Atheism: The Ultimate Guide (COMPLETED)

24. Horrible Bible Verses

I saw an interesting post about religion once, I'll copy it down here (with my own commentary added in :)

Religion is like having a classroom where the students have to show up everyday but there's no teacher. 

There are a bunch of books around and no one is sure which one is the textbook. 

Some students insist on one book, some others argue just as hard for another.

Some students believe that none of the books are the true textbook.

Then suddenly, on the last day, the teacher arrives and says he's been watching everybody the whole time. 

He praises the students who happened to choose the right book and sends them off to have some cookies and milk. 

Then he sets the rest of the students on fire

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Psalm 137: 8-9

"O Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us - he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks."

Some translations of this verse even say "blessed" instead of "happy". Basically, this verse is God congratulating anyone who kills the innocent babies of those who are keeping you from worshiping your God. Strange, I thought God only delivered justice to those who deserved it. 

Job 1:8-12

"Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him: he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.''Does Job fear God for nothing?' Satan replied. 'Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hands and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.' Then the Lord said to Satan, 'Very well, then, everything he has is in your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.'" 

This story is about God making a bet with Satan. Satan bets God that Job (God's most faithful human on Earth) that if everything in Job's life went against him, he would be angry and curse God for his grievances. God agrees to the bet and tells Satan everything Job has is in Satan's hands. Doing this, God allows Satan to kill all of Job's animals, servants, and children. After this, Job praises God for what he believes to be God's work. 

There are several parts of this story that are disturbing. The first one is God's willingness to have his most faithful servant's life ruined because he wanted to prove a point and best Satan. The second one is how powerful Satan is. It appears he has the same powers of God, and isn't he supposed to be less powerful? The third disturbing thing is how God (being all-knowing) knew Job wouldn't curse him. Therefore, he didn't have to let Satan ruin Job's life by killing all of his animals, servants, and children. The only reason he did was to prove a point to Satan. Finally, it's disturbing how God would allow Job's children to be killed when they were completely innocent. 

Hosea 13: 16

"The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their God. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open."

The reason God slaughtered the people of Samaria was simply because they did not worship him. Even worse, the innocent babies (some unborn!) were killed as well. 

Isaiah 13: 15-16

"All who are captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses will be looted and their wives ravished." 

The justification behind this one is that it will be the day of God's wrath, and this is what will happen to those deemed unworthy. Also, what is it with God wanting infants to be dashed against the ground/rocks? This is the third verse I've seen to have included dashing infants on some hard surface. 

Keep in mind God is advocating rape here. "Ravished" is in the place of where some other translations say "violated". 

Leviticus 26: 27-29

"'If in spite of this you still do not listen to me but continue to be hostile toward me, then in my anger I will be hostile toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over. You will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.'"

Do I even have to comment on this one? God is telling those who he's punishing to eat the flesh of their children. 

Jeremiah 13: 22

"And if you ask yourself, 'why has this happened to me?' - it is because of your many sins that your skirts have been torn off and your body mistreated."

In basic terms, this is what this verse is saying: if you ask yourself why this is happening to you, it's because you've sinned, that's why you're being raped. 

Isaiah 3:16

"The Lord says, 'the women of Zion are haughty, walking along with their outstretched necks, flirting with their eyes, tripping along with mincing steps with ornaments jingling on their ankles. Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion; the Lord will make their scalps bald.'"

This is one version. Other translations include "discover their secret parts", "lay bare their nakedness", "stripped naked", "expose their private parts", "uncover their private parts", and "expose their nakedness for all to see". The NIV changes it to make it less harsh. In short terms, sexual assault is their punishment for being flirtatious. 

Numbers 31: 17

"Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourself every girl who has never slept with a man." 

This verse sounds familiar, I may have covered this before. Basically, God tells Moses to get revenge on the Midianites for the Israelites. Then, in a later passage (Numbers 31: 25-32), God tells them to split all that which was taken captive (animals and people) among the soldiers and the rest of the community. Including "32,000 women who had never slept with a man." So, one cannot say God prohibited the enslavement of the young girls/virgins who were taken, for he instructed Moses on how to split up the captives. 

Also, don't forget the countless passages telling when it's okay to put someone to death. Just read some Leviticus. I mean, I don't know how anyone survived back then, there are so many random things God would order the people to put the sinners to death for.