The Bible claims that all children are disciplined by their fathers. But according to the Bible, that’s not true.
Continue reading Do all fathers discipline their children?Category Archives: The bad book
Homosexuality in the Bible
What does the Bible say about gay men?
The Bible describes sex between two men as a wicked, detestable, vile, outrageous, shameful sin.1 It says any men who do this have to be killed, and will not be allowed into the kingdom of God.
Does it really say that?
I’m pretty sure it does. Some people say the Bible isn’t as anti-gay as it seems, but I’m not convinced.
Some say the law against gay male sex can’t be about gay sex in general because that’s too private for the law to be enforceable, since there aren’t likely to be multiple witnesses. So they say that law must really only be about public acts of temple prostitution. But by that logic, you would have to conclude that none of the Bible’s rules about sex apply to acts done in private. Not even the laws that specifically say nobody else is around. I doubt that’s what was intended.
Some say Paul was only specifically condemning the practice of pederasty, but that’s not what he said. The word he used translates literally to “man-bed”. Why wouldn’t he use a word that specified boys or teenagers, if that was what he meant? And nobody thought it was wrong for adults to have sex with teenagers back then, so even if Paul was talking about pederasty, the age issue is probably not the part he would have objected to.
Some say the Bible implies that if you’re a man who sleeps with men or a woman who grinds with women, you have a 50% chance of being raptured into heaven, while for the rest of us who try to enter through the straight gate, the chance of being saved is much lower. But does the Bible actually say those people who are being taken are going to heaven? According to one of Jesus’s parables, the first people who will be taken away at the end of the age will be sinners being taken to hell.
There are more passages in the Bible that could be seen as vaguely pro-gay,2 but interpreting them that way is a bit of a stretch, especially considering how much more straightforward and clear the other passages are that say gays must be killed, etc.
But why?
What’s so bad about homosexuality, that it would deserve that kind of punishment? Nothing at all, as far as I can tell. I haven’t heard any good reasons to think gay sex is immoral. I’ve heard some bad ones though…
Continue reading Homosexuality in the BibleShould people get married?
Yes.
The Bible says people should get married, have kids, and get their kids married, so they can have kids too. If you’re engaged, don’t break up; go ahead and enjoy your married life. The Bible encourages widows to marry again. Marriage isn’t a sin; it’s a way to avoid being tempted to have immoral sex. Only a hypocritical, demonic, conscience-impaired, lying heretic would say people shouldn’t get married.
God clearly wants people to get married. He established the practice of marriage because it was not good for a man to be alone. God helps people find people to marry. He commands people to get married. When people are hesitant to get married, God tells them to go ahead. He rewards people for getting married, and for letting other people get married.
God is fine with people marrying anyone they want, as long as they don’t marry someone he doesn’t want them to marry, like a divorced person or a contemptible woman. He’ll let you marry a prisoner of war if you want to.
There are situations where God says people must get married. If a man has a brother and a wife but no son when he dies, his brother is required to marry the widow. Refusing this duty would be shameful. And if a man rapes a virgin who isn’t engaged, they have to be married for life.
Noah, Job, Abraham, Lot, and David were all known for their righteousness, and they all had wives. Quite a lot of wives in the case of David, who never did anything wrong in his life. God described Jerusalem and Israel as his own wives. If God is married (or wants us to think of him that way), that must be a good example to follow, since everything God does is right.
No.
The Bible says if you’re not married or engaged, it’s good to stay that way. And if you are engaged, the best thing to do is to break up. Marriage is a distraction that makes it harder to please God. Those who marry will face many troubles, while those who remain unmarried will be happier. So the best thing to do is to follow Paul’s example and stay unmarried and celibate. You should treat other people as brothers, sisters, mothers, and fathers, and you wouldn’t marry your brother, sister, mother, or father, would you?
When the disciples of Jesus found out that he didn’t approve of divorce, they said in that case, it was best not to get married in the first place. Jesus agreed that it’s best for people to be celibate if they can manage it. Jesus thinks celibate people are superior, and he will give them special treatment and honor in the end times. In his kingdom, there will be no marriage. So if you’re a Christian, you’d better not get married, or you will break your dedication to Christ and bring judgment on yourself.
Continue reading Should people get married?
The Story of Abraham’s Sacrifice—
Isaac and his Murderous Psycho Father
Ten generations after Noah, God promised a man named Abraham that he would have countless descendants through Isaac, the son of Abraham and his sister Sarah. But before Isaac could grow up and have children, the all-good God ordered Abraham to sacrifice Isaac as a burnt offering. So Abraham lied to his servants and his son about what he was planning to do, so they wouldn’t interfere. Then he tied up his son, put him on an altar, and picked up a knife…
Continue reading The Story of Abraham’s Sacrifice—Isaac and his Murderous Psycho Father
What is the beginning of wisdom?
The Bible is pretty unclear on whether it’s good to be wise or not. But suppose you do want to be wise. What’s the first thing you need to do? The Bible claims multiple times that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and knowledge.
Continue reading What is the beginning of wisdom?
The Story of the Torture of Job—
The Truth About God
God makes a deal with the devil
One day, Satan went up to see God, and they talked about a man named Job,3 who God said was the most righteous and godly person in the world. Satan was of the opinion that Job only seemed so good to God because God was so good to Job. He said if God would curse Job, then Job would curse God. The all-knowing God wanted to find out if Satan was right, so he gave Satan permission to do whatever he wanted to Job, as long as he didn’t physically harm him.
So Satan sent raiders to steal Job’s 500 donkeys, 1000 oxen, and 3000 camels. God helped him by sending fire from heaven to burn up Job’s 7000 sheep. Satan also sent a strong wind to knock down a house and kill Job’s ten children, and he got most of Job’s many servants killed too. Then God made everyone else Job knew shun him. Job responded by tearing his clothes off and worshiping God. Righteous Job didn’t think God had done anything wrong by letting Satan murder his children.
When Satan came to see God again, God pointed out that Job still loved him, even after Satan had convinced God to destroy nearly everything Job had for no reason. Satan explained that Job was too selfish to care about his children and servants dying. But if God attacked Job personally, that would be enough to make him curse God. The all-good God decided to see if Satan was right, so he gave Satan permission to do whatever he wanted to Job, as long as he didn’t kill him.
So Satan covered Job with painful sores. God helped him by giving Job horrible nightmares, and sending wicked people to beat him up, spit at him, and laugh at him. Job got a fever, and his skin started changing color and peeling off. His wife advised him to curse God for ruining his life, so God would put him out of his misery. Job admitted that God was the cause of his trouble, but he didn’t see why his all-good God should be expected to do only good things all the time.
Continue reading The Story of the Torture of Job—The Truth About God
Which tribe was Huram’s mother from?
In 1 Kings, the Bible says Solomon hired a skilled craftsman named Huram to make a bunch of bronze stuff for the temple. It says Huram’s father (who was also a skilled craftsman) was from the Phoenician city of Tyre, and his mother was from the Israelite tribe of Naphtali.
Continue reading Which tribe was Huram’s mother from?Faith is not reasonable
Faith is commonly regarded as a virtue. But is it really a good thing? What exactly is faith, anyway? Let’s look as some definitions.
Faith: Complete trust or confidence in something. Believing something without question. Firm belief in something for which there is no proof. Faith can also mean an obligation of loyalty, and if we’re still talking about beliefs, that would mean being devoted to sticking to a particular belief (which goes along with believing something firmly and without question).
“Faith means making a virtue out of not thinking.” —Bill Maher
So then, faith means you decide to believe a particular idea even though there’s no evidence for it, and then you completely refuse to ever question it or consider changing your mind about it, disregarding all evidence to the contrary. Faith means being gullible regarding some ideas, and closed-minded to others. Faith means abandoning reason, willfully ignoring the evidence, breaking the connection between your beliefs and reality.
“There is no virtue in accepting something on faith, since it may very well be false, and it is clearly not virtuous to believe the false.” —Charlotte Schnook
Clearly this is an unbelievably bad way to form your beliefs. Considering what faith actually is, I don’t see how anyone could possibly think it was a good thing. There’s absolutely nothing good or reasonable about it. Having faith is just like having a delusion, except you’re doing it on purpose. If you want to have true beliefs and avoid having false beliefs, having faith is probably the most counterproductive thing you could possibly do.
Unlike reason and evidence, faith provides no way to determine which things you should believe. Any belief can be “justified” by faith just as well as any other. If you have faith in one religion, why not have faith in another religion? Why not believe that you are a six-legged zebra from the planet Japan? Why not accept on faith that you should give me all your money right now?
You can probably think of some reasons not to accept those things, but why do you suddenly think you need to have reasons for what you believe? If I tell you that Ahura Mazda is the real God, or that you are a six-legged zebra from the planet Japan, or that you need to give me all your money, why do you question it? You don’t need a reason to believe; you just need to have faith, right?
“If something can be used as a justification for everything, then it shouldn’t be used as a justification for anything.” —Matt Dillahunty
When the inherent irrationality of faith is pointed out, religious people will sometimes protest that their faith is based on evidence. Well, if you’re trying to base your beliefs on reason and evidence, that’s great. You’re more reasonable than some religious people. But letting evidence shape your beliefs is not what faith is, and it’s not what the Bible tells you to do. The unreasonable way of thinking I described above is exactly the kind of thinking that the Bible encourages, and describes as faith.
The Bible on faith
The Bible says faith means confidently believing in something you hope is true, but that you don’t actually see any evidence for. To live by faith is to live blindly.
Continue reading Faith is not reasonableShould diseased people be isolated?
The Bible says if someone is confirmed to have a serious skin disease that turns their skin and hair white, that person is not to be isolated. Why? Because the person is “already unclean”. It says people who might be diseased need to be isolated, but people who are either definitely healthy or definitely diseased don’t have to be isolated. Don’t ask me what good that’s supposed to do.
Continue reading Should diseased people be isolated?
The Story of the Tower of Babel—
Babble Babble Babble
When Noah’s flood had reduced the world population to 8, and while the population was recovering for a while after that, everyone in the world spoke the same language. People who had moved to the East started to build a great, unifying city with a huge tower that would reach to the heavens.
Continue reading The Story of the Tower of Babel—Babble Babble Babble