Christians often claim that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell… we send ourselves!
Whenever we mention the injustice of infinite punishment for finite crimes, especially when the supposed ‘crime’ is simply not being convinced, it’s common for Christians to claim that God doesn’t send anyone to Hell… we send ourselves! This demonstrates one of two possibilities…
1. The Christian in question hasn’t read their Bible (an odd state of affairs given that they think it’s the inspired word of God).
2. The Christian in question is a liar!
Of course – it’s not uncommon for both these possibilities to apply equally.
In what context could stoning a raped woman to death ever be justified?
In the Bible, Jesus tells us that God’s law shall never pass away until Heaven and earth are no more (Luke 16:17/Matthew 5:18). The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy literally translates as ‘the law repeated’. This law, the law of the old testament as written in the Hebrew bible (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy) is the only law that Jesus, a Jew would, could have been talking about. And so it is to Deuteronomy that we turn when asking how to deal with rape victims.
He was a Greek speaker who couldn’t read the original Hebrew and so relied on a more ambiguous word from the Greek translation of the Old Testament. Unfortunately he made the wrong choice and wrote ‘Almah’, meaning ‘virgin’ instead of ‘young woman’. Not only that – the entire story is about events that happened in Isaiah’s time, over 700 years before the nativity story is supposed to have taken place..
Anyone who reads more of Isaiah chapter 7 than just verse 14 will quickly see that. It’s not hard to understand. There’s not really much room for ‘interpretation’ with this one. So if your pastor is telling you it’s a prophecy about the Messiah – ask him3 why he’s lying – or, more charitably, why he doesn’t know this himself. Has he never read the Bible?
He has a lot of very superficial and scientifically illiterate things to say about gay and trans citizens as well as the proper (baby-making) role of women. But the most ridiculous and most obviously false claim he makes is that there are no contradictions in the Bible. He even says that anyone who finds a biblical contradiction will be the first person in the history of humanity to do it.
I’m acquainted with a street preacher called Dale. I’m hoping to debate him on line fairly soon. He’s agreed in principle but seems a little reluctant to come up with a date.
Dale makes some pretty outrageous claims. He states evolution is a lie, regularly using what I’m pretty sure he thinks is a clever, even witty line:
“Don’t let evolution make a monkey out of you”
He has a lot of very superficial and scientifically illiterate things to say about gay and trans citizens as well as the proper (baby-making) role of women. But the most ridiculous and most obviously false claim he makes is that there are no contradictions in the Bible. He even says that anyone who finds a biblical contradiction will be the first person in the history of humanity to do it!
We’ll, Dale. Here we go… I found some. Presumably, since you love the truth so much you’ll stop saying there aren’t any from now on.
Ryan Matus is a presuppositional, Calvinist Christian. He’s no fool and he certainly knows scripture. This online conversation was one of the most interesting and enjoyable I can remember and I’m certainly looking forward to talking more with Ryan.
many on the right support Zionist apartheid – because the Christian right insist that God gave that land to Israel and they command an awful lot of votes and even more money around the world.
Now then. How do you feel about genocide? How do you think the God of Abraham, the Bronze age God of war feels about genocide? More importantly, how do you imagine those Christians who think the Bible is the infallible word of God feel about the abuses committed by the state of Israel today toward Palestinians in the West Bank?
This is why so many on the right support Zionist apartheid – because the Christian right insist that God gave that land to Israel and they command an awful lot of votes and even more money around the world. This is not to say that all Israelis or even all Jews are Zionists but those that are seem to be calling the shots with devastating effect upon the Palestinians.
This isn’t defence, it’s invasion and it’s genocide. This is the unchanging God of Abraham commanding the outright destruction of entire populations, including, presumably innocent children and pregnant women.
So don’t give me any pro-life crap about the value of unborn babies before the Lord. Your God is a war criminal, a brutal, capricious, sadistic and genocidal torturer. And the Christians who follow him into defending the abuses of the Zionists are no better.
Because the God of Abraham definitely isn’t ProLife!
Are you ‘pro life’? Do you object to abortion on religious grounds? Maybe you should read your Bible instead of just beating people over the head with it.
Dale is a street preacher from my hometown. He’s the man who threatened a 13 year old autistic boy with damnation to Hell!
This video contains my challenge to Dale, If you’re so sure of yourself then come and debate me.
Dale is a street preacher from my hometown. He’s the man who threatened a 13 year old autistic boy with damnation to Hell! This video contains my challenge to Dale, If you’re so sure of yourself then come and debate me. We can both record it and both reserve the right to publish it unedited. We both get to speak through a microphone – not just one of us – and we both get to speak without our voices being drowned out by the other.person.
I’ll be linking this video in the comments there so he sees my challenge.
It’s not really death, is it? He’s eternal. He’s not dead – he just had a few days off. The self-harm is over now and it’s business as usual in Heaven, with His father (who is also Himself) so nothing was really sacrificed and nothing was given. It’s a bit of a con job really, isn’t it?
The whole thing’s just a big con. Even if you assume the Bible is entirely true – every word – it’s still a con. Here’s why.,..
The God free guide 