Dammit Jim, I'm a psychopath not an all loving God!

Coded Logic

When did you discover that the God of Bible - and the loving God that you had worshiped your entire life - were not the same? How did it affect you?

It was a process, not a moment- when I figured that all out. It could be followed here on JWN pretty well as I was awake to the lies about Watchtower when I first posted, but not fully aware of what you are describing here. I still thought God was what "Christendom" said he was then, but I have learned much more since then.

It hasn't affected me as much as it has affected militant atheists, but I still see how they can say that religion ruins everything.

OnTheWayOut

....and you took me down a memory lane with your Star Trek quote.

Maybe God could quote Warf from TNG: "I am a warrior, not a murderer ."

Coded Logic

"We Klingons believe that death is an experience best shared."

designs

'Its not murder when I say Kill' God

sowhatnow

well he did say lets make man in our image.....

never a jw

In fairness to God, I must say that he has been quite lenient to Satan for thousands of years. That's evidence of a gracious God who, even though kills millions of innocent people every year, has not given up on the worst offender.

OnTheWayOut

.....SECOND worst offender (since the character, God, of that novel has killed more).

MissFit

I always wondered if there was a supreme being, why he would be interested in such insignificant beings compared to him.

I figured it would be like how I feel looking at a bunch of ants in an ant farm or ant hill.

I tried to think of god as a loving father, but I could not quite get there.

Ps Loved the star trek reference!

Cold Steel

Most people who assume that the God of the Old Testament is a barbaric and cruel entity, and that, as Jesus, He suddenly was this theological pushover, simply don't have the relevant background to make a good judgment...in my opinion. If one accepts, as a premise, that God knows the thoughts and intents of all men, and that he knows their deeds, then one must assume that His judgments are based in the knowledge of all things. We, however, do not know their hearts or deeds, or the evil within. One can only judge God if one knows what He knows, or if that one assumes the writers of the Old Testament conceptualized a god that would justify their heinous acts.

But we cannot accept both. The patristic church envisioned a God who could do anything. He could "speak" the universe into being, and the very elements themselves. He is an infinite and eternal being. But the early Hebrews had some different views. If God could speak things into existence, why did it take Him seven "days," or eras? Couldn't He just utter a word and the world appear? Their view of God is a being that created the earth out of existing materials and over a period of time. He was loving, compassionate, merciful, but He also knew the evil in the hearts of men and their secret deeds.

In one extra-biblical event, Enoch, in vision, beholds God weeping and asks Him why. The Lord then shows him the coming flood and the people who would die. At first, Enoch entreats God to spare humanity, but then the Lord shows him the wickedness of the people and their deeds. When Enoch sees this, he does a complete turnaround and proclaims that God should rid the earth of them. What Enoch initially lacked -- insight -- completely changed his mind.

Many of those whom the Lord slew, or ordered slain, were horribly profligate people -- people who sacrificed infants and who practiced the most debased sexual rituals imaginable. God knew these people would have a corrupt influence on His people, and later, when these cults infiltrated His people, He often either withdrew from the people and left them in a state of apostasy, or He took measures to surgically remove it. And though this may sound harsh to some today, from the Lord's perspective He's simply moving people to penalty boxes, where they will await the time when the Lord opens the gates of the prison and they will have their chance to hear the gospel and have their chance for redemption. "For for this cause was the gospel preached unto them who are dead," Peter wrote, "that they may be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit."

The day will come when every knee will bend and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ. Why? Because, like Enoch, you will have the same insight that the Lord had and realize that He did what had to be done in the context it was done.

Dammit Jim, I'm a psychopath not an all loving God!

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