You'll be amazed what the Bible says on various subjects. Here are a few excerpts taken from the King James Version. Read the verses and tell me what you are thinking. Below each verse, I will give you my take on it.
Exodus 21:2-6: "If thou buy an Hebrew servant, six years he shall serve: and in the seventh he shall go out free for nothing. [3] If he came in by himself, he shall go out by himself: if he were married, then his wife shall go out with him. [4] If his master have given him a wife, and she have born him sons or daughters; the wife and her children shall be her master's, and he shall go out by himself. [5] And if the servant shall plainly say, I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out free: [6] Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever."
In this verse, the Bible talks about slavery. Notice the man can buy a Hebrew servant. At first, I thought this verse was speaking of enslaving people that owed you money but where I got that fanciful idea is beyond me. Let's talk about this one - you can buy a slave. Now no one here, in America, is going to let you buy them with the exception of street corner entertainment centers and ladies/gentlemen of the day/night. But we also know that slavery is illegal here. I suppose the one good thing is that if he comes in with a wife then she will leave with him but if the master gives him a wife and she bears him children - the wife and children stay with the master. If the slave loves his family enough to stay in servitude forever then he may say this to his master who will then take him into town and place a mark in his ear which will signify that he forever in servitude to this master.
Exodus 21:7-9: "And if a man sell his daughter to be a maidservant, she shall not go out as the menservants do. [8] If she please not her master, who hath betrothed her to himself, then shall he let her be redeemed: to sell her unto a strange nation he shall have no power, seeing he hath dealt deceitfully with her. [9] And if he have betrothed her unto his son, he shall deal with her after the manner of daughters."
A man can sell his daughter into slavery. If she doesn't please this master (and I assume here that betrothed means married), then she can be redeemed by selling her to a strange nation (again, I assume this means to another nation or tribe not of his own). If he gives her to his son, then she may be dealt with as though she were his daughter.
Exodus 21:10-11: "If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish. [11] And if he do not these three unto her, then shall she go out free without money."
This one here is a real charmer. A man may have multiple wives. If he should take on another wife then the first wife cannot be slighted in any manner. He must treat each wife as well as the others. However, if this should not happen then the unhappy wife may leave but he owes her nothing. Can you imagine the women of today allowing that to happen? Sure, there are some that wouldn't mind. But think about it....not many women are willing to leave with nothing. Could you imagine your husband getting a second or third wife (you have no say in this) and then treating you as though you are less than the others? You could leave but he owes you nothing. It makes one wonder what would be the point, if the man loses nothing?
Exodus 21:12-13: "He that smiteth a man, so that he die, shall be surely put to death. [13] And if a man lie not in wait, but God deliver him into his hand; then I will appoint thee a place whither he shall flee."
It's okay to murder someone provided that God delivered him to you. Premeditation isn't allowed (you can't plan out your murder). How you determine whether he was delivered to you or not - I'm not sure. Any thoughts on that one?
Ezekiel 16:49: "Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom: pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy."
This one is a truly a diamond in the rough. These people were proud, fat, lazy and they didn't attempt to help those in need. I don't know what the needy actually needed but I would assume clothes, food, money and just general assistance to help them get on their feet. I would suggest that the government help them on their feet but after that they must be productive members of society or forever be poor. Maybe the US Government should follow that line of logic. Of course, my line of logic has flaws in it but what plan doesn't?
Now to wrap this all up. All of these verse deal with something modern to us or well within the last 150 or so years. We've talked about slavery, selling your children into slavery or marriage, murder and marriage. Of these, three of them are illegal. The fourth one is illegal if you don't have the proper plumbing or live in certain states.
Then finally, we have Sodom and why she was destroyed. There's nothing in there about homosexuality. The verse even talks about daughters (while the story mentions men), so that would suggest there were men and women there. Does that mean they had no homosexuals? No. The verse simply tells you that homosexuality wasn't the cause.
These are laws in the Old Testament. Why don't people own up to these? Why don't they petition their lawmakers to enact these laws? Why do people so conveniently ignore rules that could possibly apply to them but then when it comes to homosexuals....those laws should be in effect? Why are people so scared that homosexuals will ruin marriage or anything else for that matter? These days, when you get married, it's a 50% chance you will fail in your marriage. It would appear that marriage is already losing ground under those that can get married but we should also consider that people stayed married out of need not necessarily out of love.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Thursday, June 16, 2011
God's Warriors - Part Two
I realize this took me a little while to actually post this one but it finally hit me what I wanted to blog about this time. I should also point out the purpose of this blog is to make people think. Not change their minds or even bash Christians. You have to admit religion makes fun of itself.
I got the most fascinating email today forwarded to me twice so apparently it's true. Although I'm about to explain to you how it can't be.
Apparently, Madeline Murray O'Hair is at it again! She's trying to get all Christian Broadcasting removed from the airwaves. This email told me that there are 275,000 signatures supporting this and that the bill is currently making its way through Congress and the Senate. They needed all the signatures they could get to stop this horrid woman from doing this. The email also states that the show, "Touched By an Angel" was taken off the air for using the word "god" in every episode.
Let's talk about this for just a moment. Madeline Murray O'Hair is the woman who successfully had the public demonstration of prayer removed from public schools. Let me explain to you what this actually means. It means you are permitted to pray in school; however, you must keep it to yourself. If you want to pray over your meal - permitted. If you want to stand up and hold hands to pray aloud - not permitted. Also, anyone employed by the school system isn't permitted to teach religion - of any sort - except under a format designed to teach religion's origins and history. Those of you who believe you need to put prayer back in school need to understand that prayer never actually left school. At any rate, I do wish people would stop passing this email around. Madeline Murray O'Hair isn't doing anything - the woman is dead. She had wrote about something an employee had done and he decided that she didn't deserve to live. Not only that but her son and granddaughter didn't need to live either. I'm guessing they must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her remains were found when the killer pointed the police in the right direction.
There are no current bills working their way through Senate or Congress on this topic. Enough said.
From my understanding, "Touched by an Angel" was removed because the lead, Della Reese, was no longer interested in playing the part. When she decided to step down - CBS wasn't stupid. The show wouldn't have lasted too much longer with someone else in that part. Here's something that you probably didn't know: Touched by an Angel was cancelled after its first season; however, a letter writing campaign brought the show back for seasons 2 - 8. Letter writing campaigns don't always work but in some cases, they do. Personally, I liked that show.
I got the most fascinating email today forwarded to me twice so apparently it's true. Although I'm about to explain to you how it can't be.
Apparently, Madeline Murray O'Hair is at it again! She's trying to get all Christian Broadcasting removed from the airwaves. This email told me that there are 275,000 signatures supporting this and that the bill is currently making its way through Congress and the Senate. They needed all the signatures they could get to stop this horrid woman from doing this. The email also states that the show, "Touched By an Angel" was taken off the air for using the word "god" in every episode.
Let's talk about this for just a moment. Madeline Murray O'Hair is the woman who successfully had the public demonstration of prayer removed from public schools. Let me explain to you what this actually means. It means you are permitted to pray in school; however, you must keep it to yourself. If you want to pray over your meal - permitted. If you want to stand up and hold hands to pray aloud - not permitted. Also, anyone employed by the school system isn't permitted to teach religion - of any sort - except under a format designed to teach religion's origins and history. Those of you who believe you need to put prayer back in school need to understand that prayer never actually left school. At any rate, I do wish people would stop passing this email around. Madeline Murray O'Hair isn't doing anything - the woman is dead. She had wrote about something an employee had done and he decided that she didn't deserve to live. Not only that but her son and granddaughter didn't need to live either. I'm guessing they must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her remains were found when the killer pointed the police in the right direction.
There are no current bills working their way through Senate or Congress on this topic. Enough said.
From my understanding, "Touched by an Angel" was removed because the lead, Della Reese, was no longer interested in playing the part. When she decided to step down - CBS wasn't stupid. The show wouldn't have lasted too much longer with someone else in that part. Here's something that you probably didn't know: Touched by an Angel was cancelled after its first season; however, a letter writing campaign brought the show back for seasons 2 - 8. Letter writing campaigns don't always work but in some cases, they do. Personally, I liked that show.
This one was long winded but you should see what I cut out of it. There's another whole blog just out of those pieces but that's for another week.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
God's Warriors - Part One
For the most part, I generally do not care who or what you believe in. You can believe in God, Jesus Christ, the Goddess, multiple Gods, Kali, Allah, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Heaven, Hell, the Summerland or even the Void of Nirvana. That, I believe, is your right. In theory, everyone in the world has that right. Whether there's a state run religion or not, you can still believe as you choose but you dare not say anything because you never know what you might lose. So I will stay in America with these thoughts. Everyone has the right to believe the way they want but there is always a section of society that won't be happy until you believe the way that they do. I could be wrong but I would guess these people want a theocracy. For those who don't know - a theocracy is "a system of government in which priests rule in the name of God or a god." This doesn't sound remotely great and if you think it does, I believe you need a full body scan to check for issues. The rules of the Bible cover many issues and just because you ignore them now, doesn't mean you will be able to ignore them then.
However, if you have not noticed - Christians tend to take the lead on this one. They seem to think it is their goal in life to convert everyone to their way of thinking which I know the Bible says that they should make all men God's disciples. But it would seem to me, here in the 21st century, that since we all have free will (created by God or so I've heard) then we should be able to say, "No, Thank you." and that would be the end of it. I have learned that I am sadly mistaken in that particular idea. I think it's rather twisted how they also say that gay people try to pervert people to their way of life but can't seem to notice they do it themselves (but, of course, this is all for the glory of their god)! Do you honestly think that your god needs your help to convert souls to your cause? How great can your god be if he/she/it needs human intervention? Does this mean you should never talk about your religion? No, it means that when the information is solicited by another person then by all means - give it your best shot. But don't beat down a stranger's door with your good news. I will say here though that people who go door to door bringing possibly lost people the news of God has got some big ones. I could never do it myself but to walk up on a stranger's porch then knock on the door and start preaching has got to take some courage and faith. But please, I am happy with the way that I am, so you can leave my door alone. We can discuss later if I could ever REALLY be happy with myself but you should know that my happiness is in, no way, yours to decide.
I tend to get tired of people telling me that there is something wrong with me. I really don't need anyone's help with this because I already know I have issues. Go figure! Something like that coming from imperfect human beings. It's presented in a take it or leave it format and well I choose to leave it. I used to consider myself an agnostic meaning that I neither confirm or deny the existence of a god, gods or goddess and I still do to some degree. I like to think that there is a god out there - one who should be awed, talked too and walked hand in hand with but certainly not feared or crawled to, begging for mercy, on your knees. One should understand though that if this proof can be found, I would like to know it. I am one person who is happy to change my outlook on things if it can be proven to my satisfaction.
I might as well admit it, I'm gay! Damn, I feel better already. It's like a weight as been lifted off my chest and I'll probably feel better once I get the rest of it off my chest but that takes time, eating right and exercise. One of my apparent issues is that I'm gay and oddly enough, I am okay with that. I find it hard to believe that my gayness is in any way a chosen state. I don't remember making that choice but hell, if a Christian says it then it must be true! Now for another revelation, I have been told numerous times, that I am going to hell - some people say in a bus and others tell me in a hand basket. I've even been told that I'm going there via Fed Ex though they failed to mention whether it was same day, overnight before 12pm, overnight after 12pm, two day or by Fed Ex ground. No, that's not the revelation but this is - I'm okay with that too. Before you gasp, yes, it took me a little bit to get there but finally the fear left me and I've been okay ever since - I've even calmed down a little. Something that, depending on who you are, has been noticed or not noticed. I told someone once that I was made of sugar and I might melt if I stepped outside in the summer heat. Do you know what she say to me? She say some vulgar and lewd and lascivious words like shit doesn't melt. I told her that there are enlightened people out there and she says of course there are, namely people that don't know you. Horrible! But I will get you, my little pretty, and your big dog too!
Damn! A tangent, let's get back to the story.
From what I understand, it's because I had a bad first date with a girl and had no father figure in my life to guide me. So, I turned to men because I was mortified by a girl who I thought was stupid to begin with and because I am looking for the father figure in my life. Let me explain something to you people - I do not need anyone's help with this. I do not miss nor want a father for any reason. If all things happen for a reason then apparently it would have been a bad thing for me to have a father. You can't have it both ways - you can't say that everything happens for a reason but then make excuses for why things are the way they are. You can't say that I didn't have a father and that's why I am gay. Then say all things happen for a reason. If this is the case then I am gay and had no dad for a reason people! I'm sorry for those who believe they have to explain away life and then call it faith.
Speaking of faith - there is a sign that reads "Faith isn't blind - it's revolutionary!" I can agree with that only on the basis that faith, in and of itself, isn't blind. It's the believer who makes it that way. Faith is a way of believing those things that cannot be proven. Is it faith to say all people are fake in their Christianity because they do not believe as the speaker chooses to believe? I find the whole thing totally revolting and unfortunately most people cannot see how their own lives are causing people to dislike what they perceive as true and righteous.
Let me be honest here, I am so sick of what is permeated through out this country as what must be done instead of letting people make up their own mind. Some things are created and chosen for you while the other things are chosen by the user. Don't you think that everyone should be better off if they were allowed to make up their own mind?
However, if you have not noticed - Christians tend to take the lead on this one. They seem to think it is their goal in life to convert everyone to their way of thinking which I know the Bible says that they should make all men God's disciples. But it would seem to me, here in the 21st century, that since we all have free will (created by God or so I've heard) then we should be able to say, "No, Thank you." and that would be the end of it. I have learned that I am sadly mistaken in that particular idea. I think it's rather twisted how they also say that gay people try to pervert people to their way of life but can't seem to notice they do it themselves (but, of course, this is all for the glory of their god)! Do you honestly think that your god needs your help to convert souls to your cause? How great can your god be if he/she/it needs human intervention? Does this mean you should never talk about your religion? No, it means that when the information is solicited by another person then by all means - give it your best shot. But don't beat down a stranger's door with your good news. I will say here though that people who go door to door bringing possibly lost people the news of God has got some big ones. I could never do it myself but to walk up on a stranger's porch then knock on the door and start preaching has got to take some courage and faith. But please, I am happy with the way that I am, so you can leave my door alone. We can discuss later if I could ever REALLY be happy with myself but you should know that my happiness is in, no way, yours to decide.
I tend to get tired of people telling me that there is something wrong with me. I really don't need anyone's help with this because I already know I have issues. Go figure! Something like that coming from imperfect human beings. It's presented in a take it or leave it format and well I choose to leave it. I used to consider myself an agnostic meaning that I neither confirm or deny the existence of a god, gods or goddess and I still do to some degree. I like to think that there is a god out there - one who should be awed, talked too and walked hand in hand with but certainly not feared or crawled to, begging for mercy, on your knees. One should understand though that if this proof can be found, I would like to know it. I am one person who is happy to change my outlook on things if it can be proven to my satisfaction.
I might as well admit it, I'm gay! Damn, I feel better already. It's like a weight as been lifted off my chest and I'll probably feel better once I get the rest of it off my chest but that takes time, eating right and exercise. One of my apparent issues is that I'm gay and oddly enough, I am okay with that. I find it hard to believe that my gayness is in any way a chosen state. I don't remember making that choice but hell, if a Christian says it then it must be true! Now for another revelation, I have been told numerous times, that I am going to hell - some people say in a bus and others tell me in a hand basket. I've even been told that I'm going there via Fed Ex though they failed to mention whether it was same day, overnight before 12pm, overnight after 12pm, two day or by Fed Ex ground. No, that's not the revelation but this is - I'm okay with that too. Before you gasp, yes, it took me a little bit to get there but finally the fear left me and I've been okay ever since - I've even calmed down a little. Something that, depending on who you are, has been noticed or not noticed. I told someone once that I was made of sugar and I might melt if I stepped outside in the summer heat. Do you know what she say to me? She say some vulgar and lewd and lascivious words like shit doesn't melt. I told her that there are enlightened people out there and she says of course there are, namely people that don't know you. Horrible! But I will get you, my little pretty, and your big dog too!
Damn! A tangent, let's get back to the story.
From what I understand, it's because I had a bad first date with a girl and had no father figure in my life to guide me. So, I turned to men because I was mortified by a girl who I thought was stupid to begin with and because I am looking for the father figure in my life. Let me explain something to you people - I do not need anyone's help with this. I do not miss nor want a father for any reason. If all things happen for a reason then apparently it would have been a bad thing for me to have a father. You can't have it both ways - you can't say that everything happens for a reason but then make excuses for why things are the way they are. You can't say that I didn't have a father and that's why I am gay. Then say all things happen for a reason. If this is the case then I am gay and had no dad for a reason people! I'm sorry for those who believe they have to explain away life and then call it faith.
Speaking of faith - there is a sign that reads "Faith isn't blind - it's revolutionary!" I can agree with that only on the basis that faith, in and of itself, isn't blind. It's the believer who makes it that way. Faith is a way of believing those things that cannot be proven. Is it faith to say all people are fake in their Christianity because they do not believe as the speaker chooses to believe? I find the whole thing totally revolting and unfortunately most people cannot see how their own lives are causing people to dislike what they perceive as true and righteous.
Let me be honest here, I am so sick of what is permeated through out this country as what must be done instead of letting people make up their own mind. Some things are created and chosen for you while the other things are chosen by the user. Don't you think that everyone should be better off if they were allowed to make up their own mind?
I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that if this is Part One did you leave anything for Part Two? I did but you are welcome to leave a comment if the blog loses you at any point in time and I mean for wordy reasons. If you don't agree with me, you can leave a comment too but try to be respectful about it. I have noticed that some Christians have a hard time being respectful of those that don't agree with them.
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