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Sunday, November 13, 2005

Pat Robertson vs God

Pat Robertson says, in his Answers to 200 of Life's Most Difficult Questions:

Is Abortion Wrong?

"[...] Abortion is terribly wrong. God condemned the Israelites who were offering their children as sacrifices to the heathen god Molech. Such children were burned up in the fires of sacrifice (see Leviticus 20:2). But we are offering our children to a god of pleasure and sensuality and convenience. By doing so we are saying that human beings are not worth anything. This is a terrible sin and a blot on our society."


On the other hand, if you believe the Bible, God:
  • To Abram, Genesis 22:2 - "And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of."
  • Exodus 12:29 - "And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle."
  • Numbers 16 - God causes an entire family, including their little children, to be swallowed up by the earth
  • Numbers 21:3 - "And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah." Nope, no kids there.
  • Numbers 21:34-35 - "And the LORD said unto Moses, Fear him not: for I have delivered him into thy hand, and all his people, and his land; and thou shalt do to him as thou didst unto Sihon king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. 21:35 So they smote him, and his sons, and all his people, until there was none left him alive: and they possessed his land" Surely God spared the children there?
  • Numbers 25:7-8 - "And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
    25:8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. " Now why is it important to stab a woman through her belly if you disapprove of the union? In any case, God seems to have been fine with it, since Phinehas and all his descendents are priests for ever.
  • Numbers 31:17 - The Israelites rout the Midianites, kill all the adult men, and take the women and children captive. Moses, mouthpiece for God, says "Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him."
  • 1 Samuel 15:3 - "Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. "
  • Joshua 6:21 - "And they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old, and ox, and sheep, and ass, with the edge of the sword." God thought this was a Good Thing.
  • Joshua 8:24 - "And it came to pass, when Israel had made an end of slaying all the inhabitants of Ai in the field, in the wilderness wherein they chased them, and when they were all fallen on the edge of the sword, until they were consumed, that all the Israelites returned unto Ai, and smote it with the edge of the sword." God also approved of this one.
  • Joshua 10 is a whole list of entire cities where Joshua killed everybody, including babies, with God's approval
  • 2 Kings 2:23-24 "And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. 2:24 And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them. "
  • 2 Kings 15:16 - "Then Menahem smote Tiphsah, and all that were therein, and the coasts thereof from Tirzah: because they opened not to him, therefore he smote it; and all the women therein that were with child he ripped up." God doesn't seem to have a problem with this.
  • Psalms 137:9 - "Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. " (Of course, the little ones are not God's people's little ones)
  • Jeremiah 2:29 - God admits to having smitten little children as a way of making a point
  • Ezekiel 9:6 - God commands, "Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my sanctuary. Then they began at the ancient men which were before the house. "
  • Hosea 9:11-12 - "As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. 9:12 Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! "
  • Hosea 13:16 - "Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up. "

Edited to add, November 14: After all that, I'm wondering if God's problem up in Leviticus was not so much that babies were being killed, as that babies were being killed, and offered as sacrifices to someone other than him.

Also, thanks to the Skeptic's Annotated Bible, which made it much easier to find the list, and which also made the list turn out to be much longer than I'd remembered.

1 Comments:

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3:59 p.m.

 

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