II Samuel Part II: Just a Few Questions

Looks ARE Deceiving

When David takes over as the king the first few impressions are that things are really starting to turn around, right? Perhaps David can really turn things around as far as the relationship between God and the people of Israel are concerned. Not only is David pleasing in the sight of the LORD, but it also appears that in anything that he does he is triumphant. This is a very good indicator of an immense improvement in the disposition of the people of Israel.

How real and lasting is this positive change? How long will it be before somebody screws up and the LORD/God YANKS the rug out from under the entire congregation of His people? For the moment everything for the people of Israel not only looks great, but also sounds great! And this IS a good thing considering the Valley of Death existence the people of Israel have endured for so long, right?

Too bad the people of Israel back then didn't know what we know now when it comes to things that sound really, REALLY great: If it sounds too good to be true...it probably is.

And now...on to the continuing questions for II Samuel.

1. II Samuel 7:25

25 "And now, O LORD God, I am your servant; do as you have promised concerning me and my family. Confirm it as a promise that will last forever.

Questions

     1) The sad part here is that David does not seem to realize that there is no way that he will ever receive confirmation of God's promises...UNLESS he, too, sticks around forever like God to witness everything that ever happens in all of recorded history AFTER God has made all of these promises, right?

2. II Samuel 8:2

2 David also conquered the land of Moab. He made the people lie down on the ground in a row, and he measured them off in groups with a length of rope. He measured off two groups to be executed for every one group to be spared. The Moabites who were spared became David's subjects and paid him tribute money.

Questions

     1) Saving a few and then killing a bunch? Measuring people in groups lying down on the ground, then murdering two groups for every one group spared? This is SO FUCKING SICK. I read this verse and you know what it immediately reminded me of? Have you ever seen the WWII footage of deep, long trenches that had been dug by the Nazis, filled with the bodies of men, women, and children...babies even? You ever see the footage of the people lined up close to the body pits so that when the Nazi soldier came down the line shooting the people in their heads the bodies would simply fall into the pit?

3. II Samuel 8:6

6 Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus, and the Syrians became servants to David and brought tribute. And the LORD gave victory to David wherever he went.

Questions

     1) Is it not so much that the LORD gave victory to David as it is that the LORD took the lives of those the people of Israel waged war with?

4. II Samuel 8:10-11

10 Toi sent his son Joram to King David, to ask about his health and to bless him because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him, for Hadadezer had often been at war with Toi. And Joram brought with him articles of silver, of gold, and of bronze.

11 These also King David dedicated to the LORD, together with the silver and gold that he dedicated from all the nations he subdued,

Questions

     1) Why does David dedicate the precious metals to the LORD? What the hell is the LORD going to do with gold and silver and bronze?

     2) Does a perfect God need anything? If a perfect God does not by nature need anything wouldn't it follow that He would not want to ask or receive anything since asking for something He does not need and accepting something He does not need is gluttony?

5. II Samuel 8:13
13 So David became even more famous when he returned from destroying 18,000 Edomites in the Valley of Salt.

Questions
     1) Famous for destruction? Is this how people who worship God behave...celebrating destruction?

     2) Is this why the supporters of the assholes who flew planes full of people into big buildings full of even more people were jumping with joy? Did it make them feel famous? Is this something the One they worship encourages?

     3) Remember the tsunami that hit Japan not all that long ago? This verse reminds me of members of the demented denominations of various pockets of Christianity that posted videos on YouTube that were THANKING God for the mass destruction. Don't believe me? Listen and look at this:
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fPd-SY6OhLY

          

6. II Samuel 11:2-5
2 It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful.

3 He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, "She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite."

4 Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home.

5 And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

Questions
     1) Sooo...David has taken and had sex with the wife of another man? Is the LORD going to punish the entire congregation of His people for David's error?

     2) Would Bathsheba have gotten into trouble if she told David 'no'?

     3) Stepping lightly here, uhmmm...did the folks in Bible times NOT practice various methods for NOT becoming pregnant? Remember the story of Onan getting into trouble with the LORD for spilling his seed on the ground? Does this mean the LORD had a rule that that could not be done, that the man must release his seed inside of the woman?

     4) Wouldn't David know what would happen if he did NOT pull an Onan?

     5) Did David simply not care because he was the king?

7. II Samuel 11:13-17
13 Then David invited him to dinner and got him drunk. But even then he couldn't get Uriah to go home to his wife. Again he slept at the palace entrance with the king's palace guard.

14 In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it by the hand of Uriah.

15 In the letter he wrote, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down, and die.”

16 So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy's strongest men were fighting.

17 And the men of the city came out and fought with Joab, and some of the servants of David among the people fell. Uriah the Hittite also died.

Questions

     1) This is just a terribly sad story, right? A man goes out to fight a war and the king of the land who has more than ANYONE goes and takes what is likely the most valuable, cherished person that the man possesses? A man of GOD did this?

     2) But in reality, isn't David emulating the LORD/God Who regularly takes everything of value from anyone He wants whenever He sees fit to do so?

8. II Samuel 11:27
27 When the period of mourning was over, David sent for her and brought her to the palace, and she became one of his wives. Then she gave birth to a son. But the LORD was displeased with what David had done.

Questions
     1) Displeased? Displeased? David rooks a man out of his wife AND his life and the LORD is displeased? What about the guy that tried to steady the ark when he thought it would fall and the LORD burst out in anger and KILLED him? For trying to steady the ark? But...the LORD is only displeased when David commits adultery, covets another man's wife, and commits murder? Is the LORD disgustingly imbalanced or what?

9. II Samuel 12:9-12
9 Why, then, have you despised the word of the LORD and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.

10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

11 This is what the LORD says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view.

12 You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel."

Questions
     1) This is what David and Bathsheba did but the LORD is going to make the ENTIRE family of David pay the price of the bad deed done?

     2) THe LORD is going to allow the wives of David to be taken before his very eyes? What the fuck for? David's wives didn't do a damn thing! Sooo...because of something David did his wives are going to be taken against their will? Isn't this RAPE? Because of what David did these women who are his wives will be raped?

10. II Samuel 12:13
13 Then David confessed to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." Nathan replied, "Yes, but the LORD has forgiven you, and you won't die for this sin.

Questions
     1) Ahhh. Sooo...the LORD has forgiven David so that he will not die for His sin, BUT, those closest to David will be the ones to pay the price, right? Lovely.

11. II Samuel 12:14
14 Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the LORD by doing this, your child will die."

Questions
     1) Because you have shown contempt for the LORD...I am going to kill your child? REALLY? Why does the LORD insist on making the innocent pay for the deeds of the guilty? This is total bullshit, right?

     2) What would you think if a judge in a modern day court in America found a man guilty of murder, and as punishment commanded the man's son be put to death? What would you think? THAT would be wrong, wouldn't it? Why isn't it wrong for God? Because God is supposed to be perfect, so even when He is wrong He is still right?

12. II Samuel 12:15
15 After Nathan returned to his home, the LORD sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah's wife.

Questions
     1) Awww! Does the LORD/God have a soft spot for purposely suffering the little children unto Himself? What a sweetheart.

13. II Samuel 12:22
22 David replied, "I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, 'Perhaps the LORD will be gracious to me and let the child live.'

Questions
     1) Isn't this just another limit to stupidity set by yet another person in the Bible? Letting the child live would be gracious to David? No it wouldn't. Letting the child live would be gracious to the child, right? Injuring one person as punishment to another? How fucking stupid is that? And people wonder what is wrong with religion?

14. II Samuel 12:24
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. The LORD loved the child

Questions
     1) Sooo...the LORD loved this child but not the other child that He killed by sending it an illness while it was yet still a brand new infant?

15. II Samuel 12:30
30 David removed the crown from the king's head, and it was placed on his own head. The crown was made of gold and set with gems, and it weighed seventy-five pounds. David took a vast amount of plunder from the city.

Questions
     1) A crown that weighs SEVENTY-FIVE POUNDS? David actually put this crown on his head?

     2) What is the heaviest crown in the world today? What is the heaviest crown in recorded history and can it be verified?

     3) How much weight can the human head and neck support for a man of average, medium, or above average height and weight and build?

16. II Samuel 13:11-13
11 But when she brought them near him to eat, he took hold of her and said to her, “Come, lie with me, my sister.”

12 She answered him, “No, my brother, do not violate me, for such a thing is not done in Israel; do not do this outrageous thing.

13 As for me, where could I carry my shame? And as for you, you would be as one of the outrageous fools in Israel. Now therefore, please speak to the king, for he will not withhold me from you.”

14 But he would not listen to her, and being stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.

Questions
     1) You know what? The Bible seems really really preoccupied with incest in the Old Testament, right? Why is that?

     2) Sooo...first the sister says something along the lines of no, such a thing is not done in Israel, right? Whew! So the LORD DOESN'T approve of brothers and sisters sleeping together, correct?

     3) Then the sister says something along the lines of tell the king for he will not withhold me from you...and you kinda go WHAT? Sooo...the LORD DOES approve of incest? Isn't that lovely?

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The Book of Ruth: Just a Few Questions

Anywhere you go, so will I go also!

This particular story, the story of Ruth, is one of the stories I remember the most from when I was a kid in Sunday School; except when I was a kid it was called the "Children's Meeting" since our church was supposed to be non-denominational, thus using the term "Sunday School" put us uncomfortably close to the religious folk who were getting their worship of God and Jesus and the interpretation of the Bible all wrong.

Here we have a woman Ruth and her mother-in-law, Naomi, who have both suffered great loss. Naomi has lost her two sons since they died, and Ruth has lost her husband since one of Naomi's sons was Ruth's husband.

Losing a son or a husband in the Old Testament times is one of the worst things that could happen to a woman. The loss of a husband or son was sure to birth big problems when it came to inheritance as well as carrying on the family/clan name within the respective tribe of the people involved.

All-in-all Naomi tells Ruth to go back home to her own people (the Moabites) and remarry and live a voon-der-bar life since Naomi surely isn't going to pop out any more sons, and even if she did Ruth was likely not about to wait however long until the son was of marrying age. Besides, would Ruth still be able to bare children at such a point? The longer Ruth stayed with her mother-in-law, the longer it would take Ruth to get back on the happy track of life.

Despite the opportunity to improve her situation simply by leaving Naomi, Ruth makes the decision to stay with her mother-in-law. Ruth was loyal to Naomi and chose to stay with her. Due to this steadfast loyalty the LORD rewards Ruth by allowing her to cross paths with Boaz, a relative by marriage, who marries her and has a son with her.

The moral of the story is supposed to be that when you are steadfast in your loyalty to God/the LORD no matter what the situation may be, you will find you are rewarded with an inheritance in heaven with God; except, God forbid our church should sound anything even remotely similar to the other despised denominations, the way I was taught they did not call it 'heaven' but rather called it "going to be with the LORD."

"You must be strong and follow the LORD wherever He goes, wherever He takes you in your life, giving yourself fully to Him in appreciation of the grace and inheritance He has given you," was what was taught to me. I remember finding it odd that the LORD would allow a really crappy situation just to test to see whether or not a person would stay faithful to God. For me the screwy part was that everyone has a limit to the difficulty and adversity and tragedy that they can face and God should know this. So WHY would God/the LORD feel the need to test anyone when He already knows the limits of what they can deal with, the limits of their religious loyalty?

And now...on to the questions of the book of Ruth of the Holy Bible's Old Testament. This is a very short book in the Bible and will consist only of this single posting. As always, if you wish to answer any of the questions at the end of each posting is a link where you may make comments and offer answers. If there are no existing comments to a post the comment link will say "No Comments" and you should click on that and will then be routed to the page to type whatever you wish to say.

You do not have to answer all the questions and your answers should not be what you think I want to hear. I just want to know your personal answers to these questions, what YOU believe, and WHY you believe it.

1. Ruth 1:1
1 In the days when the judges ruled there was a famine in the land, and a man of Bethlehem in Judah went to sojourn in the country of Moab, he and his wife and his two sons.

Questions
     1) What is it with the state of disarray that the LORD's people always seem to be stuck in?

     2) If it isn't a war or pestilence or punishment or starvation or great thirst or famine WHY is something jacked-up on some level ALWAYS happening to the people of Israel?

     3) Does God starve His people in order to keep them reliant on Him?

     4) Sooo...what happened to this land that was to be flowing with milk and honey?

2. Ruth 1:13
13 would you therefore wait till they were grown? Would you therefore refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, for it is exceedingly bitter to me for your sake that the hand of the LORD has gone out against me.”

Questions
     1) Why is it that whenever anything bad or unsavory happens to the people of Israel that they immediately blame God/the LORD for not giving a damn and seeding unhappiness on purpose?

3. Ruth 1:15
15 And she said, “See, your sister-in-law has gone back to her people and to her gods; return after your sister-in-law.”

Questions
     1) If Naomi worships the God of Israel and knows He is the only, one and true God...WHY would she tell Ruth to go back to worshiping other gods?

     2) Does the LORD not care since Ruth is a Moabite so screw her and let her worship whomever she wants since she IS NOT an actual descendant/relative of God's chosen people?

4. Ruth 1:16-18
16 But Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.

17 Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you.”

18 And when Naomi saw that she was determined to go with her, she said no more.

Questions
     1) Do you think it is possible that Ruth stayed with Naomi because Ruth had no where else to go?

5. Ruth 1:19-21
19 So the two of them went on until they came to Bethlehem. And when they came to Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them. And the women said, “Is this Naomi?”

20 She said to them, “Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.

21 I went away full, and the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi, when the LORD has testified against me and the Almighty has brought calamity upon me?”

Questions
     1) Why do the people of Israel seemingly only care about what happens to them, how many children they have, how a spouse will or will not reproduce, will they have an inheritance, will they be blessed?

     2) Is this type of selfish thinking the reason why they have so many enemies in the Bible times?

6. Ruth 2:11-12
11 But Boaz answered her, “All that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband has been fully told to me, and how you left your father and mother and your native land and came to a people that you did not know before.

12 The LORD repay you for what you have done, and a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Questions
     1) Sooo...are we to think that even though Ruth could have taken a different route and possibly have done better that the point is not picking what you think is the best for you, but rather is all about staying with God/the LORD no matter how bad or lonely or terrible or horrible things get?

     2) Is the reason why Boaz considers Ruth to have done great things because she chose to forsake her own ancestral traditions for those of the people of Israel?

     3) Is it okay to make bad or stupid decisions so long as the reasons why you make such decisions in the first place are that you are doing such for the LORD?

     4) Are decisions like this supposed to be impressive to non-believers?

7. Ruth 2:22
22 And Naomi said to Ruth, her daughter-in-law, “It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, lest in another field you be assaulted.”

Questions
     1) Why in the world would Ruth be in danger of being assaulted? Because she is a woman? Because she is a foreigner? Because her husband died?

8. Ruth 3:1-4
1 Then Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, should I not seek rest for you, that it may be well with you?

2 Is not Boaz our relative, with whose young women you were? See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor.

3 Wash therefore and anoint yourself, and put on your cloak and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking.

4 But when he lies down, observe the place where he lies. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”

Questions
     1) This sounds suspiciously like Naomi wants Ruth to go down to where Boaz is, wait until he is delightfully drunk, and then try to seduce him in some way, doesn't it?

9. Ruth 3:5-6
5 And she replied, “All that you say I will do.”

6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had commanded her.

Questions
     1) What is this light dusting of conspiracy that many stories in the Bible seem to portray the women with? Why does the Bible seem to go the extra mile to make some of the women seem sneaky, conniving, and out to trick the men?

10. Ruth 3:14-15
14 So she lay at his feet until the morning, but arose before one could recognize another. And he said, “Let it not be known that the woman came to the threshing floor.”

15 And he said, “Bring the garment you are wearing and hold it out.” So she held it, and he measured out six measures of barley and put it on her. Then she went into the city.

Questions
     1) Sooo...were the women not allowed on the threshing floor? Why?

     2) Sooo...if Boaz is asleep on the threshing floor does he live where the threshing floor is or did he just get totally drunk and fall asleep there the night before?

     3) Was the grain that Boaz gave Ruth payment for an act of prostitution?

11. Ruth 3:16-17
16 And when she came to her mother-in-law, she said, “How did you fare, my daughter?” Then she told her all that the man had done for her,

17 saying, “These six measures of barley he gave to me, for he said to me, ‘You must not go back empty-handed to your mother-in-law.’”

Questions
     1) Sooo...surely Boaz figured out what Naomi had put Ruth up to, right? Again I ask you, was the grain Boaz gave payment for an act of prostitution?

     2) Was the grain also payment intended to keep Naomi's trap shut until Boaz figured out what to do?

12. Ruth 4:5-6
5 Then Boaz said, “The day you buy the field from the hand of Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the widow of the dead, in order to perpetuate the name of the dead in his inheritance.”

6 Then the redeemer said, “I cannot redeem it for myself, lest I impair my own inheritance. Take my right of redemption yourself, for I cannot redeem it.”

Questions
     1) Sooo...Boaz waits to tell this other guy that if he buys the property he will also acquire a wife, Ruth. First the guy says yes and then Boaz says, "Hey, you get a wife in the deal," and the other guy totally changes his mind, right?

     2) Why did Boaz take this obviously dishonest approach?

13. Ruth 4:7-8
7 Now this was the custom in former times in Israel concerning redeeming and exchanging: to confirm a transaction, the one drew off his sandal and gave it to the other, and this was the manner of attesting in Israel.

8 So when the redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it for yourself,” he drew off his sandal.

Questions
     1) Why in the hell was the matter of attesting in Israel so absurdly stupid?

     2) Was the ritual of attesting supposed to be so absurd that other cultures and people would marvel at the strangeness and think highly of the people of Israel and the LORD since, if the ritual of attesting was understandable only to the people of Israel this had to mean they were extra special, especially in the eyes of God?

14. Ruth 4:14-17
14 Then the women said to Naomi, “Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel!

15 He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.”

16 Then Naomi took the child and laid him on her lap and became his nurse.

17 And the women of the neighborhood gave him a name, saying, “A son has been born to Naomi.” They named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

Questions
     1) Why did the women say this to Naomi and not to Ruth? Ruth was the one who got married again, and Ruth was the one who had a baby boy, and Ruth was the one who chose to stay with Naomi in the first damn place, right?

     2) A daughter-in-law who is more to you than seven sons? What kind of psychopathic bitches say this kind of shit to a woman who lost both of her sons?

     3) Does Naomi live vicariously through the little baby Obed?


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Judges Part III: Just a Few Questions

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?

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.

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?

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.”

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?

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)?



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