Thread:Superdadsuper/@comment-27167010-20151108020914/@comment-27167010-20151108223132

Superdadsuper wrote: I cannot disagree that Samson at times was barbaric. Samson did not always obey God, as he like all humans have sinned against God, but Samson's purpose was to free Israelites from the Phillistines so God's will was done despite all his sins. Samson was to be a Nazirite, and so he was not allowed to have his head shaved. Samson is first shown to have his strength when a lion approaches him to attack him and so he tears  it apart with his bare hands. This was in self-defense, but sinful as he was unclean for touching a dead body. At Samson's wedding celebration he gambles with men on a riddle, and after his wife tricks him into telling it, and so in anger he kills all the men whom he gambled with.

Because of this, Samson's father marries his daughter to another man and so Samson states that he has a right to get even. He then catches 300 foxes, ties their tails together, set their tails on fire and let them loose to burn up the fields. His sinful actions continued after the Phillistines burned his wife and father to punish him for destroying their crops, and Samson viciously attacked them. The list goes on with sinful actions that Samson commits, until finally he gets his last act of revenge on the Phillistines by knocking down a Phillistine temple, killing himself and large groups of Phillistines and their rulers. So while Samson did many sinful acts, he fulfilled his purpose in removing the Phillistine occupation over Israel. Samson himself said many times that he did the things he did for revenge, which is a sin, and did not do it to honor God. So yes I recongize that Samson did much evil, but also see that through his actions God's promise was fulfilled.

To answer your response on my message wall earlier, where does morality come from if we cannot prove or disprove God? Worldwide murder is illegal or considered a sin, adulterey and sexual sin is not appreciated, stealing money is also illegal. Even in countries that had been isolated for hundreds to thousands of years have many of the same morals. If we cannot explain God, then how can you explain morals?

Verses
Well, God shouldn't've inflicted said oppression in the first place. He didn't kill the men, he robbed and killed 30 civilians over the riddle. The Philistines weren't responsible for his wife's remarriage. Burning the crops caused many families to go hungry and possibly starve. (INCLUDING children) See, Samson killed SCORES of people who didn't have anything to do with it. And about that thing with his hair, babies can't make vows. You can't make a pledge without comprehending it first. And his strength coming from his hair is also innacurate, strength comes from muscles, not hair. Genetics and high protein diets give you strength. God could've at least TRIED to make sense. His hair being cut isn't really a violation if it's against his will. Lastly, two eyes aren't worth thousands of lives, many of which had nothing to do with the loss of his eyes. And there are other inaccuracies in the story as well. For one, the Philistines killed two of their own people, the very people Samson was mad at in the first place. God could've revealed himself to the Philistines, he's omnipotent and omniscient, he knows EXACTLY how it could've been solved, that way the Philistines could start worshipping the right god, the Israelites are no longer oppressed, (which again, God caused) he could stop possessing Samson with Hulk-Smash powers, and nobody else had to be slaughtered. Also, after all those strict laws God gave the Israelites, the guy God Almighty himself hand picked to judge Israel was somebody who wanted to get laid. Another thing is that all the women were untrustworthy, it's as if they were being depicted that way on purpose, as if by somebody who doesn't think very highly of women. When stuff like this is put into a supposedly "sacred" text, it could be used as a justification to subjugate women, possibly for thousands of years. And then, there's the matter of him falling for Delilah's tricks after being fooled once. Obviously, after the first time, he would KNOW that Delilah would betray him, and would leave her. Nobody God Almighty himself hand picked to lead the Israelites from oppression would be so dumb as to fall for tricks like that. Then there's the whole thing with her telling the Philistines that Samson told the truth. They wouldn't fall for that after being lied to so many times. Ever heard of "The Boy Who Cried Wolf"? It's human nature. Then there's the whole thing with after his hair was cut, the Philistines actually LET his hair grow back when they KNOW he gets his strength from it, so in reality, they would've taken a few seconds to clip his hair to be on the safe side. Then finally, we have the final scene in the temple. Those 3000 people were able to fit on the temple even though it was only supported by two pillars. That wouldn't be possible. One, because the building would collapse regardless of whether there were people, and two, because the people were on it.

You don't need God to be good. My philosophy is, if God exists, then we all are like gods, in that we create things.