Elisha, bears and 42 children dead

[_Everybody Wang Chung]

God obviously has some serious anger management issues. If one believes in the Old Testament, God doesn't seem like someone you would want to hang out with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIk3j9vvIAQ&feature=related

[_sock puppet]

God obviously has some serious anger management issues. If one believes in the Old Testament, God doesn't seem like someone you would want to hang out with:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hIk3j9vvIAQ&feature=related

Given how the Mormons keep downgrading elohim's omnipotence, I think one could take him on and take him down.

[_Hades]

No, the God of love is not the leftwing crybaby you imagine Him to be.

He is obviously more understanding now days, or I would have been eaten by a bear a long time ago. Your God is becoming a left wing cry baby. He is becoming politically correct, and no longer sends bears to eat people.

[_Hoops]

Here Darth J points to the LDS Church yet teaching about God causing a couple of bears to eat 42 children for making fun of Elisha for being bald. Poor Elisha. His feelings were hurt. And the measure of justice meted out by elohim or jehovah (or both) was that those children be eaten by bears.

To me, this seems even more incredible than a talking donkey. JSJr said (4/7/1844, King Follett Sermon) that

It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. * * * If any man does not know God, and inquires what kind of a being He is,--if he will search diligently his own heart--if the declaration of Jesus and the apostles be true, he will realize that he has not eternal life; for there can be eternal life on no other principle. * * * It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, ... .

Wow. So what do we learn about the character of God from his causing the bears to consume 42 children simply for mocking Elisha due to his baldness?

HWH was bald. Did God cause any bears to eat children that may have seen HWH and point and tell their mommies, "Look at that bald man!"

Certainly seems that God is pretty thin skinned and gets rather testy if anyone points out some physical shortcoming of one of his prophets. Not the kind of guy I'd want to converse with. Thank you, no, JSJr and Elisha.

Some biblical facts conveniently left out;

To say that these were children taunting a grown man does not do justice to the text. It may be more accurately rendered as young men and Elisha roughly the same age. Let's also remember, as I recall, Elisha had just been the administrator of two miracles. Let's also consider that in this time, 42 of these "children" were mauled, but how many were in the crowd? It would seem a lot more. So Elisha was facing a rather large, angry crowd, from a city that had been cursed and may have been still under the direction of Baal. There's a lot here that you conveniently pass by, but the cursory reading is always the best isn't it?

[_Shulem]

No, the God of love is not the leftwing crybaby you imagine Him to be.

He is obviously more understanding now days, or I would have been eaten by a bear a long time ago. Your God is becoming a left wing cry baby. He is becoming politically correct, and no longer sends bears to eat people.

Elisha was a cry-baby and false prophet and his god a blood thirsty tyrant with anger management problems. Little wonder they took it out on Jesus and nailed his ass to a cross. The whole god-family is a sorry excuse for a family in heaven. May they be banished to the celestial kingdom where they can constantly bitch and moan about everyone else below.

Paul O

[_malkie]

Here Darth J points to the LDS Church yet teaching about God causing a couple of bears to eat 42 children for making fun of Elisha for being bald. Poor Elisha. His feelings were hurt. And the measure of justice meted out by elohim or jehovah (or both) was that those children be eaten by bears.

To me, this seems even more incredible than a talking donkey. JSJr said (4/7/1844, King Follett Sermon) that

It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. * * * If any man does not know God, and inquires what kind of a being He is,--if he will search diligently his own heart--if the declaration of Jesus and the apostles be true, he will realize that he has not eternal life; for there can be eternal life on no other principle. * * * It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, ... .

Wow. So what do we learn about the character of God from his causing the bears to consume 42 children simply for mocking Elisha due to his baldness?

HWH was bald. Did God cause any bears to eat children that may have seen HWH and point and tell their mommies, "Look at that bald man!"

Certainly seems that God is pretty thin skinned and gets rather testy if anyone points out some physical shortcoming of one of his prophets. Not the kind of guy I'd want to converse with. Thank you, no, JSJr and Elisha.

Some biblical facts conveniently left out;

To say that these were children taunting a grown man does not do justice to the text. It may be more accurately rendered as young men and Elisha roughly the same age. Let's also remember, as I recall, Elisha had just been the administrator of two miracles. Let's also consider that in this time, 42 of these "children" were mauled, but how many were in the crowd? It would seem a lot more. So Elisha was facing a rather large, angry crowd, from a city that had been cursed and may have been still under the direction of Baal. There's a lot here that you conveniently pass by, but the cursory reading is always the best isn't it?

To be established as "fact", no?

Well, that would make it all right then, I guess.

[_sock puppet]

Here Darth J points to the LDS Church yet teaching about God causing a couple of bears to eat 42 children for making fun of Elisha for being bald. Poor Elisha. His feelings were hurt. And the measure of justice meted out by elohim or jehovah (or both) was that those children be eaten by bears.

To me, this seems even more incredible than a talking donkey. JSJr said (4/7/1844, King Follett Sermon) that

It is necessary for us to have an understanding of God himself in the beginning. * * * If any man does not know God, and inquires what kind of a being He is,--if he will search diligently his own heart--if the declaration of Jesus and the apostles be true, he will realize that he has not eternal life; for there can be eternal life on no other principle. * * * It is the first principle of the gospel to know for a certainty the character of God, and to know that we may converse with Him as one man converses with another, ... .

Wow. So what do we learn about the character of God from his causing the bears to consume 42 children simply for mocking Elisha due to his baldness?

HWH was bald. Did God cause any bears to eat children that may have seen HWH and point and tell their mommies, "Look at that bald man!"

Certainly seems that God is pretty thin skinned and gets rather testy if anyone points out some physical shortcoming of one of his prophets. Not the kind of guy I'd want to converse with. Thank you, no, JSJr and Elisha.

Some biblical facts conveniently left out;

To say that these were children taunting a grown man does not do justice to the text. It may be more accurately rendered as young men and Elisha roughly the same age. Let's also remember, as I recall, Elisha had just been the administrator of two miracles. Let's also consider that in this time, 42 of these "children" were mauled, but how many were in the crowd? It would seem a lot more. So Elisha was facing a rather large, angry crowd, from a city that had been cursed and may have been still under the direction of Baal. There's a lot here that you conveniently pass by, but the cursory reading is always the best isn't it?

So Elisha was the bald "little child" prophet?

23And he went up from thence unto Bethel: and as he was going up by the way, there came forth little children out of the city, and mocked him, and said unto him, Go up, thou bald head; go up, thou bald head.

24And he turned back, and looked on them, and cursed them in the name of the LORD. And there came forth two she bears out of the wood, and tare forty and two children of them.

Why does it seem there were more than 42 "little children"? Did you just make that up out of wholecloth?

[_moksha]

... but the cursory reading is always the best isn't it?

Only if it involves a killer bear assisting in a mission from God.

by the way, why were the victims called children?

[_Shulem]

The Bible along with Elisha is a sorry ass joke. They wrote that crap to get gain -- whether it be power or money, the Bible is all about collecting money for the cause.

I dare God to sick a bear on me!

(Sticking my tongue out at God)

Paul O

[_Hoops]

Why does it seem there were more than 42 "little children"? Did you just make that up out of wholecloth?

No, I did not make it up out of whole cloth. As I recall, the hebrew is best read as young men. Nor does the text explicitly read that. But the situation certainly could be seen this way. As a literalist, I would only assume that 42 people did, in fact, get mauled. Is it reasonable to assume that only 42 people were there? That seems unlikely. If 42 were mauled, how many would have been there? A hundred? Two hundred? We are free to make calculations of the situation based on what we know of the time, the customs, and the Bible as a whole.