Abraham's Sacrifice, 1655, Rembrandt Van Rijn
“Happy shall he be who takes your children and dashes their heads against the rocks” The Book of Psalms 137:9
The Inquisition is not the first to point out how the bible is full of bilious hypocrisy-laden diatribe. Little, it would appear, is done in the spirit of doing onto your neighbour as you would like him to do onto you. The verse at the beginning of this article is an oft-quoted example of the hideous texts that allow men to justify their actions with a biblical foundation.
Granted, the Old Testament carries the greater amount of moral monstrosities, but, do not forget, this is the textual basis for three major religions. The books are filled with examples of a god who kills, with a puerile vengeance, anyone who does not follow him. This he does as an example to his followers, of how people of other traditions should be treated.
The list that follows is a list of quotes. There are many other more severe instances of for example God killing 1000s of people or fathers sleeping with their daughters (I’m looking at you, Lot) or adultery related executions. In fact, adultery is an interesting one in a biblical context. While many of the books tell us that adultery and most other sexual endeavours are punishable by death, we hear that Lot (The biblical Fritzl) is a virtuous man and that David, who slept with Uriah’s wife and then had him killed, is the greatest Jewish king ever.
Due to the complexity and hypocritic nature of these happenings, not to mention the archaic language involved, The Inquisition is just after some juicy sound-bites.
And so, without further a-do, here are some more beauties:
“I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent.” 1 Timothy 2:12
“If men get into a fight with one another, and the wife of one intervenes to rescue her husband from the grip of his opponent by reaching out and seizing his genitals, you shall cut off her hand; show no pity.” Deuteronomy 25:11-12
“And Judah said unto Onan, Go in unto thy brother’s wife, and marry her, and raise up seed to thy brother.
“And Onan knew that the seed should not be his; and it came to pass, when he went in unto his brother’s wife, that he spilled it on the ground, lest that he should give seed to his brother.
“And the thing which he did displeased the LORD: wherefore he slew him also.” Genesis 38: 8-10
“Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death.” Exodus 21:17
“He went up from there to Bethel. As he was going up by the way, some children came out of the city and mocked him, and said to him, “Go up, you baldy! Go up, you baldhead!
“He looked behind him and saw them, and cursed them in the name of the Lord. Two female bears came out of the woods, and mauled forty-two of those youths.” 2 Kings 2:23-24
“The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.” Exodus 15:3
“Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.” Exodus 22:18
“And the man that committeth adultery with another man’s wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.” Leviticus 20:10 (the next eleven verses advocate execution as a reasonable response to various sexual situations)
“The LORD is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.” Numbers 14:18
“And when the LORD thy God shall deliver them before thee; thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor shew mercy unto them:” Deuteronomy 7:2
“God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.” Numbers 23:22
“We have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?” Solomon’s Song 8:8
New Testament Discussions
“Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.” Matthew 10:14
“For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother’s womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven’s sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.” Matthew 19:12
The most offensive quote is the line that unequivocally justifies any genocide carried out by the Chosen People (one of the three peoples of the book, presumably):
“He who sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.” Exodus 22:20
Bibliography
Godly Atrocities
The Skeptics (sic) Annotated Bible
Bad Bits
This article was posted by Ronan McDonnell on
Sunday, December 21st, 2008 at
04:30.
It is archived in Art, History, Religion and tagged Bible, cruelty, God, History, quotes, violence.
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