Right, before I begin, if you’re a Christian and DON’T want to be offended, don’t read this. If you are a Christian and don’t mind being slightly offended, then continue.
Also, I’m NOT being offensive to Christians, as I respect them. But, this post is my thoughts on slightly strange plot holes in the Bible.
So, here we go with Bible plot holes:
- Right, in the parable of the good Samaritan, Jesus tells everyone to look after everyone else. BUT, if Jesus is preaching about looking after EVERYONE, no matter who they are, then WHY was God, St Boniface, Moses and EVERYONE in the Old Testament is busy destroying other religious sites and converting everyone to Christianity. SO JESUS IS BASICALLY TELLING EVERYONE TO RESPECT EVERYONE THAT GOD HAS TOLD PEOPLE NOT TO RESPECT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Also, Jesus and God all preach about peace. So WHY does God destroy 2 cities in the Old Testament? WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
So, these are two of the main plot holes in the Bible. What other plot holes can you think of?
OK, here’s one. What we know as the ten commandments aren’t what the text of the bible says are the ten commandments.
Also, when Moses went yo get the ten commandments he was also give a lot more – all sorts of laws, and rules for worship (sizes of the tabernacle, materials to use, etc etc.). All this was written on stone tablets. When he came back and found the golden calf he got angry and broke the tablets and had to go back to get some more. The second time he got the ten commandments only. Yes then the Israelites set about building the tabernacle as per the original instructions – which had apparently been destroyed.
Ultimately being good to others is a pretty common sentiment in several religions
It is never offensive to ask these sorts of questions,Ben. I have been a Christian for nearly 60 years and struggling with these sorts of questions in the Bible is how my faith in God has grown. One observation: peace is not just absence of conflict – true peace has to be ‘peace with justice’.
I am a Christian and I am very pleased to share with you what I learnt from the bible.
I shall answer the 2nd part of your question. In order to understand it better, It would be good to read Genesis 19:1-19,
Israelite tradition was unanimous in ascribing the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah to the wickedness and immorality of these cities.
For instance Genesis 19:5. They called to Lot and said to him,”Where are the men who came to your house tonight? Bring them out to us that we may have intimacies with them.”
Basically speaking, it is very very difficult to find peace in such an evil place.
We’ve just read the online Lego Bible version. Thanks for your reminder, llehting.
The Brick Testament is:
http://www.thebricktestament.com/genesis/god_annihilates_people_of_sodom_and_gomorrah/01_gn19_01.html
Before I start, let me stress that this is just my opinion. There are two distinctly different Gods in the Bible. Old Testament God is all about power, absolutism and vengeance – obey me or you will perish (e.g. Jericho,Noah and the Flood, Sodom & Gomorrah, the plagues inflicted on the Egyptians). There is a constant theme throughout – the devout and obedient (Moses, David, Noah, Jonah, Daniel) survive and prosper whereas the non-believers suffer or perish (Goliath, loads of Egyptians, the Babylonians). New Testament God is wise, kind and protective and prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice for the benefit of mankind (the death of His son). To me, the difference is simply a reflection of the times when the stories were produced. Mankind has always wanted to invoke the support of a higher power (or powers) to justify its actions or its policies – remember, history is written by the winners. Old Testament books were written for a Semite audience and were a potted history of the tribal warfare that dominated the Middle East throughout the period covered – hence the destruction and killing that goes on. The books of the New Testament were written in Greek for a Western audience between 3 and 4 centuries after the life of Jesus by which time the concept of Empire had become established, hence the idea of an all-seeing, wise and benevolent God looking after his people – an analogy of how the Roman and Greek rulers wished to be perceived by the nations they had occupied. Because of their different agendas, any correlation between Old and New Testaments will be coincidence – you should not regard the books of the New Testament as a chronological continuation of the books of the Old Testament. but rather as separate stand-alone works of great interest.
What about Satan? Suppose someone is a Satanist…..
You’re main goal would be the opposite of a Christian, someone who wants to be reborn and go to Heaven and live with God AKA Christ as your reward for not being a sinner.
So if you ARE a Satanist you want to be a sinner so you can die, go to hell and be with Satan forever as your reward! Simple huh? So how should you sin? Murder? OK, but what if you don’t make the death horrible enough (enough pain & suffering) you might make Satan very mad and not get to go to hell to be with him forever. He might punish you by sending you to Heaven and be with god and Christ forever and ever.
Loved reading your post – the idea of being ejected from Hell for not being nasty enough is brilliant. However, you are wrong to equate Satanism with sin. Satanism is an alternative religion focused on earthly principles rather than the spiritual ones propounded by Christianity. The opposite of “right” is “wrong” in both disciplines – it is just the definitions that are different. In all religions, if you do wrong you commit a sin – and that makes you a sinner,not a Satanist. It is also a mistake to view Christianity as a single entity – there are as many factions as there are in Islam. Catholicism in particular once taught (and may still do so) that only Catholics would go to Heaven and everyone else (including Protestants) were heretics who were damned to burn in eternity in the fires of Hell. This is nonsense of course – everyone knows that Heaven is exclusively reserved for us Baptists!