The God of the Bible is Evil

Purpledawn, that's a very convienient way to read the bible. When you find something you like, it's true. When you find something you don't like, well, it's just a story, you see. And if it's not a story, well, it was written for that time only.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

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Disclaimer:

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Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

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He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

Wanna play out the old man part and tell us the story? I've never heard this one before Edited by AdminPD, : Warning

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

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Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

What assessment? All you've done is made a couple of claims here and there. The OP pointed out that god killed all the first borns in Egypt. You came in and claimed that it was only a story. But you also said that if we don't want to see it as a story, then remember that Egypt was the enemy. In other words, you don't see killing the children of your enemies, which have absolutely nothing to do with the situation, evil?But I'm curious as to how you can call the Exodus "just a story". Without the Exodus, there would be no Jewish nation, hence no christianity.I'm sorry if you think my posts are useless, but I was only responding to your post, which by your criteria is also useless since you gave some of the lamest excuses for what's in the bible. And this is the problem. You've made a claim without any support whatsoever, and now you are demanding me to disprove your conclusion? Please.Added by edit.Ok, to be fair. Could you give us a few examples in the bible where you think it's not just "stories" and why?Edited by Tazmanian Devil, : No reason given.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

If this is the case, I wonder if the intended message is of any use to us? You said it yourself. The message was written by bronze age people intended for bronze age people. What are stories suppose to teach us beside the savagery of bronze age warfare?

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

First of all, I must point out, if it isn't known yet, that I don't believe any of the stories in the bible. I see them as fables more than history. Ok, before we go on, are we talking about the god of the bible and that this god exists or are we talking about the god of the bible and that this god is fictional?Added by edit.Please note that which ever one you pick I will go with. I will use whatever premise you want to use.Edited by Tazmanian Devil, : No reason given.Edited by Tazmanian Devil, : No reason given.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

In context of the story and the age it was written, I guess god was not evil. But if we want to use this same line of logic, we'd have to say that in context of the time and place, Hitler was not evil. In context of the time and place, the killing of every living soul in the City of Jerusalem in the first crusade was not evil. In context of the time and place, slavery in the US was not evil. In context of of the time and place, the violent acts of the KKK upon the black people of the south were not evil. You know, I could go on and on using your line of logic. To be fair, would you agree that according to our standard in this time and age, the god of the bible is evil?

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

Actually, no. Harry Truman wasn't an all knowing, all powerful god that could ahve just ended the war just like that. In the long run, the atom bombs killed far less people than an all out invasion of Japan.Purpledawn, I'm debating with you in good faith. But it seems to me like you're just throwing things out there just to win an argument. You are using examples that aren't really comparable to what we are talking about. The Israelites were at war with the Egyptians. But god wasn't at war with the Egyptian gods. I don't understand why you are ignoring the fact that we are talking about an all knowing and all powerful god, here. You're acting like god is some kind of superhero who couldn't figure out any other way to free the Israelites without killing off completely innocent children.Several times now, you've referred to god as a "hero". But we can't see god as a hero. He's all knowing and all powerful.Back to the Harry Truman example. If Harry Truman decided to drop the bombs on Japanese cities even though all he had to do was send a letter to the Japanese Emperor to end the war, YES we would consider Harry Truman to be a very evil man.So, I ask you again. Instead of just snapping his fingers to free the people of Israel, the god of the bible decided to kill completely innocent children to free his people. By our standard in this time and place, is god of the bible evil? I'm pretty sure Hitler had at least 1 good intention. You're implying that he's not evil. Ok, let me ask you this question. If I go over to my neighbor's house and slaughter my neighbor's children, does it matter whether I enjoy doing it or not? Oh, really? What is there to like? What is there to not understand? It's certainly not a kneejerk reaction either.Here is a bleedingly obvious example if you still don't understand what I'm saying.Suppose I want to take a swim in my neighbor's pool. I have no doubt that if I ask he'd say yes right away. But instead of asking, I just march right over to his house, knock him out with a baseball bat, ducttape him and his family to their chairs, and enjoy an evening in their swimming pool.Asking and using brute force will achieve essentially the same goal, to be able to swim in the pool. But honestly, what kind of egomaniac am I to actually use brute force?God could have enlightened the Egyptian king. God could have done a myriad other things without hurting innocent children to free his people. But instead, he chose to do the most vile acts to achieve the same goal. Does this sound like a good god to you?Kneejerk reaction? Please. The fact that god decided to kill innocent children even though with his all knowing and all powerful self he could have done less evil deeds makes him evil. This is not some spur of the moment thing.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

Proverbs 5:21

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

According to the new international version

quote:

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21 For a man's ways are in full view of the LORD,
and he examines all his paths.

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22 The evil deeds of a wicked man ensnare him;
the cords of his sin hold him fast.

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23 He will die for lack of discipline,
led astray by his own great folly.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

I thought berberry made it clear. Whether god is all knowing or not has everything to do with the matter.Back to the killing of the egyptian first borns. If god was all knowing, he would have been able to think of other ways to approach the problem without killing the innocents. The fact that he chose not pursue a less evil way at doing things make him evil. Ok, you got me on this one.So, let us assume that the god that killed the egyptian children is not all knowing.The only way for him not to be evil is if he is so ignorant that he wasn't capable of conjuring up other, less evil ways to free his people.If we are willing to admit that the specific god mentioned in exodus is stupid enough to not be able to free his people without killing innocent children, then I'll agree to push back the table and call it a night.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

And as I pointed this out earlier, if you want to take this route, we'd have to admit that Hitler wasn't evil, neither were the crusaders who killed every living soul in Jerusalem during the first crusade, neither was slavery, etc.Simple yes or no. Do you think slavery was evil or not? Do you think Hitler was evil or not?

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

For the record, this atheist believes in absolute morality. Long story. Was mostly influenced by my Ethics professor, which was an Atheist Hebrew Scholar.Anyway, all I wanted to say have been said. There's really nothing else for me to say without repeating myself.Have a good one!

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

I know I said that I was done with this topic, having said what I wanted to say.I'm just curious. You don't consider the children of the Egyptians innocent? What about those 1 and 2 year olds?

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!

My Ethics professor did hold an unusual view for an atheist. To him, it's the religionists (christians, buddhists, muslims, etc.) that are relativists as well as most atheists and the people in between. Um, no. If you must know, I am still relatively young. In fact, I haven't even reached the big THIRTY yet, although it's just right around the corner. Much of my moral stance and such I am still searching for.But anyway, to make this quick, the professor I told you about I consider him to be the best mentor I ever had. The transition between fundamentalism to a more liberal stance and finally to atheism left me in a pit of moral confusion. Beside class time, I spent many hours outside of class discussing morality and ethics with the professor, and you could say he literally pulled me out of the pit, which is the main reason why I believe in a non-deity based absolute moral standard.

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We are BOG. Resistance is voltage over current.

​

Disclaimer:

​

Occasionally, owing to the deficiency of the English language, I have used he/him/his meaning he or she/him or her/his or her in order to avoid awkwardness of style.

​

He, him, and his are not intended as exclusively masculine pronouns. They may refer to either sex or to both sexes!