Open Culture (Official)

How Many Lives Does God Take in the Bible: An Investigation into a Surprisingly High Body Count

https://www.openculture.com/2026/03/how-many-lives-does-god-take-in-the-bible.html

How Many Lives Does God Take in the Bible: An Investigation into a Surprisingly High Body Count

Whether or not we believe in any god, most of us here in the twenty-first century have the impression of divine rulers overlooking humanity with at least theoretical love and benevolence. They forgive us, they have plans for us, they never close a door without opening a window, and so on.

Open Culture
Mar 31 at 4:36pmWeb
Show threadnepheshadam5d ago
@openculture All lives are His to take. And His Son died and rose for all
Show threadThad5d ago
@openculture I mean He wipes out the entire human race except for a single family (not to mention all but two of every animal) just seven chapters in.
Show thread🍁Dracula🇨🇦5d ago
@Thad @openculture He kills that many people, but he "loves" us. That's some mighty tough love going on.
Show threadThad5d ago
@countdracula My evangelical grandma once read me a kid's version of the story of Noah's Ark and got to the end and the rainbow as God's promise He won't kill everybody with a flood again and then she casually added "Next time He's going to do it with fire" and I'm four or five years old at this point but I'm old enough to think that kinda sounds like God is rules-lawyering His promise.
Show threadNYSloth5d ago
@openculture Jeebus! The Almighty better hop to it, if he intends to catch the fossil fuel industry. https://bmjgroup.com/air-pollution-from-fossil-fuel-use-accounts-for-over-5-million-extra-deaths-a-year/
Air pollution from fossil fuel use accounts for over 5 million extra deaths a year - BMJ Group

New estimates suggest that phasing out fossil fuels might have a greater impact on global deaths than previously thought Air pollution from using fossil fuels in industry, power generation, and transportation accounts for 5.1 million extra deaths a year worldwide, finds a new modelling study published by The BMJ today. This equates to 61% of a

BMJ Group - Helping doctors make better decisions