The Bible is an inconsistent mess that people can read anything into.
Referring to it is an exercise in cherry-picking.
It has good Jesus parts, but there’s the whole rest of the morally bankrupt nonsense with evil god shit:
punishes disobedience with curses, plagues, cuckoldry, cannibalism to eat your own children, slavery, infighting
endorses genocide, killing innocents, slavery, selling daughters to sex slavery, rape, forced marriage of victim to their rapist, inequality of women
weird purity codes against pork & shellfish; mixing fibers, crops, animals; particular facial hairstyles; tattoos; body modification; etc.
an afterlife that punishes nonbelievers who do good
all while claiming to be the final word of god.
Arguing for good while referring to the Bible requires willfully overlooking all of that: it isn’t good.
punishes disobedience with curses, plagues, cuckoldry, cannibalism to eat your own children, slavery, infighting
Punishing evil- what’s the problem?
God doesn’t create evil- that’s the work of man. Man has free will. If you think God demanding worship is bad but also giving free will is bad, then you’re a contradiction.
endorses genocide, killing innocents, slavery, selling daughters to sex slavery, rape, forced marriage of victim to their rapist,
Where?
inequality of women
In what way?
If you think women and men having different roles is bad- that’s coming from your own opinion based on your culture. Would you judge an Arabian or African culture for believing in different roles? On what basis, apart from ingrained white supremacism?
weird purity codes against pork & shellfish; mixing fibers, crops, animals; particular facial hairstyles; tattoos; body modification; etc.
That was to give the early israelites a national identity to be set apart. It’s irrelevant now as the purpose has been fulfilled.
an afterlife that punishes nonbelievers who do good
I was never raised Christian due to my family being a mix of Catholics and Protestants who had all mostly given up on church going cept forbguberals and weddings…
The only exposure I ever gad to the Bible was reading comics of a Lego rendition of it called the brick testament. (Its actually creatively genius)
You’ve basically described everything i remember about it to a T
an afterlife that punishes nonbelievers who do good
Here’s a fun fact: that one is not in there. The Bible is consistent on that, at least. Death is death, but those who who are judged to be “righteous” will be given eternal life in a newly crafted reality. Everyone else goes back to dead.
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
None of the things you just shared refer to the pagan concept of an afterlife. Read them again in the context of what I wrote. What the Christian scripture says — very clearly — is in line with Pharisaic Judaism. You die, there is a resurrection for judgement, and the unrighteous are destroyed while the righteous are “saved” from death and given another, “perfect” life.
It’s especially telling that you used a translation that literally has the word “hell” in it, which is a deliberate mistranslation. The word in question there is “gehenna” which carries a very specific meaning that does not, in any way, infer an afterlife. In fact, the unrighteous are repeatedly equated with trash, which is disposed of by burning. Destruction is final and eternal. The idea of the afterlife as a literal place was lifted from Hellenism as Rome gradually assimilated Christianity into it’s existing religious frameworks.
While James pointed out that if your behavior doesn’t reflect belief, then you don’t actually believe. The point is that being showy doesn’t score you points, living by the principles — because you believe they are right — is all that matters.
Judaism has a concept for the Righteous Gentile. You don’t have to believe in their god, if you live by the Noachide moral precepts, even unintentionally, then you are righteous.
The Bible is an inconsistent mess that people can read anything into. Referring to it is an exercise in cherry-picking. It has good Jesus parts, but there’s the whole rest of the morally bankrupt nonsense with evil god shit:
all while claiming to be the final word of god. Arguing for good while referring to the Bible requires willfully overlooking all of that: it isn’t good.
Punishing evil- what’s the problem?
God doesn’t create evil- that’s the work of man. Man has free will. If you think God demanding worship is bad but also giving free will is bad, then you’re a contradiction.
Where?
In what way? If you think women and men having different roles is bad- that’s coming from your own opinion based on your culture. Would you judge an Arabian or African culture for believing in different roles? On what basis, apart from ingrained white supremacism?
That was to give the early israelites a national identity to be set apart. It’s irrelevant now as the purpose has been fulfilled.
No, there isn’t. Nobody does good, not even one.
I was never raised Christian due to my family being a mix of Catholics and Protestants who had all mostly given up on church going cept forbguberals and weddings…
The only exposure I ever gad to the Bible was reading comics of a Lego rendition of it called the brick testament. (Its actually creatively genius)
You’ve basically described everything i remember about it to a T
The Brick Bible was anti-christian propoganda
Here’s a fun fact: that one is not in there. The Bible is consistent on that, at least. Death is death, but those who who are judged to be “righteous” will be given eternal life in a newly crafted reality. Everyone else goes back to dead.
Yep, the wages of sin being death. Not hell, not punishment, sinners merely remain dead.
I checked before writing the last comment, and it’s mentioned a few times. Nonbelievers are punished in the afterlife.
Revelation 21:8
Only “born-again”/baptized enter heaven
John 3:3–5
and believers should not perish, but get everlasting life.
John 3:14–16
As for those who do perish, that happens in hell.
Matthew 10:28
Nonbelievers are denied entry.
Matthew 10:33
This all appears in the New Testament.
The older, Jewish scriptures don’t mention hell. However, Deuteronomy 13 is all about Moses instructing the Israelites to murder heretics. Moral bankruptcy.
None of the things you just shared refer to the pagan concept of an afterlife. Read them again in the context of what I wrote. What the Christian scripture says — very clearly — is in line with Pharisaic Judaism. You die, there is a resurrection for judgement, and the unrighteous are destroyed while the righteous are “saved” from death and given another, “perfect” life.
It’s especially telling that you used a translation that literally has the word “hell” in it, which is a deliberate mistranslation. The word in question there is “gehenna” which carries a very specific meaning that does not, in any way, infer an afterlife. In fact, the unrighteous are repeatedly equated with trash, which is disposed of by burning. Destruction is final and eternal. The idea of the afterlife as a literal place was lifted from Hellenism as Rome gradually assimilated Christianity into it’s existing religious frameworks.
But only believers can be “righteous”:
While James pointed out that if your behavior doesn’t reflect belief, then you don’t actually believe. The point is that being showy doesn’t score you points, living by the principles — because you believe they are right — is all that matters.
Judaism has a concept for the Righteous Gentile. You don’t have to believe in their god, if you live by the Noachide moral precepts, even unintentionally, then you are righteous.