From: bcash@crchh410.BNR.CA (Brian Cash)
Subject: Re: Take Your God And ....
Keywords: God
Reply-To: bcash@crchh410.BNR.CA (Brian Cash)
Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd.
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 21:17:25 GMT

In article <1992Aug31.182853.18246@cybernet.cse.fau.edu>,
spc@pineal.sci.fau.edu (Sean 'Captain Napalm' Conner) writes:
|>  Seeing how I have some time before class ...
|>
|>In article <duncan.715241905@brolga> duncan@brolga.cc.uq.oz.au (Duncan
McCardle) writes:
|>>
|>>	I Have Judged God(tm) And Found *Him* Wanting.
|>>
|>>Right, that should get a few heart rates up.
|>>
|>  I think one would call that 'flame bait' but I'm digressing 8-)
|>
|>>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.
|>>
|>  That too, has always puzzled me, until I read somewhere that the God of
|>the OT/NT is an amalgamation of a complete parthenon of gods [1].  Why else
|>would Genesis 1:26 have Him saying:
|>
|>  26 (Paragraph symbol) And God said, Let us make man in our image, after
|>     our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea ...
|>
|>  Now, of course, 'us' could refer to Him and the Heavenly Choir, but, given
|>that He may refer to a parthenon, it would explain why He's a cruel, violent,
|>selfish, intolerant, unforgiving vindictive, petty and generally unpleasant,
|>simply because He's schisophrenic (funny, is that lightning I hear?).
                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You mean he has multiple personality disorder.
Schisophrenia [sic] (Schizophrenia)- cleave + mind
 a mental disorder characterized by separation between
 thought and emotions, by delusions, bizarre behavior, etc.
(Webster's New World Dictionary)

You see, schizophrenia is when people hear voices, have megalomania,
delusions, paranoia ...
Hmmm, maybe He _is_ schisophrenic:-)

(sorry about the flame. the multiple-personality/schizophrenia thing is
a pet peeve of mine...back to religion---->) 

|>
|>  It would also explain why He wanted to destroy His works with the Great
|>Flood (TM) and then suddenly turn around and save some people.  In most
|>accounts of the Great Flood (TM) from other myths (leagends, etc), the
|>head god of the parthenon wanted to destroy man, but some lesser (but still
|>powerful) god interveined for Man.  The Hebrews probably rewrote some of
|>the older myths around a single God, but some inconsistancies crept in.
|>

The "older myths" idea sounds reasonable to me.  
Mainly because the Bible seems to re-tell stories found in
older religions (creation, flood, etc)

|>>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, I've heard that Hell (TM) is only mentioned a few times in both
|>the OT/NT.  And on each occasion, it is more of a metaphore of what
|>happens when one dies than a real place.  Besides, the Christian doctrine
|>teaches that if you beleive in Jesus/God, you will have everlasting life,
|>else you don't.  Now, if Hell (TM) does exist, that means that EVERYBODY
|>has everlasting life (albeit some might not enjoy it all that much 8-).
|>So then, if Heaven (TM) and Hell (TM) do exist, it doesn't matter if you
|>beleive in God or not, because either way, you'll have everlasting life
|>(talk about flame bait ... 8-)
|>
|>>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 ?
|>>
|>  I guess it's the PR firm He hired 8-)
|>
|>>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]). 
|>>
|>  Well, the one about 'Thou shalt not murder' is pretty threadbare, but I'm
|>not sure of any of the others (does God even have a neighbor?)
|>
|>>
|>>All right, come at me with your pointy sticks.
|>>
|>>Duncan McCardle.
|>>
|>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
|>>This is NOT a .sig, I can't get my !@#$%^&* .sig to work. Any suggestions ?
|>>---------------------------------------------------------------------
-----------
|>>
|>
|>
|>  -spc (Is it me, or is it getting hot in here?)
|>
|>[1]	The Roman parthenon is based upon the Greek parthenon, which is
what every-
|>	body thinks of when anyone mentions a parthenon.  But the Greek parthenon
|>	was itself based upon older parthenons of the Babalonians, Asrians, etc ...
|>	By the way, a parthenon (for those of you not in the know) is a group of
|>	12 gods.
|>
                                                                        
P.S. Is God(tm) really that nice in the NT?  He comes off well in the Gospels,
but some of the more obscure books (and not-so-obscure eg. Revelations) makes
Him seem rather vendictive. (IMHO)

<crack>  ***BOOM!!!***

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Brian /-|-\                  
Newsgroups: alt.atheism