Something I think about with the bible, and particularly the old testament, is how much it reeks of "history is written by the victors." Two stories in particular come to mind.
1) The story of Lot and his daughters
In the bible, it is described how Lot's daughters were afraid they couldn't find men, so got their father drunk to have sex with him. And that is how they got pregnant.
That's a good story (actually, it's not a good story, it's pretty pointless), but really? If you heard that story today, would you believe it? Or would you figure that the real story is more likely that the guy is a drunken child molester? Especially hearing it third hand. "No, really, it's true! I heard it from a person that knows. His daughters totally got him drunk and took advantage of him. He's an upstanding guy, he would never do anything like that."
The dumb thing is, you can't even say that about Lot, that he would never treat his daughters poorly. According to the bible, he actually offered up his daughters to a sex hungry mob outside his house! So it's not like he wouldn't treat his daughters like crap. But hey, Lot was the righteous one, it was his wife who disobeyed God. And since Lot was righteous, there was no way he could be described as a drunken child molester. Nonetheless, the bible authors did find it necessary to explain how Lot's daughters ended up pregnant without any other guys around.
2) Another one I heard recent. Abraham and Sarah
Before they were Abraham and Sarah, they were Abram and Sarai. Now, they were old, very old, and God had promised them descendants that outnumbered the stars in the sky. And they didn't have kids yet. So according to the story, Sarai tells Abram, hey, I'm too old to have kids, so you go have sex with my servant Hagar and see if you can have kids with her. Well, he does, Hagar gets pregnant, and pisses off Sarai by boasting that she got pregnant. Sarai gets mad and complains to Abram. Abram tells her, it's up to you, so she runs Hagar out of town. However, God tells Hagar to come back and put up with Sarai's abuse. Hagar's son was Ishmael, the first to be circumcised.
Such a loving wife Sarai was, right? Having Abram go out and get her maid pregnant. I mean, it's not possible that he was actually screwing around with her, got her knocked up, and then Sarai got pissed off and tried to make the slut leave town. In the end Hagar stands up to her, but it's interesting that Sarai complains that Hagar treated her like "nothing" but God told Hagar to go back and put up with Sarai's abuse.
But Abraham is the good guy, so there's no way he could be portrayed as having screwed around on his wife. So it must be that Sarai gave him permission to do it.
Again, try that story today and no one would take it seriously.
1) The story of Lot and his daughters
In the bible, it is described how Lot's daughters were afraid they couldn't find men, so got their father drunk to have sex with him. And that is how they got pregnant.
That's a good story (actually, it's not a good story, it's pretty pointless), but really? If you heard that story today, would you believe it? Or would you figure that the real story is more likely that the guy is a drunken child molester? Especially hearing it third hand. "No, really, it's true! I heard it from a person that knows. His daughters totally got him drunk and took advantage of him. He's an upstanding guy, he would never do anything like that."
The dumb thing is, you can't even say that about Lot, that he would never treat his daughters poorly. According to the bible, he actually offered up his daughters to a sex hungry mob outside his house! So it's not like he wouldn't treat his daughters like crap. But hey, Lot was the righteous one, it was his wife who disobeyed God. And since Lot was righteous, there was no way he could be described as a drunken child molester. Nonetheless, the bible authors did find it necessary to explain how Lot's daughters ended up pregnant without any other guys around.
2) Another one I heard recent. Abraham and Sarah
Before they were Abraham and Sarah, they were Abram and Sarai. Now, they were old, very old, and God had promised them descendants that outnumbered the stars in the sky. And they didn't have kids yet. So according to the story, Sarai tells Abram, hey, I'm too old to have kids, so you go have sex with my servant Hagar and see if you can have kids with her. Well, he does, Hagar gets pregnant, and pisses off Sarai by boasting that she got pregnant. Sarai gets mad and complains to Abram. Abram tells her, it's up to you, so she runs Hagar out of town. However, God tells Hagar to come back and put up with Sarai's abuse. Hagar's son was Ishmael, the first to be circumcised.
Such a loving wife Sarai was, right? Having Abram go out and get her maid pregnant. I mean, it's not possible that he was actually screwing around with her, got her knocked up, and then Sarai got pissed off and tried to make the slut leave town. In the end Hagar stands up to her, but it's interesting that Sarai complains that Hagar treated her like "nothing" but God told Hagar to go back and put up with Sarai's abuse.
But Abraham is the good guy, so there's no way he could be portrayed as having screwed around on his wife. So it must be that Sarai gave him permission to do it.
Again, try that story today and no one would take it seriously.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1PxQAUU
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