So I was a Christian for the first 20 years of my life (I'm now 22), and now I'm an agnostic. The reason I've created this thread is to question the Christian community on what they think of some of God's decisions in the Bible.
I'm not going to lay out entire verses here (that'd take up too much room), what I'll do is give the verse and sum it up as best I can. Should you doubt any of what I say then I encourage you to look up the verses yourself.
In Deuteronomy 22:28-29 God commands that a rapist must pay his victim's father 50 pieces of silver and then marry her. Now why would he force a rape victim to marry the man who raped her?
In Exodus 21:7-11 God lays out ground rules for how a man should go about selling his daughter as a sex slave. Yeah.
Leviticus 20:13 God orders the killing of homosexuals.
Leviticus 21:9 If a priest's daughter commits fornication, she must be burned to death.
2 Chronicles 15:12-13 Kill anyone who doesn't worship the Christian God.
Deuteronomy 22:20-21 Kill any woman who isn't a virgin on her wedding night.
Ezekiel 9:5-7 Here's part of it: "Kill them all old and young, girls and women and little children." < That's God giving the order to murder "little children."
1 Samuel 15:2-3 "Do not spare him, but kill men and women, children and infants" < Kill the infants; that's what he told them to do.
In Joshua 6:20-21, Joshua describes how, on God's orders, they went in and butchered EVERYONE in Jericho; except for what's-her-face (that harlet) on the wall. But yeah.. the men, women, children, infants.. they were all butchered like cattle.. in their own city. That's what your kids sing about during Sunday School.. the "victory" that was Jericho.
Leviticus 25:44-46 More ground rules on how to operate the slave trade.
Exodus 21:2-6 If you're a slave and you have a child, your child will belong to your master and not to you. < God's rule.
^ If you're saying to yourself "That's all Old Testament stuff, it all changed in the New Testament (a super weak argument as it is)" Then I suggest you look up Matthew 5:17 > "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." < That's Jesus speaking.
Anyways, could someone please explain how all the stuff previously mentioned could possibly be the work of a caring, loving God who values human life? That'd be great, thanks.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29: Exodus 22:16-17 tells us that the rapist must first go to her father and inquire as to whether or not he can marry the woman he raped. The father can refuse to alow him to do so.
Exodus 21:7-11: Verse 16 of Exodus 21 tells us that it is illegal to sell anyone into slavery. Therefore, the slave trade was not legal in God's law. But doesn't this mean that the father has no right to sell his daughter into slavery? It seems likely that the daughter did this willingly. Many people back in those days had a hard time earning a living and serving as a a slave was one of the ways they could make money so they could provide for their families.
Leviticus 20:13: I wouldn't say that God condones killing of homosexuals. To be homosexual goes against God's original design, but the way some Christians say that God hates homosexuals enough to want to kill them is not in tune with God's character. In fact, Ezekiel 33:11 tells us that God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked should turn from their ways to Him.
Leviticus 21:9: I think we would all agree that pre-marital sex is wrong. This is the idea behind Leviticus 21:9. 1 Corinthians 6:19 tells us that our bodies are like the holy temples of God. To defile them through fornication (or any other unholy act) would be like defiling the temple of God, who did not intend for us to use our bodies as we please. He intended for pleasures that come with sex to be between a man and his spouse. Anything outside of marital sex is wrong.
2 Chronicles 15:12-13: As I'm sure you already know, the very First Commandment of the Ten Commandments states, "Do not have any other gods before me." This Commandment makes it perfectly clear that there is but one true God who is to be worshiped. Anyone who violated this rule (see Deut. 13:6-11) was to be killed because they had forsaken the way. This is seen even today. Many atheists/non-believers have been ostracized from their families because they have forsaken the way and refuse to believe in the Bible/God/Jesus. God doesn't force anyone to worship Him, but He gives them a choice whether or not to worship. If they refuse, then He must punish them for disobeying Him just like any parent would with their child.
Deuteronomy 22:20-21: See my response for Leviticus 21:9
Ezekiel 9:5-7: This is troubling for MANY people and for good reason. No one likes the idea of a child being killed for any reason. However, God does not need our permission to do anything. God is above us, superior to us. Therefore, He can terminate anyone's life and we cannot defy Him because He is the giver of life. In the case of children/babies, the Bible tells us that all of us have sinned and that there is none that do good. We are all born sinners and this includes infants/children. The only difference between children and adults is that while adults know the difference between right and wrong, children do not. Furthermore, children do not have the ability to make moral decisions. Because of this, they automatically gain access to heaven with the Father. Additionally, if these children were to continue to live, they would end up just like their parents, just as wicked. By taking them out of this world, God is doing them a favor in that He is allowing them not ot have to suffer the same fate as their parents.
1 Samuel 15:2-3: See my response for Ezekiel 9:5-7.
Joshua 6:20-21: Again, see my response for Ezekiel 9:5-7.
Leviticus 25:44-46: See my response for Exodus 21:7-11.
Exodus 21:2-6: Verse 4 of this passage makes it clear that if the master gives his slave a wife and she bears him children, then the wife and the children are the master's because the woman who is the slave's wife first belonged to the master.
I don't know the answers, but life isn't made for answers. We don't know the answers to many things, and we don't know a lot of the questions this life has to offer either. So, yes, these things did happen, in my opinion they are awful and horrible, because people were killed, abused, and hurt in so many different ways. I don't really know, but honestly this isn't the now, we can live in a happy harmony between modernization and Christianity. I would prefer to follow a faith that has some promise for me, because if it is real, than heaven is here, and if not, I will just go into eternal blackness, nothing more.
