Momma Angel wrote:
The God of the Bible is very special to me. He was not created by man. God created man, not the other way around.
I am curious about something. If, as you say, God is just one of many that were created to explain why things go bump in the night, then why wasn't the OT left out of the Bible? If you are going to create a God for yourself, then why not create one that stands up to your standards? Why have it written the way it is? Do you think those that wrote the Bible, assuming it was a made up thing, would have written it the way they did if they were making up a God? Seems to me if God were to be created, these issues would not be an issue.
Oh yeah, and I have no idea who those people are. They are people aren't they?
If I had written the bible, the god would be up to my standards. But I didn't write it. It was written and embellished by some 40 authors - prophets, kings, politicians and clergymen in a variety of styles over a 1600 year period. Had it not been for Constantine the Great, trying to unify his empire, we'd probably be discussing your belief in Mithras rather than the Bible god. And even then, it was primarily a matter of political expediency, for Christians by then were numerous and Constantine needed all the help he could get against Maxentius, his rival for the imperial throne. In AD. 312 Maxentius was routed at the Battle of Milvian Bridge, thus leaving Constantine's claim unchallenged. Immediately before this crucial battle Constantine is said to have had a vision?-later reinforced by a prophetic dream?-of a luminescent cross hanging in the sky. A sentence was supposedly inscribed across it?-"In Hoc Signo Vinces" ("By this sign you will conquer ).
But back to the subject, why wasn't the OT left out of the Bible? Mainly because it was written as tribal history. Tribal legends and myths, an attempt to explain the world, in terms the writers
understood. So, the god in the OT did exactly what a god in those ages was supposed to do. Wage war, terrorize the enemy, send plagues and famines, sorta a "my god's bigger than your god type of thing."
Looking at it from the outside, I can understand why it was written. I just can't understand how anybody still believes it. To give it it's due, it's an amazing book. But to me, it's a work of fiction, with just enough history and geography to be plausible to those who want to believe.
Oh, and those "people" aren't people. They are gods. Just like yours, with creation stories, wars and tribal histories.
Do I support abortion....no, I believe in a woman's right to chose. And I've not seen any biblical mandate against it. In fact, in Leviticus 27:6 a monetary value was placed on children, but not until they reached one month old (any younger had no value). Likewise, in Numbers 3:15 a census was commanded, but the Jews were told only to count those one month old and above - anything less, particularly a fetus, was not counted as a human person. In Ezekiel 37:8-10 God re-animates dead bones into living soldiers, but the passage makes the interesting note that they were not alive as persons until their first breath.
xingu asked you " Tell me the reason God killed all the people of the Makkedah, the Libnah, the Gezer, the Lachish, the Eglon and the Hebron."
And you answered "Could you tell me where in the Bible I can find these? I looked for them in my index and concordance and could not find them listed. I would be happy to address this with you if I could find and read this."
Read Joshua.....you known, the one with "O sun, stand still over Gibeon, O moon, over the Valley of Aijalon."
P
