I remember my dad talking a while back when I brought up how we have diferent races if Adam and Eve were one single race.
Anyway, he negated me as usual and went on to say how Adam and humans in the day of Noah lived up to 2,000 years old until God shrunk our life span to 75-85.
I was like "wtf.. "
And he was like "Imagine how much more evil Hitler would have done if he lived to be 2,000?"
I responded "Imagine if God actually intervined and gave a shit to help stop murders and genocide? Gasp"
Basically: What is the strangest bible myth you've ever heard?
Because, I think it's amusing that we all lived as long as most vampires.
Methuselah, grandfather of Noah, lived to 969, according to Genesis. He was the oldest mentioned in the Bible. Apparently, God delayed the great flood to have seven days of mourning for Methuselah.
How sad is it that I know not only that the stories exist, but details like that?
Of course, Noah, the ark, and the great flood is probably the most epic (other than creation of the universe) story. My favorite story growing up, however, was Joshua and the Israelites defeating the city of Jordan by doing laps around the city and blowing horns. Cool story as stories go. I look back on my youth, and how I believed that story, and it makes me think about stories of Hercules and how the Roman children felt when they heard their parents telling the stories to them.
Some of us scholars of the Abrahamist faiths draw insight from such works as the Deuterocanonical Apocrypha or the Pistis Sophia. While I agree these works have great merit, they in no way match the master work that is the Brick Testament.
Explore it with an open mind and be inspired.
http://www.thebricktestament.com/revelation/index.html
What is the strangest story from the bible? Well, I certainly cannot narrow that down. So I'll just go for all of it.
But if I really HAD to narrow it down....
God temporarily and at particular times in the first century CE changes the laws of physics to procreate with a human girl to make himself in the flesh in order to commit suicide 30 odd years later through illegal Jewish vicarious atonement, thereby saving all humans from himself (wrath) because he loves us. Those that do not agree with that get to go to Hell....because he loves us.
Haha, the whole "virgin" birth thing annoys me for two reasons.
(1: Mary already had children by her husband, so the only thing this miracle birth brought on was suspicioun of cheating. X__x
(2: Jesus actually didn't want to be crucified. Daddy made him. Now, I don't know about you, but God in general sounds like the worst parent in existence. XD
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 02, 2011, 04:19:54 PM
Haha, the whole "virgin" birth thing annoys me for two reasons.
(1: Mary already had children by her husband, so the only thing this miracle birth brought on was suspicioun of cheating. X__x
(2: Jesus actually didn't want to be crucified. Daddy made him. Now, I don't know about you, but God in general sounds like the worst parent in existence. XD
There's nothing written in the Bible, which is the only thing close to a record of Jesus, of James being an older brother of Jesus. His name was mentioned first of the four siblings of Jesus, which suggests James is the oldest of those four male siblings, but doesn't mean that he was the older brother of Jesus. Of course, that's nitpicking on a story of a person that may very well be fictional anyway.
As for God being the worst parent, I would say parents often make children do things for their own good even if they don't want to do them. Since Jesus is God according to the scriptures, it makes God rather crazy. It's like he's looking in the mirror talking to himself saying "But I don't wanna die on the cross! I don't care what you want, you'll do what I say!" So you have a guy sort of arguing with himself.
Rofl, I have an amusing image now of "God" arguing with himself in the mirror.
It's all fiction anyway, but I know people consider Jesus the son of God. It's confusing, so meh.
Genesis 19 is interesting. First, a crowd of people try to break in and "know" Lot's two male visitors (angels), so Lot offers them his two virgin daughters instead. This doesn't work, so the angels strike the intruders blind.
Then comes the pillar of salt bit.
Then Lot's daughters get him drunk, have sex with him and get pregnant.
WTF??
D: that's disturbing.
Quote from: Sweetdeath on June 02, 2011, 10:25:55 PM
D: that's disturbing.
Disturbing, yes. Disgusting, to be sure. But not really the strangest.
Quote from: fester30 on May 31, 2011, 11:47:31 AM
Of course, Noah, the ark, and the great flood is probably the most epic (other than creation of the universe) story. My favorite story growing up, however, was Joshua and the Israelites defeating the city of Jordan by doing laps around the city and blowing horns. Cool story as stories go. I look back on my youth, and how I believed that story, and it makes me think about stories of Hercules and how the Roman children felt when they heard their parents telling the stories to them.
It was the battle of Jericho, not Jordan... ::)
How about Abraham and Isaac as an example of the cruel interventionist games god used to play with his "followers". God basically pulls an Ashton Kutcher. He makes Abraham believe he is supposed to sacrifice his son Isaac to prove his devotion, to show he has the fear of god. And at the last minute an angle jumps out form behind a bush, delightfully yelling "You got punk'd"...so Abraham killed a sheep instead. How could anyone not love a god with that kind of sence of humor...too bad you tube wasn't around back then, seeing Abrahams reaction would have been priceless.
(https://www.happyatheistforum.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.oceansbridge.com%2Fpaintings%2Fartists%2Fspecial%2Fart%2Fnew%2Fbig%2FLaurent-de-La-Hire-XX-Abraham-Sacrificing-Isaac-1650-XX-Private-collection.jpg&hash=f05a2340df416c62e88bfce17a596237f5f5f29d)
Quote from: Guardian85 on June 10, 2011, 08:22:30 PM
Quote from: fester30 on May 31, 2011, 11:47:31 AM
Of course, Noah, the ark, and the great flood is probably the most epic (other than creation of the universe) story. My favorite story growing up, however, was Joshua and the Israelites defeating the city of Jordan by doing laps around the city and blowing horns. Cool story as stories go. I look back on my youth, and how I believed that story, and it makes me think about stories of Hercules and how the Roman children felt when they heard their parents telling the stories to them.
It was the battle of Jericho, not Jordan... ::)
Ach! Jordan isn't a city! But he was a hell of a basketball player.
Quote from: fester30 on June 11, 2011, 01:24:23 AM
Ach! Jordan isn't a city! But he was a hell of a basketball player.
If there is no hell, does that mean he wasn't?
Quote from: The Magic Pudding on June 11, 2011, 05:54:52 AM
Quote from: fester30 on June 11, 2011, 01:24:23 AM
Ach! Jordan isn't a city! But he was a hell of a basketball player.
If there is no hell, does that mean he wasn't?
Touche
Quote from: fester30 on June 11, 2011, 10:25:33 AM
Touche
Did everyone see that?
Fester just touched me! :o
I like your new head, you look like a proper Fester now.
Has anyone mentioned the talking donkey?
Quote from: Sophus on June 13, 2011, 01:59:18 PM
Has anyone mentioned the talking donkey?
He was funny in Shrek.
The Book of Esther has to be the strangest story in the Bible.
My dad told me about the talking donkey. I just smiled and nodded, and died a little on the inside.
What story is that, Nizmo?
Have a looky. (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Esther+1&version=NIV)
Interesting, Nimzo, but I don't find it particularly strange.
Quote from: OldGit on June 14, 2011, 08:51:13 AM
Interesting, Nimzo, but I don't find it particularly strange.
That is why it
is strange. ;)
Does that mean anything? I don't see how that statement could seriously have been intended to convey any information.
Cryptic, at best, but probably just craptic.
What I mean is that it is strange precisely because you think it isn't strange: it is the only book of the Bible where God's name is not found. Very strange for the Bible, but not at all strange for an atheist.
Quote from: Nimzo on June 14, 2011, 05:36:22 PM
What I mean is that it is strange precisely because you think it isn't strange: it is the only book of the Bible where God's name is not found. Very strange for the Bible, but not at all strange for an atheist.
Considering the books that make up the bible were selected by humans from a collection of works by various authors it's not strange that there are commonalities between some books and differences between others.
Would it still be strange (to you) if 2 of the books didn't say god's name instead of just 1?
Quote from: Whitney on June 14, 2011, 06:18:29 PM
Considering the books that make up the bible were selected by humans from a collection of works by various authors it's not strange that there are commonalities between some books and differences between others.
That's true of any collection of books, surely?
Quote
Would it still be strange (to you) if 2 of the books didn't say god's name instead of just 1?
Not as strange, but still somewhat strange, given that the books of the Bible are together because, at the very least, they talk about the same God. What is your point?
Quote from: Nimzo on June 14, 2011, 06:41:00 PM
Quote from: Whitney on June 14, 2011, 06:18:29 PM
Considering the books that make up the bible were selected by humans from a collection of works by various authors it's not strange that there are commonalities between some books and differences between others.
That's true of any collection of books, surely?
Quote
Would it still be strange (to you) if 2 of the books didn't say god's name instead of just 1?
Not as strange, but still somewhat strange, given that the books of the Bible are together because, at the very least, they talk about the same God. What is your point?
my point is that is it not strange...it's just like any collection of books.
Quote from: NimzoI'm not saying that the Biblical canon itself is strange.
Well I think it is. Much of it is bloody barking. ;D
Quote from: Whitney on June 14, 2011, 06:46:28 PM
my point is that is it not strange...it's just like any collection of books.
Right, but some commonalities and differences are more significant than others, depending on the nature of the collection. The Bible is not a random collection of books - there is a rather obvious connection between them in that the central character is God. So, when God doesn't appear to show up in one of the books of the Bible, that is rather strange given the nature of the Bible. That is what strange
means, right? Unusual, odd, curious.
The bible is strange in itself, full of this god doing many horrible things, commanding many horrible things, doing some other things then after the bible is written... nothing. The unchanging god had stopped doing what he had been doing. That is strange.
More specifically, the world wide flood is strange, how did so many animals live on a ship, not eat eachother and poop all the time for like eleven months and not be sick at the end of it? Plus it appears that whomever came up with that story didn't know about the survivability of many fresh water fish when placed in salt water and many salt water fish when placed in fresh water... not to mention all the species of animals that had to have swam across oceans... the whole world wide flood story is ridiculous.
Hands down, the one where Christ turns Maury's rice pilaf into rice krispies to prove a point about the cons of oil-based personal lubricants.
The 666 in Revelation. I dunno where Christians (especially Born-Agains) get the idea that the mark of the beast (aka Devil) 666, will be the symbol of prosperity during the Tribulation. Those people marked with 666 shall be the masters of the earth in the tribulation after the rapture but shall be thrown into the lake of fire while those who refuse to be marked shall live in a poor state during the tribulation but shall be raised "up" into heaven at the end of the world. And they all look forward to this day.
i'm still not sure what 666 is suppose to mean. I mean, why does it mean "evil" according to Christians?
I saw a shirt that said "333 (half evil)." That made me laugh.
The Number of the Beast - vocal intro to Iron Maiden's song (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EwcOWiyzraM)
Seems it was originally 616 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_the_Beast), but no-one is sure what it is referring to.