God is a Monstrous, Evil, Bloodthirsty Tyrant

[daveman]

(Sigh.)

This is really a bit tangential, but --

"So you must be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect." - Matthew 5:48

"There is no one who always does what is right, not even one." - Psalm 14

"But God has a way to make people right with him without the law, and he has now shown us that way which the law and the prophets told us about. God makes people right with himself through their faith in Jesus Christ. This is true for all who believe in Christ, because all people are the same: Everyone has sinned and fallen short of God's glorious standard, and all need to be made right with God by his grace, which is a free gift. They need to be made free from sin through Jesus Christ." - Romans 3:21-24

The standard of behavior within Christianity flows from this. It is impossible, through self-discipline, to live up to the standard set by God. Everyone is sinful, everyone has been condemned to perpetual torture. Only through God's grace and forgiveness through faith in Jesus Christ is there any hope of redemption.

This is not anything obscure. It's taught in the Catholic Church and all mainstream and major Evangelical Protestant churches. When you say that God expects only that people do their best, you are either referring to a reasonable expectation for Christians and not for all mankind (whereas I was referring to the latter), or you are presenting your own views outside of standard Christian doctrine.

God, according to traditional Christian theology, condemns most of mankind to scream forever in horrible torture. He gives Christians a pass, although (according to some sects) not even all of them. In any case, most people aren't Christians, and so are condemned to eternal suffering.

These are the acts of a monstrous, evil, bloodthirsty tyrant -- and that is how traditional Christian theology sees God. That he offers forgiveness to those relatively few who will worship Christ does not make him a loving God.

It's His universe. He gets to make the rules.

You don't like it?

Make your own universe.

That's your view. Whether you like it or not, we still have to live together in the same Universe. You don't get to eject anyone out of the universe, unless you plan on killing everyone who doesn't share your narrow view of God.

Try and find one phenomena in the entire universe that isn't impermanent and changing and get back to me.

Good Gaea's gargantuan gazongas, but I'm sick of your victimhood fetish.

Christians don't want to kill you, Slappy. They don't want to force you to worship God by threat of government force. Some of them would like to talk to you about Christ. Most just want you to have a nice day.

You will not be a pagan martyr, no matter how desperately you want to be one. This fantasy of yours is profoundly unhealthy.

 

[Dragon]

Dragon, what I believe the Bible says and what others believe the Bible says do not always interface. You seem to believe EVERYBODY who believes thinks God is "a God who condemns almost everyone to scream forever in horrible torture"

If that's the impression I've given, I apologize. Not all Christians believe in the traditional interpretation of Scripture. What I've presented here is the standard doctrine in the Catholic, Orthodox, and most Protestant churches. There are some Protestant denominations who don't teach that way, however, and certainly there are individual Christians who think differently.

One thing I've noticed, though, is that those who DO assign to God all of these behavioral indicators of monstrousness, evil, bloodthirstiness, and tyranny are also the ones who tend to be most intolerant of other religions and most bent on imposing an authoritarian regime on society generally. So this is an important meme to discredit, not because it's a necessary feature of Christianity (it's not), but because it's a feature of Christianity at its worst.