What does God have against midgets?

[G L Wilson]

Does He hate little people? If He doesn't, why does it say that He does in the Bible?

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

I'll bite . . . he says that in the Bible?

[G L Wilson]

I'll bite . . . he says that in the Bible?

Leviticus 21: 16-24.

[BienvenuJDC]

Leviticus 21: 16-24.

Just because God puts stipulations on the service of the priesthood, doesn't mean that He hates anyone.

[JuniperWoolf]

Just because God puts stipulations on the service of the priesthood, doesn't mean that He hates anyone.

It just means that he has favorites.

[MarkBastable]

He probably didn't hate them. The Old Testament God was as capricious and unreasonable and attention-seeking as an indulged eight-year-old in a public school classroom. That might be because he was in competition with so many other gods at the time.

He doesn't really grow up until he becomes a dad himself.

[Arrowni]

Old Testament God was a bull. Seriously, look it up. Judaism was a fertility bull religion, that's why they crafted a golden bull when they left Egypt.

[MarkBastable]

Old Testament God was a bull. Seriously, look it up. Judaism was a fertility bull religion, that's why they crafted a golden bull when they left Egypt.

I'm not quite sure how that's relevant to this thread, which concerns the apparent character and prejudices of the personified God represented in the scriptures.

I mean, unless it's a well-known fact that cows don't like hunchbacks.

[BienvenuJDC]

Old Testament God was a bull. Seriously, look it up. Judaism was a fertility bull religion, that's why they crafted a golden bull when they left Egypt.

You need to get into the text a little deeper. Judaism in its correct manner served no other gods. The calf worship which had been periodically observed by the Israelites was not part of Judaism. That is like saying that tree worship is a part of Christianity because Christians use a Christmas tree during Christmas. It has become a part of some people's traditions, but it's not a part of Christianity.

[Calidore]

Just because God puts stipulations on the service of the priesthood, doesn't mean that He hates anyone.

And just because the men who claim to be speaking for God had these prejudices, that doesn't mean the one who created all men as they are has them.

[MarkBastable]

BienvenuJDC: Just because God puts stipulations on the service of the priesthood, doesn't mean that He hates anyone.

Calidore: And just because the men who claim to be speaking for God had these prejudices, that doesn't mean the one who created all men as they are has them.


It may be, as Calidore suggests, that the Bible is comprised of the writing of a lot of writers who were imposing their own prejudices on God's intentions. Or it may be, as other Judaeo-Christians suggest (and perhaps Bienvenue is one of them, but I wouldn't assume so), that the Bible is the unadulterated word of God delivered through those writers.

But until those incompatible perceptions of the Bible are sorted out between the two interested factions, the rest of us can't be quite sure what it is we're supposed to be assessing.

[G L Wilson]

BienvenuJDC: Just because God puts stipulations on the service of the priesthood, doesn't mean that He hates anyone.

Calidore: And just because the men who claim to be speaking for God had these prejudices, that doesn't mean the one who created all men as they are has them.


It may be, as Calidore suggests, that the Bible is comprised of the writing of a lot of writers who were imposing their own prejudices on God's intentions. Or it may be, as other Judaeo-Christians suggest (and perhaps Bienvenue is one of them, but I wouldn't assume so), that the Bible is the unadulterated word of God delivered through those writers.

But until those incompatible perceptions of the Bible are sorted out between the two interested factions, the rest of us can't be quite sure what it is we're supposed to be assessing.

Man created God to authorise his spite, it seems.

[MarkBastable]

Man created God to authorise his spite, it seems.

A characteristically helpful contribution. Thank you.

[G L Wilson]

A characteristically helpful contribution. Thank you.

"But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man." 1 Corinthians 2: 15

[Calidore]

It may be, as Calidore suggests, that the Bible is comprised of the writing of a lot of writers who were imposing their own prejudices on God's intentions. Or it may be, as other Judaeo-Christians suggest (and perhaps Bienvenue is one of them, but I wouldn't assume so), that the Bible is the unadulterated word of God delivered through those writers.


Unfortunately, there have been several layers of human intervention. Humans wrote what they claimed God said (at the time, men thought the world was flat and the center of the universe, but obviously the Creator knew better, so there's one example of man's limitations poisoning the well right off the bat); humans decided which of these "books" would and would not be included in the Bible (hence the Apocrypha, accepted by some but not others); humans translated the original ancient Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek into other languages (we have dozens of English translations alone, all with their own translation philosophies, styles, and agendas). So whatever the adulterated word of God may have been, good luck separating it from all the political shenanigans.


A characteristically helpful contribution. Thank you.

He's pretty much right, though. Men have used God's alleged blessing as backing for anything up to genocide.

[G L Wilson]

To spite a person is to exclude that person, in this case, from the human race.

[MarkBastable]

Unfortunately, there have been several layers of human intervention. Humans wrote what they claimed God said (at the time, men thought the world was flat and the center of the universe, but obviously the Creator knew better, so there's one example of man's limitations poisoning the well right off the bat); humans decided which of these "books" would and would not be included in the Bible (hence the Apocrypha, accepted by some but not others); humans translated the original ancient Hebrew/Aramaic/Greek into other languages (we have dozens of English translations alone, all with their own translation philosophies, styles, and agendas). So whatever the adulterated word of God may have been, good luck separating it from all the political shenanigans.

.


Well, so you say. But there are those who would suggest that all that to and fro was - perhaps still is - God's way of working through the agency of his followers to get the final edit just right.

Me, I'm not trying to separate the unadulterated word of God, if indeed it needs separating. I'm just saying that it's difficult to talk to Christians about the worth and use of the Bible when there are incompatible views about that even within the Church.

[G L Wilson]

Well, so you say. But there are those who would suggest that all that to and fro was - perhaps still is - God's way of working through the agency of his followers to get the final edit just right.

Me, I'm not trying to separate the unadulterated word of God, if indeed it needs separating. I'm just saying that it's difficult to talk to Christians about the worth and use of the Bible when there are incompatible views about that even within the Church.

The Bible has been heavily censored through the years.

And, all the King's men and all the King's horses will never put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

[JuniperWoolf]

...As an atheist, I'd just like to take a second to say that this man does not represent us.

[Arrowni]

I'm not quite sure how that's relevant to this thread, which concerns the apparent character and prejudices of the personified God represented in the scriptures.

I mean, unless it's a well-known fact that cows don't like hunchbacks.


The question of whether or not Old Testament God is a bull seems very pertintent when discussing what He may like.


@BienvenuJDC: I'm not just pulling the bull statement from what's written on that passage of the Bible, many elements of judaism actually relate with rather close bull-cult that was going on close to them. Later on, more modern jews retconned the bull into another kind of divinity, but at one point God was a God-bull as much as christian God is the saint spirit.

Back on topic: Have you seen a midget in a rodeo in face of a bull?

[Scheherazade]

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