Screwed up bible verse of the day

Screwed up bible verses

" I will make them eat the flesh of their sons and daughters, and they will eat one another’s flesh because their enemies will press the siege so hard against them to destroy them. " 

- Jeremiah 19:9 (NIV)

!CONTEXT! 

This is Jehovah (god) being quoted by Jeremiah the prophet. This is what god is going to do to Topheth, a city in Jerusalem, for worshiping the Canaanite pantheon.

Many Christians think this is a just punishment because one of the worship rituals of the ancient Canaanites was child sacrifice, which was common among our ignorant and superstitious ancestors. They thought that by sacrificing what they held most precious (their children) they could bribe a god to help them grow crops, win a battle, survive a drought or storm or whatever natural disasters they were worried about. I shutters to think how many children, goats, birds, and sheep would have been spared by a Doppler radar.

Why did everyone back then think a god would be made happy by the spilling of blood? I mean If I just created the universe with all the majestic galaxies and stars and planets and complicated organisms... WTF would I want with their blood? This is simple barbaric superstitious nonsense. I am appalled that anything, human or animal, was hurt for such ridiculousness.

Even considering the atrocities they committed, how is gods punishment of forced cannibalism just? This isn't justice.  At best it seems like disgust and revenge, at worst pure jealousy.

" They have built the high places of Baal to burn their children in the fire as offerings to Baal—something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. " - Jeremiah 19:5

 Wait, what did god not command? Perhaps he is talking about worshiping other gods because clearly he can't mean child sacrifice.

We all know the story of Abraham and Issac from Genesis 22, where god commanded Abraham to sacrifice Issac as a burnt offering... The last second god stopped Abraham from following through with the abhorrent human sacrifice and instead gave him an innocent animal to conflagrate.

However, Jephthah's daughter was not so lucky. Judges 11 tells a story about a war between the Ammonites and Israel. Jephthah made a deal with god in order to get victory in battle.

" Jephthah made a vow to the Lord: 'If you give the Ammonites into my hands, whatever comes out of the door of my house to meet me when I return in triumph from the Ammonites will be the Lord’s, and I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering. '" - Judges 11:30-31

Ok, it doesn't take omniscience to figure out that the thing greeting you out of your front door when you return home is going to be human and most likely a family member. But all-knowing god accepted Jephthah bargain none the less. And all-loving god accepted Jephthah's burnt sacrifice after he returned victorious and met his daughter at his front door.

" ...nor did it enter my mind. " - Jeremiah 19:5

That's one hell of a memory.