Portrait of a Madman (Jesus, ritual, reject, Torah, HaShem)

[angellous_evangellous]

Would we tolerate a person who:

Carries an AK-47 around and does the following...

1) Kills his son
1) Demands for people to worship his son as God
2) Shoots those who refuse in the head and promises to burn them for eternity.

If we reject someone like this as a madman, why would people accept a God like this?

[Matt88]

because, his ak-47 is a lot bigger. people are afraid, and are coerced into that mindset so they wont burn in hell.

[Katzpur]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Would we tolerate a person who:

Carries an AK-47 around and does the following...

1) Kills his son
1) Demands for people to worship his son as God
2) Shoots those who refuse in the head and promises to burn them for eternity.

If we reject someone like this as a madman, why would people accept a God like this?

Beats me. I sure wouldn't.

[Sunstone]

IMO, some Christians do worship God out of fear. I'm not sure what that does for them spiritually but I recognize that some do. Most, I think worship God out of tradition, or love, or some other motive or combination of motives than simple fear. Those who do worship God out of fear seem not to take well to your point, Angellous, that such a God is insane.

[Ody]

Originally Posted by angellous_evangellous

Would we tolerate a person who:

Carries an AK-47 around and does the following...

1) Kills his son
1) Demands for people to worship his son as God
2) Shoots those who refuse in the head and promises to burn them for eternity.

If we reject someone like this as a madman, why would people accept a God like this?

My G-d does not go around controlling fate in all its workings and trappings, we should never look behind ever leaf, every movement to be an act of HaShem. I have no belief that G-d harms those who do not believe him.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by Sunstone

Those who do worship God out of fear seem not to take well to your point, Angellous, that such a God is insane.

Nevertheless, we can't control who God is.

[robtex]

Originally Posted by AlanGurvey

My G-d does not go around controlling fate in all its workings and trappings, we should never look behind ever leaf, every movement to be an act of HaShem. I have no belief that G-d harms those who do not believe him.

'
When you say "your 'God" is it safe to assume you mean the God represented in the Torah? If so he was, in those days, he was all about micro-managing humanity with fear and death.

Nate, (AE) you are one of the few Christians that actually get that God constructed and executed the paradigm in the bible that lead to Jesus's demise. I think the stories were likely seen as allogorical and symbolic by the writers and have since been interpeted as actual events today. If someone was to be a Christian and see the stories as allogories metaphors and symbolism than the figure death of Jesus, a metaphor of love and compassion and the resurrection of such can be seen as a healthy endeavor by modern society. However, for those that think there was this fella sent to die literally as opposed to figuratively, for the original sin, or any pardoning system, than their God is indeed quite mad and extremely dangerous to all of mankind.

[angellous_evangellous]

Originally Posted by robtex

Nate, (AE) you are one of the few Christians that actually get that God constructed and executed the paradigm in the bible that lead to Jesus's demise.

I think the stories were likely seen as allogorical and symbolic by the writers and have since been interpeted as actual events today. If someone was to be a Christian and see the stories as allogories metaphors and symbolism than the figure death of Jesus, a metaphor of love and compassion and the resurrection of such can be seen as a healthy endeavor by modern society. However, for those that think there was this fella sent to die literally as opposed to figuratively, for the original sin, or any pardoning system, than their God is indeed quite mad and extremely dangerous to all of mankind.

I'm not sure how you can support this theory. Gnostics were the only group that I know of that allegorized the NT stories, but they did so to support their own metaphysical agenda and not because they intellectually rejected activity of the Divine in the world in the same way that the modern critic does.

There was a movement in the church from the earliest time and through the church fathers that affirmed the miracle stories in the NT as historical rather than allegorical - Paul, for example, taught that the Christian faith depends on the historical, physical resurrection of Christ. Re-interpreting the Bible as allegorical is an existential reaction to historical criticism that cannot allow for Divine activity in history and regulates all such activity to myth. Allegorical interpretation, however, still may point to supernatural activity, but not in history.

I think that God is more than capable of working in history, and there is no logical reason to regulate God's activity to some transendental supernatural plane. A myth that only has connection to us by allegory is just as irrational as one that has connection to us through history. There is just as much "proof" for both. However, one is "safe" from naturalists when one regulates the myth completely outside of history.