Question about Moses, a brutal god and punishment

[cynatnite]

I watched the last hour of the Ten Commandments tonight.

After Moses came down with the ten commandments and caught people worshiping a gold calf, he destroyed them in anger. In the bible it says the men of Levi stood by Moses and was told to kill all those who still wanted to worship the calf. That was about 3000 people. This movie showed children being included, but the bible does not say.

Later on Moses asks god to forgive the people. God says later on he will punish them and he does with a plague.

Question: The ones who wanted to continue to worship were dead, so why punish the ones who decided that worshiping a gold calf was not a good idea? God already decided they were going to be erased from his book. In my christian upbringing that would mean going to hell.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

1. Here's the deal

You must stop watching TV movies, and you really have to reconsider organized religion, giving it a once-over as a giant scam that's designed simply to keep humans from questioning authority.

Now, go watch "History Of The World, Part I," by Mel Brooks, and it will all be revealed to you.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

4. HAHAHAHA!...It's all there in the 15 Commandments

*crash* 10

[cynatnite]

7. Gotta know about the last five...

I ain't gonna stop until I know what they are. :evilgrin:

[delete_bush]

10. Not sure about the last five, but my favorite is the

REAL #10.

Moses supposedly wrote God's commandments on a set of stone tablets, which he smashed upon seeing the infamous golden calf (Exodus 32). He then ordered the Levites to "go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbour", which they promptly did, killing some 3000 people (this was an important moral precedent for Judaism, Islamism, and Christianity; the people were "evil" because they were worshipping an idol, and Moses was righteous because he butchered them in the name of the Lord, who wouldn't have stopped at a mere 3000 dead).

After this atrocity, Moses then went back up the mountain where God asked for two new stone tablets, saying that "I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets". He then proceeded to dictate an entirely different set of ten commandments, which he then instructed Moses to write down. This second set of ten commandments is as follows (Exodus 34:12 to 34:26, King James version):

of which #10 is Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Now this is the kind of stuff I want to see posted on the courthouse wall!

[moose65]

17. LOL

I had forgotten about those! Also, with this second list, isn't this the only time that the Bible actually says "the 10 commandments" ? I can see the heads exploding already!

[cynatnite]

6. The scene got me thinking about it...

which is why I looked it up.

Organized religion is crap and holds no weight with me.

The way I see it, this god of the bible through both new and old testament was twisted to fit agendas. There was a brutality in how all this was portrayed from the striking down of the first born of egypt to the killing of these people.

While they didn't show the actual violence, what they did show expressed how bad it was. god was portrayed in this movie as brutal, absolute and unforgiving.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

11. Seriously,

get your hands on a copy of the soundtrack (or even the movie) "Jesus Christ, Superstar," and the rest of the scam will be revealed to you.

It's a riot. Really. And, with Easter fast approaching, what could be more appropriate?

[Call me Deacon Blues]

2. Hey, leave Gwyneth's kid out of this!

:)

[TomInTib]

8. And the Apple doesn't fall far from the tree. n/t

[alphafemale]

3. I liked this better than the Chuck Heston Version.

I didn't watch it all, but the parts I did see were better.

[Fredda Weinberg]

5. The movie took some liberties

The collective punishment was that the entire generation would pass away in the desert and not reach the promised land. The Lord of the Old Testament wasn't asked for explanations ...

[bluesbassman]

9. The wages of sin is death.

That's where I have a real problem with Christians who quote various laws from the Old Testament, and want force people to live under those laws. The law was given for one purpose; to illuminate the sinful nature of man. The result of that sin was death. So all who lived under the "law" were destined to die (be separated from God), as no one could fulfill all of the law. And if you are guilty of breaking any part of the law, you're guilty of all. God knew that man was incapable of fulfilling the law, thus Christ took mans sin upon Himself, died, rose from death and became the "payment" for all . The only requirement to accept this free gift is belief and personal acceptance. It's pretty simple actually. Everything else is people lifting bits and pieces to benefit their point of view or agenda. Does that mean we can continue on in a life of sin? No, while we now have an avenue to to escape the trap of sin, we do not have license to freely engage in it. Our responsibility then is to seek guidance from God as to what is sinful in OUR lives and strive to eliminate it. But nowhere in my Bible to it instruct me to seek out my neighbors sin, tell him about it, and then pass a law prohibiting him from doing it.

Edit to say that IMHO Mel Brooks rocks! (Pun intended - stone tablets, get it?)

12. I watched the 2nd part of this movie

and actually thought it was depressing, seeing those whole groups of people being murdered. And then they all stone the couple who had committed adultery and accidental murder. I wish I had not seen this stupid movie. This kind of violence only begets more violence. I do not think it is the true story, rather was thought up by a person.

Also Moses had a stutter, but they never put that in his portrayals.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

13. Old Testament

Irrelevant. Under new management now. New contract. (Hokey movie)

T-Grannie

[catbert836]

14. That's something that bothered me

when I was a Christian. Here's something else to consider. If Moses had been God's faithful servant all along, then why couldn't he forgive him for not believing that water would come out when he struck the ground with his staff? Was it really necessary to not allow Moses to see the Promised Land just for one moment of disbelief?
The Old Testament's God is a vicious, evil bully. It's a wonder to me that anyone can still believe in him.

[Igel]

15. The OT God had very, very

high standards, and set the bar excruciatingly high. Presumably he held himself to them; that was the assumption, and anything he did that made no sense was simply left unexplained.

Moses ran afoul of that perfection, that requirement for justice.

Jesus, who I think of as the same entity, came to set the bar much, much higher.

[catbert836]

16. Yes, true that.

I'm not a Christian, just as a disclaimer. I just can see more why people would worship the NT God over his OT counterpart.