Favourite verses

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Burn Your Bible's picture
God knowingly allows him to

God knowingly allows him to promise what would later be his daughter in order to teach a lesson!!!!

I have to say JOC I never thought I would hate the Bible more than I do but hearing what this horrid church is puking out on other nations is disgusting! We have to do something to take down this monster!!! How many more people have to suffer from this monster you call church???

Sky Pilot's picture
Burn Your Bible,

Burn Your Bible,

The story of Jephthah's vow is tied in with Jesus' Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:33-37 (NKJV) in which he prohibits oaths =

"Jesus Forbids Oaths
33 “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to the Lord.’ 34 But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is God’s throne; 35 nor by the earth, for it is His footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 Nor shall you swear by your head, because you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 But let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ For whatever is more than these is from the evil one."

The story also illustrates what happens when you violate the 10th Commandment. You essentially kill the future. As it says in Exodus 34:26 (CEB) = "Don’t boil a young goat in its mother’s milk."

When Jephthah killed his daughter because of his foolish oath he killed his family line because he had no other children beside her. He made an oath that he should have never made.

jonthecatholic's picture
Let me ask you. Do you think

Let me ask you. Do you think that if people do foolish or sinful things, that there wouldn’t be consequences? The Bible is actually laden with stories of this nature. One man makes a foolish decision and they later suffer the consequences of their decisions.

It’s just not spelled out like, “Remember this person killed his brother? Yeah. This is his consequence.”

Sky Pilot's picture
CyberLN,

CyberLN,

Although Jephthah is a minor character in the Bible he has a major role in illustrating a lot of religious points.

As I discussed before, he is used to illustrate the effect of violating the 10th Commandment, "don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk", and Jesus's commandment not to make oaths. Matthew 5:33-37.

Jephthah was the son of a prostitute. He is used to illustrate the passage from Wisdom 3:16-19 (CEB) about how the children of adulterers will come to a bad end.

"16 The children of adulterers, however, will come to nothing. The seed of people who have sex with others in violation of the Law will dry up. 17 Even if they live to old age, their lives won’t amount to anything. In their old age they will have no honor. 18 If they die young, they will have no hope or comfort on Judgment Day. 19 The family line of those who don’t do what is right will come to a bad end."

That was Jephthah's fate. He and his daughter paid the price of Jephthah's parents' adultery.

The story also refers to how Jephthah was chosen to lead the resistance. That parallels the story in Judges 9:8-15 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Judges9:8-15&version=CEB;TL... in which the trees decided that they needed a king and the only thing that wanted the job was the lowly thorn bush.

CyberLN's picture
I’m not sure what your point

I’m not sure what your point is, Diotrephes.

Did my citing this as a favorite quote lead you to think I did not fully understand it? Or are you looking for addition discussion from me about it?

Sky Pilot's picture
CyberLN,

CyberLN,

Just making comments about the purpose of the character in the fairy tale. As I've said before, all of the biblical stories are based upon the Ten Commandments from Exodus chapter 34. They are usually related to other points in other stories as well. It's been my experience that when other people mention a particular character it gives me the opportunity to focus on his story and to see how his actions are related to a specific Commandment and to other ideas expressed in other stories. It's more of a personal mental exercise than anything else. I only directed the post to you because you mentioned the character and other people have complained that they don't know who a poster is responding to if the reply doesn't include a person's name.

Sky Pilot's picture
Sirach 22:2 (CEB) = "People

Sirach 22:2 (CEB) = "People who are afraid to act are like clumps of cow manure; those who pick it up will shake off their hand."

LucyAustralopithecus's picture
all of exodus 21:1-11 is

all of exodus 21:1-11 is wonderful :(

Chica__2009's picture
haha, yeah, a lot of atheists

haha, yeah, a lot of atheists love that chapter.

Flamenca's picture
Matthew 10:14: “If anyone

Matthew 10:14: “If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet.”

(to avoid annoying preachers)

Chica__2009's picture
I guess it sort of works both

I guess it sort of works both ways.

Flamenca's picture
Well, @Hello, since for us

Well, @Hello, since for us atheists the Bible is no book of commandments, but just a compilation of ancient mythology, we don't take the verses very seriously, so no, it doesn't work both ways.

Sky Pilot's picture
This is a clever verse that

This is a clever verse that was included to show that the biblical stories are BS =

Titus 1:14 (CEV) = "Don’t pay any attention to any of those senseless Jewish stories and human commands. These are made up by people who won’t obey the truth."

Sky Pilot's picture
Here's a good terroristic

Here's a good terroristic passage from Ezekiel =

Ezekiel 5:8-12 (CEV) = "8 Now all those nations will watch as I turn against you and punish you 9 for your sins. Your punishment will be more horrible than anything I’ve ever done or will ever do again. 10 Parents will be so desperate for food that they will eat their own children, and children will eat their parents. Those who survive this horror will be scattered in every direction.

11 Your disgusting sins have made my temple unfit as a place to worship me. So I swear by my own life that I will turn my back on you and show you no pity. 12 A third of you will die here in Jerusalem from disease or starvation. Another third will be killed in war. And I will scatter the last third of you in every direction, then track you down and kill you."

That passage contains a lot of information. It says that the God character was evil in the past but that this time he's really ticked off and will go to extremes. But after that he will be cool. It also says that he's a living entity and therefore he should die at some future time. Maybe he died and that's why he hasn't been around making threats lately? Even Methuselah finally bit the dust.

Chica__2009's picture
A verse that's been on my

A verse that's been on my mind for a few days:
Cast all your cares onto the Lord for he cares for you.
I think the verse is in Phil.
It's because one of my friends just got divorced so I've keep thinking of this while I prayed for her. It's so sad the horrible things humans do to one another even to those they supposedly love.

Sky Pilot's picture
Chica__2009,

Chica__2009,

That idea is opposite to Proverbs 25:20 (ERV) = "Singing happy songs to a sad person is as foolish as taking a coat off on a cold day or mixing soda and vinegar."

Cognostic's picture
1 Timothy 2:12: “I do not

1 Timothy 2:12: “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.”

1 Samuel 15:3, This is what the Lord Almighty says... ‘Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” (1 Samuel 15:3)

Exodus 22:18, “Do not allow a sorceress to live."

Psalm 137, Happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us – he who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.” (Psalm 137:9

Judges 19:25-28, “So the man took his concubine and sent her outside to them, and they raped her and abused her throughout the night, and at dawn they let her go. At daybreak the woman went back to the house where her master was staying, fell down at the door and lay there until daylight. When her master got up in the morning and opened the door of the house and stepped out to continue on his way, there lay his concubine, fallen in the doorway of the house, with her hands on the threshold. He said to her, ‘Get up; let’s go.’ But there was no answer. Then the man put her on his donkey and set out for home.

Judges 11:30-1, 34-5, “And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord, and said, ‘If you will give the Ammonites into my hand, then whoever comes out of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return victorious from the Ammonites, shall be the Lord’s, to be offered up by me as a burnt-offering.’ Then Jephthah came to his home at Mizpah; and there was his daughter coming out to meet him with timbrels and with dancing. She was his only child; he had no son or daughter except her. When he saw her, he tore his clothes, and said, ‘Alas, my daughter! You have brought me very low; you have become the cause of great trouble to me. For I have opened my mouth to the Lord, and I cannot take back my vow.’” (Judges 11:30-1, 34-5)

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