Inerrant Lie #52

The 'Holy Bible' is a confusing book. Perhaps the most confusing thing about the Book is the multiplicity of 'Gods' therein. The Doctrine itself states profusely only one God is true; all others are false. The difficulty for the reader is discerning which of the Gods propounded in the Doctrine is the true one, assuming any of them is.

For this reason, it's difficult to nail the Doctrine down on the lies told about God. After all, a statement of fact about one God may be a fallicy when applied to another God; but the various writers of the Bible don't clarify which God they write of in each case. They simply write of all 'Gods' as if they were each the true God. This dilemma finds doctrinal expression in the oldest book of the canon: the book of Job.

You most likely have at least a cursory grasp of the story related in the book of Job: Job loses everything but his wife and his own life. Job's 'friends' come to 'comfort' him concerning his misfortune. This 'comfort' comes in the form of endless, sanctimonious sermonizing-- reminiscent of the 'comfort' unfortunate souls are likely to receive from the disciples of Christianity, generally, in the contemporary sense.

The text of Job indicates Eliphaz the Temanite as the 'senior pastor' in Job's ministerial band of "miserable comforters [16:2, ibid.]." It is to Eliphaz "the LORD" addresses the pronouncement: "My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath [Job 42:7d - g, et. al.]." Inasmuch as Eliphaz and his 'associate pastors' speak of little else but the LORD, the text of Job is therefore a target- rich environment of lies.

One of the lies told by Eliphaz himself is: "Behold, [God] putteth no trust in his saints; yea, the heavens are not clean in his sight [Job 15:15]. Given the fact that the subject of this statement is "God" (not "the LORD"), the dual reprimand of chapter 42 (noted above) perhaps doesn't apply as evidence of the fallicy of Eliphaz' statement of uncleanness. Indeed, the writer of the book of Hebrews seems to accept it as true.

In the ninth chapter of Hebrews, the writer thereof says of the bloody mess Moses and the Jewry make of purification: "It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens should be purified with [the blood of beasts]; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices [i.e. better blood] than these [Hebrews 9:23]."

The implication explicit in this bloody declaration from Hebrews is, of course, that nothing-- not even the heavens-- are clean: as previously stated by Eliphaz in Job 15. Again, this is a lie. The only way it could be otherwise is if Eliphaz and the writer of Hebrews are commenting on a 'God' other than the one who created all these things.

Genesis 1 says of the God who created all things: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good [Genesis 1:31a - c]." Is then Genesis 1 a lie? The only way it could be is if the one true God is-- like the heavens and all things created (according to Eliphaz and the writer of Hebrews)-- 'unclean', which is to say, not "very good." Thus, Eliphaz and the writer of Hebrews didn't simply tell a lie about the creation: they likewise blasphemed the Creator.

Inerrant Lie #51

Much is written in scripture concerning false prophets. It seems much less is written about the false Gods responsible for their false prophecies. Of Moses and his LORD, however, much is recorded.

Deuteronomy 5, like Exodus 20, tells of "the LORD's" delivery of the ten commandments to the children of Israel. In Deuteronomy 5, unlike Exodus 20, Moses records his LORD saying: "O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever [Deuteronomy 5:29]!" This expresses "the LORD's" knowledge of the contents of the hearts of the children of Israel: a thing Moses, three chapters later, denies his LORD possesses.

In the second verse of chapter eight, Moses-- prior to his own death, just the other side of Jordan from Jericho-- exhorts the people: "And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no [Deuteronomy 8:2]."

So, who lied: Moses or his LORD? Either way, it's obvious someone lied either in chapter five or in chapter eight of Deuteronomy. Perhaps the original liar in these disparate statements is Moses' LORD; in which case, both Moses and his LORD are liars here: Moses' LORD lies, and Moses follows suit in parroting him. With Moses it's difficult to say. He tells many lies, and blames his LORD for them all; often rightfully so.

Inerrant Lie #50

The prevalent apprehension of prophecy contemporarily is that of foretelling or prognostication. Though this is, perhaps, short- sighted or wrong altogether: it is, nonetheless, a view propogated by the canon itself. Even Moses spake so: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him [Deuteronomy 18:22]." Does this make Moses a false prophet?

After forty years of wandering in the wilderness, as the people were preparing to enter the promised land, by way of several other countries betwixt, Moses says his 'LORD' told him: "3 Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward. 4 And command thou the people, saying, Ye are to pass through the coast of your brethren the children of Esau, which dwell in Seir; and they shall be afraid of you: take ye good heed unto yourselves therefore: 5 Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession. 6 Ye shall buy meat of them for money, that ye may eat; and ye shall also buy water of them for money, that ye may drink [Deuteronomy 2:3 - 6]."

The narrative of Deuteronomy doesn't contend this prognostication of Edom's presumed hospitality ventured by Moses' 'LORD', but the narrative of Numbers does so in no uncertain terms. In Numbers, Moses writes of the same encounter: "20 And [Edom] said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. 21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him [Numbers 20:20 & 21]."

In Deuteronomy 2, however, Moses doubles- down on that which he dismisses as a lie in Numbers. In Deuteronomy, Moses writes that, when he requested passage through Sihon's land, he wrote to them of Edom's compliance, thus: "28 Thou shalt sell me meat for money, that I may eat; and give me water for money, that I may drink: only I will pass through on my feet; 29 (As the children of Esau which dwell in Seir, and the Moabites which dwell in Ar, did unto me;) until I shall pass over Jordan into the land which the LORD our God giveth us [Deuteronomy 2:28 & 29]."

Obviously, Moses lied-- either in Numbers or in Deuteronomy-- concerning this part of the journey into the promised land. The unequivocal language of the passage from Numbers allows no other option. The question, I suppose, given the fact that Moses (in Deuteronomy 2) says the prognostication in doubt was the LORD's making, is: Is the LORD God a false God? If he weren't, why would he utilize a false prophet like Moses? Perhaps Moses' LORD is a false God and a false prophet, too.

Inerrant Lie #49

Moses insinuates truths and tells bald- faced lies. I can only imagine the reason he does so is that such obfuscation likes him and his LORD God. It seems they both prefer to dwell in "the thick darkness [Exodus 20:21, et. al.]."

At any rate, ask any Christian or Jew why Moe wasn't allowed to cross the Jordan, and they'll say, without hesitation or equivocation, that Moses was kept back from entering 'the promised land' because he struck a rock which he was supposed to speak to at Meribah-Kadesh. They cite no meaner authority on the matter than Moses himself-- Deuteronomy 32:48 - 52 being one of many such statements scattered through Numbers and Deuteronomy by Moses. While this is the reason most often given by Moses, it is not the only one he offers.

The latter half of Deuteronomy 1 recounts the tale of the twelve spies sent by Moses into the land to recon the 'lay' of it. This runs parallel to the account in Numbers 13 & 14, sort of. The upshot of the misadventure is that a whole generation is disallowed entrance to the land promised them. One of the differences between the two accounts is that, in the Deuteronomy version, Moses at least explicitly implies 'the LORD' chose this moment-- which precedes the second striking of the rock in Merbah-- to impose the 'no- entry injunction' on Moses.

The narrative in question runs so: "Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.... Also the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither [Deuteronomy 1:35 & 37]." 

Certainly this lie isn't as cut- and- dry as many of Moses' lies are, but given the lie he tells in rationalizing the sending of the spies in the first place, I'd say it's a bona fide lie, nonetheless.