Christian God Really Loving?

[sojourner]

Ok. If a person were too preach love and peace out of one side of his mouth and then go preach war and domination out of the other, wouldn't we say that such a person is a hypocrite.

So what if Yahweh made laws against murder. The moment Yahweh made the command the command to murder, rape and enslave is the moment Yahweh showed himself to be less than loving.

But you're treating this as a history textbook instead of a theological treatment of tradition. It's not enough to simply say "God said this.". Our job is to ask why God said it. Our task is to make theological meaning out of these "turf wars."

 

[waitasec]

But you're treating this as a history textbook instead of a theological treatment of tradition. It's not enough to simply say "God said this.". Our job is to ask why God said it. Our task is to make theological meaning out of these "turf wars."

seems to be a trivial pursuit in regards to such a small piece of real estate on a planet so small compared to the vastness of the cosmos...

basically it's a story about a tribe of people who wanted respect...

 

[allright]

God gave this people 400 years to repent and gave them the witness of Abraham Isaac and Jacob living and traveling thru their land
They refused to repent and suffered the consequences with the exception of Rahab.
God love makes a way for man to repent and receive forgiveness. Gods justice demands he excute judgement if a person refuses to repent.
"And this is the judgement, that light (Jesus) has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil"

 

[waitasec]

God gave this people 400 years to repent and gave them the witness of Abraham Isaac and Jacob living and traveling thru their land
They refused to repent and suffered the consequences with the exception of Rahab.
God love makes a way for man to repent and receive forgiveness. Gods justice demands he excute judgement if a person refuses to repent.
"And this is the judgement, that light (Jesus) has come into the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil"

and this is an argument for the christian's god's love...
seems more like an argument for the christian's god's insecurity.

 

[sojourner]

seems to be a trivial pursuit in regards to such a small piece of real estate on a planet so small compared to the vastness of the cosmos...

basically it's a story about a tribe of people who wanted respect...

No, it isn't. It's a story about how a tribe of people envisioned God at work to save them from their enemies. There's a fundamental difference.

 

[Noaidi]

So what if Yahweh made laws against murder. The moment Yahweh made the command the command to murder, rape and enslave is the moment Yahweh showed himself to be less than loving.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't god murder (by drowning) almost every living organism in Genesis? Granted, the commandment to not murder came later, but still...

 

[fallingblood]

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't god murder (by drowning) almost every living organism in Genesis? Granted, the commandment to not murder came later, but still...

Not a historical story though. It's a myth. Focusing on the small part that you have outlined simply ignores what the story is about.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

Well-meaning progressive Christians will say things like God/Jesus taught love, not hate, when responding to or talking about overtly hateful Christians.

But how can the Christian God be loving when he apparently advocated mass murder, such as in the book of Joshua? (Progressives will say the story probably never actually occurred, anyway, but the fact is that progressives still call this *sacred* scripture as do the conservatives and loonies.)

How can Jesus be preaching love when he pretty much states that he's the only way to heaven? (In other words, to hell with all the good Buddhists, agnostics, etc.)

I'd love to hear from you on this, and my apologies if it's been posted before.

God is not one-dimensional.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

To put it simply.... it's our book, we interpret it how we like.

To put it complex - Christians who believe that God is love and that the book of Joshua (etc) is sacred Scripture interpret Joshua in light of that belief.

It shouldn't surprise you that Christians know God primarily through the New Testament and are convinced that God is love through that portion of the Bible, not Joshua (etc).

:guitar1:Our God, is an awesome God...

 

[sandy whitelinger]

I've channeled some crazy ****.

You should cancel your cable subsciption.

 

[Noaidi]

Not a historical story though. It's a myth. Focusing on the small part that you have outlined simply ignores what the story is about.

I totally agree that it's a myth. However, many believe in a literal interpretation of the bible and would argue your point.

Assuming it's not a myth (as many do), how could mass ecocide be deemed as an act of a loving god (this isn't necessarily directed at you, fallingblood)?

 

[CynthiaCypher]

Not a historical story though. It's a myth. Focusing on the small part that you have outlined simply ignores what the story is about.

You might take it has myth but other Christians don't and they have built a theology arounf the verse in which Yahweh commands genocide. And that theology is that when God is on our side when it comes to fight the enemies of God then anything is justified

 

[sojourner]

I totally agree that it's a myth. However, many believe in a literal interpretation of the bible and would argue your point.

Assuming it's not a myth (as many do), how could mass ecocide be deemed as an act of a loving god (this isn't necessarily directed at you, fallingblood)?

It doesn't get us anywhere to argue a falsehood. The story is mythic. To argue anything else is unproductive, at best. If the story is literalistic, God cannot be a loving God. However, those of us who argue that God is loving would further argue for the mythic nature of the story.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

Norman Lear wrote the Archie Bunker character to be a despicable human being, however the popularity of All in the Family was due to people enjoying the character. However a character is written, or whatever the intentions of the author are, people will have their own interpretations of a fictional character within a story.

 

[sojourner]

You might take it has myth but other Christians don't and they have built a theology arounf the verse in which Yahweh commands genocide. And that theology is that when God is on our side when it comes to fight the enemies of God then anything is justified

Well, now you see how damaging theological constructs based upon iimproper exegesis are.

 

[fallingblood]

You might take it has myth but other Christians don't and they have built a theology arounf the verse in which Yahweh commands genocide. And that theology is that when God is on our side when it comes to fight the enemies of God then anything is justified

How does it command genocide? I have never heard a Christian even suggest such. I am assuming that if a Christian would state such, they are by far some of the most extreme Christians I have every heard of.

We see this same type of story in many different cultures. It has nothing to do with genocide, or God being on our side when fighting enemies.

More so, just because some interpret it literally, doesn't mean that it should. And it doesn't mean they interpret in the way you are saying.

 

[CynthiaCypher]

It doesn't get us anywhere to argue a falsehood. The story is mythic. To argue anything else is unproductive, at best. If the story is literalistic, God cannot be a loving God. However, those of us who argue that God is loving would further argue for the mythic nature of the story.

But most Christian take the story as literal and that's what informs them. I really don't care if you want to believe that God is all loving as per the NT myth says, when you look at the OT God is anything but all loving. It's almost like two different gods are being preached

 

[CynthiaCypher]

How does it command genocide? I have never heard a Christian even suggest such. I am assuming that if a Christian would state such, they are by far some of the most extreme Christians I have every heard of.

We see this same type of story in many different cultures. It has nothing to do with genocide, or God being on our side when fighting enemies.

More so, just because some interpret it literally, doesn't mean that it should. And it doesn't mean they interpret in the way you are saying.

Christians have been interpeting that verse literally for ages, it's one of the verses that was used to justify the genocide of Native Americans. God is on our side therefore we have the right to murder, rape and rob becuase it says so in the Bible

 

[fallingblood]

But most Christian take the story as literal and that's what informs them. I really don't care if you want to believe that God is all loving as per the NT myth says, when you look at the OT God is anything but all loving. It's almost like two different gods are being preached

The OT God is anything but all loving only when one wants to interpret him in such a way. Taking a few verses, and then ignoring all else, simply is not a good argument. Point in case, your insistence that Christians take the story as literal. In fact, we see more and more Christians, in general, rejecting the idea of the Bible as literal.

And even so, you miss the point of the flood story. It doesn't matter what most Christians believe in this case. It is a Jewish story.

 

[fallingblood]

Christians have been interpeting that verse literally for ages, it's one of the verses that was used to justify the genocide of Native Americans. God is on our side therefore we have the right to murder, rape and rob becuase it says so in the Bible

How was the flood story used to justify genocide of Native Americans? The flood story has nothing to do with God being on our side.

More so, the genocide of Native Americans had little to do with the Bible. If you had taken the time to read the OT, you would see that there are laws against murder. More so, Christians generally agree that they are not bound by the OT, but the NT. And the NT does not support murder because of ethnicity.

To blame the Bible for the genocide of Native Americans are doing a disservice to Native Americans, and ignores what we know about history.