The Bible Maybe Outlawed

On the Bryan Fischer program, Todd Starnes said,

I suspect that we are going to see, within our lifetime, an attempt to outlaw or criminalize parts of the Bible or perhaps even pulling out parts of the Bible.

Original video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEfaeurslCw

He seems to be blissfully unaware that it has already happened. Many parts of the bible were criminalized centuries ago!

• Slavery is illegal
• Children cannot be sold by their parents
• Biblical marriage (eg; polygamy) is illegal

And despite the biblical laws demanding capital punishment, there is no longer a death penalty for:

• homosexuality
• adultery
• rape victims
• sabbath breakers
• false prophets
• atheism
• blasphemy
• being rude to parents

 

Also Christians have been "pulling out parts of the Bible" for thousands of years. There are hundreds of stories that Christians have never heard about because preachers have "pulled them out" of the bible and refuse to talk about them. When, for example, was the last time a minister stood up in the pulpit and preached a sermon about,

• Lot having sex with his daughters. (Genesis 19:30-38)
• God threatening to punish his people by making them so hungry they would eat their own children. (Leviticus 26:29)
• David killing 200 Phillistines and using their foreskins to buy a wife. (1 Samuel 19:27)
• When was the last time a preacher reminded his flock that Jesus wants all backsliders to be thrown into the ocean and drowned? (Matthew 18:6)

The Ten Commandments

Every Christian on the planet can tell you how to recognise the Ten Commandments:

(1) They are laws given to Moses by God.
(2) They are written on tablets of stone.
(3) They are called “The Ten Commandments”.

Let’s see if we can find them…


There is a list of rules in Exodus 20:3-17

Thou shalt have no other gods before me
No graven images
Don’t take god’s name in vain
Remember the Sabbath
Honor your father and your mother
Do not kill
Do not commit adultery
Do not steal
Do not bear false witness
Do not covet your neighbour’s possessions

Nearly all Protestant Christians* say that these are "The Ten Commandments" but they fit only one of the criteria: They were given to Moses by God, but they were not written in stone, and they are not called the Ten Commandments - so we'll have to keep looking.

As it happens, it is not until Exodus 24:12 that we find a set of rules written on tablets of stone.

And the Lord said unto Moses, Come up to me in the mount, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments, which I have written.

According to the bible, Moses was up on the mountain for so long that the Israelites got sick of waiting for him, and they started worshipping a golden calf (Exodus 32:1-4) but finally, after forty days and forty nights:

Moses turned and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand. (Exodus 32:15)

So that’s the first two criteria filled: The laws were given to Moses by God (1) and they were written on tablets of stone (2) but they are still not called “The Ten Commandments”. And nobody knew what the rules were anyway, because as soon as Moses saw the Israelites worshipping the golden calf, he:

“cast the tables out of his hands and brake them.” (Exodus 32:19)

It's pretty certain, though, that "thou shalt not kill" was not on the list because Moses now set about murdering all of his opponents! He called on the Levites to kill everyone who had worshipped the calf - and the Levites spent the rest of the day, merrily slaughtering all of their friends and relations.

"and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men." (Exodus 32:25-29)

Then, in Exodus chapter 34, God decides to make another set of stone tablets to replace the ones that Moses had smashed earlier:

And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first, and I will write upon these tables, the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest. (Exodus 34:1)

And the words he wrote are recorded in Exodus 34:14-26: 

Thou shalt worship no other god
Thou shalt make thee no molten gods
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep.
The firstborn ox and sheep belong to God.
On the seventh day thou shalt rest
Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks
Thrice in a year shall all your men children appear before the Lord
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven.
The first of the first fruits belong to God
Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

Also, for the first time in the bible, we are told that these are, indeed, the ten commandments - the words written on the tablets of stone are described as:

...the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. (Exodus 34:28)

So we have:

    Laws given to Moses by God (criterion 1)
    Those laws are written on tablets of stone (criterion 2)
    And they are called The Ten Commandments (criterion 3)


Our search is over. We have found the ten commandments hidden away in Exodus 34:14-28 where most Christians have never seen them !

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The apologists say the laws in Exodus 34 are "ritual" laws, while the "ethical" laws in Exodus 20 are the real ten commandments. They go on and on about it, but when it comes down to the bottom-line, the situation is perfectly clear: The rules in Exodus 34 are, indeed, the Ten Commandments - the bible says so!

 * Catholics and Lutherans take their Ten Commandments from Deuteronomy chapter five.

Gentle Jesus Meek and Mild

 What did Jesus say he would do to anyone who tried to lead his believers away from their faith?

If anyone causes one of these little ones - those who believe in me - to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:6)

What an old grouch he must have been.

I wouldn't drown anyone; even if I didn't like them.

A Strange Event

It was a big story in the news a while ago, but these days hardly anybody seems to remember it:

A new preacher arrived at a small church and slowly but surely turned it into a secretive cult. He demanded more and more from his congregation and recruited young men from the youth club to enforce his rulings. Soon he had complete control of the whole congregation and eventually reached a point where he was able to demand that members should sell all of the property they owned and give him the cash. Most of them immediately complied but one parishioner kept some of the money for himself.

The preacher was livid. He sent the young men to get the man and bring him down to the church. When they arrived the preacher took the man into the vestry and demanded to know why he hadn't handed over all the cash from the sale of his property. There was a long, loud, argument and then, suddenly, complete silence. The boys from the youth club ran into the vestry where they found the man lying dead on the floor! The preacher told them it was an accident and that it might be best to just get rid of the body - so the boys carried the man out of the church and buried him in the vacant block of land across the street.

A few hours later the man's wife arrived at the church looking for her husband. The preacher took her into the vestry and after a short argument there was an ominous silence. The members of the youth club re-entered the vestry and discovered that there had been another accident - the woman was lying dead on the floor! Once again the preacher told them to get rid of the evidence and the boys obeyed. They took her across the street and buried her beside her husband.

Despite the two murders, the preacher was able to convince his flock that it had nothing to do with him and that god had killed the couple for disobeying his orders. Amazingly, the church members accepted that explanation and went about their business as if nothing had happened! 

You can read the full story here