Psalm 23

Psalm 23 is much-loved because it sounds positive and wholesome. But it's a trap, just as Habakkuk's opposite gloom is a trap. Don't fall for it: we can make the world better by behaving better, educating ourselves, embracing human rights, and encouraging others.

www.humanreligions.info/psalm_23.html

The Old Testament Book of Habakkuk

After a long series of prophets promise again and again that god is going to punish the Hebrews' neighbours for their unbelief, the reality of history is that the Chaldeans, after conquering Babylon, continued to spread. In terms of the Hebrews' understanding of their place in God's world, this simply made no sense. This story explains that God empowers the violent, expansionist and immoral Chaldeans, and that God (for no particularly good reason) boosts them against the Hebrews, causing the Chaldeans to occupy and ransack southern Judah.

Habakkuk tries to explain that God is choosing the Chaldeans to damage Judah on purpose, but struggles to find a coherent ethical reason why such bloodshed and violence can be endorsed by a good god, as a collective punishment - especially when the Chaldeans were infamously immoral and ought to be the ones being corrected. It is hard to see what morals or teachings there are in these wars between the Hebrews and their neighbours other than that it pays to be on the winning side, whether or not the winners are Jehovah-fearers.

The contents of "The Book of Habakkuk by Vexen Crabtree (2012) is:

1. The 3 chapters of Habakkuk (56 verses)
   1. Habakkuk 1 (17 verses)
   2. Habakkuk 2 (20 verses)
   3. Habakkuk 3 (19 verses)

An introduction to the biblical book of Jonah

An introduction to the biblical book of Jonah.

God punishes Jonah with a storm and has a monstrous fish eat him, until he relents and preaches to the city of Nineveh that it will be destroyed. He didn't want to, because he didn't think it would be destroyed, and he didn't want to be a false prophet. After being bullied into it, God changes his mind, and doesn't destroy Nineveh.

The teachings in the Book of Jonah are that God punishes those who are disobedient and rewards those who are obedient, and if you murder someone at sea then all is well as long as you fear God. Also, if you are in an unequal relationship, it is best to simply do as you are told, else, things will only end up harder for you. It's not the Bible's finest moment.

Historically, the book lacks legitimacy. Nineveh was the capital of the great Assyrian empire and at no point did the events of Jonah 3:5-10 actually occur - not a single trader, traveller, statesman or historian note that the entire population suddenly gave up its old ways and embraced a new religion.

http://www.humanreligions.info/jonah.html.

Five updates on pages on Christianity

1. Iyyobh, in the Jewish Book of Truth - Known to Christians as the Book of Job: I've added a paragraph to the introduction on this page on the theological problems in the story of Job, and 2 sections to this page: (1) God Testing People in The Bible, and (2) God as the Author of Evil: Are Satan and God Interchangeable?

2. Jesus Did Not Exist: I have added a long introductory paragraph, and added multiple quotes from Bart Ehrman and a bit from Karen Armstrong. This page needs a lot of work - there are several important books and authors on this topic that I ought to be mentioning (for example the dry Richard Carrier and the impassioned Acharya S). The parts on the birth of Jesus and on his death will be revamped too at some point.

3. The Book of Revelation: Some notes on authorship and symbolism.

4. The Birth of Jesus and the Christmas Story: Pagan and Unhistorical: I have revamped this page... given it an introduction before the menu, added notes from Prof. Bart Ehrman on historical proofs, and added a few other bits throughout the page.

5. Incest in the Bible: Adam and Eve and Their Children, and Noah and His Family: I've added a note on Warren Steed Jeffs, the President of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (a spin-off from the Mormons).He got himself on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" on account of the scale of his sex crimes within his congregation, including sex with minors and incest. And I've added some paragraphs on the Parsis (Zoroastrians) in Hong Kong, where religious inhibitions against marrying outside causes severe problems with the 100-strong community. Zoroastrianism and its dogmas influenced Judaism, Chritsianity and Islam.