Why is this so important?
Why is it so important to question what you believe? What is the benefit to you in forcing yourself to look at your belief system, to reassess time and again the things you clutch tightly and hold dear to your heart or your mind or your soul or your spirit? Is it true that all paths lead to God? Who is God? What is God? Why is God? Does man truly exist because of God or is it really the other way around?
It is okay, I think, to ask yourself these questions consistently and not reach an answer. At least you are asking yourself, putting yourself to task and pressing for an answer and for greater understanding. I do not think it is okay to not ask yourself these questions or to only ask yourself once and then let it be. No. You must seek so that you may find. Do not be satiated with easy fix answers of God or Jesus will make everything all better. In the end analysis it really is all up to you to change yourself for the better and contribute something to the whole. This starts with your belief system in what you believe about yourself, about others, about the world and universe around you, about all things divine or supernatural.
Your belief system is of great importance. Take great care of it. Respect it. Cherish it. Make it something good. Make it something full of appreciation, full of compassion, full of grace (and, no, I do not mean the religious version of grace), full of hope, full of selflessness, full of knowledge, full of joy and full of love...
...because without these precious things essential to living a full life what have you got?
We now continue with Part III of the book of Judges in the Old Testament.
1. Judges 12:1
1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”
Questions
1) What exactly is the problem with God's chosen people? Are they so jealous over who gets to fight whom that they will go so far as to fight each other?
2) You didn't call me to go and fight with you so now I am going to burn your house down?
1 The men of Ephraim were called to arms, and they crossed to Zaphon and said to Jephthah, “Why did you cross over to fight against the Ammonites and did not call us to go with you? We will burn your house over you with fire.”
Questions
1) What exactly is the problem with God's chosen people? Are they so jealous over who gets to fight whom that they will go so far as to fight each other?
2) You didn't call me to go and fight with you so now I am going to burn your house down?
2. Judges 12:4-6
4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.
5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,”
6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
4 Then Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and fought with Ephraim. And the men of Gilead struck Ephraim, because they said, “You are fugitives of Ephraim, you Gileadites, in the midst of Ephraim and Manasseh.
5 And the Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan against the Ephraimites. And when any of the fugitives of Ephraim said, “Let me go over,” the men of Gilead said to him, “Are you an Ephraimite?” When he said, “No,”
6 they said to him, “Then say Shibboleth,” and he said, “Sibboleth,” for he could not pronounce it right. Then they seized him and slaughtered him at the fords of the Jordan. At that time 42,000 of the Ephraimites fell.
Questions
1) Sooo...if the guy before you cannot pronounce the word properly he is thus an infidel and should be done away with immediately?
2) God is allowing His own chosen people to fight and kill each other? What is wrong with this picture? What is God thinking? If God is allowing His people to kill each other what is God seeking to accomplish by allowing such?
1) Sooo...if the guy before you cannot pronounce the word properly he is thus an infidel and should be done away with immediately?
2) God is allowing His own chosen people to fight and kill each other? What is wrong with this picture? What is God thinking? If God is allowing His people to kill each other what is God seeking to accomplish by allowing such?
3. Judges 13:1
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Questions
1) WHAT exactly was it that the people of Israel did that was so very evil? Surely there are variations on what is evil, so why aren't these supposed evil deeds clarified? I want to know exactly what it was they did, don't you? I do not want to guess what they did since that will only leave me open to mistake, right?
4. Judges 13:2-3
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.
3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
Questions
1) What is it with the angel of the LORD appearing to women throughout the Bible to tell them that they will have children when the women are up to that point barren?
2) Why is it always barren women?
3) Is there something special about barren women that God is not telling us?
4) Are the barren women more prone to do everything that God wants since they want children so badly?
5. Judges 13:16
16 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)
Questions
1) Why doesn't this angel want to eat the food the people are offering to him?
2) Does the LORD not allow the angel to take the meal since that would be the people showing the angel attention and affection and the LORD wants all of that for Himself?
3) Is the ravenous need for attention the reason why the LORD has the angel tell the people to offer the LORD a burnt offering?
6. Judges 13:17-18
17 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?”
18 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
Questions
1) This is not a very nice thing for the angel of the LORD to say, is it? It means that the angel of the LORD is basically saying the people are too goddamn stupid to understand the angel's name, doesn't it?
2) Is there any reason why the angel or the LORD would NOT want the people to know the angel's name and so simply made some horseshit up about the people not being able to understand the name?
7. Judges 13:20-22
20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”
8. Judges 14:1-3
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Questions
1) Oh how nice. A guy sees a woman and says, "I want her," and then tells people to go and get her for him. Doesn't that sound like a nice healthy respect for women and the right of a woman to make her own choices?
9. Judges 14:4
4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Questions
1) Isn't this the same thing as saying that the LORD was purposely stirring the pot so He could get people fighting?
2) Isn't this also the same thing as saying the LORD was USING the people, HIS people as a means to an end?
3) The people of Israel are the pawns in God's/the LORD's sick-o chess game, aren't they?
10. Judges 14:5-6
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
6 Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Questions
1) Sooo...it says Sampson goes down WITH his father and mother but he does not tell them what he did to the young lion? How does that work? Was he or was he NOT with his parents?
2) If Sampson and his parents were together as it certainly sounds like in verse 5, how did his parents not see what Sampson had done to the young lion?
3) What is meant by 'young lion' when considering this set of verses? Do they mean young lion like an adolescent male lion that is in the process of coming into his own strength and power? Do they mean quite literally a young lion, like a cub? If it is a lion CUB would it really take that much for a very strong man to tear him to pieces? I mean, remember what Michael Vick did to those dogs? You get a strong enough person and they can really tear into something, right?
11. Judges 14:15
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
Questions
1) The Bible is so stuffed with this type of "Tell me what I want to know or I will tear you to shreds and burn your house down" garbage that you seriously need to ponder what the fuck is wrong with God, right? Why does He allow this bullshit time and again? To get what HE wants? Doesn't that then make Him just as guilty as the douchebag threatening death if the information is not given?
12. Judges 14:20
20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
Questions
1) You know what? The treatment of women in the Bible is so base and so vile you have to ask what the heck part of God is holy and compassionate and loving, right?
2) These people swap women around as though they were trading poker chips...and GOD allows this? Oh wait...it must be that version of free will in the Bible that so many just love to quote as the culprit, correct?
13. Judges 15:1-2
1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in.
2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
Questions
1) The woman's father gave her away to another man? Did she have any choice in this? Did the father at any time think about sending Sampson some kind of freaking notification of what was being done?
2) The father then requests that Sampson take the younger sister of the woman? Did SHE have a choice in the matter? By what truth and real right does a person hand over the life and body of another person? What evil is this that the LORD allows without so much as a shrug?
14. Judges 15:3-5
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”
4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.
5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
Questions
1) Sooo...was Sampson previously NOT innocent in regards to what he did to the Philistines?
2) If Sampson was unfair and unrighteous with how he treated the Philistines then why in the fuckey-doo would the LORD allow such a person to lead His people?
3) Does the LORD not care about how unfair Sampson is with the Philistines since they are considered to be the enemy?
4) Why do the people of the LORD have so very many enemies?
15. Judges 15:14-15
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.
Questions
1) Do you notice that here it says that the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him? Why does it say rushed when in other places in the Bible is clearly says that the Spirit of the LORD came upon him when referring to a person being inundated with the Spirit of the LORD?
2) Does the use of the word rushed imply that the Spirit of the LORD is angry?
16. Judges 16:1
1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
Questions
1) Sooo...in addition to Sampson not playing fair with the enemies of Israel he also has a thing for prostitutes? Does the LORD not care about the character of the man who leads His people?
2) Considering the apparent lack of concern shown by the LORD in regards to Sampson's catting around with prostitutes, do you think people should have been so hard on Jimmy Swaggart?
17. Judges 16:15-17
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
Questions
1) You would think that Sampson would have realized that this woman was doing her best to find out his weakness or the source of his strength and NOT tell her the real reasons, right?
2) Why was Sampson so stupid in telling her the source of his strength, especially when several times she even had men there waiting to attack him?
18. Judges 16:27
27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
Questions
1) Is this why the LORD allowed Sampson to be so goddamn stupid in telling the source of his strength, so that later on down the line Sampson could be put in a position to topple the pillars in the temple and kill three thousand Philistines?
2) If the question above is true...well, wouldn't this be just another example of God/the LORD using and abusing someone WITHOUT THEM REALIZING IT so that God/the LORD could get whatever it is that He wants (which usually includes a good number of people dying horribly)?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ester+lighthorse
http://shoon4774-thegreatestlieevertold.blogspot.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/esterlighthorse/
https://www.google.com/#q=ester+lighthorse
http://www.zazzle.com/theopoly_game_of_the_divine_poster-228221851132138911
http://www.zazzle.com/biblical_myth_periodic_table_of_elements_posters-228084324809883766
http://www.zazzle.com/rapture_predictions_print-228929651513887296
http://www.zazzle.com/the_true_interpretations_of_signs_poster-228263818450976600
http://www.zazzle.com/murphys_law_periodic_table_of_elements_posters-228360137271391540
http://www.zazzle.com/crazy_laws_poster-228138944115389818
1 And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, so the LORD gave them into the hand of the Philistines for forty years.
Questions
1) WHAT exactly was it that the people of Israel did that was so very evil? Surely there are variations on what is evil, so why aren't these supposed evil deeds clarified? I want to know exactly what it was they did, don't you? I do not want to guess what they did since that will only leave me open to mistake, right?
4. Judges 13:2-3
2 There was a certain man of Zorah, of the tribe of the Danites, whose name was Manoah. And his wife was barren and had no children.
3 And the angel of the LORD appeared to the woman and said to her, “Behold, you are barren and have not borne children, but you shall conceive and bear a son.
Questions
1) What is it with the angel of the LORD appearing to women throughout the Bible to tell them that they will have children when the women are up to that point barren?
2) Why is it always barren women?
3) Is there something special about barren women that God is not telling us?
4) Are the barren women more prone to do everything that God wants since they want children so badly?
5. Judges 13:16
16 And the angel of the LORD said to Manoah, “If you detain me, I will not eat of your food. But if you prepare a burnt offering, then offer it to the LORD.” (For Manoah did not know that he was the angel of the LORD.)
Questions
1) Why doesn't this angel want to eat the food the people are offering to him?
2) Does the LORD not allow the angel to take the meal since that would be the people showing the angel attention and affection and the LORD wants all of that for Himself?
3) Is the ravenous need for attention the reason why the LORD has the angel tell the people to offer the LORD a burnt offering?
6. Judges 13:17-18
17 And Manoah said to the angel of the LORD, “What is your name, so that, when your words come true, we may honor you?”
18 And the angel of the LORD said to him, “Why do you ask my name, seeing it is wonderful?”
Questions
1) This is not a very nice thing for the angel of the LORD to say, is it? It means that the angel of the LORD is basically saying the people are too goddamn stupid to understand the angel's name, doesn't it?
2) Is there any reason why the angel or the LORD would NOT want the people to know the angel's name and so simply made some horseshit up about the people not being able to understand the name?
7. Judges 13:20-22
20 And when the flame went up toward heaven from the altar, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the altar. Now Manoah and his wife were watching, and they fell on their faces to the ground.
21 The angel of the LORD appeared no more to Manoah and to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of the LORD.
22 And Manoah said to his wife, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God.”
Questions
1) If God is everywhere and so apparent then why didn't these people know right away who the angle of the LORD was? Why does it seem like the Bible makes these people appear to be so stupid? Is it because they want people to see how very much these stupid people needed this amazingly wonderful God? Isn't that wrong?
1) If God is everywhere and so apparent then why didn't these people know right away who the angle of the LORD was? Why does it seem like the Bible makes these people appear to be so stupid? Is it because they want people to see how very much these stupid people needed this amazingly wonderful God? Isn't that wrong?
8. Judges 14:1-3
1 Samson went down to Timnah, and at Timnah he saw one of the daughters of the Philistines.
2 Then he came up and told his father and mother, “I saw one of the daughters of the Philistines at Timnah. Now get her for me as my wife.”
3 But his father and mother said to him, “Is there not a woman among the daughters of your relatives, or among all our people, that you must go to take a wife from the uncircumcised Philistines?” But Samson said to his father, “Get her for me, for she is right in my eyes.”
Questions
1) Oh how nice. A guy sees a woman and says, "I want her," and then tells people to go and get her for him. Doesn't that sound like a nice healthy respect for women and the right of a woman to make her own choices?
9. Judges 14:4
4 His father and mother did not know that it was from the LORD, for he was seeking an opportunity against the Philistines. At that time the Philistines ruled over Israel.
Questions
1) Isn't this the same thing as saying that the LORD was purposely stirring the pot so He could get people fighting?
2) Isn't this also the same thing as saying the LORD was USING the people, HIS people as a means to an end?
3) The people of Israel are the pawns in God's/the LORD's sick-o chess game, aren't they?
10. Judges 14:5-6
5 Then Samson went down with his father and mother to Timnah, and they came to the vineyards of Timnah. And behold, a young lion came toward him roaring.
6 Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Questions
1) Sooo...it says Sampson goes down WITH his father and mother but he does not tell them what he did to the young lion? How does that work? Was he or was he NOT with his parents?
2) If Sampson and his parents were together as it certainly sounds like in verse 5, how did his parents not see what Sampson had done to the young lion?
3) What is meant by 'young lion' when considering this set of verses? Do they mean young lion like an adolescent male lion that is in the process of coming into his own strength and power? Do they mean quite literally a young lion, like a cub? If it is a lion CUB would it really take that much for a very strong man to tear him to pieces? I mean, remember what Michael Vick did to those dogs? You get a strong enough person and they can really tear into something, right?
11. Judges 14:15
15 On the fourth day they said to Samson’s wife, “Entice your husband to tell us what the riddle is, lest we burn you and your father’s house with fire. Have you invited us here to impoverish us?”
Questions
1) The Bible is so stuffed with this type of "Tell me what I want to know or I will tear you to shreds and burn your house down" garbage that you seriously need to ponder what the fuck is wrong with God, right? Why does He allow this bullshit time and again? To get what HE wants? Doesn't that then make Him just as guilty as the douchebag threatening death if the information is not given?
12. Judges 14:20
20 And Samson’s wife was given to his companion, who had been his best man.
Questions
1) You know what? The treatment of women in the Bible is so base and so vile you have to ask what the heck part of God is holy and compassionate and loving, right?
2) These people swap women around as though they were trading poker chips...and GOD allows this? Oh wait...it must be that version of free will in the Bible that so many just love to quote as the culprit, correct?
13. Judges 15:1-2
1 After some days, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson went to visit his wife with a young goat. And he said, “I will go in to my wife in the chamber.” But her father would not allow him to go in.
2 And her father said, “I really thought that you utterly hated her, so I gave her to your companion. Is not her younger sister more beautiful than she? Please take her instead.”
Questions
1) The woman's father gave her away to another man? Did she have any choice in this? Did the father at any time think about sending Sampson some kind of freaking notification of what was being done?
2) The father then requests that Sampson take the younger sister of the woman? Did SHE have a choice in the matter? By what truth and real right does a person hand over the life and body of another person? What evil is this that the LORD allows without so much as a shrug?
14. Judges 15:3-5
3 And Samson said to them, “This time I shall be innocent in regard to the Philistines, when I do them harm.”
4 So Samson went and caught 300 foxes and took torches. And he turned them tail to tail and put a torch between each pair of tails.
5 And when he had set fire to the torches, he let the foxes go into the standing grain of the Philistines and set fire to the stacked grain and the standing grain, as well as the olive orchards.
Questions
1) Sooo...was Sampson previously NOT innocent in regards to what he did to the Philistines?
2) If Sampson was unfair and unrighteous with how he treated the Philistines then why in the fuckey-doo would the LORD allow such a person to lead His people?
3) Does the LORD not care about how unfair Sampson is with the Philistines since they are considered to be the enemy?
4) Why do the people of the LORD have so very many enemies?
15. Judges 15:14-15
14 When he came to Lehi, the Philistines came shouting to meet him. Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him, and the ropes that were on his arms became as flax that has caught fire, and his bonds melted off his hands.
15 And he found a fresh jawbone of a donkey, and put out his hand and took it, and with it he struck 1,000 men.
Questions
1) Do you notice that here it says that the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon him? Why does it say rushed when in other places in the Bible is clearly says that the Spirit of the LORD came upon him when referring to a person being inundated with the Spirit of the LORD?
2) Does the use of the word rushed imply that the Spirit of the LORD is angry?
16. Judges 16:1
1 Samson went to Gaza, and there he saw a prostitute, and he went in to her.
Questions
1) Sooo...in addition to Sampson not playing fair with the enemies of Israel he also has a thing for prostitutes? Does the LORD not care about the character of the man who leads His people?
2) Considering the apparent lack of concern shown by the LORD in regards to Sampson's catting around with prostitutes, do you think people should have been so hard on Jimmy Swaggart?
17. Judges 16:15-17
15 And she said to him, “How can you say, ‘I love you,’ when your heart is not with me? You have mocked me these three times, and you have not told me where your great strength lies.”
16 And when she pressed him hard with her words day after day, and urged him, his soul was vexed to death.
17 And he told her all his heart, and said to her, “A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother’s womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man.”
Questions
1) You would think that Sampson would have realized that this woman was doing her best to find out his weakness or the source of his strength and NOT tell her the real reasons, right?
2) Why was Sampson so stupid in telling her the source of his strength, especially when several times she even had men there waiting to attack him?
18. Judges 16:27
27 Now the house was full of men and women. All the lords of the Philistines were there, and on the roof there were about 3,000 men and women, who looked on while Samson entertained.
Questions
1) Is this why the LORD allowed Sampson to be so goddamn stupid in telling the source of his strength, so that later on down the line Sampson could be put in a position to topple the pillars in the temple and kill three thousand Philistines?
2) If the question above is true...well, wouldn't this be just another example of God/the LORD using and abusing someone WITHOUT THEM REALIZING IT so that God/the LORD could get whatever it is that He wants (which usually includes a good number of people dying horribly)?
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=ester+lighthorse
http://shoon4774-thegreatestlieevertold.blogspot.com/
https://sites.google.com/site/esterlighthorse/
https://www.google.com/#q=ester+lighthorse
http://www.zazzle.com/theopoly_game_of_the_divine_poster-228221851132138911
http://www.zazzle.com/biblical_myth_periodic_table_of_elements_posters-228084324809883766
http://www.zazzle.com/rapture_predictions_print-228929651513887296
http://www.zazzle.com/the_true_interpretations_of_signs_poster-228263818450976600
http://www.zazzle.com/murphys_law_periodic_table_of_elements_posters-228360137271391540
http://www.zazzle.com/crazy_laws_poster-228138944115389818
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