490
all 44 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 11 points 1 day ago

No no you don't understand. You shouldn't be taking it literally it's an allegory - many theists probably

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

The authors didn't make a distinction between whales and fish.

[-] pyre@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

to be fair, there's no such thing as a fish...

[-] teegus@sh.itjust.works 2 points 21 hours ago

It says it right trere, first paragraph

[-] ruse8145@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 1 day ago

I see you, have an upvote

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

It says “large fish” in Hebrew.

[-] samus12345@lemmy.world 0 points 1 day ago

Yes, and if they had a word for whale specifically, it was considered a type of large fish.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Now, the text doesn’t say “God appointed a whale” but just “a great fish.” Both the original Hebrew dag gadol and the Greek of the Septuagint, kētei megalōi, translate as “huge fish.” Archaeology has proved that the Mediterranean was once home to a great variety of whales —which the Romans hunted almost to the point of extinction. It might be the case that the author of the biblical text simply wanted to contrast Jonah’s “closed mouth” to that of the “big fish,” able not only to swallow a whole human being but also being hollow enough as to provide him with safe shelter for three days and three nights. Interestingly enough, during those three days Jonah certainly keeps his mouth open — he seems to spend them praying out loud.

But how did this “big fish” turn into a whale and not into one of the 47 species of sharks found in the Mediterranean? It seems St. Jerome is to blame.

https://aleteia.org/2021/07/15/jonah-was-not-swallowed-by-a-whale

[-] angelmountain@feddit.nl 2 points 19 hours ago

Does it really matter whether it was a whale or a "fish"? You can't live in either, so it's a BS story in a book of fairytales people take way too seriously.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

No, it doesn't matter. This was purely academic.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

You're taking the story too literally.

[-] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 64 points 2 days ago

But that book is the only thing that keeps them from going on murderous rampages. Coming to think of it, it's not even very good at stopping the murderous rampages.

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 18 points 2 days ago

The Crusades, the Inquisition, the war in the middle east - all Abrahamic-religiously motivated murderous activities.

[-] macrocephalic@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Israel - Palestine is two non-Christian abrahamic religions fighting each other currently. Then of course there's Catholics and Protestants, and all the different Muslim - Christian conflicts.

[-] AutistoMephisto@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Tell ya what, I'll build a time machine, go back, find this Abraham guy, teach him English, get him caught up on the last 2 millennia, and have him straighten out all this shit.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 10 points 2 days ago

What if John Wilkes Booth was a time traveling assassin and got the wrong Abraham?

[-] Soggy@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I'd read that short story.

[-] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 14 points 2 days ago

It certainly does not stop them from raping. However reading the Bible, it seems it actually encourages both murder and rape.

[-] ruse8145@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 day ago

Only of furiners. Red blooded s are safe.

[-] cmbabul@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Depends on the eyes reading it, I read the Bible like several times and all it did was make me not believe in it less each time

[-] fl42v@lemmy.ml 52 points 2 days ago

How about Numbers 31:17-18 where Moses says:

Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.

 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

[-] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 27 points 2 days ago

Definitely not as sex slaves, as a certain religious person I know argues, as apparently that would be intermarriage and forbidden! They just have to live with the trauma of having their entire family brutally murdered before them, and then being enslaved to the murderers for the rest of their lives. So much better!

[-] ruse8145@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 1 day ago

How would you have morals without religion

As an example of what not to do

[-] Kowowow@lemmy.ca 37 points 2 days ago

Hey man housing is housing

[-] LordCrom@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

Probably get 1k a month for a good sized fish stomach.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I remember that Ren and Stimpy episode...

[-] solarvector@lemmy.dbzer0.com 24 points 2 days ago

But it's not supposed to be literal!

(unless I say it is)

[-] groucho@lemmy.sdf.org 15 points 2 days ago

If you read it the right way, the book of Jonah reads like a really weird episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm.

[-] dessimbelackis@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

What’s the book of Job then? A you tube prank channel run by man-babies?

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

A narcissistic asshole gaslighting its victims into believing they’re not really victims because the narcissistic asshole made a bet.

It’s supposed the be an explanation for how evil can exist despite a benevolent creator… but it sums up as a sock puppet to which the explanation is “you wouldn’t understand”

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

It's also completely undermined in Isaiah.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Isaiah 45:7. Evil exists because God creates evil.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

pretty sure Isaiah didn't conceive of a benevolent god.

pretty sure Isaiah's god (all four isaiahs, in fact,) was a pretty freaking angry god.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

The Bible is nothing if not inconsistent.

[-] roguetrick@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

"Sorry about your wives and kids, have some new ones. It was just a prank bro."

[-] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Arrested Development

[-] groucho@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 days ago

Pretty much yeah. I was going to say an episode of Fear Factor but same thing.

[-] Bluefalcon@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 2 days ago

I believe ever time the bible mentions angel in physical form was just Albino people fucking around.

[-] CaptainSpaceman@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago

Biblically accurate angels are exactly what youd see on some good psychedelics

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago
[-] 01101000_01101001@mander.xyz 4 points 2 days ago

Everyone knows cherubim are naked babies

[-] Soggy@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

More properly known as putti but terminology gets mixed up all the time.

this post was submitted on 28 Jun 2024
490 points (97.5% liked)

Atheist Memes

5174 readers
281 users here now

About

A community for the most based memes from atheists, agnostics, antitheists, and skeptics.

Rules

  1. No Pro-Religious or Anti-Atheist Content.

  2. No Unrelated Content. All posts must be memes related to the topic of atheism and/or religion.

  3. No bigotry.

  4. Attack ideas not people.

  5. Spammers and trolls will be instantly banned no exceptions.

  6. No False Reporting

  7. NSFW posts must be marked as such.

Resources

International Suicide Hotlines

Recovering From Religion

Happy Whole Way

Non Religious Organizations

Freedom From Religion Foundation

Atheist Republic

Atheists for Liberty

American Atheists

Ex-theist Communities

!exchristian@lemmy.one

!exmormon@lemmy.world

!exmuslim@lemmy.world

Other Similar Communities

!religiouscringe@midwest.social

!priest_arrested@lemmy.world

!atheism@lemmy.world

!atheism@lemmy.ml

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS