How Can Christians Still Believe??

[The Grand Nudger]

That's the disturbing bit actually Xavier, there are absolutely no direct references to that particular act in the bible. Of all of the sex acts the authors took time to mention...this one doesn't figure in. No encouragement, no prohibition. Probably has to do with our definition of paedophilia likely being very different from their own. If she's bleeding, fair game. Might even be ok to secure the rights to her before she's bleeding, just so no one beats you to the punch.

"And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Avenge the children of Israel of the Midianites ... And they warred against the Midianites, as the LORD commanded Moses; and they slew all the males ... And the children of Israel took all the women of Midian captives, and their little ones ... And Moses was wroth with the officers ... And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? ... Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves." Numbers 31:1-18

"When thou comest nigh unto a city to fight against it ... And when the LORD thy God hath delivered it into thine hands, thou shalt smite every male thereof with the edge of the sword: But the women, and the little ones, and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself." Deuteronomy 20:10-14

"How shall we do for wives for them that remain, seeing we have sworn by the LORD that we will not give them of our daughters to wives? ... And the congregation sent thither twelve thousand men of the valiantest, and commanded them, saying, Go and smite the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead with the edge of the sword, with the women and the children. And this is the thing that ye shall do, Ye shall utterly destroy every male, and every woman that hath lain by man. And they found among the inhabitants of Jabeshgilead four hundred young virgins, that had known no man by lying with any male: and they brought them unto the camp to Shiloh." Judges 21:7-11

"Go and lie in wait in the vineyards; And see, and, behold, if the daughters of Shiloh come out to dance in dances, then come ye out of the vineyards, and catch you every man his wife of the daughters of Shiloh ... And the children of Benjamin did so, and took them wives, according to their number, of them that danced, whom they caught." Judges 21:20-23

These are the verses you will commonly see, you will commonly hear how ambiguous these verses are (and honestly show me a bible verse that someone isn't actively arguing is ambiguous somewhere in it's defense), the reader is left to imagine what one might do with so much young flesh, so often taken as a prize or captured in a field. That's why it's such a successful part of the narrative..lets you imagine what you might do while you're sitting in the pew supposedly being "very, very serious about being very, very moral".

[Minimalist]

If she's bleeding, fair game.

In that culture, if they were bleeding they were essentially middle-aged. Toss in the all the child-birth issues and women had it really rough in terms of reaching a ripe old age.

Life expectancy at birth, even in the Roman Empire was only about 25-28.
One would have to think that the Romans had a bit of an advantage over these primitive goat herders living in the desert.

[The Grand Nudger]

Makes one wonder just how young a girl had to be to be one of those that had "never known a male" described above.

[Godscreated]

Godschild. The story of Moses holding the sea back is another myth. There are no vowels in Aramaic nor Hebrew, therefore in the scriptures the Red sea would be wriiten as....rd s. This has been mistranslated and should be Reed Sea. [which would still be written as rd s] The Reed Sea is at the edge of the Mediterranean sea at the curve where Egypt meets Israel.
The volcano at Mt Etna had exploded thus causing a Tsunami. This in turn caused the sea to withdraw. That's when Moses and his people crossed. As the sea came back in with avengeance, it drowned all the warriors and covered their chariots. The flames in the sky, supposedly God's anger was the flames from the volcano but because of the curve of the earth, only those flames could be seen from the Reed Sea and not the volcano. There has been found lots of larva in the area.
There is a scientific explanation for stories in the bible.
Another problem I have believing is when God supposedly said...'I will send Satan to the four corners of the earth.'
Well, there aren't four corners, its a sphere and if God created/designed the universe he would know that and would have said, 'I will send Satan round the earth. People of those times believed the earth was flat, as a carpet and that the mountains were positioned to weigh it down so that it wouldn't float away.
Greek mythology....Jesus only spoke in parables. If you study them, it's very much like Greek philosophy to me.
I have read the New International Bible a couple of times. I find the old testament just full of violence. They smite them and we smite them etc.
Plus when Moses and his people had reached the desert and out of Egypt. The Lord supposedly went to Moses' tent daily. On one visit, he instructed that any families with teenagers had to pay shekkles and all the monies had to go to Aaron Moses' brother...nice eh? I do think that the reference to the Lord in this story should have read warlord.
If you'd study yourself instead of believing everything as read, you'd come to realise how silly a lot of the scriptures are.
BTW, I was a practicing Christian until my 40s, when it began to dawn on me that the whole subject is a load of fairy tales/parables and designed to keep the peasants of that time under control. Indeed control/power/wealth are still the essence of it today. A good example as to how hypocritical religion is, is when it was revealed that the Vatican City managed their own a birth control pill factory running at great profit!!!!

I'm fully aware there were no vowels used, that however does not mean we have mistaken the Sea of Reeds for the Red Sea. The direction that Moses took does not lead them across the Sea Of Reeds, the crossing is at the Red Sea. The words reed and red are not spelled alike in the Hebrew.
As for your idea that a tsunami was responsible, when a tsunami wave pulls the water from the shore line there would not be enough time to get that many people across before the deadly water returned. Then you have to account for an army of chariots to move into place also, time of a tsunami event would not allow for your idea. Sorry you need to research thoroughly.
The idea of people of that time believing the earth was flat and square is crazy. When God spoke of the four corners of the earth He was referring to the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west. Those directions would cover the planet.
Jesus spoke in more than parables, I thought you said you had read the NT, Jesus used parables to teach truth and at times to hide the truth until He could reveal the truth to His disciples.
If smiting is all you have gotten from the OT then it's no wonder you have rejected scripture and the God who inspired it. I do study scripture and study seriously, I see nothing silly about scripture, what I do see is God's wonderful plan of salvation which begins in Genesis. The OT is a guiding marker to Christ, what do you think the disciples used when they preached the salvation that Jesus brought. I hope you do not think they used the NT.
You and others speak of control, who is doing the controlling and exactly why? Who would benefit from this control you speak of, and do you seriously believe that such an action could be keep from the churches of this day, that has to be one of the most ridiculous accusations I've ever heard. Just because you lost your faith does not in any way make christians stupid, how blind one must be to believe such nonsense.

[Minimalist]

Your problem, G-C is not Red Sea or Reed Sea it is that there is no historical or archaeological record of any of this shit ever happening.

I have asked this question of fundies before and never gotten an answer which stands up to the evidence.

When, in your opinion, did this so-called "exodus" take place?

[jupitor]

#The idea of people of that time believing the earth was flat and square is crazy. When God spoke of the four corners of the earth He was referring to the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west. Those directions would cover the planet. #

Godschild. .........North, south, east, west are directions, not corners. Can you just hold this tennis ball at its four corners please?

[Godscreated]

#The idea of people of that time believing the earth was flat and square is crazy. When God spoke of the four corners of the earth He was referring to the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west. Those directions would cover the planet. #

Godschild. .........North, south, east, west are directions, not corners. Can you just hold this tennis ball at its four corners please?

Yes I can at the north, south, east and west, you guys claim to be smart yet you can not see something as simple as this.

[Minimalist]

So when was your precious fucking "exodus" G-C?

You're such an expert. Surely you must know?

[Nine]

Yes I can at the north, south, east and west, you guys claim to be smart yet you can not see something as simple as this.

East and West are just geographical concepts that are used as left and right relative to north and south. There is no east or west poles. You can go east forever if you want it doesn't mean anything.

[jupitor]

#The idea of people of that time believing the earth was flat and square is crazy. When God spoke of the four corners of the earth He was referring to the cardinal directions of north, south, east and west. Those directions would cover the planet. #

Godschild. .........North, south, east, west are directions, not corners. Can you just hold this tennis ball at its four corners please?

Yes I can at the north, south, east and west, you guys claim to be smart yet you can not see something as simple as this.

There are definitely no corners on a tennis ball or any other ball/sphere, neither are there any on earth. Shame how people are brain washed with rubbish from birth............