If the Earth’s rotation truly stopped or slowed (which is what "the sun stood still" would physically mean), it would have had catastrophic global consequences, including massive earthquakes, tsunamis, and changes in atmospheric motion due to sudden deceleration. — Truth Seeker

Obviously God didn't do that; instead He will have suspended time, rather as one pauses a video. And then brought the chosen people out of the frame of the paused world into His own living room and allowed them to make a few changes and then re-enter the movie.

Or possibly, Bible literalism is bonkers. I don't much care either way.

Metaphors exist.

More of your rabid anti-religious bigotry. In this case especially lame.

More of your rabid anti-religious bigotry. In this case especially lame. — T Clark

I am not a bigot. I have compassion for everyone, unlike the Biblical God.

Here are some examples of the Biblical God's lack of compassion:

Matthew 5:22

"Anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell."

Matthew 5:29–30

"It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell."

Matthew 13:40–42

"As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age... they will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

Matthew 18:8–9

"It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire."

Matthew 25:41, 46

"Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels...
Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."

Mark 9:43–48

"If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘the worms that eat them do not die, and the fire is not quenched.’"

Luke 12:5

"Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell."

Luke 16:19–31 (Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus)

The rich man is in torment in Hades, longing for relief from the flames.

Jude 1:7

"Sodom and Gomorrah... serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Revelation 14:10–11

"They will be tormented with burning sulfur... And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever. There will be no rest day or night..."

Revelation 20:10, 14–15

"The devil... was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur...
They will be tormented day and night forever and ever...
Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire."

Deuteronomy 7:1–2

"When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations... you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy."
— Commands total destruction of seven nations

Deuteronomy 20:16–17

"However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. Completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you."
— Commands killing of everything that breathes


Numbers 31:17–18

"Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man."
— Massacre of Midianites; only virgin girls spared as sexual slaves

1 Samuel 15:2–3

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will punish the Amalekites... Now go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy all that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.’”
— Explicit command to kill children and infants

Joshua 6:21

"They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it — men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys."
— Jericho: all inhabitants slaughtered

Joshua 10:40

"So Joshua subdued the whole region... He left no survivors. He totally destroyed all who breathed, just as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded."
— Genocidal conquest of the entire southern region

Joshua 11:11–12

"Everyone in it they put to the sword. They totally destroyed them, not sparing anyone that breathed, and he burned Hazor itself."
— Northern campaign led by Joshua

Deuteronomy 2:33–35

"The LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army... We completely destroyed them."
— Refers to Sihon the Amorite king and his people

Judges 20:48

"The men of Israel went back to Benjamin and put all the towns to the sword, including the animals and everything else they found. All the towns they came across they set on fire."
— Near total destruction of the tribe of Benjamin

Leviticus 25:44–46 (NIV)

“Your male and female slaves are to come from the nations around you... You can bequeath them to your children as inherited property and can make them slaves for life.”
— Endorses chattel slavery of foreigners as permanent property.

Exodus 21:2–6

“If you buy a Hebrew servant, he is to serve you for six years. But in the seventh year, he shall go free... But if the servant declares, ‘I love my master...’ then his master... shall pierce his ear with an awl. Then he will be his servant for life.”
— Allows indefinite enslavement of Hebrews who choose to stay.

Exodus 21:20–21

“Anyone who beats their male or female slave with a rod must be punished if the slave dies... But if the slave recovers after a day or two, the owner is not to be punished, since the slave is their property.”
— Permits beating slaves nearly to death without punishment.

Deuteronomy 20:10–11, 14

“When you march up to attack a city, make its people an offer of peace... If they accept and open their gates, all the people in it shall be subject to forced labor and shall work for you.”
— Allows the enslavement of conquered peoples.

Ephesians 6:5 (New Testament)

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ.”
— Reinforces obedience to masters without calling for abolition.

SEXUAL SLAVERY IN THE BIBLE

Numbers 31:17–18

“Now kill all the boys. And kill every woman who has slept with a man, but save for yourselves every girl who has never slept with a man.”
— After war with the Midianites, virgin girls are taken for male use; widely interpreted as sexual slavery.

Deuteronomy 21:10–14

“When you go to war... and you see a beautiful woman among the captives and become enamoured with her, you may take her as your wife... If you are not pleased with her, let her go... you must not sell or treat her as a slave, since you have dishonored her.”
— Allows war captors to forcefully take women as wives.

Ephesians 6:5–8 – Slaves are told to obey their earthly masters as they would obey Christ.

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart..."

Colossians 3:22–25 – Similar to Ephesians, reinforcing obedience of slaves.

"Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything..."

1 Timothy 6:1–2 – Slaves should regard their masters as worthy of full respect.

"All who are under the yoke of slavery should consider their masters worthy of full respect..."

Titus 2:9–10 – Slaves are told to be subject to their masters in everything, to be trustworthy and not talk back.

"Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything..."

1 Peter 2:18–21 – Slaves should submit to even harsh masters and endure suffering as a good thing in God's eyes.

"...if you suffer for doing good and you endure it, this is commendable before God."

Philemon 1:10–16 – Paul sends the escaped slave Onesimus back to his master Philemon, though urges Philemon to receive him kindly as a brother.

"...no longer as a slave, but better than a slave, as a dear brother."

Luke 12:47–48 – In a parable, Jesus describes a master beating his slaves, with no condemnation of the master.

"That servant who knows his master’s will and does not get ready... will be beaten with many blows."

Here are some verses where Jesus speaks or acts malevolently:

"I came not to bring peace, but a sword."
Matthew 10:34–36

“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother...’”
This contradicts the image of Jesus as a peacemaker and suggests division and familial conflict.

"Bring them here and kill them in front of me."
Luke 19:27 (from the Parable of the Ten Minas)

“But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them — bring them here and kill them in front of me.”
While technically part of a parable, the speaker in the story represents Jesus himself. The violent imagery is unsettling.

Drowns 2,000 pigs after casting out demons
Mark 5:11–13

“He gave them permission, and the impure spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd... rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.”
Jesus allows a legion of demons to destroy innocent animals — property of the local people.

"Let the dead bury their own dead."
Matthew 8:21–22

“Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
This callous-sounding response comes after a man asks permission to bury his father first.

"If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother..."
Luke 14:26

“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters — yes, even their own life — such a person cannot be my disciple.”
A demand for total allegiance to Jesus over all human relationships — using the word hate.

"It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs."
Matthew 15:22–26

“It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
Jesus compares a Canaanite (non-Jewish) woman to a dog when she asks for healing for her daughter.

Curses a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season
Mark 11:12–14, 20–21

“May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”
Jesus kills a fig tree for having no fruit — despite it not being the season for figs.

"Whoever is not with me is against me..."
Matthew 12:30

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.”
This black-and-white view implies no neutrality or middle ground — only allegiance or opposition.

God lied to Adam and Eve

Genesis 2:16,17
And the Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”

What was said: In Genesis 2:17, God tells Adam that eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil would result in death on that day.

What happened: Adam and Eve eat the fruit, but they do not die that day. Instead, they are:

Banished from Eden.

Cursed with suffering (painful childbirth, hard labor, mortality).

Told they would return to dust — implying eventual death, not immediate.

Wider Fallout: Collective Punishment
Not only were Adam and Eve punished, but all of humanity and even non-human animals suffer and die.

Eve’s punishment was extended to all women, with pain in childbirth and submission to men (Genesis 3:16).

Adam’s punishment led to a cursed ground, requiring hard labor to survive (Genesis 3:17–19).

This presents God as:

Inflicting intergenerational punishment.

Imposing suffering on billions of humans (including trillions of sentient organisms) for a single act of disobedience by only two humans.

Commanding reproduction (Genesis 1:28, Genesis 3:16) even though childbirth is cursed — a painful contradiction.

Deception: God said one thing (immediate death) but did something else.

Cruelty: Instead of just death, the punishment was lifelong and multigenerational suffering.

Injustice: All descendants and other species suffer for the mistake of two.

From an ethical perspective, punishing innocents for the actions of others — especially when omniscient and omnipotent — is morally evil.

On 24 December 2024, a Christian man smeared our window with blood and tried to knock our front door down. He gave us death threats. We phoned the police, and the police arrested him. The police wanted to know if we wanted to press charges. We said that we didn't want to press charges and asked the police to get the man help for his alcoholism. The police did that, and the man is in a program for alcoholism. If we had pressed charges, the man would have gone to jail because we recorded his death threats.

Six of my relatives and my best friend were killed in separate incidents. I didn't hunt down the perpetrators and punish them. Could any of the perpetrators have refrained from killing? Not unless the determinants (i.e. genes, environments, nutrients and experiences) of their choices were changed.

The tit for tat approach makes the world worse. Of course, we need to protect victims from perpetrators - we should do this by placing perpetrators in quarantine and helping them change.

Or possibly, Bible literalism is bonkers. I don't much care either way. — unenlightened

I agree that the Bible is not literally true, it is a work of fiction.

Metaphors exist. — I like sushi

Yes, metaphors exist. However, the Bible is not written as a metaphor. It is claimed to be divinely authored truth - which it clearly is not.

Bible literalism is bonkers. — unenlightened

It is. Hence why there is a vast swathe of scholar in theology who study non-literal interpretations.

Why are you here? Are you looking for people who believe the world was created a few thousand years ago? You will probably not find anyone like that here.

Why are you here? Are you looking for people who believe the world was created a few thousand years ago? You will probably not find anyone like that here. — I like sushi

I am here to read posts by others and make my own posts about various topics that I find interesting. I am not looking for anyone.

Relating legends is not lying. Inventing legends, to convey some (supposed) greater truth isn't lying either. Bart Ehrman compares this to the apochryphal story of young George Washington admitting chopping down a cherry tree ("I cannot tell a lie"). The (supposed) greater truth was that George was honest.

The problem as I see is is that objectors are trying to say religious thinking is metaphorical. It is best utilized as such but it is not, in most cases, actually how its utilized. Therefore, these criticisms are totally live.

I agree.