Secular Scavenger Hunt
By David G. McAfee
Please ‘follow’ me on Twitter for future updates
The more I learn about various religious beliefs, the more I discover the little-known absurdities of each of these archaic traditions. I decided to put together a small list of biblical examples of absurd beliefs/statements in the Christian canon specifically, but I’d like everyone to input their favorite ridiculous beliefs from any mainstream religion. Please post a comment on this post with any quote, teaching, or religious belief that you have a tough time understanding how anyone could believe it. In most cases these will be relatively unheard of (or ignored) teachings or religious precepts that are no longer practiced in modern society- but are an important part of the religious tradition. Some people may want to start with the FIVE LARGEST RELIGIONS (Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism) but some easy targets also include Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. Please support all statements with links or scriptural evidence (bible, LDS Handbook, Qur’an, Torah, Bhagavad-Gita, etc…)
Remember to include all of the ridiculous claims including flat earth that Islam is based upon, and the farfetched ideas regarding women, homosexuals, dark-skinned peoples, slavery, murder, rape, etc… but most importantly remember to have fun spreading knowledge to those who don’t have the time, curiosity, or open mind to do the research themselves and uncover these hidden truths. GOOD LUCK!
The Subservience of Women
Genesis 3:16-17: “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. And unto Adam he said, Because thou has hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;”
A Rich Man Shall Hardly Enter Heaven
Matthew 19:20-24: “The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions. Then Jesus said unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
God Controls Who is Made Blind, Deaf, Etc…
Exodus 4:10-11: “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: But I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?”
God Sends Bears to Maul Forty-two Children
2 Kings 2:23-23: “And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head. And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.”
Moses to His Soldiers
Numbers 31:17-18: “Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.”
The Skeptical Writings of David G. McAfee 
Exodus 21:20-21 (New International Version)
20 “If a man beats his male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies as a direct result, he must be punished, 21 but he is not to be punished if the slave gets up after a day or two, since the slave is his property.
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%2021:20-21&version=NIV
Wow- I forgot that one- I love it though!
I’ve got a collection Bible quotes by topic on my website: “The Character of God in the Bible” http://augustberkshire.com/2009/10/01/character-god-bible
Great!
I just added some video’s on Robert Thurman, he has some pretty good stuff also!
take it easy 🙂
-Simranjeet Singh
God wants to be remembered forever for the mass murder of little children. 10:2
What is this passage?
Good site, with a ton of contradictions, etc..
http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com/
Hinduism:
They calculate the age of the earth from the age of Brahma. The Vedic chronology of Hinduism uses a base unit of calculation called a chaturyugi. This is comprised of 4 yugas (periods of time). Their lengths and corresponding names are:
1,728,000 years = sat yuga
1,296,000 = treta yuga
864,000 = dwapar yuga
432,000 = kali yuga
4,320,000 years = one charturyugi (one 4-yuga cycle)
1000 chaturyugis = one day of Brahma
1000 chaturyugis = one night of Brahma
8,640,000,000 years = one full day (24 hours) of Brahma
100 celestial years = age that Brahma lives to
50 celestial years = Brahma’s current age, or,
155.5 trillion years = the current age of this earth
Not necessarily a belief, but one of the most absurd things I have ever encountered in my studies of faiths and religions. This is one of the many reasons a Jehovah’s Witness can be disfellowshipped, which is a big word for kicked out and shunned.
Uncleanness:
sexually ‘perverse’ practices within marriage, such as oral and anal sex; heavy petting and breast fondling; touching of sexual parts.
Most faiths consider this a “sin” outside of matrimony, but basically this states if you touch your wife’s breasts, and she tells on you, the Watchtower Society will kick you out of the “church” and everyone close to you who is a Jehovah’s Witness, even your family, will disown you.
Biblically speaking, Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Why is God speaking in plural tense?
The reason- it’s royal language. In biblical times, they often referred to their sovereignty in third person. This is seen frequently in documents from the Ancient Near East all around this time period.
My grandfather is a hippie big time. One of his many odd beliefs include believing the plurality of God when he speaks can be chalked up to aliens. He tries to argue that the Christian god is a large group of aliens. I laughed…
It’s may be because in some passages, the character that is translated by God in English, is referred to by Elohim, instead of jhwh. Elohim is plural: gods/angels or whatever, while jhwh is singular.
Pingback: Resources for Matthew 19:20 - 24