www.message.snopes.com

Unknown #fundie message.snopes.com

[Non-findie poster shares her favorite passage from a religious tract she got while trick-or-treating.]

It's full of good stuff, but here's the best.
From a Q&A column

Q: I really like fantasy books, but I don't know if I should read them. (not really a question, but here we go. -c-)

A:There's a true story about a teenager who became very interested in romance novels. It started with just occasional reading, but soon that wasn't enough. Before long she was spending every spare minute reading romance novels. She was hooked. The more she read, the the more she began to live ina a fantasy world. Real life became boring, she lost interest in sports, and her grades began to drop. Her friends noticed the changes in her, but she wouldn't listen to them anymore. They all seemed so immature to her now.
Eventually this young woman dropped out of school and got married, looking for the dream husband she had read about in the novles. Unfortunatley, the marriage didn't last. Since then she as remarried and divorced two times. She never could find the man of her dreams. Why are we telling you this? (Indeed, why? -c-) Because this is an example of what reading fantasy books can do. Aside from being untrue, theyse books can "program" our brains to think that life is supposed to be a certain way. But it really isn't. Fantasy stories are only figment of somebody's imagination. The "somebody" who wrote them is probably not a Christian, and most of the story lines don't promote Christian values. Proverbs 14:7 has some good advice: "Stay way from a foolish amn, for you will not find knowledge on his lips." That applies to the people we associate with as well as what we read.

So all fiction is bad.

Little Pink Pill #fundie message.snopes.com

[by Johnny Slick
What about slaughtering every man, woman, and child in a city because the city itself sits on a spot where God wants you to put your own city? I don't care how many "witnesses" you have for something like that; if that's God's will I don't see how one can call him omnibenevolent with any realistic usage of that term. ]

Those would certainly be considered war crimes by today's standards, but you do have to keep in mind the historical and political backdrop. Those cities which were completely demolished were those in which archeological evidence has uncovered a miriad of horrific crimes against humanity, including human trafficking, ritualistic child rape, and excruciating infant sacrifice on the molton arms of the god Molech. The "other gods" of the Old Testament that were forbidden to the Israelites were not gentle deities of peace, and their worshippers were compariable to the Aztecs in their life and practice.

Those were the days of revenge, as well. Look at the story of Esther. Haman, the man who basically tried to euthanize the Jews, was the descendant of a nation God had instructed Israel to completely destroy. They didn't, and it almost meant their own annihilation.

Some cities the Israelites were instructed to completley burn, as well, jewels, gold, linens and all, which makes you wonder about the possibility of diseases and plagues.

Ancient Israel would not have been a place I would like to live in comparison with today's world, but with its obligatory release of slaves, cleanliness laws, and forbidding of human sacrifice for ritual or sport, it was a heck of a lot nicer than most ancient societies.