Admin webmdave Posted January 21, 2007 Admin Share Posted January 21, 2007 By Joey Hackl Open your bibles with me, if you would, to the book of Numbers chapter fifteen. We'll be looking at verses thirty-two through thirty-six. Numbers 15:32-36 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made plain what should be done to him. And the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp." And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him to death with stones, as the LORD commanded Moses. The part of this passage that stands out to me the most is the part about picking up sticks. Now, I just can't help but wonder what type of tree the sticks came from. Was it maple, oak, pine? I guess there are some things we just have to wait till we get to heaven to find out. Seriously, how is it that people can so easily gloss over such attrocious things as if it were nothing. I've done it in the past too. I remember sitting in church as the pastor was reading over some passage like that. He read right on passed the parts were god commanded the torturous deaths of people. I looked around and no one even shifted in their seats. Talk about being desensitized! I think everybody should do a double take when they read those things. Really, does it make a difference what year it was? What the context is? In the above passage, god told Moses to stone a man to death for picking up sticks on the Sabbath. Is it not possible that Moses was simply a nut job? How easy is it for a man to claim that god told him something? Anyway, I think everybody should try and be sensitive to these type of things in the bible. Try and figure out why death by stoning for picking up sticks on the Sabbath is just. Imagine having heavy rocks hurled at you, breaking your bones, crushing your lungs, busting up your teeth, and finally caving in your head. Imagine this was for breaking a silly law. Why was he picking up sticks anyway? Maybe they were out of firewood and his family would freeze that night? Who knows? http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2007/01/todays-word.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 I agree that the Bible has a lot of violence in it. I think people have become desensitized due to modern day TV and movies that also have a lot of violence. They think that just because it's in a book, it's not as bad or something because you're only reading text. Well, lots of people have pretty vivid imaginations, especially children. I cannot believe that when I was 13 or so and read the whole Bible, nobody had any problems with it. In fact, I was applauded for that. The Bible is R-rated at least in some parts and children should not be encouraged to read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartP Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 Anyway, I think everybody should try and be sensitive to these type of things in the bible. Try and figure out why death by stoning for picking up sticks on the Sabbath is just. Imagine having heavy rocks hurled at you, breaking your bones, crushing your lungs, busting up your teeth, and finally caving in your head. Empathy I think it is something that fundies don't understand. When they are doing the "evidence to support the flood" type thing I always think that they really ought not to do that. Because if they managed to convince me that the flood was real, I'd have to think about all those people dying by drowning. I'd have to think of small children, terrified as the stormy water rises. Deperate parents trying to swim and keep their infants afloat. When you empathise like that you realise how cruel and viscious god is. And realising that any xians with an ounce of sense would be saying "oh no, the flood is just a myth to demonstrate how much god cares for the righteous" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mythra Posted January 21, 2007 Share Posted January 21, 2007 It seems to me that the absolutely pivotal thing here is - What does this tell us about God's nature? What does this tell us about God's priorities? Of course it's important to be able to visualize the scene - and try and feel what it might have been like to be the stonee. To feel the rocks as they hit you in the head. To see the crazed eyes of your killers as they hurl them at you. And your crime? Picking up sticks. But the really important thing in this scenario is that it was directly ordered by God. No wonder fundies can so easily condemn 9/10 of the world to eternal torment in hell. That's entirely consistent with God's nature as revealed in the OT. I suppose the really surprising thing is, not only do christians skim right over these passages without even scratching their heads - they might read a thread like this, and see those of us who question these things as the evil ones. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. NOT. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of being a lemming. If this account (or 20 others like them) were true, I would find Yahweh to be a sad, sad deity indeed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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