passover

[John Galt]

[broken robot]

[The Comrade]

the ten commandments was one of the greatest movies of my childhood.

[John Galt]

i've read some apologetics that by forcing pharaoh to continuously not allow the isrealites to go it makes them see the glory of god and then they will end up letting them go of their own free will eventually

but of course, that didn't even happen. he chased them to the sea, because god hardened his heart, because god wanted to show the full monty

so then other apologetics says that god removed his grace from pharaoh. that is, the only reason he would have let them go in the first place was because he had a bit of god's grace within him. god MERELY removed it, you see, thus hardening pharaohs heart so he could break out the measuring stick. okay, sure, lets claim that bullshit is a fair interpretation. still the answer is why? he could have not hardened his heart after the FROGS (second plague) and all those lives would have been saved.

and he did harden the heart. ELEVEN times in exodus passover story does it speak of hardened hearts. 6 of those were directed by god.

the point it was trying to convey was: there is no way to win but through god and god alone. anything else, you can't even control your own actions. god is above all, just trust that and you're golden. well, unless of course he wants to put on some fireworks and you happen to be in a position of power, then you're just a marionette on his giant godhood

[Winchester]

[Philly]

I thought it was pretty well established and agreed upon that God is a spiteful, immature dickhead throughout pretty much the whole Old Testament.

[eynon81]

I tend towards the theory that the destruction of the first born refers to sectarian violence between the Hebrews (who, along with brick making served as Mercenaries in the Egyptian army) and the Egyptians (who's first born sons also served in the Egyptian army).

why would God need to color-code the doors of his believers?

[Saz]

[Winchester]

[The Dharma Bum]

theodicy is a pretty natural reaction to the brutal reality of existence

it does bring up an interesting ethical question, though

what are the ethics involved in creating a new conscious organism without it's consent?