When Bible Stories Are Illustrated, They Reveal Some Huge Problems

[SilentLoner]

The gap between more kid-friendly passages and Biblical verses that describe the market price for a rape victim's virginity are the topic of the illustrated book, The Bible Said What!? by Evan Mascagni and illustrated by Nick Sirotich. Mascagni used his decadelong experience as a Catholic school student in Kentucky as a primary resource to highlight the Bible's discrepancies.

"Christianity was not only the right way, but the only way," Mascagni told Mic. "Schoolteachers and priests constantly cherry-picked verses from the Bible to justify whatever lessons were in store for the day, and I developed a very narrow understanding of Christianity. This book explores some of the stories that were overlooked throughout my education and have ultimately led me to take the Bible for what it is." 

"Elisha left Jericho and went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, a group of boys from the town began mocking and making fun of him. 'Go away, baldy!' they chanted. 'Go away, baldy!' Elisha turned around and looked at them, and he cursed them in the name of the LORD. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled 42 of them." — 2 Kings 2:23-24

 

"If two men are fighting and the wife of one of them comes to rescue her husband from his assailant and she reaches out and seizes him by his private parts, you shall cut off her hand. Show her no pity." — Deuteronomy 25:11-12

 

http://mic.com/articles/111216/the-bible-said-what-7-illustrations-of-the-bible-s-most-absurd-passages?utm_source=huffingtonpost.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=pubexchange

[VahnBlue]

This is pure gold

[Penguin]

I've heard the parable of the ten minas (talents) a billion times. I looked at it again yesterday. No one ever told me that Luke 19:27 was at the end of it:

 

"'...But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.'"

 

Jesus was speaking. Normally there was something about his disciples being thick, so he'd have to explain the parable. Nope, not this time. This time, it was pretty self-explanatory. The servant didn't do anything with the coin because he didn't like his master. He buried it and gave it back when the master returned. The master lost his shit, yelled at the servant, then demanded that those who didn't want him to rule over them should be brought before him to be slaughtered.

 

So it's not enough that the guy gave him back the coin. No, we have to kill him. Not only that, but the master wants to watch. He can't be bothered to do it himself. I suddenly have this image of white-collar workers being slaughtered at their cubicles by their managers while the CEO watches. They'd put the CEO in prison for that.

 

Let's see them paint that one as a happy little Bible story.

 

I remember being put out with Sunday school teachers who would refrain from the details, or change them altogether. "Oh, Potiphar's wife wanted to kiss Joseph." "They tied Jesus to a cross." "Thomas touched Jesus' side." And notice how, when you're a kid, no one bothers to mention the people God flooded in Genesis? Sure, God flooded the Earth, but he's a nice guy, so he loaded two of every animal on the Ark, plus Noah and his family." There was never any mention of the people killed by the Flood. It was 3rd grade before I bothered to read the story for myself and find out why God flooded the Earth. Oh, shit, there were people? And they were sinning?

 

*Cue the fear of God and the forthcoming wrath for sinning 'too much'*

 

[♦ ficino ♦]

God is OK with all the collateral damage that results from his creatures' using their free will.  Because if He didn't allow free will, He'd have mere robots singing "Pass it On."

 

But wait... are the saints in heaven able to reject God anymore?  I sort of think they're not.

 

So how are they different from robots singing "Pass it On"?  Is it because maybe they actually sing better praise songs (which they can't decide not to sing)?

[StarGazer]

Ah, good old family values.

 

I had (And still have, albeit in tatters) a Family Bible. I noticed upon a recent scan that Sodom was not included. But the art-work was beautiful, even though Jesus being drawn as a blonde haired man was...interesting. Heck, everybody in the damn book were white people. 

[Guest Furball]

was it common in bible land to grab men by their sack when they got into a fight? this must of have been a prevalent problem way back then in a bible galaxy far far away, jehovah would never give a command unless it was a problem in his peoples tribal community

[SCM]

In sunday school we just ignored the people god/israelites directly or indirectly killed. looking back, i'm amazed at just how little we thought about it. i guess sunday school is a good place to start with dehumanizing sinners in our eyes. if the bible stories are accurate, israel in bibleland got up to more fucked up shit than isis. more dangerous and killed more people too. 

 

even in grown up church, there is no attempt to empathize with or understand why these people disobeyed god, or lived in the wrong place. if we gave names and backstories to those virgins taken as sex slaves for instance, it would be almost impossible to look at the bible as a book to be respected.