The Bible is Brutal

[magneticgoop]

Even if you don't believe, the Bible makes a rather intriging read.
A few months ago I picked up my copy and flicked to a chapter which I have no hope remembering now. In it, it describes a group of people finding a man picking up logs on a Sunday. As this classifies as work, he had to be punished. Which was - believe it or not - death. Who gave the verdict? God himself. I am not joking. Who knows? Maybe the guy was collecting wood to build a fire for his cold family. Seems harsh, yes?
Any regular readers who know the chapter name and verse number for this little story?

well he was obviously collecting wood to sell because the law was you may work (ie cook, do chores, simple tasks) just not for personal gain by the way of money or other forms of wealth. the whole purpose of the sabbath was to give people a day to wind down and relax, the only obligation was to worship God in some way during the day. and also we cannot judge the exact circumstances at the time; it probably wasn't average joe walking down the road picking up sticks and God decides he should die for it, there must have been something more not mentioned. possibly in the original language it was clearer or otherwise untranslatable.

[unriggable]

How about saying the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, is brutal, not the entire Bible...

Because jeffrey dahmer was only evil while he was killing and eating people. And that was hardly any of the time. Aside from that he was a charming young man.

Anyway he said the bible, not the entire bible. The Pentateuch is in the bible. It's the action-packed beginning.

The bible would make an intersting movie, like saving private ryan (because only the beginning is good).

[Coleman]

According to Leviticus, if you raped a girl you had to pay her father a dowry and get married to her and you could never divorce.

That one sucks. If some girl refused to marry me I could just rape her and pay her parents something?

About the initial post. God had just told everyone not to do anything and that he would provide for them on Sunday, so by gathering wood he was denying his trust in God to provide for him.

I think God said f*ck it at some point or just changed his strategy because he isn't nearly as active today.

[magneticgoop]

How about saying the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, is brutal, not the entire Bible...

Because jeffrey dahmer was only evil while he was killing and eating people. And that was hardly any of the time. Aside from that he was a charming young man.

Anyway he said the bible, not the entire bible. The Pentateuch is in the bible. It's the action-packed beginning.

The bible would make an intersting movie, like saving private ryan (because only the beginning is good).

actually there are action packed parts in the beginning middle and especially the end, but a lot of it would be pretty boring because it is proverbs, laws, morals, and psalms

[ignotus]

The Bible is a all time best seller:
It's brutal (Cain killed Abel), has sex in it (Holoferno), its fiction (6 days to crate the whole world, I think we know by now that that's pure SF), but it has hope on the end (Jesus will come again)...

If you believe you will love it, if you don't it still remains a great book!

[unriggable]

How about saying the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, is brutal, not the entire Bible...

Because jeffrey dahmer was only evil while he was killing and eating people. And that was hardly any of the time. Aside from that he was a charming young man.

Anyway he said the bible, not the entire bible. The Pentateuch is in the bible. It's the action-packed beginning.

The bible would make an intersting movie, like saving private ryan (because only the beginning is good).

actually there are action packed parts in the beginning middle and especially the end, but a lot of it would be pretty boring because it is proverbs, laws, morals, and psalms

BUT ITS NOT THE SAME WITHOUT EXODUS CHAPTER 20

[Titanic]

The Bible is a all time best seller:
It's brutal (Cain killed Abel), has sex in it (Holoferno), its fiction (6 days to crate the whole world, I think we know by now that that's pure SF), but it has hope on the end (Jesus will come again)...

If you believe you will love it, if you don't it still remains a great book!

By quite a margin.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

Interesting, 11 of the top 20 best sellers are by British authors...

[jay_a2j]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

[radiojake]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

surprised ?

No.

Of course you would take the word of an imaginary being and follow its non existent orders. Religious folk!!

[OnlyAmbrose]

Even if you don't believe, the Bible makes a rather intriging read.
A few months ago I picked up my copy and flicked to a chapter which I have no hope remembering now. In it, it describes a group of people finding a man picking up logs on a Sunday. As this classifies as work, he had to be punished. Which was - believe it or not - death. Who gave the verdict? God himself. I am not joking. Who knows? Maybe the guy was collecting wood to build a fire for his cold family. Seems harsh, yes?
Any regular readers who know the chapter name and verse number for this little story?

So far as I know, the rules about working on Sunday were slackened quite a bit when Jesus came around, because people (namely the pharisees) were using the old law for their own advancement and holier-than-thou charades as opposed to using them to honor the Lord.

But I'm no expert on the Old Testament, not sure where MR. Nate is, but he always has a good answer to this sort of Old Testament oddity.

[MeDeFe]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

Well, and it'd be at best a 50-50 chance if I go outside or not if god appeared before me and told me to if it's -40 degrees there. Who needs furniture anyway?

[heavycola]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

doesn't matter who it is, if he or she was going to have me bludgeoned to death by the rest of my tribe i would probably follow orders too. Fear is a very powerful motivator.

[joecoolfrog]

Even if you don't believe, the Bible makes a rather intriging read.
A few months ago I picked up my copy and flicked to a chapter which I have no hope remembering now. In it, it describes a group of people finding a man picking up logs on a Sunday. As this classifies as work, he had to be punished. Which was - believe it or not - death. Who gave the verdict? God himself. I am not joking. Who knows? Maybe the guy was collecting wood to build a fire for his cold family. Seems harsh, yes?
Any regular readers who know the chapter name and verse number for this little story?

So far as I know, the rules about working on Sunday were slackened quite a bit when Jesus came around, because people (namely the pharisees) were using the old law for their own advancement and holier-than-thou charades as opposed to using them to honor the Lord.

But I'm no expert on the Old Testament, not sure where MR. Nate is, but he always has a good answer to this sort of Old Testament oddity.

Ambroise there never were any biblical rules about working on a Sunday,the Sabbath is Saturday and always has been.Sunday was simply decreed a holy day by the Holy Roman Church in the 4th century and Catholic theologians have never attempted to pretend otherwise.
Various theories have been put forward as to the change but the most popular views are that the Church wished to distance itself from Judaism or that it was done as a sop to the many Pagan followers of the Sun God - from which the name derives.
Many Christians argue that it is irrelevant because Sunday is simply now a holy day in which to praise Jesus, thats absolutely correct but it is of mans design not that of God or Christ.
What I find weird is that Protestants observe Sunday as the Sabbath given that it has no biblical foundation and was put in place by the Catholic church - Strange !

[joecoolfrog]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

Commendable Jay
I trust you realise that day is Saturday though and not Sunday, or else you may not have to worry about staying warm in the future

[magneticgoop]

Even if you don't believe, the Bible makes a rather intriging read.
A few months ago I picked up my copy and flicked to a chapter which I have no hope remembering now. In it, it describes a group of people finding a man picking up logs on a Sunday. As this classifies as work, he had to be punished. Which was - believe it or not - death. Who gave the verdict? God himself. I am not joking. Who knows? Maybe the guy was collecting wood to build a fire for his cold family. Seems harsh, yes?
Any regular readers who know the chapter name and verse number for this little story?

So far as I know, the rules about working on Sunday were slackened quite a bit when Jesus came around, because people (namely the pharisees) were using the old law for their own advancement and holier-than-thou charades as opposed to using them to honor the Lord.

But I'm no expert on the Old Testament, not sure where MR. Nate is, but he always has a good answer to this sort of Old Testament oddity.

Ambroise there never were any biblical rules about working on a Sunday,the Sabbath is Saturday and always has been.Sunday was simply decreed a holy day by the Holy Roman Church in the 4th century and Catholic theologians have never attempted to pretend otherwise.
Various theories have been put forward as to the change but the most popular views are that the Church wished to distance itself from Judaism or that it was done as a sop to the many Pagan followers of the Sun God - from which the name derives.
Many Christians argue that it is irrelevant because Sunday is simply now a holy day in which to praise Jesus, thats absolutely correct but it is of mans design not that of God or Christ.
What I find weird is that Protestants observe Sunday as the Sabbath given that it has no biblical foundation and was put in place by the Catholic church - Strange !

true but God could care less about the day of the week just as long as it is once a week, Saturday was just a suggested day of the week not one that must by all means be followed. also another reason why we chose sunday was because easter is on a sunday and is the most important christain holiday

[btownmeggy]

Trujillato soldiers took their lessons in genocide from the Bible with they massacred tens of thousands of Haitians in 1937. If they couldn't pronounce words in proper Spanish, they were macheted.

4 Jephthah then called together the men of Gilead and fought against Ephraim. The Gileadites struck them down because the Ephraimites had said, "You Gileadites are renegades from Ephraim and Manasseh." 5 The Gileadites captured the fords of the Jordan leading to Ephraim, and whenever a survivor of Ephraim said, "Let me cross over," the men of Gilead asked him, "Are you an Ephraimite?" If he replied, "No," 6 they said, "All right, say 'Shibboleth.' " He said, "Sibboleth," because he could not pronounce the word correctly, they seized him and killed him at the fords of the Jordan. Forty-two thousand Ephraimites were killed at that time.

[MeDeFe]

I think there was something similar in Northern Ireland, as well.

[mr. incrediball]

The Bible is a all time best seller:
It's brutal (Cain killed Abel), has sex in it (Holoferno), its fiction (6 days to crate the whole world, I think we know by now that that's pure SF), but it has hope on the end (Jesus will come again)...

If you believe you will love it, if you don't it still remains a great book!

I wonder if, 2000 years from now, there will be a worldwide religion based on the harry potter books?

[jay_a2j]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

Commendable Jay
I trust you realise that day is Saturday though and not Sunday, or else you may not have to worry about staying warm in the future

I am aware the Sabbath is Saturday. Some people believe (not sure if I do) that "the beast" in revelation will be Catholic because of the verse "He will change times and dates". (the Pope) I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[mr. incrediball]

I don't care if it -40 degrees outside! If God tells me not to gather wood on a certain day...I ain't gathering wood!

Commendable Jay
I trust you realise that day is Saturday though and not Sunday, or else you may not have to worry about staying warm in the future

I am aware the Sabbath is Saturday. Some people believe (not sure if I do) that "the beast" in revelation will be Catholic because of the verse "He will change times and dates". (the Pope) I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

can also go for:

an islam (changing the sabbath to friday)

A lunar-month religion (changing the entire year)

An athiest (refusing to use B.C and A.D)

[Minister Masket]

How about saying the Old Testament, especially the Pentateuch, is brutal, not the entire Bible...

Meh, the title had a ring to it. Plus it alliterates.

[2dimes]

Even if you don't believe, the Bible makes a rather intriging read.
A few months ago I picked up my copy and flicked to a chapter which I have no hope remembering now. In it, it describes a group of people finding a man picking up logs on a Sunday. As this classifies as work, he had to be punished. Which was - believe it or not - death. Who gave the verdict? God himself. I am not joking. Who knows? Maybe the guy was collecting wood to build a fire for his cold family. Seems harsh, yes?
Any regular readers who know the chapter name and verse number for this little story?

true but God could care less about the day of the week just as long as it is once a week, Saturday was just a suggested day of the week not one that must by all means be followed. also another reason why we chose sunday was because easter is on a sunday and is the most important christain holiday

Yeah it was just a light hearted suggestion. :eyerollemoticon:

The conversation is regarding the law at the time when it was given to Moses. The penalty was being killed by rocks. That does not sound so much like a suggestion to me.

Numbers 15:32-36

Sabbath-breaking Punished
32Now while the sons of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the sabbath day.

33Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation;

34and they put him in custody because it had not been declared what should be done to him.

35Then the LORD said to Moses, "The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp."

36So all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

God changed the sabbath from a requirement to a blessing the same as making all meat available as food and shutting down the temple for sacrifice.

Hence "New testament" or more correctly "New Covenant".

Like Chris Rock said, "Back then it could kill you, now a pork chop is your friend!"

[satanspaladin]

not being a big reader of the bible i do remember a line thou shall not kill.
he must of forgotten the postscript unless i tell you .
a bit of a hypocrite if you ask me

[autoload]

Shut your face.

[2dimes]

him's a hypocrite

Well that was weak and lacking imagination.

I would rather question the fact that he could cause fire to come from the sky or at least lightning.

Perhaps have a rabid mongoose or some kind of snake in one of the piles of sticks take the guy out.

Or how about just make his heart stop.

Instead he tells Moses. "Well, let's have everyone in the tribe grab a rock and pummel the guy."

Looks like there was more to it, maybe checking if they would trust him enough to obey? He did a bunch of that in the dessert.

I guess "not being a big reader " you missed it.