Deuteronomy Part VI: 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:
http://www.amazon.com/Turkey-Broth-Spirit-Questions-Pentateuch-ebook/dp/B00GVLQ0CY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1385651545&sr=8-1&keywords=ester+lighthorse


Follow that Thought

I recently came across a short pamphlet-type book by Brian Thomas called "Dinosaurs and the Bible," and I gotta tell you reading this particular...I am trying to be nice here...reading this particular work of faith literature elicited several emotions in varying stages not necessarily all occurring at once. 

First, I couldn't help but to chuckle at the title which I thought, and yes I could be completely and totally wrong on this, was a purposeful, if quite clever attempt to hook the reader in before they even get a chance to pick up the book. It certainly worked with me. Dinosaurs and the Bible? I thought. 

It was such a neutral title not offering an opinion one way or the other that I was instantly smitten with curiosity, anxious to see what this person, Mr. Thomas, had to say. Would he say the dinosaurs were going to be one of those things in life we can be pretty sure about, but not absolutely certain of in regards to everything about them? Would he say that dinosaurs were an obstacle, a hindrance to faith purposely designed by that bad boy of bad boys, Satan? Would he say that while there is often great controversy when trying to reconcile biblical time frames for the idea of God creating everything in only six days (resting on the seventh) with the scientific assertion that dinosaur fossils are millions of years old, surely those representing either issue could find the interests on both sides best served by both parties working together to build solid answers?

I reached out and picked up the book, opening it eagerly. I saw it right there on the first title page: Institute for Creation Research. My heart immediately sank, right along with any kind of hope for an intellectual and philosophical approach. I knew just what kind of approach this fellow was guaranteed to offer. It was going to be a very one-sided, very misinterpreted information polluted argument that would either make me laugh my ass off, or shake my head at the wanton stupidity of others. I was not denied either.

I hope you take the time to go to the Institution for Creation Research website and look this book up. You can also find it on Amazon Kindle e-books at this link:

http://www.amazon.com/Dinosaurs-and-the-Bible-ebook/dp/B00ESUSHV2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1381213925&sr=1-1&keywords=dinosaurs+and+the+bible

This book is one of the more hilariously delusional books that any Christian discussing dinosaurs and how dinosaurs relate to Creation (to include Young-Earth Creationism), has ever produced. I will not cite particulars here on Mr. Thomas' book, but I am currently working on a project refuting his Never-Never Land claims. I only mention his book here because for me as I read his book and its speculative assertions, even more absurd interpretations of facts and theories both, and the intentionally ignorant attitude of the author I could not help but to think...

...this is exactly why many people have problems with the Bible, Christianity, and similar faiths. It is difficult to understand why any person would take the entire Bible as literal truth when so many of the stories are so ridiculous you'd have to be smoking meth and drinking Draino to believe them in the first place. Yet that is not all, is it? 

The next problem emerges when you start reading the Bible and thinking about/researching what many Christians are claiming the Bible to mean. How in the world did they come to certain conclusions without recognizing inefficiencies and fallacies in their reasoning/line of thinking UNLESS they are being willfully stupid? Then of course is the problem of whether or not the believing individual is doing so out of fear after hearing some caca-crepe story of how knowledge and philosophy and science are tricks invented by Satan to steal people away from God and send them straight to hell. 

Maybe some believers are simply used to thinking less than they should when it comes to matters of faith and religion. After all, if Jesus said He was going to take care of everything for you as far as spirituality goes then why waste the time asking questions that are only going to get you in trouble?

So, here are my questions for the Bible, for this GOD of love who has an ugly habit of frightening people into living lives teeming with all sorts of useless, damaging fears. These questions are part of why I do not believe in the truth of the Bible. These questions are part of why I do not believe in God, a divine entity Who by all accounts seems to have quite the creative knack for rooking people out of their spiritual individuality, uncaringly smashing and breaking down a person's spiritual and creative freedom in a malignant bid to 'save' their eternal soul.

We continue with where we left off in Deuteronomy in the previous post. This is the final set of questions for Deuteronomy.



1. Deuteronomy 29:2-6
2 Moses summoned all the Israelites and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that the LORD did in Egypt to Pharaoh, to all his officials and to all his land.

3 all the great tests of strength, the miraculous signs, and the amazing wonders.

4 But to this day the LORD has not given you minds that understand, nor eyes that see, nor ears that hear!

5 For forty years I led you through the wilderness, yet your clothes and sandals did not wear out.

6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other alcoholic drink, but he gave you food so you would know that he is the LORD your God.

Questions
     1) Isn't this a great way to start a message to people who are used to being controlled and manipulated? 

     2) Really, what better way to scold the ignorant masses, keeping them right where you want them while at the same time getting them to listen and do ANYTHING you want, what better way than by reminding them of something great and terrible that happened to people close to you at the hand of the current despot dictator?

     3) Of course the LORD has not given them minds that understand, minds that properly discern! Why would He do that and completely destroy His free meal ticket when He needs to feed off all of that fear for His very survival?

     4) Do you recall in the book of Genesis when after God had made Adam and Eve and was showing them the Garden of Eden that He told them to stay away from the bad tree? And what did He say? Didn't He say something along the lines of do not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you shall surely die?

     5) Adam and Eve did eat the bad fruit, didn't they? And WHAT happened? Doesn't the Bible say that their eyes became opened and they were ashamed for they KNEW they were naked?

     6) Considering the above question, #5, would you agree that after eating the wrong fruit they DID find that their eyes were opened while simultaneously coming to the understanding of good and evil? 

     7) Considering the above question, #6, how in the world does verse four make any sense at all? In Genesis it clearly says that after eating the bad fruit that man came to know, understand good and evil in addition to having their eyes opened. Why does verse four say they do not have understanding minds or eyes that see? Explain this discrepancy.

     8) Sooo...God interfered with man's free will in the Garden of Eden by withholding extremely important information which then resulted in man having his eyes opened and in man understanding/knowing good and evil, but then God tries to stunt that knowledge of good and evil or...what IS God trying to do in verse four? It sounds all screwy.

     9) Why does verse three reference miraculous signs and great wonders and tests of strength when there was nothing of the sort? God purposely interfered with Pharaoh's free will and THAT is how the Egyptians got screwed. How can anyone call such a miracle or sign of strength when it is nothing more than dark and malicious manipulation?

     10) Why does it sound like God wants some kind of bonus points for allowing the shoes and clothing last so long? His people would have appreciated a better food and water supply, don't you think? I mean, here is Mr. God with all of this amazing power, the ability to do anything...and while His people die of thirst and hunger He makes sure their shoes and clothing last a long time?


2. Deuteronomy 29:12-15
12 That thou shouldest enter into covenant with the LORD thy God, and into his oath, which the LORD thy God maketh with thee this day:

13 in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath;

15 But with him that standeth here with us this day before the LORD our God, and also with him that is not here with us this day:

Questions
     1) Sooo...God is more or less forcing a covenant with these people, correct? He doesn't even ask them what they want or need, but rather only says they will be HIS people and they will be part of the covenant as well as their future children will be part of the covenant?

     2) If God knows EVERYTHING then why does He create a covenant He wants the children to participate in as well? The children never agreed to any fucking thing, and even if they did there is no indication they knew of or were informed of the details and the interpretation of the details, right? In contracts wouldn't this be incapacity and thus void this covenant?


3. Deuteronomy 29:16-18
16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed.

17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them.

18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the LORD our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit,

Questions
     1) What is God's problem? Why must He always threaten someone? I always thought it was strange that far more often than not when God is trying to force Himself upon people He doesn't really talk or brag about all of the wonderful things He does, but rather starts by threatening people right from the very beginning as He recounts the ferocity of the anger and pain and fear and death that He has subjected people to.

     2) What do some churches and some preachers do with these verses? The church my parents went to when I was a kid liked to use these verses to exemplify the dangers of hanging around people who did not believe in the Lord Jesus as you did. That went for any non-believing person whether they were family or they were a friend.
     I remember my mother and her father as well as my mother and my father's father clashed a LOT over the religious crackerjack the church we went to taught. There were a good number of years when the tension was so bad we were not allowed to visit my grandfathers or even accept gifts from them because of the poisonous bullshit this church spat out and tried to pass as divine ordinances. 
     This particular group of churches contributed greatly to a good amount of the misery in my life when I was a child. I suppose I shall have to do some legal research before I name them. They have in previous years elected to file suit against people who have spoken out against them, and while their legal successes are mixed in terms of final determinations by the courts I cannot see it as very prudent to stir that pot. Besides, I have no desire to hurt them. I don't like the poison they preach, but I am pretty sure I can relay that without finding the need to name them particularly.


4. Deuteronomy 29:19-21
19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike.

20 The LORD will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven.

21 And the LORD will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.

Questions
     1) The LORD will NOT be willing to forgive him? Sooo...is that one of those 'so much for the God of everlasting mercy' things, or what?

     2) Sooo...if the LORD was so angry with this fellow or fellows, blotting their names out and pretty much causing the entire universe to lose all mention or remembrance of them...uhm, WHY are we talking about them? By talking about them are they not being remembered?


5. Deuteronomy 29:22-25
22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the LORD has made it sick—

23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in his anger and wrath—

24 all the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’

25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt,

Questions
     1) If the LORD is so mighty and great...WHY would people even have to ask WHY God destroyed or did away with or punished anyone or anything? Wouldn't they know? Wouldn't they HAVE to know considering all the verses claiming that people shall see great destruction and know why God did it?

     2) Isn't a good example of this in the Old Testament when God was punishing someone for trying to take Abram's wife, even though they did not know it was his wife since Abram said she was his sister? Well, actually she WAS his sister (half) as well as his wife, but what is a little semantics between friends, right? The people who God was punishing supposedly knew it was the LORD punishing them AND why. So again, WHY the freaking mind games?


6. Deuteronomy 29:29
29 The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.

Questions
     1) This sounds a little too possessive, don't you think? What happened to God being for everyone?

   2) If God has always been for everyone as so stated in the New Testament, why the above verses? Why does it sound like God only gives the secret info to His special people? Favoritism? Does that sound like the trait of a perfect, fair, all-loving for everyone God?


7. Deuteronomy 30:1-5
1 And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,

2 and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul,

3 then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you.

4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you.

5 And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.

Questions
     1) So basically, when God revokes all things, all joy, and all abundance from someone's life He is doing it on purpose in order to get them to change their mind about Him and finally accept Him as their one and only?

     2) On top of revoking all the good things from someone's life God then makes grandiose, suspicious sounding promises of giving everything back to people if they only believe in Him?

     3) Do you see the problem here? Do you see a problem with the manner in which God has chosen to try to get people to believe in Him?


8. Deuteronomy 30:6
6 And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live.

Questions
     1) Wait, wait, WAIT! God already allotted the chopped dick foreskins as His, and now He wants to chop another piece off of something else? WTF?!

     2) Since this verse says God will circumcise the hearts also that the people may live...well, can this be interpreted as God more or less saying that if the people do not let Him chop something else that He will kill them?


9. Deuteronomy 30:7
7 And the LORD your God will put all these curses on your foes and enemies who persecuted you.

Questions
     1) Isn't this a really BIG promise that God never bothered to follow through with? Aren't His supposed chosen people some of the MOST harassed people on the planet (at least they think so; I bet the Native Americans and the Blacks and the poor immigrant Irish and the like could all stake just as strong a claim, if not stronger)?

     2) Didn't the Nazis seriously persecute the people of God? Sooo...where are the curses they were supposed to incur? I mean, you do realize the Nazis are STILL around, right?


10. Deuteronomy 30:11-14
11 For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.

12 It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

13 Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’

14 But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it.

Questions
     1) For all of the things that God supposedly does for His people and brings to His people, why does He always do something to purposely fuck it up for His people? Whatever it is might be in their mouth and in their heart, but explain WHY God is persistent in His prevention of the people doing what He supposedly wants them to do? It's like a seriously retarded soap opera.

     2) God might tell His people He has something for them, like the promised land, but why  does He wait to tell them the land is occupied and the LORD's PEOPLE have to run out the inhabitants until they have already languished for forty fucking years as the LORD goose-stepped in circles about the desert dragging His unfortunate red-headed step-children behind Him?


11. Deuteronomy 30:15-16
15 See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil.

16 If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you today, by loving the LORD your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

Questions
     1) Just so I am understanding correctly here...God is basically saying He is giving the people a chance to use that gift of free will that they received from God to choose between life and good, and death and evil, correct?

     2) Just so I can be sure of my further understanding...God then follows by basically saying that so long as the people pick the one He wants them to pick, which would be similar to killing all of the people God considers evil or at least running them out of their own land, God will then let them live and have children?

     3) So basically, it all boils down to behaving like an uncivilized douchebag just like God asked you to...or else God will kill you?


12. Deuteronomy 30:17-19
17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them,

18 I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess.

19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,

Questions
     1) Sooo...if the chosen people of God decide to go and find another more stable deity to worship and Who hopefully doesn't give them so many goddamn instructions to commit genocide, amongst other things, God will kill them?

     2) How many times up to this point in the Bible has God used the threat of death or of removing all possible sustenance for His people unless they do His twisted bidding?

     3) What kind of a warped Being threatens the life of children in order to get the parents to do His black and heartless commands?


13. Deuteronomy 31:1-2
1 So Moses continued to speak these words to all Israel.

2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today. I am no longer able to go out and come in. The LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not go over this Jordan.’

Questions
     1) So, even though God did put Moses through some pretty bad shit for a very long time God STILL will not let Moses pass into the promised land just because he hit the rock with his staff instead of talking to it? 

     2) At which point is God going to get a clue on how to render punishment that is in accordance with the crime?


14. Deuteronomy 31:4-6
4 And the LORD will do to them as he did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when he destroyed them.

5 And the LORD will give them over to you, and you shall do to them according to the whole commandment that I have commanded you.

6 Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Questions
     1) So the LORD will not leave or forsake His people? Was there small print on that promise or something, because I can't help but to think that World War II is only ONE of many examples where God very clearly deserted His people?


15. Deuteronomy 31:7-8
7 Then Moses called for Joshua, and as all Israel watched, he said to him, "Be strong and courageous! For you will lead these people into the land that the LORD swore to their ancestors he would give them. You are the one who will divide it among them as their grants of land.

8 Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the LORD will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you."

Questions
     1) Uhmmm...yeah, the singular question from number fourteen above should go here as well, don't you think?


16. Deuteronomy 31:12-13
12 Call them all together--men, women, children, and the foreigners living in your towns--so they may hear this Book of Instruction and learn to fear the LORD your God and carefully obey all the terms of these instructions.

13 and that their children, who have not known it, may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live in the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess.”

Questions
     1) Ahhh, is this where the really out there Christians get the fodder for their absurd idea that they are under some freaking edict to force their religious games on people in the United States? So that the children of those who do not believe have to be subjected to ideas COMPLETELY devoid of scientific value (Creationism)?

     2) Is this verse also one of the reasons these same Christian whacks think they own or are destined to possess or are the so-called gatekeepers of the United States which they truly think God and Jesus gave to THEM in particular?


17. Deuteronomy 31:16-17
16 The LORD said to Moses, "You are about to die and join your ancestors. After you are gone, these people will begin to worship foreign gods, the gods of the land where they are going. They will abandon me and break my covenant that I have made with them.

17 Then my anger will blaze forth against them. I will abandon them, hiding my face from them, and they will be devoured. Terrible trouble will come down on them, and on that day they will say, 'These disasters have come down on us because God is no longer among us!'

Questions
     1) As if the facts that Moses was NOT going to be allowed to go into the promised land and that the last forty goddamn years of meandering in the desert were for fucking NOTHING, why did God tell him this? To break his heart just a little more? Put salt in the wound? What?


18. Deuteronomy 31:18
18 And I will surely hide my face in that day because of all the evil that they have done, because they have turned to other gods.

Questions
     1) And WHY have they gone to other gods, hum? WHY, God, why? Look how you fucking treated these people! What did you think, that they would throw you a friggin 'thank you' party after you slapped them around an unforgiving environment, starved them, wouldn't give them water for days on end, gave them plague, made poisonous snakes appear that bit them and killed many, and all of those things don't even come close to the really bad things you have done to them? You SERIOUSLY need help, but I don't think there is any kind of help available for you. Why don't You go away and go 'off' Yourself by taking a couple of your own plagues?


19. Deuteronomy 31:21
21 And when great disasters come down on them, this song will stand as evidence against them, for it will never be forgotten by their descendants. I know the intentions of these people, even now before they have entered the land I swore to give them."

Questions
     1) Sooo...was this very demented description of a song glorifying the disgusting disgrace of God and His flippant disregard for that part of Him that is supposed to be unrequited love the precursor of other demented songs that celebrate great human suffering, such as that Ring Around the Rosie song?


20. Deuteronomy 31:29
29 I know that after my death you will become utterly corrupt and will turn from the way I have commanded you to follow. In the days to come, disaster will come down on you, for you will do what is evil in the LORD's sight, making him very angry with your actions."

Questions
     1) Wouldn't it have been far more honest for Moses to say something more like, "Look, people...you're fucked. You might as well stop trying to please this divine bastard Yahweh since HE is the One purposely screwing everything up for you. Take my advice and find something or someone else to worship. Or maybe don't worship anything or anyone at all. Either way get away from this crazy mutha' and live out the rest of your lives in happiness and peace until He finds you and kills you. Die with some kind of dignity of life and enjoyment of love," and then at least there would have been SOME closure that at least SOMEONE had the balls to tell the people like it freaking was?


21. Deuteronomy 32:2
2 Let my teaching fall on you like rain; let my speech settle like dew. Let my words fall like rain on tender grass, like gentle showers on young plants.

Questions

     1) You mean like acid rain?

     2) You mean settle like 'doo' and not dew?

     3) You mean fall like rain where there should be grass but where there isn't because God won't let anything grow out of the ground because He is throwing a tantrum for not getting enough attention?

     4) You mean like the gentle showers of the Genesis Flood that washed away all the plants? 

22. Deuteronomy 32:4
4 He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!

Questions
     1) You mean He is a rock like when you feel like you are speaking to a brick wall instead of a person?

     2) You mean everything is just and fair like that drug dealer Pablo Escobar thought just and fair were, meaning because he thought he had all the power he could do (and consequently did) anything he wanted?

     3) You mean He does no wrong like Jodi Arias thought she did no wrong?

     4) You mean just and upright like Jimmy Swaggart when he got in trouble for spending time with a 'lady of the night' (a hooker)?


23. Deuteronomy 32:5
5 But they have acted corruptly toward him; when they act so perversely, are they really his children? They are a deceitful and twisted generation.

Questions
     1) Shouldn't this verse say, "But when He acted in a corrupted manner toward them, they saw Him for the perverted freak He was and realized a true father would never treat His children in such a manner; for He was twisted and deceitful," in order to get the true message across?


24. Deuteronomy 32:10
10 He found him in a desert land, and in the howling waste of the wilderness; he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.

Questions
     1) You mean the people were the apple of God's eye about as much as that poor kidnapped girl in Ohio who was turned into a sex slave was the apple of her captor's eye, right?


25. Deuteronomy 32:41-42
41 when I sharpen my flashing sword and begin to carry out justice, I will take revenge on my enemies and repay those who reject me.

42 I will make my arrows drunk with blood, and my sword will devour flesh--the blood of the slaughtered and the captives, and the heads of the enemy leaders.

Questions
     1) Sooo...THIS must be where Hitler got the ideas for some of his tripped-out speeches, correct?


26. Deuteronomy 34:7
7 Moses was 120 years old when he died, yet his eyesight was clear, and he was as strong as ever.

Questions
     1) What in the world do you mean Moses was as strong as ever?

     2) At the last battle that Moses attended didn't aides have to hold up his arms so the people of Israel could win the battle since Moses' arms were TIRED and every time he let them down the people of God would start to lose the battle?

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