Cannibalism in the Bible (Pt.1)

This is a truly horrific aspect of the Bible. First of all, notice that the verses I quote below are apparently spoken by the Christian god himself. This is the god that Christians bow the knee to. This is the god they proselytise, knocking on doors and trying to get your children to go to their Holiday clubs and Sunday Schools.

Second, think about the most reviled people of our age. Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Myra Hindley (UK child murderer) Jeffrey Dahmer (USA serial killer) and so on. None of these people said anything as horrific as this. Can you imagine being ordered by any of these people to eat your own child - or to eat your own parent? How much would you despise them?

Some Christians (like my former pastor) would say: "Yes, but there are lots of good verses in the Bible too. Why are you looking at the bad ones?"

Imagine a speech by the Prime Minister in which he makes lots of good promises, declares an end to taxes, announces a free health service and free university education for all. But in the middle of the speech he casually mentions that people who do not obey him in everything will be forced to eat their own children or parents.
Would you vote for him?
Would you say: "Oh, all the good stuff cancels out that bad bit"?
Would you trust him?
Would you say - "He doesn't mean that - I'm sure he only wants the best for us so I'll vote for him anyway."?

Ezekiel 5:9-10 "And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again. Therefore fathers shall eat their sons in the midst of you, and sons shall eat their fathers; and I will execute judgments on you, and any of you who survive I will scatter to all the winds."

Leviticus 26:27-29 "And if in spite of this you will not hearken to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and chastise you myself sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters."

Doesn't it make you ill? Remember, this is supposedly the Christian god himself talking.

Now, even if these threats were never carried out, the maker of the threats is still a repulsive character. If I say to you: "Do this, or I will hurt you," I am already guilty of controlling, manipulative, threatening behaviour, even if I don't go on to hurt you. These verses show extremely insecure, manipulative behaviour. They are evil and repulsive, the words of a psychotic dictator. Hannibal Lecter at least had a sense of humour! (We see no sense of humour in any of god's reported speech, anywhere in the entire Bible. Proof that humans were certainly not created in this god's image!)

Another point here is that, in the Ezekiel verses, god says he has never done this before and will never do it again. But we see three other identical threats made before those in Ezekiel.

So is god guilty of cannibalism and manipulation? The answer of course is "No". God is an imaginary, mythical being. These threats were penned, like the rest of the Bible, as part of a growing myth. Scribes, working for kings, wanted to control the people, to keep them in check. These horrible threats were intended to scare people into submission.

In the last 20 centuries, we have seen religion used over and over as a tool of control - a carrot and stick that keeps the masses submissive. Today, in our secularised, post-Enlightenment world, Religion has been tamed and our morals have improved. Now we are able to see the full horror of these verses, but Christians simply ignore them.

Geoff Mather 2007

On to Cannibalism Pt. 2

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