Thursday, October 3, 2013

Deuteronomy Part I: Just a Few Questions

With ALL of these questions posed in regards to the Bible wouldn't it be nice to be able to access the questions in one place instead of flipping between blog postings? Now you can! The questions for the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch are now in one compilation, and there is no need whatsoever to flip-flop between various posts! Go here for your copy:
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Rounding Out the Pentateuch

FINALLY we have reached the last book of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Holy Bible written by Moses. Well, traditionally these five books are held to have received the majority of their information from Moses. I suppose it is entirely likely that there are many who hold a slightly or even significantly different opinion as to who authored these first five books of the Holy Bible. That, however, is a different subject for a different posting. Here, we are continuing with going book by book in the Bible and listing particular verses and any questions I have in regards to these particular verses.

These questions are part of why I DO NOT believe in the Holy Bible as total truth, why I do not believe in a great deal of the assertions and ideals and practices presented in the Holy Bible and interpreted by religion in general, and why I think there is no such individual or ultimately divine person or being known as God.

I do not have answers to many of my questions, but make no mistake...I DO have some answers. But what I am doing here is NOT giving you my answers (with the exception to a very few cases) because what I really want is to hear YOUR answers. I do not wish for my own answers to mar your response. If you DO believe in the purported total truth of the Holy Bible and if you DO believe in God and if you DO have answers to any of these questions please make a response in the comment link at the end of the posting.

Some of the questions I have are so simple they sound absurdly ridiculous. Some of the questions seem to be quite common for believers and non-believers alike. Some of the questions require greater consideration than your general run-of-the-mill pondering. Some of the questions demand if not require the individual to render far more than the passing, intellectual glance.

If you wish to use verses as references please remember to note the passage location so that I may look it up.

Remember, I am NOT trying to turn you away from what you believe; besides, if you truly love and believe in God that is not even an issue for you to concern yourself with, correct? Does it not say in the Holy Bible that once you are in the Father's hands, you are always in the Father's hands? So, do not fret my many questions. I just want your answers.

In your response please be as clear and concise as possible because, for all I know you just may be able to provide me with an answer that is superior to my own answer, or lack thereof.

Tell me your answers. Tell me why you believe. Tell me why I should believe as you believe.

Give me...a reason...to believe.

And now, here are questions for the book of Deuteronomy.

1. Deuteronomy 1:8
See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.


Questions
     1) Is this the Old Testament version of manifest destiny?

2. Deuteronomy 1:10
10 The LORD your God has multiplied you, and behold, you are this day like the stars of heaven in number.

Questions

     1) Did the LORD forget how many stars were in the sky when He promised Abraham's and Isaac's and Jacob's descendants that they would be as numerous as the stars in the heavens?

     2) Do you think there is any truth whatsoever or even the slightest remote possibility of God's promise to multiply the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the point where they are as numerous as the stars when you stop and consider that there are about ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND MILLION stars in our own Milky Way galaxy, and in addition to that about 100 billion galaxies in the universe? 


     3) Isn't it just a TAD over-exaggerating for God/the LORD to utter such an absurd, grandiose promise, especially when He is supposed to know everything?


     4) Is God exaggerating here?


     5) Do you equate exaggeration with lying?


     6) Is God lying here?


3. Deuteronomy 1:12-13
12 How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife?

13 Choose wise and discerning and experienced men from your tribes, and I will appoint them as your heads.'


Questions

     1) Did God/the LORD not think about things such as a system for addressing the many issues of the people of Israel or at least bring such issues up to Moses and Aaron before they left Egypt?

     2) If it was God/the LORD who brought the people out of Egypt and if it was God/the LORD who made many many promises to provide the people a great land flowing with milk and honey, did the people of Israel reasonably rely on an assumption that if God/the LORD was going to provide this great land He would also provide the necessary leadership and logistics?


     3) Why didn't God discuss this with the people, or at least with Moses and Aaron before they all left Egypt, thus making God's chosen people better prepared? 


4. Deuteronomy 1:16-17
16 And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.

17 You shall not be partial in judgment. You shall hear the small and the great alike. You shall not be intimidated by anyone, for the judgment is God’s. And the case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to me, and I will hear it.




Questions
     1) Sooo...when these verses discuss not being partial and judging justly, listening to ALL whether they are small or great, does this NOT apply to gays and lesbians?

     2) Wouldn't passing judgment upon an individual or group of individuals based on their sexual preferences qualify as being partial in judgment? 


5. Deuteronomy 1:21
21 Behold, the LORD thy God hath set the land before thee: go up and possess it, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath said unto thee; fear not, neither be discouraged.

Questions

     1) You know what this verse reminds me of when I read it? It reminds me of the folks traveling across the Atlantic in search of a land of tolerance and freedom...the New World, right? I mean, just as the land that God promised His people was already occupied, so the New World was already inhabited by the Native Americans, correct?

     2) Do you think the Puritans and Quakers and Pilgrims and Separatists and religious folk and every one else who went along with them, do you think they had this verse in mind when setting foot on what later became U.S. soil? 


     3) Considering their trials and tribulations on the other side of the Atlantic do you think these people saw the vast, rich land of North America and figured that God/the LORD/Divine Providence had placed the land before them, and all they had to do was to subdue the Native Americans and TAKE IT?


     4) Is inappropriate seizure of real property part of God's/the LORD's modus operandi?



6. Deuteronomy 1:30-31
30 The LORD your God who goes before you will Himself fight on your behalf, just as He did for you in Egypt before your eyes,

31 and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the LORD your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place.’


Questions

     1) The LORD went before His people and fought on their behalf? He fought on their behalf while they were in Egypt?

     2) Who led the people of Israel into Egypt in the first place?


     3) Who hardened Pharaoh's heart against the Israelites?


     4) Who, in exhibition of a stunning show of hatred, disrespect, contempt, and total disregard for human life MURDERED all of Egypt's firstborn, including innocent children/babies and down to the last animal? How the f**k does that qualify as fighting on someone's behalf?


     5) Since when and according to whom did God/the LORD carry anything or anyone with Him through the desert (well, He sure as shit carried along His out-of-control anger and equally unrestrained jealousy)?


     6) Did God categorize the persistent water shortages, persistent food shortages (until manna), persistent mind games played by God, and persistent meandering about the desert in circles for forty fucking years as carrying and caring for His chosen people? 



7. Deuteronomy 1:32-33
32 But for all this, you did not trust the LORD your God,

33 who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.


Questions

     1) How in the hell did God think His people would react to the stupid shit He put them through on purpose?!

     2) Would you trust someone who promised you a La Jolla, California mansion of your choice, but who neglected to tell you that you would have to kill the residents of that mansion in order to obtain possession/title to the property?


     3) What good does it do to have a pillar of fire and a pillar of smoke to protect the people of Israel when the vast majority of their problems and dangers suffered were instigated by the very same God who was claiming to protect them?



8. Deuteronomy 1:34-36
34 Then the LORD heard the sound of your words, and He was angry and took an oath, saying,

35 Not one of these men, this evil generation, shall see the good land which I swore to give your fathers,


36 except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He shall see it, and to him and to his children I will give the land on which he has trodden, because he has wholly followed the LORD!




Questions
     1) Why the hell is God taking an oath when by His own nature He is supposed to be total truth? Wouldn't such an attribute as ultimate truth negate the need to make an oath or promise?


9. Deuteronomy 1:40
40 But as for you, turn around and set out for the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.


Questions
     1) Isn't God making grand promises to the people of Israel and then looking for ways to revoke the promises either in part or in full total bullshit?

10. Deuteronomy 2:5-6
do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession.

You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink.



Questions
     1) Sooo...God is basically saying that if you pass through land that the LORD does not want for His people you must pay them (the people of the land) for whatever goods are needed, but if it is land God wants you to have then screw paying for anything and just take it all?



11. Deuteronomy 2:7
For the LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing.


Questions
     1) The people lacked nothing? Nothing? What about going for days without water, and quite frequently at that? What about the situations where the people lacked of food? How the hell does that qualify as a generous sprinkling of blessings?

     2) Sooo...wandering in the freaking desert boonies for forty damn years is God watching out for and blessing His people?

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