughter
Serpent Jews
Synagogues of Satan
Talking donkey
The "gods"
The sun stands still
Turn thy cheek
Virgin's worth
Be Wise As Serpents
"Behold,
I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore
wise as
serpents, and harmless as doves." (Matthew 10:16)
Comment
This
verse instructs the apostles to act "wise as serpents." Since Christians
hold that the serpent in the Bible represents Satan, one might wonder about
this. Note also that some Bibles use the term "subtle" in place of "wise"
which alludes to the serpent in Genesis 3:1, "the serpent was more subtil
than
any beast..." Early Gnostic heretics believed that Jesus "was"
Satan and they
used Biblical verses such as this to support their belief.
It seems odd that Jesus
would resort to the metaphorical "sheep" instead of
pet dogs or
some other loyal animal. The awkward fact remains that men
raise sheep for
two reasons: to rob them of their coats and to kill and eat
them.
Note
also that doves actually act just the opposite of "harmless." Doves
act
viciously against other birds.
Burn Them!
"Keep me,
O LORD, from the hands of the wicked; preserve me from the
violent man; who
have purposed to overthrow my goings." (Psalm 140:4)
"Let
burning coals fall upon them: let them be cast into the fire; into deep pits,
that they rise not up again." (Psalm 140:10)
Comment
Such
wicked words can justify to the religious person any atrocity including
holocausts.
Ironically in verse 4, the words "Keep me, O Lord, from the
hands of
the wicked" calls in verse 10 for horrible acts against their enemies;
hardly a message of love of thine enemies.
Creation Paradox, 1
"And
God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their
kind,
and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw
that
is was good. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness..."
(Genesis 1:25-26)
"And
the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will
make
him an help meet for him. And out of the ground the LORD God
formed every
beast of the field, and every fowl of the air..." (Genesis 2:18-19)
Comment
Man was made before the beasts and after the beasts.
Only
a person who exercised warped logic or blind faith could justify this
outright
contradiction. Yet to the fundamentalist reader, the many hundreds of
contradictions
and discrepancies in the Bible go by unseen, regardless of
how many honest
scholars and theologians have discovered otherwise.
Even
the belief among non-fundamentalists, that the Bible has kept its original
form despite minor changes, has led many theologians to think otherwise.
One
of the most highly respected theologians, Bruce Metzger, has written
extensively
on the errors in the Bible. For example, in his book "The text of
the
New Testament- Its Transmission, Corruption, and Restoration," Metzger
asserts errors due to:
Errors arising from faulty eyesight
Errors arising from faulty hearing
Errors of the mind
Errors of judgment
Difficulties historical and geographical
Alterations from doctrinal considerations
Addition of miscellaneous
details.
Many times
whole belief systems and vast changes to a society can change
from a simple
mistranslation of a single word. (See "virgin" in Isaiah 7:14)
Creation Paradox, 2
"So
God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him;
male
and female created he them." (Genesis 1:27)
"And
the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept:
and he took
one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the
rib, which
the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and
brought her unto the
man." (Genesis 2:21-22)
Comment
In
the first account, God created a man and female, simultaneously. In the
second
account Adam got created from out of the dust, and then later, a
woman came
from one of his ribs.
There
occur many other contradictions in the Bible that would require an
extensive
amount of disk space to record and explain. For those who feel
impressed by
the number of instances, and for further edification, consult
"The Bible
Handbook for Free-Thinkers and Inquiring Christians," edited by
G. W.
Foote and W. P. Ball (Pioneer Press, London)
Curse The Children
"And
your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your
whoredoms,
until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness. After the
number of the days
in which ye searched the land, even forty days, each day
for a year, shall
ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know
my breach of
promise." (Numbers 14:33-34)
Comment
This
cruel curse on children attributed to God, for the sins of their parents,
bears the typical harsh vengeful evil spirit that permeates the Old Testament.
How can one not conclude
that these verses give the greatest insult to a
loving God?
Eat Your Children
"And
thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of
thy
daughters, which the LORD they God hath given thee, in the siege, and in
the
straightness, wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee:" (Deuteronomy
28:53)
"And toward
her young one that cometh out from between her feet, and
toward her children
which she shall bear: for she shall eat them for want of all
things secretly
in the siege and straitness, wherewith thine enemy shall distress
thee in
thy gates." (Deuteronomy 28:57)
Comment
Here
we have the horrific calling for cannibalism. It comes even more
barbaric
considering it calls for the devouring of their own sons and
daughters.
Hardly
anyone today accepts cannibalism, yet many fundamentalist Christians
would
have us believe that cannibalism will result if we choose not to believe
in
God or to choose another god.
(See also II Kings 6:28-29)
God Accepts Slavery
"And
if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my
children;
I will not go out free: Then his master shall bring him unto the
judges; he
shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his
master shall
bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever."
(Exodus
21:5-6)
Comment
The
Bible bears witness to the fact that God accepts not only slavery but
violence
against such slaves (in this case a awl driven through the ear) for the
innocent
statement of love for their master, wife and children.
It
came from precisely these verses that justified, in many peoples minds, the
tortures inflicted on African slaves when they tried to leave their cruel masters
in the American colonies. "Good" Christians of the day would drive nails
and
spikes through the ears of defenseless slaves whose only offense came
from
the will to no longer serve as slaves.
Not
until after the Civil War did federal laws become enacted to protect
African
Americans from gross physical abuse. Even today, the KKK and "the
Aryan
Race" use the Bible as justification for their attacks against "Negroes."
God Orders Adultery
"This
said the LORD, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine
own
house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto
thy
neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun." (II
Samuel 12:11)
Comment
Here
describes God, not only condoning adultery, but literally causes it to
happen!
Note also, the strange
assertion that God raises up evil, supposedly an act
reserved for Satan.
God's OK On Abortion
"And
when he hath made her drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that,
if
she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water
that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly
shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her
people. And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free,
and shall conceive seed." (Numbers 5:27-28)
Comment
This
nonsensical ritual, prescribed by God, to a woman suspected of
infidelity,
must undergo the drinking of a vile concoction made of bitter water
and dust
from the floor of a tabernacle. A priest calls a curse upon the
woman's head
to insure that if she has acted in adultery the drinking of the
liquid will
cause her to have a miscarriage. If she comes out clean, then she
shall conceive.
Regardless of how ridiculous
this procedure appears, any person who
believes every word of the Bible must
come to terms with the realization that
the quoted God here sometimes authorizes
abortion.
(also read Num. 5:1-25)
God's creation
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." (Genesis 1:1)
"And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness..." (Genesis
1:26)
Comment
The
Bible has a problem from the very beginning in that the English term
'God'
came from the Hebrew term 'Elohim.' The problem, here, lies in the
fact that
Elohim represents the plural form of 'El.' And since 'El' means 'god,'
then
Elohim should mean 'gods.' (More accurately, "goddesses.")
The
idea of Genesis and the Creation did not come originally from the
Hebrews,
but rather from various cultures in the area. For example,
excavations in
Mesopotamia uncovered small cylinder seals depicting the
creation stories.
Of course these early people believed in many gods and
goddesses, just as
the first Hebrew people did.
Although
as the Hebrew belief system grew, and the word Elohim came to
mean the singular
God, the fact still remains: The original meaning meant the
plural form. Any
honest translation of Elohim, therefore should reflect this
plurality. In
the name of honesty, we should ask why our Church fathers
would allow the
dishonest singular forms of the word God in the Bible.
Note,
when anyone questioned this plurality, Christian priests tried to resolve
this sticky problem by using the concept of the Trinity (Father, Son and the
Holy Ghost) to explain the plurality. The problem here comes that if they truly
believed this, then why not use the proper plural translation in the first place?
Happy To Kill Children
"Happy
shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones."
(Psalm 137:9, KJV) "Happy the man who shall seize and smash your little
ones against the rock!" (Psalm 137:9, New American Bible) "a blessing
on
anyone who seizes your babies and shatters them against a rock!" (Psalm
137:9, Jerusalem Bible)
Comment
Ask
a Christian friend whether he or she should feel happy to dash a child
against
the rocks. Your friend will most likely stare at you in horror, much
less
believe this idea exists in their sacred Bible.
Many
Churches have found this verse as quite embarrassing. It gives no
wonder then
why priests, Jews, and Christians alike, have quoted from Psalm
137, but always
leaving out this last verse.
(See also Isaiah 13:16)
Hate Them!
"Surely thou
will slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye
bloody men. For
they speak against thee wickedly, and thine enemies take thy
name in vain.
Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I
grieved with those
that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred: I
count them mine
enemies." (Psalm 139:19-22)
Comment
A
message of hate from the, supposed, inspired words of God against
anyone who
takes God's name in vain or who goes against God.
Faith
in one's belief produces a barrier to further investigation. As such,
societies
that differ in beliefs from other societies cannot see past their own
barriers.
When hate enters into the prison of their beliefs, the seeds for
violence
to act out against other societies come to full bloom.
Hate Your Family!
"If
any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and
children,
and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be
my disciple."
(Luke 14:26)
Comment
This
remarkable statement of hate by Jesus directly contradicts the idea of a
loving
Christ. If one must hate their father, mother, wife, children, brethren
and
sisters and even themselves, in order to become a disciple of Jesus, one
must
question Christ's idea of the family.
(See also Luke 12:51-53, Matthew 11:34-37.)
Human Sacrifice
"Thou
shalt not delay to offer the first of thy ripe fruits, and of thy liquors:
the firstborn of thy sons shalt thou give unto me." (Exodus 22:29)
Comment
This verse refers to human sacrifice which many primitive cultures practiced.
In
the Canaanite world the Molech cult practiced human sacrifice and many
scholars
equate Yahweh with the Molech god. Explicit references to Molech
appear in
Lev. 18:21, 20:2-5; Jer. 32:35 and II Kings 23:10. Fortunately, few
people
believe in sacrificing humans to gods these days.
(See
also Gen. 22:1-19 for Abraham's will to sacrifice his son Isaac, and
Judges
11)
Make Weapons
"Proclaim
ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men,
let all the
men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into
swords,
and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong."
(Joel
3:9-10)
Comment
Peace
loving Jews and Christians love to quote the biblical passage about
beating
swords into ploughshares and spears into pruninghooks, (Micah 4:3)
but here
we have just the opposite.
More Than One God
"Now
I know that the LORD is greater than all gods: for in the thing wherein
they
dealt proudly he was above them." (Exodus 18:11)
Comment
Here we have the Bible alluding to the existence of more than one god.
Note
that it does not say "the Lord is the only god" but rather that he "is
greater than all gods."
History
records that the ancient people in the area of the Middle East,
including
the Hebrews, believed in many goddesses and gods. Yahweh
served only as their
god, a god among many others.
"It
does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are 20 gods, or no God. It
neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg." (Thomas Jefferson)
Serpent Jews
"Ye serpents,
ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of
hell?" (Matthew
23:33)
Comment
Chapter
23 describes the famous diatribe of Jesus against the Jewish leaders.
Such
biblical words has, for centuries, given believers justification for Jewish
hatred. This verse, spoken by Jesus himself, compares the unbelieving Jews
with the serpent devil.
Synagogues Of Satan
"But this
thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitanes, which I
also hate."
(Revelation 2:6)
"I
know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I
know
the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are
the synagogue
of Satan." (Revelation 2:9)
"So
hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, which the
thing I hate." (Revelation 2:15)
"Behold,
I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are
Jews, and are
not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship
before thy feet,
and to know that I have loved thee." (Revelation 3:9)
Comment
These
verses by Jesus has fueled the engine of anti-Semitism throughout
Europe and
the rest of the world for centuries. Unfortunately many believers
today still
justify their hatred of Jews based on Scripture.
Note
that we have here in Rev 2:6 the words of Jesus admitting to hate,
contrary
to the belief by many Christians that Jesus holds only to the principle
of
love.
The Talking Donkey
"And when
the ass saw the angel of the LORD, she fell down under Balaam:
and Balaam's
anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the
LORD opened
the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, 'What have I
done unto thee,
that thou hast smitten me these three times?' And Balaam said
unto the ass,
'Because thou hast mocked me: I would there were a sword in
mine hand, for
now would I kill thee.' And the ass said unto Balaam, 'Am not
I thine ass,
upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine unto this day?
was I ever
wont to do so unto thee?' And he said, 'Nay.'" (Numbers
22:27-30)
Comment
Here
we have, as absurd as it may seem, a talking donkey. If we came across
a talking
animal, would we not feel amazed? Yet, oddly, Balaam here seems
not the least
bit concerned and converses with the ass as if nothing unusual
had happened!
Given that millions
of fundamentalists believe every world in the Bible, they
would have us also
believe that the Bible has its own version of Mr. Ed.
Notice
that Balaam's cruel behavior to the donkey seems to have mimicked
God's jealous
behavior towards His people. Yet God responds to Balaam:
"thy way is
perverse before me." (Num. 22:32)
"If
the bible had said that Jonah swallowed the whale, I would believe it."
(William Jennings Bryan)
The "Gods"
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3)
"Thou
shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD
thy God
am a jealous God, visiting unto the third and fourth generation of
them that
hate me;" (Exodus 20:5)
Comment
Note
this does not mean "I am the only god," but rather, that one shall not
believe in other gods above the God of the Chosen People.
Scholars
and archeologists know that the early Hebrews practiced
polytheism.
Not
only does the Bible describe the polytheism of the Hebrews but digs
from archeological
sites give evidence that these early people believed in
many gods, or more
accurately, goddesses. They have found many statuette
goddesses among their
living dwellings.
Monotheism
appears later in the Bible. Historically, monotheism got taught by
many Greek
philosophers. Judaism later separated itself from the Hellenistic
world with
its belief in only one supreme deity.
In
Exodus 20:5 we have a god so jealous that he holds a grudge against the
children
of the fathers who hated him. Hardly a concept of a forgiving and
loving God.
The Sun Stands Still
"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 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, and hasted not to go down about a
whole
day." (Joshua 10:12-13)
Comment
These
verses imply that the sun moves around the earth. If the Bible actually
represents
the words or inspired words of God, then why didn't the Great
Creator inspire
them to tell the truth about the universe and our solar system?
Also,
the Bible asks us to believe that a supposedly loving God made the sun
stand
still for the sole purpose of helping the Israelites slaughter the Amorites.
How can one not see that these verses would insult the intelligence of any
person who believes God possess wisdom, knowledge and love?
Turn Thy Cheek
"But
I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on
thy right cheek, turn to him the other also." (Matthew 5:39)
Comment
This
nonviolent principle does not originate with Jesus. Lao-tse and the
Buddha
taught this five or six hundred years before Jesus.
Ironically,
few Christians hold to this principle. In fact, the Religious Right
preach
just the opposite as Christians throughout the centuries have violently
attacked
anyone who dared threaten them.
The Dark Bible
God, Satan, Jesus, Heaven
Back To Table Of Contents
Beasts
in heaven
Christ with horns
Christ's temper
Curse the earth
Evil from God
The evil spirit of the Lord, 1
The evil spirit of the
Lord, 2
God creates evil & peace
Fire from the Lord
Fire of
God
God casts stones
God rejoices your death
God 'The Jealous'
God's fiery serpents
God-- man of war
God & Satan the same?
I came not to send peace
I come to send fire
Jesus not entirely
good
Jesus will kill children
Pray in the closet
The back parts
of God
The brethren of Jesus
The wrathful God
Wars must be
Beasts In Heaven
"And
before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the
midst
of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes
before
and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast
like
a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was
like a flying eagle. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;
and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying
HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, HOLY, LORD GOD ALMIGHTY, WHICH WAS,
AND IS , AND IS TO COME."
(Revelation 4:6-8)
Comment
Here
we have a rare description of heaven where it appears frightening with
strange
beasts. One cannot help to think that it seems more a description of
Hell
than a heaven.
(See also Rev. 5)
Christ With Horns
"And
I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and
in
the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all
the
earth." (Revelations 5:6)
Comment
Biblical
scholars agree that "a Lamb" refers to the crucified Christ. Strangely,
Jesus here appears to look devilish with horns and multiple eyes.
How
can this description of heaven inspire an image of a peaceful afterlife
with
all these ghastly beasts and spirits about? (See also Rev. 4)
It
should come to no surprise where some early Gnostic cults got the idea
that,
not only the Church, but Jesus represented Satan and the embodiment of
Evil.
And who do the literalists claim as the "seven Spirits of God"?
Christ's Temper
"And found
in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the
changers of
money sitting: And when he had made a scourge of small cords,
he drove them
all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured
out the changers'
money, and overthrew the tables; And said unto them that
sold doves, 'Take
these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of
merchandise.'"
(John 2:14-16)
Comment
Here
we have Jesus' temper and violence showing. It must have taken
considerable
fortitude to drive all the moneychangers out and then have the
nerve to pour
their money out and turn over their tables. Consider what
would happen today
if a man entered a Church bake sale and threw everyone
out and violently turned
over the tables. No doubt the police would come and
throw him in the slammer.
"I almost shudder
at the thought of alluding to the most fatal example of the
abuses of grief
which the history of humankind has preserved-- the Cross.
Consider what calamities
that engine of grief has produced!" (John Adams)
Curse The Earth
"For,
behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud,
yea,
and all that do wickedly shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall
burn
them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root
nor
branch." (Malachi 4:1)
"And
ye shall tread down the wicked; for they shall be ashes under the soles
of
your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts." (Malachi
4:3)
"Behold,
I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and
dreadful
day of the LORD: And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the
children,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse." (Malachi 4:5-6)
Comment
This last chapter of Malachi ends the book of the Old Testament.
One
would think it might end with a flourish of enlightenment. Instead we get
fear of burning to death and can only look forward to the dreadful day of the
Lord. With all the horrors recorded in the Bible, perhaps it should not
surprise
anyone to see the Old Testament end with the word "curse."
Evil From God
"Out of
the mouth of the most High proceedeth not evil and good?
Wherefore doth a
living man complain, a man for the punishment of his
sins?" (Lamentations
3: 38-39)
Comment
Here
we have the little known verse that plainly asserts that evil as well as
good
comes from the mouth of God. At the same time, men who possess
God given evil
must endure punishment for God's cruel gift.
(see also II Samuel 12:11 and I Kings 14:10 "I will bring evil upon...")
The Evil Spirit Of The Lord, 1
"And
it came to pass, when the evil spirit from God was upon Saul, that
David took
an harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and
was well, and
the evil spirit departed from him." (I Samuel 16:23)
Comment
Here it specifically describes an evil spirit from God!
What
religious killer could not also view this passage as justification for his
evil nature?
Note that
many murderers and serial killers have attributed the Biblical God to
the
reason for their slaughters. If the Religious Right feels so adamant about
eliminating violence and pornography from secular literature, then why have
they not seen that the Bible has influenced more deaths and atrocities than any
other literature in the history of mankind?
(See also I Samuel 19:9)
The Evil Spirit Of The Lord, 2
"And
the evil spirit from the LORD was upon Saul, as he sat in his house
with his
javelin in his hand: and David played with his hand." (I Samuel 19:9)
Comment
Consider
that many modern Judeo-Christians consider God the opposite of
evil, yet here
we have, again, the clear Biblical wording of evil coming from
the LORD.
In
early Christian history, several Gnostic cults believed that the orthodox
Church as well as the Old Testament, came from Satan. The Church, of
course,
labeled these Gnostics as heretics and burned their books as well as
the heretics
themselves.
Reading
the Old Testament appears to affirm the observation that God and
Satan, if
not one in the same, at least work as a team.
(See also I Samuel 16:23)
God Creates Evil And Peace
"I
form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the
LORD do all these things." (Isaiah 45:7)
Comment
Here
it explicitly states that God creates evil as well as makes peace.
Considering
that since the invention of man-made religions there has always
existed war,
it appears that God likes war more than peace.
(see
also Lam. 3:38, II Samuel 12:11 & I Kings 14:10 "I will bring evil
upon...")
Fire From The Lord
"AND
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer,
and put
fire therein, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before
the
LORD, which he commanded them not. And there went out fire from the
LORD,
and devoured them, and they died before the LORD." (Leviticus
10:1-2)
Comment
In
Sunday school, many children learn that Satan lives within and uses fire,
yet here we have fire coming out of God to devour two young men to death.
Their only crime came from offering before God a "strange fire." Although
no one knows what the term "strange fire" means, it seems improbable
that it
could deserve a cruel death.
Fire Of God
"Then the
fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the
wood, and
the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the
trench."
(I Kings 18:38)
Comment
We
get told that Satan involves himself with the eternal consuming fire, yet
the Bible makes it abundantly clear that hell fire comes directly from God.
Note
that fire does not consume stones, otherwise ovens and kilns could not
work.
God Casts Stones
"And
it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going
down
to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven
upon them unto
Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with
hailstones than they
whom the children of Israel slew with the sword."
(Joshua 10:11)
Comment
Another
typical slaughter described in the Bible. Here we have God,
personally throwing
great stones on the people for the sole purpose of killing
them.
"The
Christian religion has been and still is the principle enemy of moral
progress
in the world." (Bertrand Russell)
God rejoices your death
"And
it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you
good,
and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you,
and
to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither
thou goest to possess it." (Deuteronomy 28:63)
Comment
If
the religious mind believes that God represents a loving God, then one
must
wonder about God, as described in the Bible, who would rejoice to
destroy
some of his creations.
Should
we hold honor to an insane God? The Bible assures us that God
possess an evil
spirit with hate, and full of wrath, and here he rejoices in
destruction!
God appears completely devoid of any wit or humor; a mental
state that psychologists
have observed in many schizophrenics.
God 'The Jealous'
"For
thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous,
is a
jealous God: Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land,
and
they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and
one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice And thou take of their daughters
unto thy sons, and their daughters so a whoring after their gods, and make
thy sons go a whoring after their gods. Thou shalt make thee no molten
gods."
(Exodus 34:14-16)
Comment
Verse
14 (among other verses of the Bible) makes it abundantly clear that the
God
not only feels jealous but the Bible names him Jealous.
Why
an all powerful God should feel jealous of his creations simply because
they
believed in other gods remains unclear. Could it mean that other gods
exist
as well as the Hebrew god?
It
appears that many Christians fail to heed this explicit command in verse 16
to not make molten gods. Many Christians use plastic Jesus' or molten
statuettes
of Christ tortured and nailed to a Cross (Jesus, supposedly God in
human form).
God's Fiery Serpents
"And the
people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have ye
brought us
up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no bread,
neither is
there any water; and our soul loatheth this light bread. And the
LORD sent
fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and
much people
of Israel died." (Numbers 21:5-6)
Comment
The
Israelites began to complain against God about their miserable condition
in
the wilderness. So what did their loving God do? Their Jealous god sent
fiery
serpents to cause even more misery and death!
Serpents,
usually regarded as the Devil, appears to have come from the direct
will of
God here. Do God and Satan work together as a team? Let us hope
not!
Actually,
in ancient cultures the snake represented a symbol of the Goddess.
Many times
a priestess of a Goddess temple would use snakes in their rituals.
Sometimes
a snake bite could cause hallucinations, or by their beliefs--
'prophetic
visions.'
Much of the
Old Testament describes the Israelites overtaking the goddess
cultures and
destroying their cities. They thoroughly eliminated the goddess
religions
and replaced them with their male god religion; they even turned the
Scripture
words of the goddess into masculine terms. Nowhere does the
word 'goddess'
appear in the Old Testament, yet many times, when you see
the word 'gods,'
it actually refers to goddesses.
Sending
fear into the hearts of the Israelites concerning the goddess, gave
power
to their own male god. Thus, Numbers 21:8-9 describes Moses
control of the
goddess symbol by making a fiery serpent; anyone who gets
bitten when he sees
it, lives. The deaths due to the fiery serpents and then
Moses' command from
the Lord to save their lives when bitten, must have
given their male god a
powerful image.
God-- Man Of War
"The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name." (Exodus 15:3)
Comment
Note
that many fundamentalists who consider every word of the Bible as fact
must
also concede that God, not only consists of a man, but also a man of
war;
a killer man of men.
With
such a belief, how could a Christian people ever divorce war from their
lives?
The Midrash Rabbah
gives an explanation of The Man God: "His lower half
was 'man', but his
upper half was as God. [Only the lower half of his body,
the seat of the sexual
and secretory organs, belonged to the earthly within
him, but his head and
heart, given over entirely to holiness, were as divine.]"
God & Satan The Same?
"AND
Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel."
(I Chronicles 21:1)
"AND
again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved
David
against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." (II Samuel 24:1)
Comment
Here
we have either a contradiction, a grave Biblical error, God and Satan
working
together, or the unmistakable interpretation that God and Satan "are"
one and the same! Given that fundamentalists believe the Bible contains no
errors or contradictions, then that leaves only the last two possibilities.
Note
that the capitalized word "AND" appears at the beginning of each verse
and the message appears at the beginning of each chapter.
Note
also that the name Lucifer (another name for Satan) means light bearer,
or
morning star: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer to the
ground..."
(Isaiah 14:12)
The
last page of the Bible reveals Jesus: "I am the root and offspring of
David, and the bright and morning star." -Rev. 22:16
It
should now become clear to the reader why some Satanist cults use the
same
Bible as the Christians.
(See also evil and good from God: Lamentations 3: 38-39)
I Came Not To Send Peace
"Think
not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace,
but a
sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and
the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law. And a man's foes shall be they of his own household." (Matthew
10:34-37)
Comment
These
words of Jesus confirm the unbelievable notion that Jesus did not
come to
establish peace, but rather to send the sword and to put man against
his family.
So much for family values.
(See also Luke 12: 51-53, Luke 12:49 and Luke 14:26.)
I Come To Send Fire
"I
am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled?"
(Luke 12:49)
"Suppose
ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but
rather division:
For from henceforth there shall be five in one house divided,
three against
two, and two against three. The father shall be divided against
the son, and
the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and
the daughter
against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law,
and the
daughter in law against her mother in law." (Luke 12:51-53)
Comment
Jesus
did not come to send peace, but rather fire and division among the
family.
So much for the idea of a pacifist Jesus and the modern concept of
"family
values."
(See also Luke 14:26)
Jesus Not Entirely Good
"And
behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing
shall I do,
that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, Why callest
thou me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God: but if thou wilt enter
into life,
keep the commandments." (Matthew 19:16-17)
Comment
Most
Christians believe that Jesus, not only lived as the Son of God but God
in
the flesh. Consider that Jesus here calls "none good but one, that is, God,"
pointing to an entity separate from himself (also see Matt. 5:48, 6:9)
Also
note that because of the belief that none other than God "is" good
suggests that Jesus must not have behaved in an entirely good manner
himself.
Some early Gnostic
cults (judged as heretics by the orthodox church)
believed that Jesus was
Satan in the flesh and these verses suggests that He
was the opposite of good--
Evil in the disguise of God.
The Back Parts of God
"And
the LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his
friend..."
(Exodus 33:11)
"And
he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and
live.
And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand
upon
a rock: and it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will
put thee in a cleft of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass
by: and I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts; but my
face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:20-23)
Comment
In
verse 11 we read that God spoke to Moses, face-to-face. Yet in seeming
contradiction,
we have later God telling Moses that he cannot see His face.
Instead, God
decides to show Moses his back parts!
Pray In The Closet
"And
when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hyprocrites are: for they
love
to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that
they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in
secret shall reward thee openly." (Matthew 6:5-6)
Comment
The
Religious Right wishes to put into law public prayer. How many
Christians
realize that the Biblical Jesus strongly opposed public prayer?
The
wall of separation between Church and State, actually protects the
religious
liberties for all of us in the United States and here we have Biblical
justification
for keeping prayer private.
The Brethren Of Jesus
"After
this he went down to Capernaum, he, and his mother, and his brethren,
and
his disciples: and they continued there not many days." (John 2:12)
Comment
This
verse describes Jesus and his brethren. Jesus Christ's blood-related
siblings
directly contradicts the Catholic concept of the life-long virginity of
the
mother Mary. Some Christians have attempted to defend this
contradiction by
pointing out that brethren has two meanings: it could mean
brothers, from
the same parents, or it could mean colleagues or friends. Note,
however, that
the use of the word "disciples" suggests that brothers and
disciples
constitute two separate groups. Therefore, brethren must mean
brothers in
this context.
Note
also that Mark 6:3 mentions brothers and sisters that can only mean
blood
siblings.
Also, nowhere
in the Gospel of John or Mark does it mention Jesus' birth or
Mary as a virgin.
Considering that a virgin birth of the Son of God would
seem of utmost importance,
it appears rather odd that these Gospels do not
mention it.
The Wrathful God
"Then
the earth shook and trembled; the foundations also of the hills moved
and
were shaken, because he was wroth. There went up a smoke out of his
nostrils
and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it. He
bowed the
heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
And he rode
upon a cherub, and did fly: yea, he did fly upon the wings of the
wind. He
made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were
dark waters
and thick clouds of the skies." (Psalm 18:7-11)
Comment
Consider
that these verses describe an angry (wroth) being, spouting smoke
and fire,
whose secret place consisted of darkness. This devilish entity,
sounds like
a description of Satan, but believe it or not, actually comes from
the Bible
as describing God.
Wars Must Be
"And when
ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for
such things
must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall rise
against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes
in divers
places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the
beginnings
of sorrows." (Mark 13:7-8)
Comment
Belief
in these words can justify any war and atrocity against nations. Yet
Jesus
here tells us that we should not feel troubled by it as long as we have
belief
in Him.
When Jesus
prophesies about the future, he gives the message that we have
no control
over our lives other than to choose or not choose a belief in the
Lord. With
such a message, it should not surprise anyone why the Religious
Right does
little to strive against war.
The Dark Bible
History
Back To Table Of Contents
The
stories of the Bible evolved slowly over centuries before there were
formed
orthodox religions. There were many belief cults that spread stories
and myths
probably handed down by oral tradition from generation to
generation before
they were written down. Many of the stories originally came
from Egyptian
and Sumerian cults. Most of these cults were polytheistic in
nature as practiced
by the early Hebrews. Some of the oldest records of the
stories of the Old
Testament came from excavations in Mesopotamia where
small cylinder seals
depicting creation stories were found. These early
artworks (dated at about
2500 B.C.E.) were the origin for the story of the
Garden of Eden.
Virtually
all human societies, before the advent of the northern invaders,
practiced
female goddess worship. It has been archaeologically confirmed
that the earliest
law, government, medicine, agriculture, architecture,
metallurgy, wheeled
vehicles, ceramics, textiles and written language were
initially developed
in societies that worshipped the Goddess. Later the
goddesses became more
war-like with the influence of the invaders who
slowly replaced the goddesses
with their mountain male war gods. So why
doesn't the Bible mention anything
about the Goddess? In fact it does, but in
disguise from converting the name
of the goddesses to masculine terms.
Many times "Gods" in the Bible
refers to goddesses; Ashtoreth, or Asherah,
named of masculine gender, for
example, actually refers to Astarte-- the Great
Goddess. The Old Testament
doesn't even have a word for "Goddess." The
goddesses are sometimes
referred to as Elohim (masculine plural form) which
was later mistranslated
into the singular "God." The Bible authors converted
the ancient
goddess symbols into icons of evil. As such, the snake, serpents,
tree of
knowledge, horns (of the bull), became associated with Satan. The
end result
gave women the status of inferiority, a result which we still see to
this
day.
The Old Testament
consists of a body of literature spread over a period from
approximately 1200
B.C.E. to 200 B.C.E. There exist no original writings of
the Old Testament.
However, there are hundreds of copies of fragments from
copies that became
the old testament that have been found in the form of
Cuneiform tablets, papyrus
paper, leather etchings and the famous Dead Sea
Scrolls. The literature of
the old testament was written in classical Hebrew
except some brief portions
which are in Aramaic. The traditional text was
originally written in consonants,
but the Rabbis later added vowels so that the
words could be pronounced. Of
course the Rabbis did their best in choosing
the vowels that they thought
gave the words their proper pronunciation. In the
second century C.E., or
even earlier, the Rabbis compiled a text from
manuscripts as had survived
the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and on
this basis was established
the traditional or massoretic text, so called from the
Hebrew word massorah.
This text incorporated the mistakes of generations
of copyists, and in spite
of the care bestowed on it, many errors of later
copyists also found their
way into it. The earliest surviving manuscripts of
this text date from the
ninth to eleventh centuries C.E. It is this text which has
been used for the
present translations.
The
New Testament has even fewer surviving texts and it is believed that it
wasn't
until about 60 or 70 years after Jesus' death that the Gospels were
beginning
to be written. There is no evidence that the New Testament was
ever written
by the original apostles themselves or anyone else that had seen
Jesus. Although
the oldest surviving Christian texts are believed to have been
written by
Paul, he had never seen the earthly Jesus. But there is nothing in
Paul's
letters that either hints at the existence of the Gospels or that even talks
of a need for such memoirs of Jesus Christ. It is more probable that the
Gospels
were written by scribes that followed the apostles after Jesus' death.
The
oldest fragment of the New Testament yet known is a tiny snippet of a
Gospel
of John. The little flake of papyrus was dated by the style of its
handwriting
to about 130 C.E. Most of the new testament was originally
written in old
Greek. There have been over a hundred different versions of the
Bible, written
in most of the languages of the time; Greek, Latin, German, etc.
Some versions
left out certain biblical stories and others contained added
stories. The
complete compiled version of the old and new testament was
probably finished
at around 200-300 C.E. It wasn't until 1611 C.E. that the
King James version
of the Bible was completed.
It's
interesting that there were many competing Christian cults in the early
years
after Jesus's death. Some sects saw the universe in dualisms of
goodness and
sin, of light and darkness, God and the Devil. Other Christian
sects performed
odd rituals, some of which involved the swallowing of
semen, thought to be
a sacred substance. Many other Christians were also
writing mystical stories
and by the second century there were more than a
dozen Gospels circulating,
along with a whole library of other texts. These
include letters of Jesus
to foreign kings, letters of Paul to Aristotle, and
histories of the disciples.
In one of these secret Gospels, it describes Jesus
taking naked young men
off to secret initiation rites in the Garden of
Gethsemene. There were Christian
Gnostics (knowers) who believed that the
church itself was a device of the
Devil to keep man from God and from
realizing his true nature. In those first
centuries of Christianity there was no
such thing as orthodoxy and when an
organized orthodox church finally
came, it was defined, almost inadvertently,
in argument against many of the
Gnostic sects. So the idea of the Bible as
a single, sacred unalterable corpus
of texts began in heresy but was then
extended and used by churchmen in
their efforts to define orthodoxy. One of
the Bible's most influential editors
was Irenaeus of Lyon who decided that
there should only be four Gospels
like the four zones of the world, the four
winds, the four divisions of man's
estate, and the four forms of the first
living creatures -- the lion of Mark, the
calf of Luke, the man of Matthew,
and the eagle of John. In a single stroke, he
had delineated the sacred book
of the Christian church and left out the other
Gospels. Irenaeus also wrote
what Christianity was not, and in this way
Christianity became an orthodox
faith. A work of Irenaeus, Against the
Heresies, became the starting point
for later inquisitions. The salvation
doctrines of Christianity survived and
flourished because they afforded the
priesthood considerable power. The priests
alone held the keys to salvation
and could threaten the unbelievers with eternal
punishment. Hence, in the
evolution of Christianity in the last two thousand
years with priests preying on
human fears, the religion has demonstrated extraordinary
powers of survival.
Even without the priests, the various versions of the
Bible have had more
influence on the history of the world, in the minds of
men than any other
literature.
Unfortunately,
the beliefs in Scripture has been the trigger for the most violent
actions
against man in the history of humanity. The burning of competing
Christian
cults (called heretics) by early Christian churches were the seeds of
violent
atrocities against man. There later followed the destruction of Rome
by the
Christian Goths, and the secret pagan sacrifices consented by the
Pope, the
Vandals that had the Bible with them as they destroyed imperial
North Africa,
the crusades in the eleventh century fighting in the lands around
the eastern
Mediterranean, Palestine and Syria, capturing Jerusalem and
setting kingdoms
from Anatolia to the Egyptian border. In 1204 the Fourth
Crusade plundered
Constantinople the most holy city at that time, with
Christians fighting Christians.
And the slaughters continued.
According
to Romer, "More heretics and scholars were burned in the Middle
Ages
than were ever killed in Carolingian times. For at this time the Inquisition
came into its own, and torture, largely unused as an instrument of government
since Roman days, was reintroduced." In the early 1500's the German heretic,
Martin Luther, almost single handedly caused the split from the Roman
Catholic
church and created the beginnings of the Protestant church. This
split is
still influencing violence up to this day. Luther also helped spread the
seeds
of anti-Semitism with his preaching and books such as his "The Jews
and
their lies." It must be remembered that Hitler's holocaust could not have
occurred if it weren't for German Christian beliefs and their support.
There
is little reason to think that violence inspired by religion, will ever stop.
One only has to look at the religious wars around the world to see belief's
everlasting destructive potential. One only has to look at the
Protestant-Catholic
uprising in Ireland, the conflicts in the middle east with
Jews fighting Moslems
& Christians, the Iran-Iraq war, Sudan's civil war
between Christians
and Islamics. The desperate acts of fanatical individuals
proclaiming to have
killed in the name of Jesus, Mohammed, God or Satan
would create a death list
far longer than any crimes in history. The Holy Bible
supports the notion
that war and destruction is not only necessary, but moral.
If we wish to become
a peaceful species, it may well serve us to understand
the forces involved
that keep us in continual conflict.
The Dark Bible
Foreword
Back To Table Of Contents
Warning!
Literal belief in the Bible may endanger your mental health and life
and those
of others.
Despite
the fact that the Bible represents the best selling book of all time and
serves
as the sacred script for the Judeo-Christian faiths, it also stands as a
book,
by the majority, believed from ignorance. Strangely, in the Middle Ages
the
Catholic Church forbade the reading of the Bible by its congregation for
fear
that the people would misinterpret the texts. Many priests knew of the
problematic
and dark verses in the Bible. Too much questioning could result
in a loss
of faith, or so they thought. As a result, only the Church fathers had
the
right to make interpretations for its people. This gave the early Church
power
over its people and, at the same time, prevented its populace from ever
becoming
educated.
One would
think that with today's practice of freedom of religion, education,
free press
and the availability of the Bible to anyone, that the Bible and its
history
would result in common knowledge. Nothing could stand further from
the truth.
Most Church fathers today concentrate only on the "good" phrases
of the Bible. This of course represents an admirable approach as it serves to
teach, stabilize and give meaning and morals to people in a society. However,
Christians and Jews rarely hear about the dark side of the Scriptures from
their religious leaders. Although most Christians own a Bible, few of them
spend the time to actually read and understand what it actually represents.
Many Christians find it shocking, even blasphemous for someone to point
out
that the Bible contains, not only errors, but atrocities that no Christian in
good conscious would ever think of acting out. For example, how many
Christians
and Jews today would feel happy to bash a child's head against the
rocks?
Any secular question of this nature, of course, would result in
revulsion,
yet just such phrases occur in the Bible as well obscenities, filth
and many
horrendous phrases.
It
will, perhaps, come from "good" Christians who will object most strongly
to what I have put in and left out from the Dark Bible. However you may
judge
it, I have edited this stack in this way for several reasons:
Firstly,
I wanted to share with people that the Bible does not represent only
"high
morality" or a means to better one's life; that most of the Bible, in fact,
concerns itself with conquest, war, killings, and curses, many times coming
from directly from Yahweh (God). By today's standards, many of these
Biblical
stories describe despicable atrocities.
Secondly,
there exists a minority of faithful fundamentalists who take the
Bible literally
and act out or condone the atrocities in the Bible. People,
groups and governments,
for centuries, have instigated wars, pogroms,
racism, hatred, anti-Semitism,
terrorism, and the inferiority of women based
on their religious beliefs.
I wanted to point out some of the Biblical verses
that people of faith have
used as justification for their atrocities and also to
help people become
aware, and beware of the dangers that can result from
belief in the Bible.
Thirdly, to make this
knowledge available, I had to edit out the admirable
phrases of the Bible
to keep this stack within size limits. Most people know
about these "good"
verses, and I should not have to point them out (there
exists a plethora of
books about the admirable works). I also had to leave out
most of the dark
phrases of the Bible for if I had included them all, it would
literally involve
more information, along with the comments, than the Bible
itself. I tried
to keep this stack close to 100 pages (cards). As a result, this
stack only
represents a small sampling. I encourage the reader to investigate
the history
of the Bible and why it contains the stories that it does.
From
the sampling of the dark passages of the Bible presented in this stack, it
should become self evident that if one wishes to defend the concept of a
"good"
and "loving" God, the Bible should serve as the last source to use for
supporting evidence.
Moreover,
if we wish to know ourselves, it may well serve us to learn the
limitations
of our language system, the written form has existed for only six
thousand
years; only a brief instant of time relative to our millions of years of
evolution.
The Bible represents the beliefs of men at the birth of writing. As in
most
evolutionary trends, mistakes get made, sometimes fatally. Indeed, our
species
has become even more violent in relation to strengths of faith in
written
Scripture. Unfortunately faith relies on hope and ignorance. Only
education
and critical thinking can allow us the means to correct our
mistakes.
With
technology advancing every year, our weapons have the capability to
destroy
whole cities, countries, if not every person on the earth. If people
continue
to base their actions on ancient Biblical reasoning, any small
minority who
gains access to the destructive technology may very well carry
out holocaust-like
proportions on innocent men, women and children. It has
happened before and
it can easily happen again. Today we still see the
destructive acts carried
out around the world which originate from deep
cultural roots based on religious
Scripture. Even though our belief-systems
give us a means to establish culture,
it can also produce life threatening
situations to our existence on earth.
Understanding our belief-systems and to
de-emphasize the sacredness of the
Bible may well help to prevent our own
destruction.
The
majority of verses in this Stack come from the King James Version
(1611) of
the Bible (various alternate verses come from other Bible versions
with a
caption as to its source.). It will help to use this stack along with the
reading of each verse with the complete chapter from the Bible so as to gain a
better understanding of its context. Most all of the comments come
paraphrased
from established scholarly published work.
The Dark Bible
Women's Inferior Status
Back To Table Of Contents
The biblical view of women
Burn the daughter!
Cut off her hand!
Expose her breasts!
Female births get penalty
Female inferiority
God's OK on abortion
Jesus will kill children
Kill the witches!
Moses' mass murder
Rape my daughter
Raping and killing
Silence
the woman!
Stone the woman
"Virgin" mistranslation
Virgin's
worth
Wives, submit yourselves!
Women shall not speak
Women's sorrow
Rip up pregnant women
The wicked woman
The Biblical view of women
The
God of the Bible decrees that woman must submit to the dominance of
man.
"The
social and legal position of an Israelite wife was inferior to the position a
wife occupied in the great countries round about... all the texts show that
Israelites wanted mainly sons to perpetuate the family line and fortune, and to
preserve the ancestral inheritance... A husband could divorce his wife;
women
on the other hand could not ask for divorce... the wife called her
husband
Ba'al or master; she also called him adon or lord; she addressed
him, in fact,
as a slave addressed his master or subject, his king. The
Decalogue includes
a man's wife among his possessions... all her life she
remains a minor. The
wife does not inherit from her husband, nor daughters
from their father, except
when there is no male heir. A vow made by a girl or
married woman needs, to
be valid, the consent of the father or husband and if
this consent is withheld,
the vow is null and void. A man had a right to sell his
daughter. Women were
excluded from the succession." -Roland de Vaux,
archaeologist and priest
Burn The Daughter!
"And
the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore,
she
profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire." (Leviticus 21:9)
Comment
A
priest's daughter, if found to have lost her virginity without marriage, can
receive the death penalty, but in the form of incineration.
How
many fundamentalist priests who so easily condemn others would carry
out the
burning of their daughters if they found them "whoring"?
(See also Genesis 38:24)
Cut Off Her Hand!
"When
men strive together one with another, and the wife of the one draweth
near
for to deliver her husband out of the hand of him that smiteth him, and
putteth
forth her hand, and taketh him by the secrets: then thou shalt cut off
her
hand, thine eye shall not pity her." (Deuteronomy 25:11-12)
Comment
A
wife would naturally wish to come to the aid of her husband in any way she
could if he desperately struggled with an opponent, but the Hebrew law
specifically
forbade a wife to help her husband in distress if that support
consisted of
her grabbing the enemy's genitals in an effort to stifle his
onslaught. The
penalty? Amputation of the hand that fondled the genitals!
Only
in an overly obsessive male dominated culture could men create such
atrocious
laws. As such, the penis ranked sacrosanct in the minds of men (as
it still
stands today). If a male lost his penis for any reason, he would lose the
right to enter a congregation of God. (See Deuteronomy 23:1)
Female Births Get Penalty
"Speak
unto the children of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed,
and born
a man child: then she shall be unclean seven days; according to the
days of
the separation for her infirmity shall she be unclean." (Leviticus 12:2)
"But if she bear
a maid child, then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her
separation: and
she shall continue in the blood of her purifying threescore and
six days."
(Leviticus 12:5)
Comment
A
woman who gives birth to a child must undergo a purification ritual lest her
"uncleanness" contaminate others. This not only entails her isolation,
but also
payments to priests for the ritual acts. Thus the male dominators
had even
made birth dirty.
Notice
here that if a woman bears a female child, her isolation must last twice
as
long as that if she gives birth to a male child!
(See also Psalms 51:3-5)
"The
Bible and the church have been the greatest stumbling blocks in the way
of
woman's emancipation." (Elizabeth Cady Stanton)
Female Inferiority
"But
I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the
head
of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God." (I Corinthians
11:3)
"For the
man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was
the man created
for the woman; but the woman for the man." (I Corinthians
11:8-9)
Comment
The
Bible's decree of male supremacy has kept woman inferior to men for
centuries.
For the religious, it comes as a sad fact that a human must have a
penis to
receive any respect or power within the Church.
All
woman should realize that such phrases in the Bible has justified for many
Christian men, not only their supremacy but a reason to sexually abuse
women.
(See also I Cor. 14:34-36,
I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24,
Col. 3:18-19)
Jesus Will Kill Children
"Behold,
I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her
into great
tribulation, except they repent of their deeds. And I will kill her
children
with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which
searcheth the
reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according
to your
works." (Revelation 2:22-23)
Comment
If
anyone thinks Jesus represents only a peaceful loving soul, then think again.
For an act of adultery, Jesus would kill innocent children for the adultery of
others; hardly fair justice, love, or the concern for human beings.
"It's
interesting to speculate how it developed that in two of the most
anti-feminist
institutions, the church and the law court, the men are wearing
the dresses."
(Flo Kennedy)
Kill The Witches!
"Thou
shalt not suffer a witch to live. Whoever lieth with a beast shall surely
be put to death. He that sacrificeth unto any god, save to the LORD only, he
shall be utterly destroyed." (Exodus 22:18-20)
Comment
These
verses attest to the power of belief as they led to the slaughter of
thousands
of defenseless people throughout Europe and the rest of the
world.
Understand
that these verses not only authorize the executions but they
explicitly command
them.
Verse 18 justified
the burning of women in Europe judged as witches. In early
America, the Salem
witch trials resulted in the deaths of women and men.
Verse
19 refers to bestiality, a sin considered worthy of death. Christians
used
verse 20 to justify religious wars, Crusades and the slaughter of
unbelievers
throughout Europe. And the condemnation of heretics still goes
on.
Rape My Daughter
"Behold,
here is my daughter a maiden, and his concubine; them I will bring
out now,
and humble ye them, and do with them what seemeth good unto
you: but unto
this man do not so vile a thing. But the men would not hearken
to him: so
the man took his concubine, and brought her forth unto them; and
they knew
her, and abused her all the night until the morning: and when the
day began
to spring, they let her go." (Judges 19:24-25)
Comment
Judges
19 describe a father who offers his virgin daughter to a drunken mob.
When
the father says "unto this man do not so vile a thing," he makes clear
that sexual abuse should never befall a man (meaning him), yet a woman, even
his own flesh and blood, or a concubine belonging to a perfect stranger, can
receive punishment from men to do what they wish. This attitude against
women
still persists to this day and we have the Bible, in large part, to thank
for this attitude against women.
Verse
25 describes the hours long gang rape of the poor concubine. The
Bible gives
not one hint of passion or concern for the raped girl. Considering
that many
people believe that every word in the Bible comes from God, it
should not
surprise anyone why people still use these verses to justify such
atrocities.
Silence The Woman!
"Let the
women learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman
to teach,
nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam
was first
formed, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman
being deceived
was in the transgression." (I Timothy 2:11-14)
Comment
Another
case where the Bible makes it quite clear that women live for man
and must
submit to them.
"Man
enjoys the great advantage of having a god endorse the code he writes;
and
since man exercises a sovereign authority over women it is especially
fortunate
that this authority has been vested in him by the Supreme Being. For
the Jews,
Mohammedans and Christians among others, man is master by
divine right; the
fear of God will therefore repress any impulse towards revolt
in the downtrodden
female." (Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex 1949)
(See
also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-36, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24,
Col.
3:18-19.)
Stone The Woman!
"If
a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, and a man
find her
in the city, and lie with her;" (Deuteronomy 22:22)
"Then
ye shall bring them both out unto the gate of that city, and ye shall
stone
them with stones that they die; the damsel, because she cried not, being
in
the city; and the man, because he hath humbled his neighbour's wife: so
thou
shalt put away evil from among you." (Deuteronomy 22:24)
Comment
(Read also Deuteronomy 22:13-21)
The discovery of a bride lying with another man can yield disastrous results.
If
the wife's parents can produce tokens of the damsel's virginity and spread
the cloth before the elders of the city, the husband has to pay the bride's
father one hundred silver shekels and he may not send his wife back to her
parents as long as she lives. But if the bride's virginity does not satisfy the
requirements, the husband can get rid of her by letting the men of the city
stone her to death.
From
a practical level, these designed laws regulating women's virginity
protected
economic transactions between men rather than for the sake of
morality.
"Virgin" Mistranslation
"Therefore
the LORD himself shall give you a sign: Behold, a virgin shall
conceive, and
bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14)
Comment
Perhaps
the most famous mistranslation of the Bible, the word virgin here
comes from
a mistranslated Greek word for virgin.
However,
the original Hebrew version uses the word "almah" which means
"young
woman" which may or may not refer to a virgin. Of course the
context
of the original Hebrew Isaiah does not refer to a virgin at all, as
scholars
the world over agree.
Later,
the author of Matthew 1:22-23, quoted from the mistranslated Isaiah
version,
and thus the error turned into a world-wide belief.
Today
a few of the modern bibles such as the Revised Standard Version,
have corrected
this mistranslation and have replaced the word virgin with
"young woman."
Apparently either God
makes errors or the Bible does not come all from god,
but rather from fallible
men.
Virgin's Worth
"If a man
find a damsel that is a virgin, which is not betrothed, and lay hold
on her,
and lie with her, and they be found; Then the man that lay with her
shall
give unto the damsel's father fifty shekels of silvers, and she shall be his
wife; because he hath humbled her, he may not put her away all his days."
(Deuteronomy 22:28-29)
Comment
The
impression we get about the law leads us to believe that it represented a
great advancement in morality. However, if we look at this law in the social
and economic context, it becomes evident that it did not come from any
moral
ground, but rather to protect men's property rights of their wives and
daughters.
This law says that
since an unmarried girl, a non-virgin, no longer serves as an
economically
valuable asset, her father must receive compensation. As for the
legal requirement
of the man that caused the economic problem, his marriage
in that society
gave him practically unlimited power over their wives. Such
forced marriage
can hardly serve as a concern for the poor girl's welfare.
Wives, Submit Yourselves!
"Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For
the husband
is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:
and he
is the saviour of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ,
so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything." (Ephesians
5:22-24)
Comment
These
words of Paul describe another instance for the calling of the
submission
of women to their husbands.
(See
also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Cor. 14:34-36, I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7,
Col.
3:18-19.)
Women Shall Not Speak
"Let
your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto
them
to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith
the
law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home:
for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." (I Corinthians 14:34-35)
Comment
If
one ever wishes to find an explanation of woman's inferiority to men, one
only has to look in the Bible. Paul makes clear and delineates the importance
of woman recognizing her place, "ad nauseam."
(See
also I Cor. 11:3-12, I Timothy 2:8-15, I Peter 3:1-7, Ephesians 5:22-24,
Col.
3:18-19.)
"The
bible teaches that women brought sin and death into the world, that she
precipitated
the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment
seat of Heaven,
tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be
a condition of
bondage, maternity a period suffering and anguish, and in
silence and subjection,
she was to play the role of a dependent on man's
bounty for all her material
wants, and for all the information she might
desire... Here is the Bible position
of woman briefly summed up." (Elizabeth
Cady Stanton)
Women's Sorrow
"Unto the
woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy
conception; in sorrow
thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be
to thy husband, and
he shall rule over thee." (Genesis 3:16)
Comment
Not
only does Woman get blamed for the Fall, but God decides to multiply
her sorrow,
plus, she must submit to her husband like a slave.
To this day, Christians and Jews place women lower then men.
Before
the advent of male dominated religions, cultures around the world
respected
women and worshipped goddesses. The Old Testament records
the brutal slaughter
of surrounding cultures and slowly throughout the
centuries, the goddess religions
faded away in place of the belief-system of a
jealous male war god.
Rip Up Pregnant Women
"Samaria
shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they
shall fall
by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their
women with
child shall be ripped up." (Hosea 13:16)
Comment
Throughout
the Bible, God smites those who do not believe in him or those
who do not
follow his commands. Here we have the grotesque description of
infants dashed
to pieces and pregnant women ripped up. Whatever rebellious
nature an infant's
father or mother may have had, it bears no justice to an
innocent child or
to an unborn fetus who could not possibly have rebelled
against God, much
less understood him.
Anyone
who claims to love such a God, must accept infanticide as one of
God's ugly
revenges.
(See also Psalm 137:9)
The Wicked Woman
"Give
me any plague, but the plague of the heart: and any wickedness, but the
wickedness
of a woman." (Eccles. 25:13)
"Of
the woman came the beginning of sin, and through her we all die."
(Eccles.
25:22)
"If she
go not as thou wouldest have her, cut her off from thy flesh, and give
her
a bill of divorce, and let her go." (Eccles. 25: 26)
"The
whoredom of a woman may be known in her haughty looks and eyelids.
If thy
daughter be shameless, keep her in straitly, lest she abuse herself
through
overmuch liberty." (Eccles. 26:9-10)
"A
silent and loving woman is a gift of the Lord: and there is nothing so much
worth as a mind well instructed. A shamefaced and faithful woman is a
double
grace, and her continent mind cannot be valued." (Eccles. 26:14-15)
"A
shameless woman shall be counted as a dog; but she that is shamefaced
will
fear the Lord." (Eccles.26:25)
"For
from garments cometh a moth, and from women wickedness. Better is
the churlishness
of a man than a courteous woman, a woman, I say, which
bringeth shame and
reproach." (Eccles. 42:13-14)
Comment
Ecclesiasticus
of the Apocrypha does not appear in most Bibles. However, in
Catholic Bibles,
in inferiority of woman still appears in the verses of
Ecclesiasticus. These
are only a sample of verses which attempts to lower the
status of women.