2 of 3: The Bizarre Hilarious Disturbing Marvelous Things I Learned When I Read the Bible

[TOSViolator]

I'm not saying these things are not written in the Bible. I'm only saying some things are interpreted a bit awry.

[ToddAllenGates]

@TOSViolator

> I'm only saying some things are interpreted a bit awry.

Deuteronomy 22:13-21 says if a man accuses his wife of not being a virgin on their wedding night--and her parents can't produce the evidence of blood on their bedsheets--the men of the city should stone the girl to death.

In what way am I misinterpreting this?

[ExonicPlain]

Nice videos. Very well-spoken. Earned yourself a new subscriber.

[ToddAllenGates]

> Nice videos. Very well-spoken. Earned yourself a new subscriber.

Thanks--glad to have you aboard!

[TLSlayer]

the brainwashing inflicted on the people must be extremely potent if they worship such a vicious freak of supernature and THEN say he is love and NOT fear!

honestly,i would say that all christian zealots themselves should be slaughtered for their worship but i know its not entirely their fault.

also,to stone the faithless would only make sense IF god was in fact known to be real.because then they would be an extreme threat.

[ToddAllenGates]

> the brainwashing inflicted on the people must be extremely potent if they worship such a vicious freak of supernature and THEN say he is love and NOT fear!

Or maybe their insistence on saying that "God Is Love!" is just said out of fear! Kind of like the way people under the cruel regimes of Mao, Stalin, and Saddam Hussein all had to pretend that they loved their leaders . . . the difference being of course, that those leaders actually existed.

[carloz1]

Yet another great video. You are kicking a dead horse, but as long as people keep propping it up, I suppose it is fair game. . Have you seen Betty Bowers bit on traditional values? I just found her, if you havent seen it already, I think you would enjoy it.

[ToddAllenGates]

> You are kicking a dead horse, but as long as people keep propping it up, I suppose it is fair game. .

As far as I can tell, the horse is far from dead ... it may be diseased from within, but it's still alive and kicking!

> Have you seen Betty Bowers bit on traditional values?

Just watched her for the first time—and subbed. Great stuff!

[carloz1]

You are right. There are so many holes that the horse shouldn't be alive but it is. Thanks for kicking it. You do as good a job as any I've seen.

[ToddAllenGates]

> You do as good a job as any I've seen.

TOO kind but thanks!

[MumblingMickey]

It certainly kicking... ouch

[carloz1]

Humans have an amazing capacity to spin. Almost unconsciously we make connections that aren't there. We attempt to make order from disorder. From simple superstitions such as lucky drawers that magically help win basketball games, listening to the Beatles backwards for hidden messages, even seeing faces in clouds. Our superstitious tendencies mixed with our hopes and fears, sprinkled with intellectual dishonesty is as scary as the God of the Old Testament.

[ToddAllenGates]

> Our superstitious tendencies mixed with our hopes and fears, sprinkled with intellectual dishonesty is as scary as the God of the Old Testament.

Well said!

And I actually think our reaction (superstitions + hopes + fears + dishonesty) is even scarier, because it exists in the real world!

[stevebritgimp]

Both old and new testaments contain instructions to reject or oppress your family and follow religion. Even today we have in my country men who kill their own daughters rather than tolerate their independence, although these follow a newer testament. I think this is a central plank of how religion is appalling, and makes all claims to family values hollow, and exercises in doublethink by the religious.

[ToddAllenGates]

> this is a central plank of how religion is appalling, and makes all claims to family values hollow, and exercises in doublethink by the religious

I would say it's doublethink only for those Christians who've actually read the Bible!

[Domzdream]

If people truely adhered to these crazy ass rules of the bible, then there must have been countless amounts of killings done in that time.

And they say religions aren't evil.

Bloody hell...

[ToddAllenGates]

> people truly adhered to these crazy ass rules of the bible

There's a book by A.J. Jacobs called "The Year of Living Biblically"—he tried to live by the rules of the Bible for a whole year. He had to carry around his own stool with him everywhere just so he wouldn't ever accidentally sit where a menstruating woman had just sat.

[Domzdream]

Why am I not in the least surprised. What a whacko book.

[ToddAllenGates]

> What a whacko book.

I haven't read the book, but as I understand it, the guy's an atheist, and wants to demonstrate the comedy of trying to follow God's laws.

[Domzdream]

I have to have this book!

[freethinker3161]

lol, got such a kick out of the Purim story. during the celebration of Prim this year, a christian funde i am friends with on face book posted the following. " i wish i was in Isreal right now celebrating Purim with my Israeli brothers and sisters. Praise god and his holy name." thats right from my face book. i guess she read the clean version of the story as well.

[ToddAllenGates]

> i guess she read the clean version of the story as well.

From my searches on the web, the clean version is the far more popular! You could probably find 1,000 versions of the edited version for every 1 of the unedited.

[freethinker3161]

when i read her post first i was like, "your not Jewish." but Christians nowadays especially funde Christians have some strange love for the Jewish religion. like in the end of revaluation they aren't in big trouble or anything. lol.

[GMwoogitmaster18]

"....skips chapter 9 of the book..."

Man, it seems like MOST of the content was in this chapter.

[ToddAllenGates]

> it seems like MOST of the content was in this chapter.

Or at least, most of its conclusion!

[DisforDubby]

ug man... right after this I watched a video called "The Feedback Loop: Ecological Damage Soon Beyond Control"

basically all this is happening because God said "go forth and multiply"

srsly God is essentially fully responsible for all of our problems, and we are supposedly going to hell?? Makes no sense. I am so mad.

[ToddAllenGates]

> we are supposedly going to hell

Depends which bible passage you read! The bible itself is full of contradictions when it comes to the afterlife -- I have a separate video series on that called "The Evolution of the Afterlife."

[benjaminja77]

the bible does not have contradictions.....the old testament rules do not all apply anymore....if you worked on the sabbath you would die....now things are different..new testament rules apply...not saying the old testament is not reliable or anything...the bible is fully 100% true...

[ToddAllenGates]

Hi benjaminja77,

I know that the skilled apologist can rationalize every biblical contradiction. Still, I hope you can understand why non-theists will read passages like

Exodus 33:11 (the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend)

Vs.

John 1:18 (No one has ever seen the Lord)

and

Matthew 1:16 (Joseph's father name is Jacob)

Vs.

Luke 3:23 (Joseph's father name is Heli)

---and think they "look like" contradictions!

[benjaminja77]

Moses didn't speak to the Lord face to face...God had His back turned while He spoke to Moses on mount siani (not sure how to spell that)....and for the other one....God changed his name or he had 2 names or something...you have a first name and a middle name...everyone gets called different names.

.levi and matthew are the same people...

.saul and paul are the same..

.abraham and abram...

[benjaminja77]

oh yeah and JESUS LOVES YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

[DisforDubby]

I understand what you mean, and I agree with you. However, from a born again's perspective with reference to the spirit filled churches and individuals, reading and understanding the Bible without the Spirit of God will lead to misunderstandings and no revelations of the truth of God. To them, you are creating arguments based on human rational. I suppose the "correct" way to go about this is to ask God to show reveal things to you spiritually if he is real.

I speak of course from that prspctve

[templarart]

Really good.  I've quoted that passage out of Deuteronomy where you're supposed to kill family members over heresy countless times. It's obvious that the mental virus protects itself by killing all competition to its host. I think the next, natural evolution in your videos would be the mindset of a Christian as they read these passages - I remember being horrified, trying to understand them, compartmentalizing them and then just assuming "God knows best". Real cognitive dissonance.

[ToddGates]

> the mental virus protects itself by killing all competition to its host.

Well put!

> I remember being horrified, trying to understand them, compartmentalizing them and then just assuming "God knows best". Real cognitive dissonance.

Seems to be a common pattern. One ex-Christian said it was like trying to hold up spinning plates: first just a few, and then more & more --- until they all came crashing down.

[8WholeThing]

About the hanging/impaling discrepancy, I asked a part-time preacher at work about the death of Judas in Matthew vs, Acts. He said that a book he read said "to hang" meant "to fall on a sword" as a suicide which caused his guts to fall out,. Perhaps the book was correct that hanging was impaling, a la Vlad the Impaler.

(After checking, I pointed out to my friend that Young's Literal Translation said that Judas "strangled" himself, so it was translated as "hung" in other versions.)

[ToddAllenGates]

> "to hang" meant "to fall on a sword" as a suicide which caused his guts to fall out,. Perhaps the book was correct that hanging was impaling, a la Vlad the Impaler.

Didn't know that -- thanks for the info!