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Atheist anti-theist polemicist Jonathan MS Pearce wrote in his screed,<\/span>\u00a0\u201cDebunking the Exodus II: A Ridiculous Story with Ridiculous Claims\u201d<\/a>\u00a0(5-19-21):<\/p>\n The Israelites mark their own doors as a symbol to the angels of death to Passover [sic] their houses so that only Egyptian firstborns die.<\/span>\u00a0[God is obviously not omniscient since he does not know where certain people live, and needs symbols so as not to accidentally kill the wrong people.]<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The red font is his own. He explains that \u201cwriting in red\u201d signifies why he thinks \u201cthe claim is entirely improbable\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Exodus 12:13<\/strong>\u00a0(RSV) The blood shall be a sign for you, upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall fall upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Exodus 12:21-27<\/strong>\u00a0 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel, and said to them, \u201cSelect lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the passover lamb.\u00a0[22] Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood which is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.\u00a0[23] For the LORD will pass through to slay the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to slay you.\u00a0[24] You shall observe this rite as an ordinance for you and for your sons for ever.\u00a0[25] And when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.\u00a0[26] And when your children say to you, `What do you mean by this service?\u2019\u00a0[27] you shall say, `It is the sacrifice of the LORD\u2019s passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he slew the Egyptians but spared our houses.'\u201d And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.\u00a0[cf. many passages<\/a> about the Passover ritual]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n First of all, this is obviously a religious ritual<\/em>. People have lots of religious rituals, and most of them claim to hearken back to the instructions of a God or gods (as here). Passover is in fact, the central annual ritual and holy day for Jews, and has been since the time of Moses and the Exodus. It\u2019s such an entrenched ritual that I had a Jewish atheist woman tell me (in person) that she and her larger family observe all of the Jewish holidays. <\/span><\/p>\n I saw how another atheist man, with whom I have had several debates (and met as well; just said \u201chi\u201d to him again online a few days ago), wrote about how he loves to go to Christmas Eve services. He believes nothing that is talked about in those. But \u2014 atheist or no \u2014 he loves the ritual<\/em>, as virtually all human beings do. We like routine and continuity, and annual observances. They give us warm fuzzies and a sense of much-needed community. It\u2019s an important part of life. <\/span><\/p>\n We have Thanksgiving in America, and Halloween, and searching for Easter eggs at Easter. We celebrate the fall harvest in various ways (as the ancient Hebrews also did in a religious way).\u00a0 We celebrate patriotic holidays like the 4th of July in America. We honor and celebrate the war dead and veterans (Memorial Day \/ Veteran\u2019s Day), and parents, and (in effect) people on their birthdays. Christians annually rejoice about when Jesus was born, and when He rose from the dead. Atheists join in on most of these, or join with some qualifications. But they do join.<\/span><\/p>\n So that\u2019s one<\/em> thing. God communicated this to His chosen people, so that it would be a unifying ritual for them, for all time, and so they would (most importantly) remember<\/em> what God did for them. That\u2019s a good thing. Gratefulness is a big part of human life, and it extends in the highest sense to God, for those of us who believe in Him as the Creator of the universe and the central purpose for our existence. It\u2019s good<\/em> to be thankful and to remember good things done for us. Atheists (lacking God) may \u201cthank\u201d lady luck or sheer happenstance or chance, when wonderful things happen to them, but they do<\/em> thank, too, being human.<\/span><\/p>\n Secondly, from the exegetical perspective, the text nowhere says<\/em> what Jonathan cynically assumed. Biblical exegesis is about what the \u201cridiculous\u201d Bible passages actually assert<\/em>. We can\u2019t just read anything<\/em> into them that we like (which is called eisegesis). But Jonathan \u2014 in his infinite \u201cbiblical wisdom\u201d \u2014 did just that, because he doesn\u2019t give a damn about proper exegesis, or respecting the Bible at all. He approaches it like a butcher approaches a hog. <\/span><\/p>\n As a general bit of advice: I would urge Jonathan (next time) to actually locate<\/em> something in a biblical text, before lashing out at it, in his misguided zeal to make Christians (and Jews) look like clueless idiots and fools.<\/span><\/p>\n The passages in question never say a word<\/em> about God not knowing how to find the houses of the Hebrews, let alone His supposed lack of omniscience (i.e., knowing everything). Putting blood on the lentil and doorposts was an act of religious faith and piety. God is God and we are human beings. He doesn\u2019t need to be informed of anything. We do things for our<\/em> sake. <\/span><\/p>\n It would be, for example, like a mother or father telling three little children of theirs to pin a star to their shirts if indeed they cleaned their rooms. Then at dinnertime the parents can reward them if they see the stars (knowing that they can verify the clean rooms simply by looking). The stars are not for the parents, but for ritualistic and reward purposes, for the kids. That\u2019s how God is. <\/span><\/p>\n My third point (already just illustrated by analogy) is that it\u2019s well-known (for those who actually seriously study the Bible), that there are things pertaining to how God condescends to us, called anthropomorphism and anthropopathism<\/a>. The Bible itself clearly teaches it, as I show at length (follow the link). I wrote about it:<\/span><\/p>\n Anthropopathism<\/em>\u00a0is a fancy word for the attribution of non-physical human emotions and passions to God. The related term,\u00a0anthropomorphism<\/em>, is the attribution of physical human properties (or animal properties such as wings) to God. Most Christians \u2014 of any stripe \u2014 recognize the metaphorical nature of the many anthropomorphisms in Scripture since they agree that God the Father is a spirit. But there is some debate about anthropopathism.<\/span><\/p>\n The traditional Christian view (Catholic, Orthodox, classical Protestant) holds that God is immutable, impassible (without human passion or emotion), so that it would be impossible for Him to \u201crepent\u201d or \u201cchange His mind.\u201d This is also inconsistent with omniscience. . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n God \u201ccondescends\u201d to the limited understanding of human beings, by expressing many truths about himself analogically (as compared to human actions and emotions) so that we can understand Him at all. Otherwise, we would not be able to comprehend a Being so startlingly different and distinct from us and greater than we are. Thus, the passages (in this framework) that say He doesn\u2019t and cannot change are to be interpreted literally, while the ones stating the opposite are to be interpreted figuratively or metaphorically or anthropopathically.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n That\u2019s exactly what is going on in the Passover practices. God communicated to an ancient largely nomadic \/ agricultural and not formally educated people in simple terms that they could understand. Moses told them: \u201cwhen he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door\u201d (Ex 12:23); and speaking for God: \u201cwhen I see the blood, I will pass over you\u201d (Ex 12:13). It\u2019s simply the usual \u201cconcrete\u201d Hebrew manner of communicating a deeper truth through analogical example: \u201cif we observe this ritual in obedience, God will spare us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Fourthly, God\u2019s omniscience would soon be taught plainly enough in the Hebrew Scriptures:<\/span><\/p>\n 1 Chronicles 28:9\u00a0<\/b>\u2026the LORD searches all hearts, and understands every plan and thought.\u2026 (cf. 1 Ki 8:39; 2 Chr 6:30; Ps 44:21; Is 66:18; Ezek 11:5)<\/span><\/p>\n Psalm 147:5\u00a0<\/b>Great is our LORD, and abundant in power;\u00a0 his understanding is beyond measure. (cf. Job 36:4; 37:16; Is 40:28; 46:10; 48:3)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The people didn\u2019t necessarily have to understand<\/em> that at first. It was an abstract, complex concept that would take a bit of doing to be able to grasp. The ancient Hebrews were not oriented by philosophy as the ancient Greeks were. But just because they didn\u2019t yet understand<\/em> it, it doesn\u2019t follow that it was untrue<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n Pearce again shows that he doesn\u2019t have a clue about these matters (very well-understood in Christian and Jewish circles), in what he says about God \u201chardening\u201d Pharaoh\u2019s heart. He writes in the same terribly argued article:<\/span><\/p>\n God hardens Pharaoh\u2019s heart.<\/span>\u00a0[The only way to understand this claim is 1) The Pharaoh would not have said no, would have said yes, and so God changes his mind so that he can then punish all of Egypt for the Pharaoh\u2019s wicked denial; or 2) God was not sure whether Pharaoh would say yes or no, so God makes sure of him saying no. Therefore, God is not omniscient. God is either evil or not omniscient and evil. He sets up the whole situation SO THAT he could punish Egypt.] . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Pharaoh allows Moses to get out of Egypt quickly.\u00a0<\/span>[Evidence of the Pharaoh exercising his own will, freely.] . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Whilst the Israelites are in the desert, God hardens the Pharaoh\u2019s heart AGAIN, so that he chases them with his army. [Free will again foiled with huge consequences. God has again set up a scenario where thousands upon thousands would end up dying, not because Pharaoh was bad, but because God MADE him bad, or choose in such a way.]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n I\u2019m glad Pearce uses so much red ink in this paper. The red basically means that he is spewing falsehood much more than he usually<\/em> does, and as such, can serve as a helpful warning for those readers who actually care about proper research and truth; they\u2019re like a traffic sign warning about a bump or multiples curves coming: \u201clots \u2018o\u2019 lies comin<\/em>\u2018!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n I dealt with this years ago. Thankfully, this issue of God \u201chardening\u201d Pharaoh\u2019s heart is probably the best possible one<\/em> to illustrate exactly what I am saying, because the Bible offers explicit explanations (most of them right in this same book of Exodus), which make it clear that it uses both literal and metaphorical language for the same thing<\/em>. I have written at length about the issue twice:<\/span><\/p>\n Reply to a Calvinist: Hardening of Pharaoh\u2019s Heart<\/a> (10-14-06)<\/span><\/p>\n God \u201cHardening Hearts\u201d: How Do We Interpret That?<\/a>\u00a0(12-18-08; expanded on 1-4-17)<\/span><\/p>\n I wrote in the second article:<\/span><\/p>\n God allows such people their freedom to rebel, which in turn entails the devil getting in there and making things worse (just as God allowed the devil to tempt Job: Job 1:12). So in a sense to say that \u201cGod did so-and-so\u201d when He simply\u00a0allowed<\/em>\u00a0it to take place, is an assertion of God\u2019s overall Providence. God is asserting that He is in control. There is also a strong sarcastic element in this sort of biblical concept (that we see in Job and often in the prophets), as if God were saying, \u201cokay; you don\u2019t want to follow Me and do what is\u00a0best<\/i>\u00a0for you? You know better than\u00a0I\u00a0<\/i>do about that? Very well, then, I\u2019ll let you become blind and deluded. See how well off you\u2019ll be\u00a0then<\/i>.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n
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