Neo Deist
Th.D. & D.Div. h.c.
Growing up as a Baptist and spending 30 years in that religion/denomination, I did a lot of Bible study sessions, but it was not until I was in my 30s and I really started paying attention to what was actually written in the Bible, that I drifted away from my upbringing and eventually walking the path of the deist. These are some of the things that after reading them, I became further removed from my childhood religion:
Human sacrifice
Child sacrifice
Slavery
Murder
Rape
All of these things are found in the OT and they were all SUPPOSEDLY ordered by God. First born animals and children were to be sacrificed as a burnt offering. Slavery was encouraged and there were laws that governed its practice. When the Israelites conquered a city, they murdered every man, woman and child in it. Virgin girls were kidnapped, taken as wives and forcefully raped.
As an adult, when I actually understood what those things were and how heinous and immoral they were, to go back and re-read the Bible and see them throughout the OT, I could not help but drift away. Hell, I am a cop (CSI) and help send people to prison for doing those things.
It really gripes me to read about ancient priests and how they lived. "God" demands a 10% tribute (tithe), payable to the priesthood. There was to be a weekly feast prepared a certain way and with the best morsels, also given to the priesthood. The priests did not work in the fields or tend to the flocks...they sat around in their shaded tents and lived an easy, rich life. It was the biggest con game of its time...and proliferates to this very day.
I have always said that the god of the OT and the god of the NT seem to be two different individuals.
"Bow down before me! Tremble before me! Fear me! You will burn in hell!" That sounds more like the directives of a diabolical, self righteous dictator than it does a benevolent, loving deity.
That is one of the bigger reasons why I am a deist. Deism, as a theological concept, denies the drivel found in the OT as being divinely inspired. We can clearly see where it was a person, or group of people, that were using religion and the threat of divine wrath to live a fat, easy life. There was a reason only the priests could go inside the temple...they did not want their secret to get out!
Human sacrifice
Child sacrifice
Slavery
Murder
Rape
All of these things are found in the OT and they were all SUPPOSEDLY ordered by God. First born animals and children were to be sacrificed as a burnt offering. Slavery was encouraged and there were laws that governed its practice. When the Israelites conquered a city, they murdered every man, woman and child in it. Virgin girls were kidnapped, taken as wives and forcefully raped.
As an adult, when I actually understood what those things were and how heinous and immoral they were, to go back and re-read the Bible and see them throughout the OT, I could not help but drift away. Hell, I am a cop (CSI) and help send people to prison for doing those things.
It really gripes me to read about ancient priests and how they lived. "God" demands a 10% tribute (tithe), payable to the priesthood. There was to be a weekly feast prepared a certain way and with the best morsels, also given to the priesthood. The priests did not work in the fields or tend to the flocks...they sat around in their shaded tents and lived an easy, rich life. It was the biggest con game of its time...and proliferates to this very day.
I have always said that the god of the OT and the god of the NT seem to be two different individuals.
"Bow down before me! Tremble before me! Fear me! You will burn in hell!" That sounds more like the directives of a diabolical, self righteous dictator than it does a benevolent, loving deity.
That is one of the bigger reasons why I am a deist. Deism, as a theological concept, denies the drivel found in the OT as being divinely inspired. We can clearly see where it was a person, or group of people, that were using religion and the threat of divine wrath to live a fat, easy life. There was a reason only the priests could go inside the temple...they did not want their secret to get out!