The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round
Feel free to post your answers to these questions. Say anything you like. When providing an answer to a question please note the number of the question you are responding to. If you are using Bible verses as references please be sure to note the passage location. Thank you.
Religion can be severely damaging if not kept on a leash, its appetite certainly one for the proverbial ages. Old and young, educated and uneducated, male or female...all have at some point or other within human history succumbed to the voracious whirlpool of death that is so generously provided by an ideology that at its base is nothing more than spiritual extortion: believe this way or die.
From my personal experience with religion (I was raised Christian Non-Denominational) and the consistent manner in which I was given answers to questions I had asked about the Bible, I came to realize that I really wasn't getting anywhere.
I felt as though I was running in circles, for every time I asked a question that did not have an easy answer, or to put it another way was too difficult for whomever I was asking to answer, I always received the same response WITHOUT FAIL: it is God's truth and final word and you just have to trust that everything is taken care of by God; remember, God's ways are mysterious to man and we cannot allow our misunderstanding of God's truth (the Bible) to be smothered by questions about things that are supposed to be taken by faith and in totality.
If you are a Christian and hold up the Bible to declare it as the absolute truth I want you to explain to me why you believe in the Bible. Tell me why I should believe that a man was swallowed by a whale, was in the whale's belly for three days, and then finally Mr. Whale burped his stowaway back onto terra firma? Tell me why I should believe that even though King David had many wives and concubines, that the LORD God still found David to be a man after His own heart? And WHY...why, why, why does God throughout the Bible persist to maim and torture the innocent for whatever the guilty have done?
These are my questions about the Bible and these questions make up a good portion of why I do not believe the Bible is actual, literal truth. For those who choose to believe I want you to read these questions and answer them. Tell me why you believe, and if in the process you can...well, give me a reason to believe as well. Tell me why, despite all of these questions (some easy, some silly, some hard, some mean), the Bible is literal truth to you.
Remember, statements of "because God said so" or anything of the like will not be acceptable answers. If you cannot answer a question don't fret but simply move on to the next question.
1. Genesis 9:1
1 And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.
Questions
1) Be fruitful and multiply and re-populate the earth...by means of eight people, two of whom are quite elderly (Noah and his wife), five of whom are blood related in some way (Noah, his wife, and their three sons), and none of whom have a pot to piss in considering the flood decimated everything?
2. Genesis 9:2
2 The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered.
Questions
1) Is this how God sees man, that the fear and dread of God will be upon all men and sooner or later (when Jesus returns to earth) all of the non-believers will be delivered up?
2) Why does this verse sound suspiciously like a plug for people doing whatever they want with the living creatures on this earth?
3) So, if all of the creatures are delivered into the hand of man (by God's own command at that) is it perfectly fine to confine animals and hunt them into extinction?
4) If God knows everything there is to know about anything wouldn't He have foreseen the abuse of animals at the hands of people who use this verse for validation of their cruelty and wickedness toward animals?
3. Genesis 9:3
3 Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.
Questions
1) Why would God here say that He gave them everything to eat when later in the Bible God applies loads of special food rules about clean and unclean and all that rubbish?
2) Uhmmm...when Noah and family disembark, why in the world would God tell Noah and crew that He gave them all of the animals to eat when whatever animals are on the ark are supposed to re-populate the ENTIRE planet with animals?
4. Genesis 9:6
6 Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed: for in the image of God made he man.
Questions
1) Is the hidden inference here that if GOD was the one commanding the blood spilling (or the one actually doing) then everything is just fine?
2) How does this verse fit with what the Bible-believing white men pushing west in North America did to the Native Americans, and did God allow what was done because the Native Americans did not worship Jesus Christ or the God of the Bible, and so likely deserved to die because of devil worship and paganism (I know they did not worship the devil, but as a child I was informed that is exactly what it was)?
3) So, this is more or less the death penalty, correct?
4) SO...if God has made it clear that anyone who kills another should be put to death, then why does God REPEATEDLY command His people in the Old Testament to murder? Has God forgotten His own rule?
5. Genesis 9:7
7 And you, be ye fruitful, and multiply; bring forth abundantly in the earth, and multiply therein.
Questions
1) I read this verse and have to wonder...did God forget that He only saved half a handful of people on the ark, the majority of whom are blood related?
2) How long would it take to re-populate the earth with people whose bodies and minds have loads of problems as a result of being conceived in incest/so closely related?
6. Genesis 9:9-11
9 And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
10 And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
11 And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Questions
1) Why is God establishing a contract/covenant with animals when they do not understand and do not give a shit?
2) Do the animals have the mental capacity and the reasoning necessary to give their consent in order to be part of the covenant with God?
3) Is God even bothering to ask for consent here or is He simply saying, "This is my covenant and you're in it?"
7. Genesis 9:12
12 And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Questions
1) Can it be argued here that God made a token promise that He never intended to keep?
8. Genesis 9:13
13 I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Questions
1) In order to remind man of His promise in regard to never flooding everything on the entire earth again, couldn't have God simply stopped sending gi-normous clouds stuffed chock-full with rain?
2) Couldn't God have simply NOT allowed floods ever again?
9. Genesis 9:14-15
14 And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
15 And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Questions
1) How is it that an all-knowing, all-present, all-everything God needs a reminder?
2) Does this verse really mean that God will never again cause a great flood on the entire earth that would kill absolutely everything, and not necessarily that He will not allow disastrous floods from time to time that kill loads of people?
10. Genesis 9:9-17 (Here I only list verses 16 and 17 being as the other verses are above)
16 And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
17 And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Questions
1) Why does the Bible have God mentioning this 'covenant' seven times?
2) Is the word 'covenant' mentioned seven times because of the significance of the number seven in Christianity?
11. Genesis 9:19
19 These are the three sons of Noah: and of them was the whole earth overspread.
Questions
1) So three men and their wives are the last souls on earth capable of human reproduction...and this pittance of a handful of people is supposed to have repopulated the entire earth with people?
12. Genesis 9:20-27
20 Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard.
21 He drank of the wine and became drunk, and uncovered himself inside his tent.
22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without.
23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
24 When Noah awoke from his wine, he knew what his youngest son had done to him.
25 So he said, "Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants He shall be to his brothers."
26 He also said, "Blessed be the LORD, The God of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.
27 "May God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant."
Questions
1) Is Noah over-reacting here and assuming his son dishonored him?
2) Where in the Bible does it say that Noah's son laughed or jeered at his father's naked state, or that he told his brothers in order to shame his father?
3) Can it be successfully argued that Noah's son could have actually been seeking assistance from his brothers in order to aid his father?
4) Is the lopsided judgment/curse Noah places on his son an example of what happens when people believe and live for and work for and die for and become more like God?
13. Genesis 10:32
32 These are the families of the sons of Noah, after their generations, in their nations: and by these were the nations divided in the earth after the flood.
Questions
1) What constitutes a nation?
2) How long would it take for Noah's sons to have created enough people to be considered a nation?
14. Genesis 11:1
1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.
Questions
1) So, is it safe to say this verse implies a certain depth of unity within humanity since the people all speak the same language?
2) Were the people fighting and hurting each other, or were they working together?
15. Genesis 11:5-9
5 The LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built.
6 And the LORD said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them.
7 "Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, so that they will not understand one another's speech."
8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city.
9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.
Questions
1) This verse does not jive with the idea that God so loved the world, does it?
2) Is there anything about the story of the Tower of Babel to lend any credibility to the notion that the people in these verses were doing anything wrong OR willfully disobeying God?
3) Is the real issue of why God purposely sabotaged man, that God realized man was actually getting along and working together and functioning at a good level, and God did not expect this and so screwed up the language?
4) Could it be argued that God was simply worried that the more men were getting along the less the might need for Him?
16. Genesis 11:32
32 And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years: and Terah died in Haran.
Questions
1) Why is there such a huge drop in longevity considering Noah was what?...950 years old when he died? Why did God drop the longevity?
17. Genesis 12:1
1 Now the LORD had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee:
Questions
1) Even though the wording of the verse makes it clear that Abram already has a land and is IN that land, why in the freaky-doo does God demand he leave that land and follow God to a place where God will command His people to rook the inhabitants of that land out of pretty much everything?
18. Genesis 12:3
3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Questions
1) Does this verse silently validate harming those 'against' you or who do not believe the same as you do?
19. Genesis 12:12-13
12 Therefore it shall come to pass, when the Egyptians shall see thee, that they shall say, This is his wife: and they will kill me, but they will save thee alive.
13 Say, I pray thee, thou art my sister: that it may be well with me for thy sake; and my soul shall live because of thee.
Questions
1) Why would someone have to lie or sneak around or misrepresent something if they are protected by God?
20. Genesis 12:15-17
15 Pharaoh's officials saw her and praised her to Pharaoh; and the woman was taken into Pharaoh's house.
16 And he entreated Abram well for her sake: and he had sheep, and oxen, and he asses, and menservants, and maidservants, and she asses, and camels.
17 And the LORD plagued Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai Abram's wife.
Questions
1) So, Abraham is the one who lied (as did his wife) but Pharaoh is punished even though he did nothing wrong and was simply working on the understanding the woman was Abraham's sister?
2) Where is the justification for punishing Pharaoh?
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I previously had not realized that the comment option was not on the appropriate setting. My bad. I fixed it and now folks should be able to post as desired.
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