Why do Christians make God out to be dumb?

The biblical text comes from an earlier era, a time when the natural way of dealing with a problem was to make a sacrifice to the gods. So the idea of a sacrifice presumably made sense to people of that era. It doesn't make sense today.It isn't so much that God is made out to be dumb. It is the fundamentalist Christians who reveal themselves to be dumb, by virtue of the way they keep trying to hold onto that antiquated story line.

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Compassionate conservatism - bringing you a kinder, gentler torture chamber

I'm wondering why you think that shocking. It is what I would have expected, based on jar's posts.Note that inspired does not imply inerrant.

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Compassionate conservatism - bringing you a kinder, gentler torture chamber

I don't think jar considers it a book of lies. My impression is that he does not think it was intended to be taken as literal truth, or as accurate historical reports.

The question of what the meaning of "is" is, actually is a very serious question. The right wing idealogues who ridiculed it only demonstrated their own ignorance of language and its complexities.Your assertion that if it is not literal truth, it is lies -- well that's wrong. That is opinion that you are imposing yourself.If what is not truth is lies, then Jesus was a liar. After all, he told parables.

'fraid so. It isn't literal history, either. Part is poetry, part is story, part is metaphor, part is symbolic fantasy.One should read it, as one should read any literature, in accordance with the principle of charity.