it sounds like they were murdered for claiming that it was all the money. not really that they held some back - cause it was all theirs anyway.
joke’s on st. pete though. they were just subtracting the down payment. they never considered it part of the money they made.
so the real moral of the story is: define your terms.
hmm… did they go to heaven??? cause if not, wow god. at least give people a chance to do some repenting
If he doesn’t answer those questions there’s a decent chance he won’t be around here next week.
Hey Steve…
I feel like for those of us who come from christian families maybe reading the New Testament is a good idea. I’ve read the brothers Grimm and Aesop. I know Arthurian legend. Heck, I’ve even read many old Greek and Norse myths. Seems like I ought to know the stories of my ancestors.
But I’m going to leave the Old Testament alone, on the advice of Lewis Black who said, “Those are our stories! You don’t understand them!” (Black characterized many of the stories of the old testament as the kind of stories you tell kids to scare them into behaving)
I’m going to have to disagree a little; the New Testament is an outgrowth of the Old, and it’s valuable in understanding where so much of what Jesus and the apostles are saying and doing is coming from. By all means start with the New Testament, and focus on that, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave the OT aside.
I honestly think that the first part of the OT should be read. It is really interesting until you get up into the minor prophets where it truly gets boring. Thing is, there are four (at least) voices, but if you tease out the one usually simply referred to as ‘J’, you basically get the first novel ever written. Believe in it or not (and I don’t) the Bible is part of our collective heritage and worth being acquainted with. But also, Lewis Black is right in that they’ve had thousands of years to argue over it. Some rabbis will argue that ‘an eye for an eye’ is not about civil punishment, but about tort law. I like that one.
This is a fair point. For me I’ve actually read a fair bit of the old testament (because I’ve started and failed to finish reading the bible cover to cover). I do have to say that the tower of babel is one of my favourite stories. It’s cosmic horror waaaaaaay before Lovecraft.
Well, the god of the Bible was definitely one of the Old Ones 
God disappears as the Bible goes along. Adam and Eve apparently saw him. Jacob wrestled with him (or an angel; hard to tell) and had his hip smote for his troubles. Moses got a burning bush. Someone later got to see god’s backside (which really sounds weird if you think about it.) Eventually, he completely disappeared and even saying his name was anethma. Religion is odd.
God sounds like one of the gods of earth mentioned in the Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath; able to be made jealous by the works of humans.
(I’m sure when Steve King compared their struggles to those of Jesus their intent was to have us discuss where the god of the bible fits into Lovecraftian mythology)
The Book of Job is also a must-read, with God as a degenerate gambler who screws over his biggest fanboi and his family in gruesome ways just to win what I assume is a one-shekel bet with Satan.
“God of wrath” is putting it mildly when it comes to the OG of the OT.
I think the Book of Job is my favorite OT book. It is a tough little puppy to parse.
Genesis is a good place to start. “Hey everybody your just like angels except for these 2 things. Dont touch those 2 trees. Plus free will/curiosity.peaceout” and then eviction. Harsh indeed.
Really kind of harsh punishing them for eating the apple, when they were purpose-built with no knowledge of good and evil.
God: “Okay Roomba, vacuum all my floor except for this section with all the cocaine.”
Roomba: “Boop!”
Roomba:…BoopBoopbeeeepboopsynergybeepboopboopboopROIbeepboop!
God: Roombaaa!
I am an atheist, but I’d rather have religious people who believe in Tolstoy or Dorothy Day style left wing Christian anarchism than right wing self righteous atheists (we already have too many of them).
I’ll do what I can to move them in that direction.
That one is partly what made me go from Pentecostal Xtian to believer in a higher power that deigns to put labels or expectations upon that power.
It’s one of the most fucked up biblical stories which makes the Christian god sound like a petty, insecure and sadistic dickhead rather than a ‘loving creator.’
Personally, I’m not an atheist; but I can certainly understand why so many people are.
I haven’t noticed that account responding to much if anything. Just post and bounce to waste anyone’s time that responds to their gibberish posts.
Seems rather bot-like, doesn’t it?
Real, living breathing people tend to have at least some other interests outside of perpetually trying to stir the shit in political topics.
That’s the pattern I’ve observed. After a day going by with no response to my questions, I brought it to the attention of the mods.
Good point. The posts are like a very terse and sullen flossy.
Good call. They are adding no value. Not even as target practice.
You have no idea how often I misread what people type. I think I need new glasses.
