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Old 12th Sep 2011, 04:37
  #111 (permalink)  
Gigaboomer
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Australia
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Superfrozo, I see you are using the common atheist ploy of taking Old Testament verses out of context in an attempt to discredit the bible. Unfortunately your straw man arguments don’t really hold water when we look at these verses in context, so for those who actually have open minds please consider the following.

Psalm 137: 9 - The context is that the Israelites have just returned from captivity in Babylon and the psalmist is looking back in time and remembering the savagery of the Babylonian conquest. What he is saying is that it would be justice served if the same thing that the Babylonians did to them were done in return. The word translated ‘happy’ is not really a very good one, in the original language and context it really means ‘just’ as in justice. The psalmist never says he wants it to be so only that it will be so because it’s God’s justice.

Deuteronomy 23:1 - Again the context is telling. What this verse is saying is that people who have these afflictions cannot worship with Israel as they have come from other pagan/cult religions of the time, these things being a mark of these religions. The author in no way condones or supports it.

Ezekiel 23:19-20 - This one is very symbolic, as is much of Ezekiel. The author is using sexual imagery to convey God’s feelings of hurt and betrayal at Israel’s adopting of pagan religions. Again if you read it in the right context it makes perfect sense.

The bible often discusses or records immoral actions of sinful men but this does not mean it condones those actions. In all fairness the bible does also record God’s judgement from time to time and this may seem harsh by our modern standards but when viewed in the context of ancient morally corrupt societies and God’s high standards for Israel the atheist’s claims quickly evaporate. Ultimately I find it very hypocritical of atheists to claim the OT is immoral based their own version of morality when without God there can be no objective basis for this morality in the first place!
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