THE HATEFUL GOD OF EXODUS
We are about to launch into an attack on the doctrinal and ethical errors of the
Torah, the Law of Moses which is to be found in the first five books of the
Bible. The validity of the attack disproves Judaism which is based on the Torah
and also Christianity whose founders, the apostles, pronounced the Torah to be
infallible and just (Romans 7:12; 1 Timothy 1:8). They said that they got this
from Jesus himself (Matthew 5:17-19; 7:12). Many times the New Testament says
that the Law of Moses is where it gets its validity from. You can’t have the New
without the Old.
We will start with the Book of Exodus which is where the real Law begins.
Exodus 7:8-13,22; 8:3 says that God permitted the magicians of Egypt to perform
miracles to show that their gods should be worshipped and were as good as the
God of Moses. It says they are real miracles, if they were tricks the magicians
would have been able to produce gnats (8:14). The God of the Torah asked people
to kill and die for him yet he offered no evidence for his teaching when other
gods could duplicate his miracles. His miracles don’t support his claims when he
allowed ones that support false doctrine to be done. The God of the Torah
commanded some strange things so it is no use to say that when a miracle
supports reasonable teaching that it must be from God. Moreover, the gods of
Egypt could have existed.
God did things the other gods failed to do. Perhaps when God was the most
powerful God it proved the miracles of the others did not prove their right to
be honoured as gods? But a weak God could make people have false visions that he
could do mighty things. Besides, the Egyptian Gods were not thought to be
all-powerful. The Egyptians would have surmised that the gods were not watching
one another when the god of Israel was able to start a contest and occasionally
win. Their gods were not always well organised! And when God tried to compete
with the gods of Egypt and they were able to do what he did for many of the
miracles it shows that God wasn’t that powerful. For example, he made the frogs
appear, to do something that the other gods couldn’t do. But then they were able
to do it too. If demons do miracles as Christians believe then demons did the
miracles for the gods of Egypt.
In Exodus 19:13-15, we read that God commanded that anybody who touched the
bottom of the mountain of Sinai when he was on it had to be stoned to death or
shot. A sin that harms would be worse than that and he did not say the sins
should all be punished that way. Unfair!
Exodus says that anybody who curses their parents must be put to death (21:17).
If a thief breaks in and is attacked and killed in the night there is no
bloodguilt. But if it is daytime then there is (Exodus 22:2). The thief is not
armed at all because then there would be no bloodguilt for killing him any time.
The rules are said to be based on it being easier to fight him during the day
without killing him. Surely it cannot be right to attack a man in the middle of
the night to risk your own life or his when he may be unarmed and not a threat
to you? This God was evil for he let you fight him to the death in the dark even
though it is wrong. The rule should not be worrying about night and day. What it
should be worried about is the extent of vision the owner of the house had when
the house was burgled. For example, a clear moonlit night with lights in the
house would give the owner good vision at night. The utter stupidity and
fundamentalism of the law is evident.
The Law decrees that thieves must not back what they took but pay back double
(Exodus 22:9). And God claims to be just. If you steal one sheep you have to pay
back four (Exodus 21:37). He is forcing the victims to steal from the thieves!
You cannot say that the extra has to be paid in compensation as well for that
would depend on the hurt caused and be variable. But God lays down a fixed
overpayment. The only excuse is that he harshness is geared towards deterring
the person from sin. But deterrence only makes the thieves more devious and
careful. It will make them so angry that they are hurt more than justice demands
that they will become hardened in evil. Deterrence can be used as an excuse for
any level of brutality. It is not for deterrence when the extra is paid to the
victim instead of the poor. If it is just for putting people off crime then the
poor would be a better choice for the extra fine.
Exodus 34 enjoins disrespect for other religions. Israel was told by God to
smash their altars and statues in case Israel would start worshipping other
gods. Israel was not to tolerate people like that or to make peace with them.
The “in case” is the most important part of the nasty bits. (It shows that the
same must hold true for Christians today for Jesus said that we must adore God
only or with all our hearts.) Here we have God accused of commanding evil and
cruelty over what has shown no signs of happening yet. He is accused of being
paranoid. It would have been less cruel if he had seen that the people were
going to join in the false worship first, verse 37 makes it clear that all this
has been sanctioned by God. It is no answer to say that the other religions were
evil. Why not engage in dialogue with them to change them and improve them? Plus
Israel had a God of supernatural power looking after it so the fear of attack
wasn’t an incentive.
The command to kill anybody who works on the Sabbath is unduly harsh (Exodus
35:2). Nobody can deny that this was unnecessary.
The God of Moses was a liar and if there were a God he would be very offended by
Moses’ portrayal of him. He liked the taste of blood when he coldly commanded
the putting of people to death by stoning. The name of Moses should be hated as
much as that of Hitler. Jesus Christ was not the Son of God for he acclaimed the
ways of Moses and had been a lifelong Jew who cherished the Law.
WEB
Final Response by Steven Carr to Dr Wilkinson
www.bowness.demon.co.uk/wilkin6.htm
Why the Roman Catholic Arguments for the Canon are Spurious?
www.christiantruth.com/canon.html
In Response to William Webster’s: The Canon, Why the Roman Catholic Arguments
for the Canon are Spurious
www.geocities.com/Athens/3517/Webster.html
Why It’s a Load of Old Cobblers, Adrian Barnett
www.abarnett.demon.co.uk/atheism/noahs_ark.html
Exposes the utter absurdity of the Noah’s Ark story in the Bible
Steven Carr, Critique of Josh McDowells Non_Messianic Prophecies This Site
cannot be overly recommended. It is superb.
www.infidels.org/library/modern/steven_carr/non-messianic.html
New Testament Contradictions, Paul Carlson
www.infidels.org/library/modern/paul_carlson/nt_contradictions.html
Rabbits do not chew their cud, Alleged Bible Contradictions
http://unhindered.com/apolo/contradictions/index.html
The Bible as History Flunks New Archaeological Tests
www.10.nytimes.com/library/arts/072900david-bible.html
Biblical Errancy by Dennis McKinsey
http://members.aol.com/ckbloomfld/bepart31.html
This is one of McKinsey’s online magazines. The magazine is excellent for it
gives the fundies the chance to respond and carefully exposes their twisted
reasoning.
