Why I Can’t Agree With the Bible: Exodus: Part 3

At this point the Israelites are travelling. They have escaped the Egyptians and are travelling to the Canaanite land.
At one point the Israelites look up and see the glory of the lord. What is “the glory of the lord”? There’s no explanation as to what they’re looking at and why it matters.
The people are given very clear instructions about how they will survive. They are told to go out and collect the magic bread to eat. They can only collect so much of it. They are also told not to save any. Why did Moses get angry because some of the people saved their bread? Isn’t it their loss when it goes bad? Later, they are told that they must save some because none will form on the Sabbath day. Why did Moses get reprimanded because some people are forgetful? It hardly seems like a big deal. They had to go out every other day and weren’t allowed to save any. One day the rules change. Who wouldn’t be likely to forget?
The length of time that it took the Israelites to get to the Canaanite land makes no sense. Why did it take 40 years to get to the land of Canaan? It didn’t take Joseph very long to get to Egypt from Canaan. At that rate they could have walked around the Earth and ended up back in Egypt…several times.
Then the Israelites are attacked. This event also makes little sense. So God sent the Israelites to the Canaanite lands the long way so that they would not get scared back to Egypt by an attack, but when an attack comes Moses sends Joshua to fight the attackers off while he stands on a rock with his hands in the air? Why didn’t they just do that to start with? Surely the Israelites wouldn’t run back to Egypt after watching one man defeat an army.
How did Jethro hear about what God had done for Moses? Jethro says “Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods.” Did Jethro doubt this before? And we once again see evidence of polytheistic beliefs among the Hebrew people.
We later see more evidence of God’s lack of omnipresence. The Israelites are said to have ate in the presence of God. This means that it is possible to not eat in the presence of God. So he’s not always there.
Thousands of Israelites left Egypt. We know this because Moses needed help managing all the issues. He has people who handle thousands. How did that work? Logistically that would have been a nightmare.
Why did God choose the Israelites over all others? What was so special about them? They seemed to just annoy God.
God makes some odd rules along the way. Why would God decree that anyone who touches the mountain should die? Why is he concerned about animals touching it?
All of the Israelites met God. They saw the smoke and heard his voice, but Moses is told to not let the people near him. It sounds like he’s saying “I dare you.” It also goes against the belief that nobody has ever seen God. Clearly thousands have. At least, they have if the Bible is true.
How is it moral to punish a child for their parent’s actions? Or their grandparent’s and great-grandparent’s? How is it moral to reward thousands for one person’s love? How does that even make sense. If one parent is godly and the other angers God, what happens to the child?
The people already heard God, but they were afraid that they would die if they heard God. Moses response was that they were being tested and that God meant to put fear in them so they wouldn’t sin. How is it moral to scare somebody into obeying you? Isn’t that called bullying? If he doesn’t want the Israelites to sin, why doesn’t God try a better method? Like reasoning? And what is with all the tests? How paranoid is God?
A good portion of Exodus is given over to laws. Many of the laws are odd. “Do not make any gods to be beside me.” So people create gods then? “And do not go up to my alter on steps or your private parts might be exposed.” What? Seriously, what? Is God 12? “Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.” Right…that seems logical. God seems to really like killing though. He seems to think a lot is deserving of the death penalty. And slaves (at least the male ones) seem to have more rights than women. So many of these laws go counter to today’s moral standards. They fit perfectly into a historical perspective, but they challenge the view that God’s law never changes and God is always the same. Either God has changed, our society has gone so far from God’s path that even the most fundamentalist of Christians or Orthodox of Jews is screwed, or there is no god. “Do not allow a sorceress to live.” But magicians are okay. And are these just Israelite sorceresses or all sorceresses? Seriously, magic was fine a little while ago, what’s wrong with sorceresses? “Whoever sacrifices to any other god than the lord must be destroyed.” This only applies to those who follow this god…right? It doesn’t apply to none Israelites (the being destroyed, not the doing the destroying)? “You must give me the first born of your sons.” In what sense? Do they have to sacrifice them? Or are they supposed to become priests?
Some of God’s laws make the Republicans look bad. “Do not show favoritism to a poor person.” That parts easy for them. But then it says “Do not deny justice to your poor people.” At least these laws show some real morality.
God goes on to say “Be careful to do everything that I have said to you.” We definitely don’t follow half of these laws today. Luckily they only applied to the Israelites. But, if someone believes that the Bible is the literal word of God, shouldn’t they make sure to follow all of these laws? “Do not invoke the names of other gods.” More polytheism. Clearly the Israelites were worshiping other gods. Why would God care if they didn’t exist?
Why does God want to wipe out the other Hebrews? The genealogy says that they are as much decedents of Abraham as the Israelites. And why do they worship other gods? Didn’t their parents pass down the same religious beliefs as the Israelite’s parents?
“I will take away sickness from your land and none shall miscarry or be barren among you.” This is incredibly easy to falsify. This is all that is needed to say that this God is a liar.
“Do not make a covenant with them or with their gods.” So they can talk to the other gods?
At one point it talks about Moses and the elders going up and seeing God. It talks about Gods feet. They ate and drank with God. God wrote the ten commandments. God is given very human features.
This God would be very easy to prove.This is a very physical God. This God has physical features. And the people can talk to this God. It sounds like the other gods are the same. This means that they can be tested for and proven to exist. It also means that it makes more sense to be an atheist until the gods show themselves than it does to be a theist until the gods are disproven.