From: duncan@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Duncan McCardle)
Subject: Take Your God And ....
Summary: I don't care if your god DOES exist I still wont worship it.
Keywords: God
Organization: Prentice Centre, University of Queensland
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 06:18:25 GMT

Hello All, and a special welcome to all those Christians lurking about.

I thought a new thread might be in order;

It's obvious that atheists and christians aren't going to agree about
some fundamental (no pun intended) stuff. So, for the sake of an argument,
I thought I'd take the christian premise (God(tm)) as read and try this
out : 
	I Have Judged God(tm) And Found *Him* Wanting.

Right, that should get a few heart rates up.

Now I'm assuming this God(tm) is the same one as mentioned in the Bible,
BOTH testaments. From my reading of the Bible I get the impression that
God(tm) is a cruel, violent, selfish, intolerant, unforgiving, vindictive,
petty, aggressively masculine and generally unpleasant individual. The 
sort of behaviour God(tm) gets up to in the OT, I wouldn't tolerate in a
spoiled two-year-old. Now granted this is from the OT and God(tm) does
try to brush up the image a bit in the NT, but the treats are still there
and I suspect only the PR firm has changed.

Do you think I'm being a bit harsh on old God(tm) ?  Well I don't think
the concept of Hell(tm) is very nice do you ?  I don't care how you choose
to define it, it still remains a place of punishment. And don't give me 
that Free Will crap either, God(tm) made the place, God(tm) sticks people
in it, I'd say God(tm) has a rather large vindictive streak. What about
what God(tm) did to the Caananites ?  Ordering the Israelites to 
slaughter them, men, women, & children, sounds a bit like genocide to me.
And Job, poor bastard, HE was someone God(tm) LIKED!! (And Job's kids, 
what about them ?). What about killing two young boys for lighting a
fire wrong (Aaron's sons in Leviticus) ?  He wipes out an entire family,
swallowed up by the earth, because ONE of them hid a cup God(tm) felt
belonged to him. I could go on and on and on, but haven't got a copy of
the Bible with me now, and I think you get the point.

Now a lot of people are going to say 'What about the NT ?, God's a nice
guy there.'  Well, I agree it's an improvement, but Jesus still says
'None shall come to the Kingdom of God(tm), save through me.' (Or 
something like that).  What happens to the rest ?  It's Hell(tm) for them,
stiff cheddar. Very nice. Anyway this IS the SAME God(tm) as the OT isn't
it ?  I mean Charles Manson says he's reformed now, are YOU going to live
next door to him ?

So in summary, If you could prove your God(tm) existed to me I still 
wouldn't worship the bully. I've got higher standards than that. If God(tm)
even practised what he preached I'd think about it. (QUIZ: How many of the
10 Commandments has God(tm) broken ?, How many of the Seven Deadly Sins is
God(tm) guilty of ? [from the bible only]). 


All right, come at me with your pointy sticks.

Duncan McCardle.

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