Disclaimer: I firmly believe that any Heaven run by a God that would threaten you with Hell, is no Heaven at all. Nor do I find myself a fan of the fire and brimstone/Armageddon motif. Though it puts me in contrast with the Bible, the “vengeful” bent in God is way overplayed. Now I know about the banishment from the Garden of Eden, the 40 Day Flood and a whole host of plagues yet still don’t see God as an arm-twisting, leg-braking destructive deity. Sorry, I just don’t see God as a bully.
You sure wouldn’t know it of late. If something bad is happening in the world, God is the instigator, the perpetrator and the culprit.
Pat Robertson targets God as the cause of destruction in Haiti, Rush Limbaugh votes God the cause of the Volcano eruption in Iceland. Last month Islamic clerics claimed that provocatively dressed young women provoked God to unleash the recent rash of earthquakes, and now Governor Rick Perry accuses God of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill while British Petroleum lays it on “the Lord.” Massive numbers still blame God for the Indonesian Tsunami. Talk about ruining a reputation with slander and libel. Wow.
When it comes to natural disasters, do we always have to find a super-natural power to lay it on? At the very least, couldn’t someone accuse Satan of any of this crap; the Devil made the earth do it?
Since the earliest days of humankind, cavemen and cavewomen saw lightning hit a tree and decried the heavenly deity of their day. Zuess with his lightning bolt, Poseidon with his trident is an old literary feature. Wouldn’t you think we could have grown up a bit, perhaps surrender ancient myths of God’s wrath and mayhem?
Seems to me the only ones still bent on “highlighting” God’s coercion are those that do so purely for their own benefit. They threaten and intimidate because it is their “will be done” and it has nothing to do with God.
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You clearly like to portray an image of feeling empathy for others…that doesn't prove a conscience exists within you. This is often motivation enough for some, not necessarily a fear of going to hell or a reward for going to heaven.
Yes, I’d imagine it would be easy to gather a following by pointing to a god to intimidate and manipulate. But your case deals in logic.
In many other cases, the bully god is a good deterrent for people who would otherwise cause the mayhem — not the natural disasters in your example, of course, rather those who participate in the odious offenses against mankind at every level.
I was once asked that if I don’t believe in the riches of heaven and the fiery flames of hell, then what keeps me from stealing someone’s wallet and then killing the poor chap. The question in itself is disturbing. It’s clear that some people operate only through a system of fear and rewards, unable to feel empathy for others.
I fear that you can’t teach these people to be kind and loving to our fellow neighbors for the sole sake of being kind and loving. Thus, let them not kill for fear they will be sent to hell, and let them be kind for want of the riches of heaven, if that’s the only way they can behave.
I agree with you Brian. God is not a bully. God wants us free…not controlled by some hierarchy with a greedy agenda. To me Hell doesn't exist. Hell was created as a way to control us. It's control through fear. It's everywhere. Anyone who uses fear to control you should be viewed as evil.
Armageddon shouldn't be feared either. It's should be embraced. They're just scared, because they're going to become irrelevant…so why not have us fear it?
BTW – I'm on earth's side. What goes around comes around. We should start showing a little more respect.
Brian, I don’t think God causes things per se, but I do think that He allows them to happen. As we approach the end of days, the Bible says this world will react as a woman giving birth. I don’t think that God allows these things to happen and stands around rubbing his hands with glee, nor does he do so with an “I’ll show them” mindset. We can’t fully understand the mind of God (or we would be Him), but I will say that sometimes he allows things to happen to draw our attention back to him.