Obeying God, a Mother Stoned Her Children  to Death

An Essay Written by Raymond Fontaine, PhD - April 2004

    During April 2004, from the e-mail address Thinkonline@deism.com, I received an article with the shocking title of  "Is the Bible Insanity in Writing?" Robert L. Johnson, the founder of the World Union of Deists, wrote this explosive piece. It burst in my brain and enkindled this essay.

   Robert Johnson reports that "Deanna Laney, a 39 year old mother, stoned her three young sons, two of them to death. The 15 month old will never be able to live independently. Mrs. Laney said she was told to do so by God." 

   On that fatal day, Mrs. Laney did not need to hear God's voice as Abraham did when God ordered him to slay his son, Isaac. For the children's mother, God's command was crystal clear in the Bible. In Deuteronomy 21:18-21, God says, "If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey his father and mother, who does not heed them when they discipline him, all the men of the town shall stone him to death." Many Bible readers still believe that God gave that command and that the order still stands. But today most people don't buy that hooey as they call it. God is not a lunatic."

   If nowadays sound human reason rejects the stoning and murder of disobedient children, why don't the purveyors of the Bible simply excise those three sentences that portray God as a madman? Looking for an answer, I checked the Catechism of the Catholic Church which Pope John Paul 2 published in 1992.

   In paragraph 105, the Pope writes that his Church accepts as sacred the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author."

   In paragraph 107, the Pope continues: "the inspired books teach the truth. We must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and WITHOUT ERROR teach that Truth which God wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."

   Why does the Church insist on conserving in the Bible three short sentences about stoning disobedient children to death? Could it be because many of her precious dogmas are grounded on just a few words in the Bible which must be preserved at all cost?

   For example, the dogma of the virgin birth of Jesus rests on one verse in Luke chapter one. "The angel Gabriel said to Mary, "You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will call him Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Most High." Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" On those four words rests the dogma of the virgin birth of Jesus.

   Another dogma that hangs on a few words is that of the Pope's teaching authority and his infallibility. "And I tell you, you are Peter and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." (Matthew 16: 18-19) These words do not appear in the other three Gospels nor anywhere else in the Bible. For that reason, they must be conserved intact forevermore. No one should ever dare alter or excise them.

   A third phrase in the Bible is the basis for a whole series of dogmas. In chapter 22 line19, Luke says: "Then he (Jesus) took a loaf of bead, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me'." On these few words hang many dogmas: the Eucharist, the Mass, Communion, and the priestly power of converting a wafer of bread into the living body of Jesus. These authentic words that are inspired and guaranteed by God can never be altered or deleted from the Bible.

   To ensure their survival and that of hundreds more, the Church has always maintained that the entire Bible, from the first to the last word, is the Word of God. This blanket guarantee of divine inspiration and authorship also covers the words in Deuteronomy that disobedient children should be stoned. These words cannot be altered, deleted or denied. 

    When Deanna Laney said that God told her to kill her children, many believed that she was insane at that murderous moment. But she was only doing what the Bible ordered. Like the Pope, Deanna Laney believed that the Bible is the Word of God. If Mrs. Laney was mistaken, is the Pope also mistaken? "If she was insane," some people have asked "what about the Pope?" 

    As regards God, I have no worry because, unlike Deanna Laney and the Pope, I don't believe in the God that's revealed in the Bible. That Bible was entirely written by Israelites primarily concerned with the welfare of their race. I believe in the real God as revealed in Nature. He is the intelligent and beneficent Creator of all beings on earth, including children who at times are troublesome. He for sure is not cruel and insane. Would that Deanna Laney had known about him and believed in him - for her sake and that of her children.  For the index ohome page, click here.