I don't need the Bible or religion to know that 2+2=4, or that rape and murder and stealing are wrong.

Another shocking thing I hear from fundamentalists is "If the bible isn't true, then I might as well sleep with ten partners, or go do whatever I want."  They don't realize what they are saying.  They are actually admitting that the only reason they are not raping another person, or having sex with anyone they can, is because they are trying to please the Creator of the Universe.  Or worse, they are restraining themselves only out of fear of eternal damnation. Do they really believe that without their faith, they would actually steal and take things that belong to other people? That they would kill another human being? That the only reason they don't do these things is because the Old Testament Ten Commandments says not to do it?

Excuse my all capitals here: I DON'T NEED ANY RELIGION OR HOLY BOOK TO KNOW THAT I CAN'T RAPE WOMEN, OR THAT I CAN'T KILL OTHER PEOPLE, OR THAT I CAN'T TAKE THINGS THAT BELONG TO SOMEONE ELSE.  

And, hear me on this: I DON'T WANT TO DO ANY OF THOSE HURTFUL THINGS ANYWAY!  But if I did, the criminal laws in this country would suffice in keeping me under control, not my beliefs about the ancient texts, or fear of some eternal punishment after I died.

Question: Would you really be a murderer, adulterer, thief, drug addict, and rapist if it were not for the Bible OR not for your faith in Christ?  I certainly hope not. I would hope your parents and schools and police and friends and civilized society would help you to realize that killing and raping is WRONG, not because the Bible says it is, but because it is WRONG.  And worse, many people kill because of the Bible, not in spite of it. (Crusades, Inquisition, Witch trials, Holy wars, etc.)

 

Let me give you another example. I believe that God created the earth and everything in it.  Why? Because I see the beauty and complexity of it all, the design of it all, and there is no other logical, reasonable explanation except some highly intelligent Creator was involved. Big time! Once again, excuse my all capitals here: BUT I DON'T BELIEVE IN A CREATOR JUST BECAUSE THE BIBLE SAYS SO IN GENESIS 1:1.  Put another way, I believe Genesis 1:1 is the most truthful, accurate and verifiable verse in the entire Bible. It is the one verse that is not open to debate, that is based on reality, science and evidence and doesn't depend on what part of the world I was raised in. But I don't believe it's true just because the Bible says its true. It's true because it's true.  Another example: If the Bible says 2 + 2 = 4, then I certainly believe that verse without any doubt or skepticism.  It's true because it's true. Try it out for yourselves. Go get two rocks. Then go get two more. Now count how many you have left. But I don't believe 2 + 2 = 4 just because the Bible might say that it is.  Get it?

So, killing, raping, murder, stealing, etc. is wrong just like 2 + 2 = 4. And I don't need the Bible, religion, or a holy man to tell me either.

More God-breathed scripture that is profitable

Continuing our closer study of the Bible...

2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is god-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

The following bible verses speak for themselves:

Exodus 35:2 – " For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD. Whoever does any work on it must be put to death."

Ezekiel 23:11-21 - There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses.

Numbers 31:17-18 - Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, ¹⁸ but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.

Deuteronomy 23:1 No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12  If two men, a man and his countryman, are struggling together, and the wife of one comes near to deliver her husband from the hand of the one who is striking him, and puts out her hand and seizes his genitals, then you shall cut off her hand; you shall not show pity.

THIS ONE FOR KIM DAVIS AND MIKE HUCKABEE: 
Deuteronomy 17:12 Anyone arrogant enough to reject the verdict of the judge...must be put to death. Such evil must be purged from Israel.

Deuteronomy 22:28-29  If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father. Then he must marry the young woman because he violated her, and he will never be allowed to divorce her.

Luke 14:26 – " If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple."

Isaiah 13:15-18 - Anyone who is captured will be run through with a sword. Their little children will be dashed to death right before their eyes. Their homes will be sacked and their wives raped by the attacking hordes. For I will stir up the Medes against Babylon, and no amount of silver or gold will buy them off. The attacking armies will shoot down the young people with arrows. They will have no mercy on helpless babies and will show no compassion for the children.

Leviticus 25:44-46 - However, you may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way.

Leviticus 21:17-24 - "Say to Aaron: 'For the generations to come none of your descendants who has a defect may come near to offer the food of his God. No man who has any defect may come near: no man who is blind or lame, disfigured or deformed; no man with a crippled foot or hand, or who is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles.

And this one for bloggers?

Deuteronomy 13:6-11 - Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again." 

1 Samuel 18:25-27 - "Saul replied, "Say to David, 'The king wants no other price for the bride than a hundred Philistine foreskins, to take revenge on his enemies.' " So before the allotted time elapsed, David and his men went out and killed two hundred Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented the full number to the king so that he might become the king's son-in-law. Then Saul gave him his daughter Michal in marriage."

Are you aware that these types of verses are in the Bible?  Regardless of how you might rationalize these types of verses, the point is that the Bible is full of such killings, rapes, genocide and infanticide, not to mention the ultimate damnation to hell of every man, woman, and child that does NOT "get saved."  It's not Good News and while the overall message of redemption in Christ Jesus is a hopeful one, it becomes Bad News when perverted and corrupted by religious men and fanatical followers. And most importantly, don't demand I read it, believe it all, and put it into practice!

Biblical "Traditional" Marriage

Today, we look to the Bible regarding what it says about "traditional" and "Biblical" marriage. Since the New Testament is largely silent on the issue, and what New Testament verses are included are open to various interpretations, I will leave those scriptures to the spin doctors and seminarians to apply and debate. (For example church leaders should be the husband of one wife; and Paul's reference in Corinthians to sleeping with a prostitue constitutes "the two becoming one flesh.") 

Biblical marriage requires the women to be a virgin, otherwise, if the man "dislikes her" she shall be killed.


Deuteronomy 22:13 - 21 ¹³ If a man takes a wife and, after sleeping with her, dislikes her ¹⁴ and slanders her and gives her a bad name, saying, “I married this woman, but when I approached her, I did not find proof of her virginity,” ¹⁵ then the young woman’s father and mother shall bring to the town elders at the gate proof that she was a virgin. If, however, the charge is true and no proof of the young woman’s virginity can be found, 21 she shall be brought to the door of her father’s house and there the men of her town shall stone her to death. She has done an outrageous thing in Israel by being promiscuous while still in her father’s house. You must purge the evil from among you.

There are numerous examples of polygamy in the Old Testament

Exodus 21:10 If he marries another woman, he must not deprive the first one of her food, clothing and marital rights.

Deuteronomy 21:15 - 16 If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16 when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love.

Many important figures had more than one wife

Esau - Genesis 26:34  When Esau was forty years old, he married Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite, and also Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
Genesis 28:9 so he (Esau) went to Ishmael and married Mahalath, the sister of Nebaioth and daughter of Ishmael son of Abraham, in addition to the wives he already had.

Moses - Exodus 2:21  Moses agreed to stay with the man (a Midianite), who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage. 
Numbers 12:1 - Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife,for he had married a Cushite.

Jacob - Genesis 29:15-28 Laban replied, “It is not our custom here to give the younger daughter in marriage before the older one. 27 Finish this daughter’s bridal week; then we will give you the younger one also, in return for another seven years of work.”28 And Jacob did so. He finished the week with Leah, and then Laban gave him his daughter Rachel to be his wife.

David - 1 Samuel 25:42-43   Abigail quickly got on a donkey and, attended by her five female servants, went with David’s messengers and became his wife. 43 David had also married Ahinoam of Jezreel, and they both were his wives.  
2 Samuel 5:13 After he left Hebron, David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him.

Solomon - 1 Kings 11:3 - He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray.

Men were obligated to marry their brother's widow

Deutoronomy 25:5 If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. 

Any and all divorced men who remarry are adulterers and are going to hell (except one excuse.)

Matthew 19:9 - I tell you that anyone who divorces his wife, except for sexual immorality, and marries another woman commits adultery.”
1 Corinthians 6:9 -  Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind..."

Unfiltered Truth From God's Holy Word

Enough of my opinions about things, right?  Let's take the advice of many Christians and get back to the Bible.  With so much doubt and cynicism by "the world" and so many "attacks" on Christianity, let's take the advice of some loud and arrogant pastors, and "take it up wit da book!" Unfiltered verses. Without comment. Without opinion. Because the Bible is God's word. It is inerrant. It is infallible. And it says what it means and it means what it says. And God never changes. And if you don't like it, you don't have a problem with me, you got a problem with God. No Priest needed. No seminarian needed. No Greek or Hebrew needed. The King James Version Bible says it, so why don't you do what it says. Amen?  Amen! We'll start with some scriptures about children. Stay tuned for my next post, which will be verses on Biblical marriage.

Bible Verses About Children

Children who refuse to obey their parents must be executed.

Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place: And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.  And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die; so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. Deuteronomy 21:18-21

He that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death. Exodus 21:15 He that curseth his father, or his mother, shall surely be put to death. Exodus 21:17 Children who mock their parents will have their eyes plucked out by ravens and eaten by eagles. The eye that mocketh at his father, and despiseth to obey his mother, the ravens of the valley shall pick it out, and the young eagles shall eat it. --Proverbs 30:17 God killed all the firstborn children in an entire country. The LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon.... And there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Exodus 12:29-30 Sometimes God kills children for misbehaving. And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth  little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head;  go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. 2 Kings 2:23-24 Someday God will force parents to eat their own children. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. Lev 26:29 And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters. Deuteronomy 28:53 And I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters, and they shall eat every one the flesh of his friend. Jeremiah 19:9 And then there's this statement, found in the Bible: Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. Psalm 137:9

Fox News Agrees - Kim Davis Attorney is "Ridiculously Stupid"

Here we go again.  The far right wing Christian fundamentalists are exposing themselves to the rest of the nation, and to our children, as ignorant, bigoted, hypocrites.  Even Fox news realizes that the support for Kim Davis is outrageous and based on ignorance. This type of thinking by right wing Christians is giving support to those that say Christians are intolerant, bigoted, irrational, militant, angry, and delusional.  So many good old boy fundies get so upset when Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson show up and make every story about race.  Well, here we have a lady defying a judge's order, disobeying her supervisor's orders, and good ole boy Mike Huckabee rushes to support her in the name of religious freedom.  Really?  The government has a right in this country to deny individual's rights based on their employees' arbitrary religious convictions regarding which "sins" they pick and choose to offend their conscience? This, my friends, by definition is DISCRIMINATION.

On Monday’s edition of Fox News' Happening Now, trial attorney Chip Merlin pointed out that anyone who violates a judge’s order should “expect to be thrown in jail.” “She can still practice her faith,” Fox News host Gregg Jarrett noted. “Just not on the job in a way that interferes with the legal rights of the citizens she serves. And in fact, the U.S. Supreme Court said so nine years ago.”

“She’s a hypocrite,” criminal defense attorney Sharon Liko agreed. “She’s applying for the job of a martyr. She wants to practice her faith by not issuing marriage licenses. Yet, she will not agree to let the deputy county clerks issue marriage licenses even if it’s okay with their faith.” “When she took the job she swore to uphold the law,” Jarrett explained. “We rely on government officials to do that."

Frankly, as a Christian man, I am embarrassed by the manipulation and exploitation of people like Kim Davis.  Men like Governor Mike Huckabee, and men like your angry pastor, who are blatantly pandering to their fundamentalist followers, are going "all in" by stating they are "#ImwithKim." Let's remember this and hold them accountable, when once again, they are on the wrong side of history.(slavery, women's rights, interracial marriage, same sex marriage, pedophile priests/pastors, etc. etc.) Mike Huckabee now loses any chance of getting the nomination, since his chances were already little to none before he showed himself to be a hypocritical ignorant panderer.

I wonder why would anyone want to hire a Christian now?  They see that Christians arbitrarily choose what they will and will not do on the job based on a "higher authority", which is their interpretation of God and what they think/believe/guess as to WWJD, "what would Jesus do?" Should judges not enter divorce decrees since "God hates divorce?" What about employees at McDonald's? Should they not serve obese customers because gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins? Should the clerk not issue marriage licenses to adulterers? Liars? Alcoholics?  What about the local baker?  Will he stop serving liars, the lazy, adulterers, non-tithers who are robbing god, women pastors (who are not to teach a man or have authority over a man)?

Hear me. Let me tell you something.  OF. COURSE. NOT. This notion that a government employee answers to a higher authority is hypocritical and is total nonsense.  A county clerk is a representative of the state.  They are paid by all taxpayers of all faiths and orientations to do their job, which includes issuing various types of licenses, including marriage licenses.  If their faith is so devout and orthodox that they actually try and follow the actual teachings of the Bible, then they should not apply to work in a liquor store, a gun store, a porno shop, a strip club, OR A GOVERNMENT position, all of which might require them to violate their conscience. And I'm not even going to get into the hyprocisy of Kim Davis being married several times already.  Or whether or not she has authority over a man in her position as the county's clerk.

This issue is so simple and so clear, I don't want to waste any more words describing it.  There is really no basis for debate, except that powerful, rich men like Mike Huckabee, and your angry pastor, use events like this to manipulate and exploit not only hurting, needy people like Kim Davis, but people like you that support her and them.  Please think!  You are hurting the gospel, the cause of Christ, and all Christians by showing yourself to be ignorant and gullible on the most basic issues.

Sorry, but "God's supreme law" is NOT above the Supreme Court's law of the land. Not in this country.  Maybe where ISIS is in control, or where the Taliban is in control, or in your mind, or in your cult.  But not here in the United States of America.  

How did the gospel and Christianity get hijacked by the "ridiculously stupid?"  Good luck Mike Huckabee, and fundamentalist supporters. You just forever hitched your image and campaign to Kim Davis.  Enjoy the fallout.

Coming soon to a fundy church near you! Religious Freedom champion Kim Davis. Hear the former mafia hit man first, then stay for the former coke head adulterer pro baseball player, then the persecuted Kim.  Books on sale in the lobby.