The Christian god murdered every man, woman, child, infant, and fetus

[ProfessorPlum]

on Earth, except for 8 people (so the story goes). And yet, we are supposed to believe that he gives two shits about abortion.

[Voltaire2]

1. See the problem is that you are accepting that fairytale

as if it was intended to be literally true. Instead it is an allegorical story about how a very angry god slaughtered everything on earth because rev 1 was just a terrible mistake.

What we are supposed to understand from this story is that His Perfectness botched his first try at life on earth, that we mean about as much to Yahweh as a lego set means to a six year old brat, and that if you don’t like the way things are, destroy everything in sight.

Just don’t make the mistake of thinking the story is literally true and you can’t go wrong.

[ProfessorPlum]

2. Uh, don't worry about me believing

Either piece of that nonsense

[edhopper]

6. And yet

many, many believers think it was true.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

13. A slight mistake; or am I mistaken? Revelations is a PREDICTION (prophesy) of worldwide destruction.

Does your comment (rev1) refer to Revelations 1, which says "to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass." Obviously, the prediction is flawed, because after nearly 2,000 years, only a few of the less profound prophesies, in the Book of Revelations, have "come to pass."

I enjoy researching, analyzing and comparing ALL religions, without prejudice against those who believe specific ideologies.

Your online name brought back memories of Voltaire's views on religion. This great scientist claimed:

"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
Voltaire

"Religion began when the first scoundrel met the first fool."
Voltaire

"Of all religions, the Christian should of course inspire the most tolerance, but until now Christians have been the most intolerant of all men."
Voltaire

"He who is involved in ecstasies and visions, who takes dreams for reality, and his own imagination for prophesy, is a fanatical novice of great hope and promise, and will soon advance to the higher stage and kill men for the love of God."
Voltaire

[Voltaire2]

14. Rev 1 as in version1.

In Noah we learn that Yahweh was a colossal fuck up, if we take the story literally, or, we if we understand it as allegory, we learn that Yahweh was a colossal fuck up.

Apparently my assault on the transparent bullshit of “but it’s a metaphor” uttered by theists when inconvenient sections of their holy books are cited, is not communicating what I intended.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

17. Verion 1 of the Bible, which includes only the "Old Testament," does not include Revelations,

Last edited Sun Feb 18, 2018, 06:44 PM - Edit history (1)

derived from the Torah, a Jewish religious scripture, the story of Noah is also in the Bible that was compiled, at the Council of Nicaea, in 325 CE. If you enjoy debating true believers in the the story of Noah, consider asking how a 500 year-old man, described in Genesis, conceived children. During the Medieval Period, over a thousand years after the Council of Nicaea, if you lived to be forty-years-old your were lucky.

The average life expectancy for a male child born in the UK between 1276 and 1300 was 31.3 years. In 1998, it is 76. However, by the time the 13th-Century boy had reached 20 he could hope to live to 45, and if he made it to 30 he had a good chance of making it into his fifties.

As for true believers, who claim archeological evidence of the great flood in the Noah story has been discovered. Here is the rest of the story:

In 1929, while excavating Abraham’s (alleged) native city of Ur, the great British archaeologist Leonard Woolley (1880-1960) observed a thick layer of sediment covering the valley. Not a man to shy away from publicity, Woolley telegraphed messages to the leading newspapers in Britain and the USA announcing that he had found proof of Noah’s Flood. But he was a scholar too, so when he compiled his report, Ur of the Chaldees: A Record of Seven Years of Excavation (London: Ernest Benn Ltd., 1935), he acknowledged that what he had discovered was evidence not of a universal deluge, but of a disaster confined to the lower Tigris/Euphrates valley.

The particular website, which presents the previous narrative, provides several other accounts of Noah-like heroes, who survived great floods, through divine intervention. One dates all the way beck to Sumerian culture. Are you familiar with that ancient belief system?
http://thetorah.com/noahs-flood-story/
Although I am agnostic, I enjoy studying various ancient and modern religions, without judging anyone for their beliefs: Is it obvious?

[ProfessorPlum]

22. you may enjoy this video

it is part of a series about the flood and genesis in general

[safeinOhio]

3. Numbers 5, 11-31

Instruction on how to abort a fetus.

[BigmanPigman]

4. I never thought of it put that way.

I would use that in the future with my anti-abortion, pro GOP friend but she would go on and on and on when I really couldn't give a shit about how she believes fiction to be non-fiction.

[mountain grammy]

5. Yep, best argument in the world.

[trotsky]

7. They "explain" this in one of two ways:

1. It's just allegory, ignore it. (But don't ask me how I know the parts *I* believe in are literal!)

2. God's judgment is perfect and if he does something, it is morally good.

[progressoid]

8. #2 is a nice cop-out used to rationalize lots of nuttiness.

Like, "the Lord moves in mysterious ways"

[ProfessorPlum]

10. The euthyphro

A true classic

[progressoid]

9. But but but that's different because Gawd is choosing who to kill.

And he's like, super duper smart and omnipotent and shit.

[edhopper]

11. You keep hearing

how it is only the fringe of believers who believe the Flood is literally true.
But I've been on other forums and you might be surprized how man otherwise thoughtful people think it all happened just as the Bible says.

[ProfessorPlum]

12. It really is true

And amazing. People just never reexamine this story. Or (m)any of the others

[Jeffersons Ghost]

15. How about Genesis?

Beginning with Mendel, several scientific disciplines have presented evidence that two mammals lack the genetic capability to produce a enough viable offspring to populate (and pollute) our planet, to its currently overpopulated condition.

On edit: In reference to the Opening Post If only 8 mammals, were left on Earth, inbreeding would soon destroy the species.

As for the Biblical Flood, the same genetic constraints limit perpetuation of the species.

[edhopper]

16. They completely accept

Adam and Eve as the first people.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. I lack the time or inclination to check Genesis, but I remeber they had two sons only.

Did Cain and Able have sex with Eve to begin the human race, or was and angel able to perform a miraculous sex change, with a flaming sword?

[edhopper]

19. It is harder to make the Bible work as real

than making sense of the Star Wars universe

[ProfessorPlum]

21. The "Cain's Wife" mystery is longstanding in biblical debate

and A&E had at least three sons (and some daughters) , the third being Seth.

[Freelancer]

20. Relax. I talked to Jesus. He knows a guy who knows a guy...

Who can slip anybody into heaven through the service entrance. The password is "feed the people -- keep them warm." Just hoist a leaf blower onto your shoulder, and if anybody says anything to you, smile and keep walking.