FORGIVENESS and other MIRACLES

Now, I´m continuing reading the Gospel of Luke and although I want to sleep I am making a huge effort to keep on reading.
As I said in my last blog post, Jesus is starting to cure people with diseases and is becoming famous for making miracles. In one occasion a centurion´s servant went to ask Jesus for help.

“Then Jesus went with them. And when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself: for I am not worthy that thou shouldest enter under my roof: 7 Wherefore neither thought I myself worthy to come unto thee: but say in a word, and my servant shall be healed.” (7:6)

When I read this quotation I couldn’t stop thinking about every mass and how each Sunday they keep repeating this. I have never actually understood it, so I decided to read it a couple of times to find its meaning. After trying to analyze it I came up with an interpretation. In those times the Jews were enemies of the Romans, and the Centurion was obviously considered an enemy of Jesus, but Jesus instead of denying his help, agrees to go and cure him. This is extremely contradictory due to the fact that he is curing an enemy, but it teaches everyone and serves as an example of forgiveness and how they are all sons of God and should love each other. The Centurion says that he is no one to ask for his help, but still Jesus decides to help him since he is nobody to judge his actions.

I really like this part since Jesus shows kindness and love and forgiveness. This taught me that in the eyes of the Lord we are all equal so we should treat everyone good. Many times in life we treat people badly and refuse to help them due to their believes or features, and God just wants to teach as that nobody is superior or has the right to treat others badly. In the end we will all die and our actions will be nothing, but the wind. We will ALL die, so what makes you so superior?

Then, we see another act of forgiveness when Jesus forgives a woman who had committed adultery.

“Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.” (7:47)

I remember seeing this part in a movie. This woman is Mary Magdalene, who had committed a huge sin, but Jesus instead of punishing her, forgives her. This shows how everyone should be forgiven instead of being punished (this goes to my Mom).

Then, after lots of miracles, Jesus starts spreading his parables and teachings, and the disciples divide to spread God´s will everywhere. Ok, so, I understand that the apostles admired Jesus, but they were practically his servants. Well, if I were them I would think the Lord was a little unfair since how come Jesus has these special powers while nobody else does? Oh well, life sucks.

Well, I haven’t found anything more interesting in these chapters, but I am really liking how Luke makes things so brief and simple. I really like Jesus´ behavior since it shows goodness and compassion. If more people in the world acted with kindness and didn’t have resentment everything would be better, but life is not like this and people have become selfish and egocentric.

Right now, I need a Jesus. If he was so powerful, can´t he just come and help all the misfortunate? If God is able to perform such miracles, why doesn’t he help the world and all the people who suffer every day?

The Gospel of Luke: FINALLY JESUS!

Yey! I’m ecstatic because I am reading the Bible again. (Please note the sarcasm)

Ok, so, as I said previously I am returning to blogging about the Bible, but this time it’s about the New Testament. I am really not enthusiastic about the idea, but let’s be positive and hopefully things turn out to be better this time.

Now, I am beginning to read Luke´s Gospel and as weird as it may sound I am actually enjoying it. Luke starts by telling the story of how Zacharias ´wife, Elizabeth, conceives a child (John). According to the Bible, Angel Gabriel, appeared in the presence of Zacharias and told him that his barren wife was going to have a child. This seems pretty normal, but it isn’t, due to the SIMPLE fact that Elizabeth is an old barren woman. Yes, because they were living in a happy world were this kind of miracles occurred and were menopause didn’t exist. Also, if Zacharias was a priest, how come he was married? Well, at least nowadays the Catholic Church prohibits this.

Then, we finally get to the story of Jesus. In the sixth day Angel Gabriel appeared to Elizabeth´s sister, Virgin Mary, and told her that she was going to conceive a child from the Lord, and that she shall named him Jesus. After this, Mary becomes pregnant and accompanied by her husband, Joseph, they go to Bethlehem. In Bethlehem she gives birth to Jesus.

I like how Luke makes everything seem simple. For example, throughout all of our lives we have heard the same B-O-R-I-N-G story of how Jesus was born. We have not just had to hear this story over and over again, but as well, we´ve had to see people acting it every Christmas (or at least in my case). I come from a very hot city located in the coast of Colombia, so every time I go there for winter break I have to tolerate those long ´novenas´ in the middle of the hot burning sun and those stupid mosquitoes biting all of my legs, while listening to the same old story.
Thanks God, instead of explaining every detail of the birth of Jesus, Luke only says,

“And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.” (2:6-2:7)

Also, think about it, isn’t it strange to have the son of the Lord while being married to another man? I personally think the idea of being Joseph and having to see his wife have a child, which isn’t his, is terrible. I just see the fact of the Lord doing this, as sexual abuse and adultery. In the Old Testament we see how one of the Ten Commandments is,

“You shall not commit adultery.” (Seventh commandment)

Isn’t kind of contradictory how God states this as a rule, but he doesn’t follow it? I understand the concept of him being superior, but that doesn’t give him the right to go and leave Mary pregnant. In fact, he didn’t even ask for Mary´s permission or approval, he just sent his Angel to give her the news. Ok, maybe Mary and Joseph were extremely devoted to God, but to me this is just too extreme to be justified.

After all this is told, we now get to the part when Luke mentions how Jesus grows, not only in years, but in knowledge and wisdom. Jesus gets interested in the Lord and is learning about him,

“How is it that ye sought me? wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s business?” (2:50)

It is told that Jesus, as a small kid, had knowledge and was mature, but I really don’t see this as something possible. I am a girl, and it is said that we mature faster than boys, and it is somehow true. I am fifteen and boys my age are not still mature so I really can’t understand how Jesus was born so intelligent and talks about this topics when he is like 7. OH WELL, maybe this stuff did occur at this period of time.

Another thing that caught my attention is how they talk about virginity. For example, there is one part where Luke talks about a prophetess and mentions her virginity.

“And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity;” (2:27)

Practically, what I got from this quotation is that Anna lost her virginity when she got married. I thought this was interesting since I’ve always heard my grandmother and mom tell me that they were virgins when they got married, but to me this just seems as a bunch of bull. I mean, maybe at those time women couldn’t have sexual relationships before being married, but in modern days this has changed. So, basically if the Bible doesn’t promote sex before marriage, is this considered a sin?

Then, in Chapter Three, John starts baptizing people and when Jesus is baptized, the Lord appears to him and says,

“Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.” (3:22)

UGGGHHHHHH!!!!!! I am really mad at God. How is that he has the right to do whatever he wants and everyone seems to be ok with it? I mean, his sudden appearance to his son is portrayed as something very natural, but if I was Jesus I would be really mad with my Dad for not having appeared before.

After this, coincidentally Satan appears and Jesus is tempted by him. Satan offers Jesus all his power and glory, but Jesus refuses and tells him,

“Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” (4:8)

I really liked this part since it shows loyalty. Jesus is extremely loyal to his father since his love for him is stronger than all the power in the world. I admire Jesus since he is not ambitious and demonstrates strength.

What follows next is just how Jesus started curing diseases, forgiving sins, and spreading the word of the Lord. One of the things he said that I really liked is,

“Give, and it shall be given unto you;” (6:28)

This is absolutely true since who gives and spreads happiness will receive happiness, but if you decide to give sadness you will receive sadness back.

So far, I am loving Luke, and although I don’t know who this man really is, he seems pretty intelligent. It is weird to read something written about someone unknown, but it is much better since it makes everything more mysterious and we don’t know about how biased and true the information is.

tao ending

tao 29-47

tao 13-28

Opposites Attract

Ladies and Gentleman, the Tao.

Today I started reading the Tao Te Ching and there is just one word that can describe it: CONFUSING. I have read the first chapters over and over again and as hard as I try to understand it, nothing seems to make sense. The Tao starts by saying,

“The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named is not the eternal name” (Chapter 1)

WTF? I really didn’t understand this. The only interpretation that I found for this is that if the Tao´s teachings are spread, the Tao will remain eternal and people will learn from it.

Since I didn’t get the first chapter I decided to read the next ones and found many interesting things. Some of these cool teachings were:

“When the world knows beauty as beauty, ugliness arises
When it knows good as good, evil arises
Thus being and non-being produce each other
Difficult and easy bring about each other
Long and short reveal each other
High and low support each other
Music and voice harmonize each other
Front and back follow each other” (Chapter 2)

This aphorism really caught my attention since it shows how everything in life has a balance and things complement each other. Everything known to us has an opposite which creates a balance in society. For example: black and white, good and evil, difficult and easy, high and low, tall and short, front and back, etc. This makes total sense since everything and everyone is different so as the Tao says, when we know beauty and we find other stuff which doesn’t fit into the beauty description, then, ugliness has to appear. I find very good how everything complements each other, but somehow this believe has been a little mistaken by the community. Why do we have to have such extremes as right or left? I mean, who can really judge if something is beautiful or ugly? Why is society always giving such stereotypes and since when beauty is perfection? How can we know what is good and what is evil? We are all humans and we have been brainwashed and shaped to have certain ideals when nobody actually knows how things should work.

“Bearing it, rearing it
Bearing without possession
Achieving without arrogance
Raising without domination
This is called the Mystic Virtue” (Chapter 10)

Ok, so basically what the Tao is saying here is the key to success and happiness. I really liked this part of chapter 10 since taking the path of goodness and being able of controlling your action is really hard. It is absolutely true that when you achieve you shouldn’t be arrogant. I could relate this part with many daily experiences. In many occasions when someone wins they start bragging about it, and this is really rude and may cause other people to become upset. Instead of being arrogant, one should be humble and by being like this you will win the respect and appreciation of others. The same happens with rising without domination. You may rise and get a better position, but you should always remember where you came from and shouldn’t take domination over people with lower positions. The Mystic virtue is mainly saying that we should always find a good balance and act with goodness. We may get better and gain more power, but that doesn’t mean we are superior and can treat others unequally.

“Therefore the sages care for the stomach and not the eyes
That is why they discard the other and take this” (Chapter 12)

At first, I really didn’t get the meaning of this aphorism, but after trying to analyze it I came up with an interpretation. So, I think that what the Tao is saying here is that you should act by following your feelings and not what you see. So, what does this mean? Basically, while reading this I couldn’t stop thinking about Mulan. In the movie, Mulan is always saying that one should follow what your heart tells you and not what your brain or logic wants you to do. This teaching also remembered me about one of my close friends who always repeats this phrase,
“If you feel like doing it, do it. If you want it, go get it.”
This is absolutely true since you should always try to follow your instincts and feelings, since if you don’t feel like doing something nobody, but yourself, can force you to do it.

Now, that I have read some of the Tao I am starting to like it and I’m enjoying reading it. I love how the teachings are so deep, make total sense, and can be applied into reality. Until now, I can say that this is much better than the Analects of Confucius.

BLA BLA BLA BE VIRTUOUS BLA BLA BLA

The Analects are getting really boring right now since Confucius keeps talking about the same things and repeating himself. Seriously, what’s wrong with him? Maybe getting old is affecting his memory and forces him to say the same stuff over and over again. I can’t even mention the millions of times that I have seen the word virtue in the teachings. Still, there have been some points that I have liked. Some of these are:

“The subjects on which the Master did not talk, were-extraordinary things, feats of strength, disorder, and spiritual beings.” (7:21)

Ok, so why is this interesting? I just love the fact of how in the Analects there is not a spiritual being, such as God, but there is just this normal old man who has his teachings to offer. Actually, I had never seen this in other religions and I like how everything written by Confucius is so realistic and related to how society really is. For example, in the Bible we can find this unrealistic-fictional things (such as Moses opening the sea and Noah´s ark), while here the teachings are based on how life really is.

“The Master said, "When I walk along with two others, they may serve me as my teachers. I will select their good qualities and follow them, their bad qualities and avoid them." (7:22)

When I saw this aphorism, the first thing that came to my mind was peer pressure. I can relate a lot to this since a lot of my friends have great characteristics and I learn from them, but as well, they have bad qualities. This is the case with one of my best friends. She is so cool and makes me laugh a lot, but sometimes she can be so mean with everyone else. So, basically, according to Confucius, you may learn from others by applying their good qualities and avoiding their bad ones. This also reminded me of that weird bumper sticker that says:

"You cry, I cry, you laugh, I laugh, you fall off a cliff, I laugh even harder."

Well, this bumper sticker reflects how if your friend decides to do something bad, you have to take the good path and avoid the bad qualities of your friend.

These were the maxims that I mostly found amusing. I am really enjoying how the book has so many political and leadership information and I hope that Confucius stops repeating himself and makes the lecture more entertaining.

Confucius and Confusion

When I first started reading the Analects I really didn’t understand anything. It is so complicated reading something so confusing. I still don’t even know who the characters are, but I have managed to interpret some teachings. Confucius is basically this weird man who just decided to write the analects to show his perfect idea of a society. His perfect idea of how everything should work was basically based in respecting elders and your family:

"The Master said, "A youth, when at home, should be filial, and, abroad, respectful to his elders. He should be earnest and truthful. He should overflow in love to all, and cultivate the friendship of the good. When he has time and opportunity, after the performance of these things, he should employ them in polite studies." (1:6)

He also based his teachings on dignity, trustworthiness, respect for others, virtue, and traditions. In these books I have found many interesting aphorisms that make me question myself about the way I should live.

As I said before, virtue is one of the most important values that the Master writes about. According to Confucius being virtuous can be described by some characteristics.

As stated by the Master,

“The superior man does not, even for the space of a single meal, act contrary to virtue. In moments of haste, he cleaves to it. In seasons of danger, he cleaves to it.” (4:5)

I totally agree with this since its true that we always look for virtue when we need it, but when we are happy we don’t think it is a necessity. Think about virtue as God. Sometimes, when we are perfectly fine, we forget absolutely about God, but when a tragedy occurs we immediately remember him and pray for help. This is just how humans function. We are so unaware of everything until something drastic occurs, and then, just then when we are desperate, we decide to act. Remember Haiti? The people there has always been suffering from hunger and poverty, and nobody helped. Then, suddenly the earthquake came and destroyed everything, and in effect people started helping. I don’t think that we do this kind of things intentionally; it’s just that most of our mechanisms are procrastinator programmed. So, basically what Confucius meant by saying this is that you have to be virtuous ALWAYS.

Some other maxims that caught my attention were:

“The Master said, “Riches and honors are what men desire. If they cannot be obtained in the proper way, they should not be held. Poverty and meanness are what men dislike. If they cannot be avoided in the proper way, they should not be avoided.” (4:5)

Basically, here the Master is saying that if you can’t obtain what you desire using the right means, then, don’t do it since acting good is always the right path to follow. When I read this I couldn’t stop thinking about a debate we had in school in which we argued about the end justifying the means. According to Confucius, if the actions used to accomplish the end are good, you are successful, but if not, you are just wrong.

The Master said, “It is all over. I have not yet seen one who could perceive his faults, and inwardly accuse himself.” (5:27)

This quotation is so realistic since it’s absolutely true that most of the time we have so much pride and such a big ego that we refuse to accept our mistakes and not blame everything on others.

“The Master said, "They who know the truth are not equal to those who love it, and they who love it are not equal to those who delight in it." (6:20)

At first, I couldn’t get the message out of this, but I decided to put it since it sounds really deep. After thinking I could interpret this by saying that there are people who know the truth, others that love it, but the ones who actually say it are the ones who live in harmony. This made me realize many things since sometimes we just keep the truth and lie because of being afraid, but when you are free of lies your live immediately becomes better.

Until now, these are the points and lessons that have mainly grabbed my attention. I really like the way that everything is so inspiring and has a political context, although I really don’t admire Confucius since he is so arrogant.

The Master said, “In a hamlet of ten families, there may be found one honorable and sincere as I am, but not so fond of learning.” (5:28)

Like really, WTF? Confucius seemed like this nice man who had this great lessons and now he is saying that it is very hard to find a man as good as him. I mean maybe it’s true, but it’s an irrelevant point. Mr. Confucius has serious high self esteem/ego issues. No offense.

CREATIONISM VS. EVOLUTION

“Inherit the Wind” is a movie which shows the controversy between theology and science. In the film, the characters are debating about creationism and Darwin´s theory of evolution in order to know what is right. While watching the movie there were certain questions I asked myself. Some of these questions were:

ROUND 1:

•How should everyone live?
This question came up to my mind several times since really, should we follow the Bible or should we have the right to choose freely how we desire to live? I believe in many things the Bible says and I try to apply several of its teachings into my daily life, but I also believe in many scientific findings that make everything more coherent. I like how in the Bible nothing has to make sense, while in society we are always looking for explanations to justify everything. I think that everyone should decide how to live according to his believes, and not necessarily following some religious believes or a scientific theory. Cant there just be a balance? In this round I would have to say that the teacher is absolutely right since expressing yourself is not a sin, it’s a right.

ROUND 2:

•Which of the two ideas have best valid explanations and arguments?
Well, at the beginning I personally thought I was going to be biased to defend the Bible, since I’m a Catholic, but now after seeing the movie I realized a lot of things. Darwin’s theory states that complex creatures, like us, evolved from more simplistic ancestors naturally over time (for example: we evolved from apes), while the Bible says:
“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness [was] upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Genesis 1:1, 1:2)

According to Genesis, God created the earth and everything that exists in it in six days, but there is not actual prove about this, while Darwin´s theory DOES. In the theory of evolution its is explained clearly how the first living organisms appeared in earth, but in the Bible we don’t even know how God appeared and decided to be the ruler. In the debate there was a very interesting point in which they attacked the defendants of creationism by asking how Jonah got swallowed by a whale. I thought this point was really interesting since they used a lot of rhetoric by pointing out the unrealistic/fictional stuff written in the Bible. In effect, I´d say that the theory of evolution wins the second round.

THIRD ROUND- CONCLUSION:
I actually agree with everyone having freedom of speech and expression since if we all believed in the same things life would be absolutely boring. In this movie I am kind of against of the Catholic Church since how come they accuse this teacher for teaching about Darwin´s ideas. I mean, if you don’t believe in the Bible and God it’s your problem and no one should have the right to judge or criticize you. I think it’s very interesting how from everyone we can learn different ideas and we don’t specifically have to follow an institution, a belief, or even a book. In the film I agree with the teacher´s perspective since teaching about science is not a crime, and I really liked how the teacher refuses to admit he is wrong and says,
“I will continue to oppose this law in every way that I can”

I really enjoyed watching this movie and I recommend it to everyone who is interested in this kind of topics or in learning about rhetoric. Although the movie was good, I thought it was kind of biased since the director tried to defend his point by showing the leaders and defendants of the Church as bad and crazy manipulators who brain-washed the people .

Watch it now in YouTube!

Is the Joy of Life worth the Pain?

In this book Satan finally appears and challenges God. The Lord couldn’t resist the contest so he agreed to prove goodness in Job by destroying everything the man had. Still, Job refused to curse God and kept praying and worshipping him.
As stated in the narrative,

“And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:21)

If there is one thing I have learned is that there is no such thing as absolute good and pure evil.

First of all I would like to express my hate towards Job. I really don’t like him at all. In Exodus I enjoyed reading about Moses, but I didn’t enjoy The Book of Job. Like really what´s wrong with Job? How can he be so thankful with God after all he did to him? He destroyed everything he had and even killed his sons and still Job refuses to curse him or lose his faith. Is Job a human or is he like this strange alien without feelings? If God took all I have away because of a stupid game with Satan, “his best friend”, I think that I would probably lose all my faith in the Lord. So, why am I referring to Satan as Gods bff? Well, before reading this I thought they hated each other since one reflects goodness and the other one evil, but they seem to get along really well and talk in a very civilized way. Also, we can see how God has so much pride and it is so easy to manipulate him that he can’t refuse to accept Satan´s test.

Satan said,

“But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.” (The Book of Job 1:11 and 1:12)


Before, I had this great image of God, I thought he was so powerful and superior to Satan, but after this I just see him as someone who does not stand up for himself and his people, and who prefers to win a stupid game and prove he is better than his enemy than to care for his loyal follower (Job). I’m just seriously starting to feel like a toy or a puppet that the Lord can move around whenever he desires. If he brought all this suffering to his “best follower”, Job, what disasters would he sent to the normal people? Still, although I don’t like Job that much I admire him for keeping all the anger inside and resisting the temptation to curse his God. Ok, so now I’m feeling really bad since I’m a Catholic and shouldn’t be saying these things. In fact, I am very devoted to my religion and truly believe in the Lord, but when analyzing the Bible I just feel the desire to express myself. Now, I feel so guilty for judging God and my religious beliefs.


Oh great! Now I’ll have to go to the church and confess all my sins.

The Ten Commandments

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
When I saw this law the first thing that came to my mind was when Moses went to show the commandments to the Israelites and saw them worshipping a gold bull as if that was their God. I thought this was very disrespectful to the Lord since after God did all those efforts to save them they pay him by believing in another God. This commandment made me ask myself these questions:
Is being an atheist a sin?
Is being part of another religion and worshipping another God a sin?

2. You shall not make for yourself any carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.As well as the first commandment this commandment made me think about the golden bull. I think that worshipping the statue was a sin, but it is kind of justified since the people had never actually seen the God so they didn’t know how he looked like. Nowadays we can see Buddha statues and the statues are not seen as bad. Does the Lord disagree with this?

3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.This commandment remembers me of how we have all said in a point of our lives “I swear for God” so that people believe us. The problem is that many times we don’t say the truth and that is when we use the name of God in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
I really don’t understand this commandment and I don’t follow it so I decided to skip it.


5. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.Ok, so this is the commandment which I mostly don’t follow. I mean, God is stating that we should respect our parents, but in my case this is extremely hard. Parents are always punishing you and many times overprotect you which lead to fighting with them. Why do we have to respect them if sometimes they don’t respect us back? If God created this commandment why didn’t he create one that said “Honor your son or daughter”?

6. You shall not murder.
I totally agree with this commandment, but I strongly believe that God is contradicting himself. After he has killed millions of people during the plagues, he is now prohibiting murder. I mean, why does God has to have this superiority in which it is justified that he murders, while if a normal person assassinates someone its considered a sin?

7. You shall not commit adultery.
I really didn’t know what to write about this commandment so I decided to procrastinate and turned on the T.V and guess what? Coincidentally in the news they were talking about a man who decided to castrate himself with a knife in order to stop himself from committing adultery. I thought this was of great importance and decided to write about it. It´s incredible how a set of rules and believes, or even some religious institutions such as the Catholic Church can have such a strong power in a person that may lead him/her to do this dangerous acts. The man is currently in the hospital and it is obvious that he has mental problems since you should have control over yourself without having to take this crazy-pathetic decisions.

8. You shall not steal.
I think this commandment is reasonable since stealing is really bad, but lets be realistic. Everyone steals, it’s a normal thing. If God considers this a sin why did he create greed and inequality amongst the people?

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.Ok so wtf? I just thought this commandment was very random.

10. "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Ok, I think that we as humans always want what we cant have so it is completely normal to want what your neighbor, friend, etc. haves.

These commandments were written based on the time they were at, but in modern days many of this commandments would have to be modified.

Exodus: A Series of Unrealistic Events

Ok, so now I finally got to Exodus. Exodus mainly tells the story of Moses and his loyalty to the Lord. The story starts when the Pharaoh feels threatened and orders that all Hebrew boys must be murdered. In effect, Moses’ mother decides to save him and puts him in a basket in the river. Then, Moses is found and kept by the Pharaoh´s daughter, but when he grows he sees how the Israelites are treated and strongly disagrees. Then, the Lord appears to Moses, in the form of a bush, and tells him to fight for his people.
As stated by the narrator,

“And the LORD said, I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.” (Genesis 3:7 and 3:8)

At first, Moses doesn’t understand what he has to do, but then God gives a long explanation and gives him the power to convert his rod to a snake. Finally, after millions of hours, Moses understands his duty and goes to the Pharaoh´s palace.

Ok, so first of all I have to say, what is wrong with Moses? He seems kind of a retard. How can he actually talk to a bush? As well, Moses is kind of a slow learner since God has to repeat himself various times so that he can get the whole point of the conversation.
I also found interesting how God hasn’t helped his people for hundreds of years and then he suddenly appears and decides to help. Moses confused asks him who he is, but he gives the lamest response I have ever heard,

“I AM THAT I AM” (Genesis 3:14)

What does this actually mean? Like really, who is God? I interpreted this as if God is just like a superior power that can’t be named nor described.

After all this, Moses goes to talk to the palace and the Pharaoh refuses to agree with him. What happens next is just BLA BLA BLA or in other words, the story we all know about the plagues and how heroic Moses opened the sea.
I think God is a little too violent since during the plagues many people died and suffered. I mean, he didn’t have to kill innocent people just because of the Pharaoh´s decision. The Lord is extremely harsh since by making everyone suffer he is actually doing the same thing the Pharaoh did with the Israelites. While reading this I couldn’t stop asking myself some questions. If God did this to teach a lesson to the world maybe he is doing the same thing to us in present days by sending us many catastrophes and tragedies. Also I couldn’t stop thinking about this documentary I saw some years ago in which scientists analyzed the plagues and how he opened the sea and found scientifically-reasonable explanations for them. I thought that the part when Moses opens the sea was very unrealistic so I decided to google it and found out that scientists agree that the wind set-down effect could have caused the Red Sea to part as described in the Bible.

After all this unbelievable events happen, the Israelites guided by Moses finally reach the Promised Land and are given the Ten Commandments. In my following blog you may read more about these commandments.