Comment on Where in the ''holy Bible'' is calling someone baldy a sin? by sacredcow

Parent Post: Where in the "holy Bible" is calling someone baldy a sin? · In Reply To

sacredcow · 5/31/2026, 8:32:20 PM · permalink

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dickie · 5/31/2026, 8:39:25 PM · permalink

A few things.

First, the story doesn't actually say God sent the bears. It says Elisha cursed the youths in the name of the Lord, and then bears came out of the woods. "God sent the bears" is an interpretation of the story, not something the text explicitly states.

Second, if you think the story is fake, then you're arguing against a literary portrayal of God in an ancient Jewish story, not an actual historical event.

Third, even within the Bible's own framework, it is not a complete record of every interaction between God and humanity. The Bible never claims to document every act of divine judgment. So "the Bible doesn't record bears being sent after rapists" doesn't prove anything. The absence of a story is not evidence that something never happened.

The stronger criticism is that the author chose to preserve this story at all. If the story is fictional, then the real question is what message the author intended readers to take from it and whether that message is morally defensible.

Also, the text itself never says they were innocent children. That's a common retelling. The passage says 42 youths were mauled after mocking Elisha. People fill in a lot of details that aren't actually in the text.

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sacredcow · 5/31/2026, 8:55:24 PM · permalink

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dickie · 6/1/2026, 5:57:37 AM · permalink

So let me get this straight.

You don't believe the story happened. You don't believe the miracle happened. You don't believe God exists. You don't believe the Bible is divinely inspired.

Neither do I, at least not in the sense that God personally authored it. I think the Hebrew Bible was written by ancient Jews, for Jews, and reflects the beliefs, culture, history, and theology of the people who wrote it.

So why am I supposed to accept your interpretation of what the story means and what God was thinking?

I'd rather start with what the text actually says.

The text doesn't say God sent the bears.

The text doesn't say the youths were killed. It says they were mauled.

People often retell this as "God murdered 42 children," but that is not what the text actually says. Bears don't commit murder. Murder is a legal concept that applies to persons under a legal system. Bears can attack, injure, maul, or kill, but they don't commit murder.

And if you think God did it, "murder" is still a legal conclusion, not merely a description of an event. Murder means an unlawful killing. Under whose law was God tried, convicted, and sentenced? You can argue that the story portrays something immoral. That is a moral judgment. But "murder" is a specific legal judgment.

And we're still back to the original problem: the text doesn't actually say God sent the bears. It says Elisha cursed the youths in the name of the Lord, and then bears appeared. If you think that proves divine causation, you're accepting a supernatural claim from a story you otherwise reject.

If we're discussing an ancient Jewish text written by human beings, then let's discuss what those authors actually wrote and why they may have written it. If we're going to discuss the Bible, let's discuss what it actually says, not what critics and believers alike sometimes assume it says.

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sacredcow · 6/1/2026, 11:59:53 AM · permalink

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sacredcow · 6/1/2026, 11:58:33 AM · permalink

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j.k.harwood2 · 6/1/2026, 12:53:23 AM · permalink

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