21:10
Again, the Lord expressly validating polygyny. What is unreasonable here is not that the Lord might do so, but rather that It would espouse a sexist double standard by not giving the woman a right to more than one husband.
29:10
It is highly questionable to propose that God would wish to have animals killed and burned in It's honor. To do so would be to have a God who gives some life no spiritual value, or places ceremony above life.
29:15
Humans aside, no other animal has ever displayed any religious inclination. It therefore seems unjustified to propose that one animal's death should be more pleasing to the Lord than another's. Further, going back to the last entry, for the Lord to give a value ranking on the lives of non-human animals, is to imply that they must have some sort of religious value, otherwise the type of animal killed would make no difference. There is simply no justification in believing anything other than that all life has equal (be it void or otherwise) spiritual worth.
32:14
This verse has some mind-boggling implications. If the Lord "repented" of Its actions, then the Lord is capable of making mistakes or changing It's mind. An omniscient being could not do these things.
32:30
If God is omnipresent, it makes no sense that Moses should have to physically "go up" to the Lord.
34:14
An omnipotent being would be incapable of jealousy.
1 comment:
Rob, I'm not sure that the givens you proposed at the beginning of RPGB necessarily make it obvious that women are equal to man nor that animals' lives have equal value. Traditionally, animal sacrifice has been seen as more important for the what they represented to the people sacrificing than what they represented to God. You'll find that "enlightened" interpretation ubiquitous in judeo-christian theology. It's consequently natural for different animals to be assigned different values.
Also, God absolutely was saying that animals' lives were less important than peoples'. I don't find anything incongruous about that assertion. It's fallacious to first assume that God has your values and then criticize him for not living up to those values.
Your point that the old testament does not speak of a god who acts as if he were omnipotent and omniscient is a good one, but I'm afraid you've beaten it to death by now.
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