You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments View context
34 points
*

The pillar-of-salt thing is really weird, even for a deity as capricious as Yahweh. He doesn’t strike her dead. He turns her into salt. There must be something that got lost in translation there.

permalink
report
parent
reply
34 points

I think that area where the story was supposed to have happened is known for having salt pillars, so maybe it was like a warning, “look at all those that got punished”

permalink
report
parent
reply
13 points

No, Sodom & Gomorrah were where the Dead Sea is. Very very salty & unique sea. So wife to pillar of salt follows the theme of violent, quick, salty death.

As HAL 9 TRILLION had numerous examples, there are more like John the Baptist’s father & Abraham’s wife Sarah, etc etc etc. All are related by a general rule: do not question the religion/authority figures of the religion, do not talk back or doubt the religious authority, do as you are told & nothing more, nothing less. The Bible calls for blind, unquestioning obedience in all things. I guess it could also be called ‘faith’.

permalink
report
parent
reply
8 points
*

In the story, Lot’s wife had gone around to neighbors asking to borrow salt, which alerted them to the strangers’ presence. Hence the irony of the punishment. Still, cruel and bizarre and more befitting a medieval fairytale than… well, a bronze-age one.

permalink
report
parent
reply
5 points

Maybe Yahweh was hungry and wanted some salt to add to his dinner?

permalink
report
parent
reply

Atheism

!atheism@lemmy.world

Create post

Community Guide


Archive Today will help you look at paywalled content the way search engines see it.


Statement of Purpose

  • This is a support and conversation community for people who don’t believe in gods.
  • Superstition hucksters have no reason to subscribe or post here at all.
  • If you are looking to debate or proselytize, options will be linked lower in the sidebar.

Acceptable

  • Honest questions or conversations.
  • Discussions on parenting or advice.
  • Struggles, frustrations, coming out.
  • Atheist memes. We can have fun!
  • News headlines relevant to atheism.

Unacceptable

Depending on severity, you might be warned before adverse action is taken.

  • Anything against site rules.
  • Illegal and/or NSFW material.
  • Troll posts and comments. There will be no attempt to explain what that means.
  • Leading questions, agenda pushing, or disingenuous attempts to bait members.
  • Personal attacks or flaming.

Inadvisable

  • Self promotion or upvote farming.
  • Excessive shitposting or off-topic discussion.

Application of warnings or bans will be subject to moderator discretion. Feel free to appeal. If changes to the guidelines are necessary, they will be adjusted.


If you vocally harass or discriminate against any individual member, you will be removed.

Likewise, if you are a member, sympathizer or a resemblant of a group that is known to largely hate, mock, discriminate against, and/or want to take lives of any other group of people, and you were provably vocal about your hate, then you you will be banned on sight.

Provable means able to provide proof to the moderation, and, if necessary, to the community.

 ~ /c/nostupidquestions

If you want your space listed in this sidebar and it is especially relevant to the atheist or skeptic communities, PM DancingPickle and we’ll have a look!


Connect with Atheists

Help and Support Links

Streaming Media

This is mostly YouTube at the moment. Podcasts and similar media - especially on federated platforms - may also feature here.

Orgs, Blogs, Zines

Mainstream

Bibliography

Start here…

…proceed here.

Proselytize Religion

From Reddit

As a community with an interest in providing the best resources to its members, the following wiki links are provided as historical reference until we can establish our own.

Community stats

  • 2.2K

    Monthly active users

  • 613

    Posts

  • 7.9K

    Comments

Community moderators