Would you drown a baby, if you thought its parents were evil?

God did.


Genesis 6:5 And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.

6 And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.

7 And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them.

(Unless somebody wants to argue there were no children right before the Flood? )

 

I would argue you don't understand the story

 

How so?

 

Because it states man???

 

...So you are arguing the flood didn't kill any children?

 

I think it is fairly new thought process that the sins of the father are not also the sins of the son. The family you were born into used to define someone. A peasant has peasant children, they will always be peasants. An aristocrat has aristocrat chidlren who will always be aristocrats. Royalty, slave, etc

So if a father were guilty and sentenced to death, the thought that his children and family were also guilty and would also die might only seem absurd to us modern folk.

 

How do you say in american....collateral damage?

 

Collateral damage only occurs because we have imperfect knowledge and imperfect capability.

Are you saying that a supposedly perfect god doesn't have the power or knowledge to avoid harming innocents incidentally?

 

Good point. Maybe you should let Yah fight your battles.

 

Are you kidding? God murders millions of innocent people in the Bible. Why would I want an utter and complete monster to fight any battles?

 

apparently they are.

 

He is always perfect right up until someone asks a question like this. Yes god created everything from the big bang down to the dirt under your fingernails, he/she/it has mastered gravity, dark matter, dark energy, black holes, fusion, gravity, created trillions of galaxies each containing billions of stars but somehow, somehow only got everything correct JUST here on earth (after frign around with dinosaurs for millions of years before going this aint workin).....and somehow somehow when wanting to rid the earth of evil creatures could not figure out how to not make them in the first place and also apparently panicked and just effing killed everyone including children, then was like.....whoa dude I effed up bad, I wont do that again.
Makes perfect sense to me.

 

Where do you see this "argument"?

Here is the complete text of chapter 6 in the Genesis - sit down on your campfire - be yourselve - and read:

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... Men began to increase their numbers on the earth, and daughters were born to them. The sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful. So they married any of them they chose. Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not struggle with man forever. He will die. He will have only 120 years to live until I judge him.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. That was when the sons of God went to the daughters of men and had children by them. The Nephilim were the heroes of long ago. They were famous men. Nephilim were also on the earth later on. The Lord saw how bad the sins of man had become on the earth. All of the thoughts in his heart were always directed only toward what was evil. The Lord was very sad that he had made man on the earth. His heart was filled with pain. So the Lord said, “I created man on the earth. But I will wipe them out. I will destroy people and animals alike. I will also destroy the creatures that move along the ground and the birds of the air. I am very sad that I have made man.” But the Lord was pleased with Noah. Here is the story of Noah. Noah was a godly man. He was without blame among the people of his time. He walked with God. Noah had three sons. Their names were Shem, Ham and Japheth. The earth was very sinful in God's eyes. It was full of mean and harmful acts. God saw how sinful the earth had become. All of the people on earth were leading very sinful lives. So God said to Noah: “I am going to put an end to all people. They have filled the earth with their harmful acts. You can be sure that I am going to destroy both them and the earth. So make yourself an ark out of cypress wood. Make rooms in it. Cover it with tar inside and out. Here is how I want you to build it. The ark has to be 450 feet long. It has to be 75 feet wide and 45 feet high. Make a roof for it. Leave the sides of the ark open a foot and a half from the top. Put a door in one side of the ark. Make lower, middle and upper decks. I am going to bring a flood on the earth. It will destroy all life under the sky. It will destroy every living creature that breathes. Everything on earth will die. But I will make my covenant with you. You will enter the ark. Your sons and your wife and your sons’ wives will enter it with you. Bring two of every living thing into the ark. Bring male and female of them into it. They will be kept alive with you. Two of every kind of bird will come to you. Two of every kind of animal will come to you. And two of every kind of creature that moves along the ground will come to you. All of them will be kept alive with you. Take every kind of food that you will need. Store it away. It will be food for you and for them.” Noah did everything exactly as God commanded him. ...
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCTsDqu3jCY

 

You forgot to say that maybe nearly an endless number of universes with such and/or completly different descriptions and even undescribable universes could be created from god too - and he knows indeed not only the position of every hair on everyones head in all this universes. ... I know I know: Makes no sense for you. Why should it? You don't believe in god.

But let me ask you something else: Do you think we are not able to kill planet earth (including all animals) with our own behavior - or do you think we are able to kill our own planet and all animals here with our behavior? If we would kill our planet and all animals - would we be responsible for our deeds - and if yes: What do you suggest should god do with us in this case? Would you give us a second chance if you would be god?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3SpSrL20uIg

 

Man means mankind in this instance. This is not limited to adult males.

 

It was not about them being evil. It was about them not worshiping him properly. They started believing in other gods and he got jealous. It was a case of "if I can't have you, no one will".

 

If I am God's slave and he feels the need to collectively punish me based on the transgressions of others - or hold me to arbitrary obligations I never consented to, then show me where I can sign up for the opposite team, because life without liberty is not life worth living.

 

I would argue, you didn't argue against my point.

 

Read it....now explain why God was just in DROWNING BABIES in the Flood because He thought their parents were "wicked"?

 

yes I did, you see you will take a literal interpretation of the story and then say God is evil.
If you expand the idea of the why of the story then there is a possibility of a different conclusion.

 

There are about as many readings as there are people.

Plenty of people think there really was a flood.

The "god is evil" stems from that interpretation.

 

Actually Im agnostic. But nice strawman attempt. Humans are not able to kill planet earth period. The earth will be here for eons after we are gone. Man can only ruin the earth for man and whatever animals we infringe upon with our behavior. Would I give mankind a second chance if I were god? Absolutely not. We don't deserve this planet based on our actions. We are more like locusts than beings created in the image of "God".

 

Seems to me that would make God Imperfect and therefore a false God. Apparently the Bible proves God is not real.

 

kind of a catch 22, really. If God's all knowing then he already knew what they would become, which - given the story of Sodom and Gomorah - would kind of make sense if there were only 10 people who were not evil and they were basically all related. So God killed children knowing they'd become evil, so a better question would be:

"If you knew that a baby would become (insert evil figure here), would you kill it? God did."

It's kind of like that "would you kill Hitler as a baby if you knew what he'd become" question. It assumes knowledge of the future, and then proceeds to the moral question.

 

What does the "non-literal" interpretation imply? That since it was their myth, the Hebrews thought God drowning babies proved His righteousness?

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Isaac Asimov said "Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived."