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Logic . . . it might do your frustration over the barbarity of the OT some good if you really pursued a more objective hermeneutic approach . . . there are several ways you could obtain this perspective . . . but you might try Googling.
Are you trying to say it means the opposite of what it says?
Exodus 32 is the story where Moses goes up on the mountain to get the 10 commandments, while the people make a golden calf at the direction of Aaron (who blames the people for being mischievous). The people apparently broke the commandment about not worshiping other gods. The punishment?
Exodus 32:27-29
Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.' " The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, "You have been set apart to the LORD today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day."
Apparently to Moses, 3,000 more wrongs do make a right. But to god, it wasn't enough. A plague was also necessary to forgive the people for making a golden calf.
Exodus 32:31-35
So Moses went back to the LORD and said, "Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written." The LORD replied to Moses, "Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book. Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin."
And the LORD struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.
The "Plague" was probably illness caused by being forced to drink the melted golden calf.
The "Plague" was probably illness caused by being forced to drink the melted golden calf.
That's brutal... wouldn't drinking molten gold burn you from the inside out?
And why does Aaron get to become a 'church leader' in charge of sacrifices, when he was the one who directed the idolatry? Yet 3,000 people who just happened to be in the group are slain by their brothers' sword. They were just following the leader Aaron, and it was even before Moses showed them the commandment.
That's brutal... wouldn't drinking molten gold burn you from the inside out?
And why does Aaron get to become a 'church leader' in charge of sacrifices, when he was the one who directed the idolatry? Yet 3,000 people who just happened to be in the group are slain by their brothers' sword. They were just following the leader Aaron, and it was even before Moses showed them the commandment.
29 Then the Spirit of the LORD came upon Jephthah. He crossed Gilead and Manasseh, passed through Mizpah of Gilead, and from there he advanced against the Ammonites. 30 And Jephthah made a vow to the LORD : "If you give the Ammonites into my hands, 31 whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the LORD's, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering."
32 Then Jephthah went over to fight the Ammonites, and the LORD gave them into his hands. 33 He devastated twenty towns from Aroer to the vicinity of Minnith, as far as Abel Keramim. Thus Israel subdued Ammon.
34 When Jephthah returned to his home in Mizpah, who should come out to meet him but his daughter, dancing to the sound of tambourines! She was an only child. Except for her he had neither son nor daughter. 35 When he saw her, he tore his clothes and cried, "Oh! My daughter! You have made me miserable and wretched, because I have made a vow to the LORD that I cannot break."
36 "My father," she replied, "you have given your word to the LORD. Do to me just as you promised, now that the LORD has avenged you of your enemies, the Ammonites. 37 But grant me this one request," she said. "Give me two months to roam the hills and weep with my friends, because I will never marry."
38 "You may go," he said. And he let her go for two months. She and the girls went into the hills and wept because she would never marry. 39 After the two months, she returned to her father and he did to her as he had vowed. And she was a virgin.
From this comes the Israelite custom 40 that each year the young women of Israel go out for four days to commemorate the daughter of Jephthah the Gileadite.
Are you trying to say it means the opposite of what it says?
I am trying to say you cannot simply read it as a 21st century mind in complete ignorance of the purpose and mode of communication attributable to each book and verse. It's called hermeneutic exegesis and involves several layers of possible meaning that must be discerned from different perspectives (historical, canonical, symbolic and rational). You are being no more intelligent, rational, scientific or reasonable than the literalists and fundies . . . though I suspect you know that and are deliberately baiting them.
I am trying to say you cannot simply read it as a 21st century mind in complete ignorance of the purpose and mode of communication attributable to each book and verse. It's called hermeneutic exegesis and involves several layers of possible meaning that must be discerned from different perspectives (historical, canonical, symbolic and rational). You are being no more intelligent, rational, scientific or reasonable than the literalists and fundies . . . though I suspect you know that and are deliberately baiting them.
This is the fundamentalist perspective. Most of them are able to hold on to that because they don't read the horrible parts of the bible.
You're right, there are many ways to interpret the bible, some of which take more factors into account. But when you're faced with passages that talk of god committing and condoning crimes against humanity, how could any of those interpretations be something good?
One thing that I do think is important is to expose the idea that the bible is a moral book, one that should be used to base values on. Even if there are good things in the bible, that doesn't change the fact that any person could be looking for answers and open a page to something that says god condones rape and slavery. Giving the book to someone who has trouble seeing deep meanings beyond the surface of the words and telling them the book is the epitome of morality does not sound like a safe plan.
But with your unique and learned perspective, I'm curious... do you think that god inspired those horrible writings in the bible? Especially the ones where people write about committing atrocities in the name of god, because he told them to?
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