Is God A Bully?

[Sunstone]

That is your opinion and it's only an opinion and unfounded at that.

If deity is truly ineffable and truly transcends human understanding, then it necessarily follows that any opinion or view of deity is merely an interpretation. But of course, your deity might so transparent as to be easily understood even by children. That at least would explain why you think my opinion is "only an unfounded opinion".

 

[dave_]

Buddhism and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Islam and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christianity and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have read that before.In that wiki page you can see they use violence mostly for self defence.If you compare Buddhism with Islam and Christianity you can see Buddhism and violence wiki page is really short but the other two is very long.You should open several tabs.Wiki just had to open several articles for Islam Christianity.And that pages are getting bigger.

 

[Riverwolf]

Islam and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christianity and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have read that before.In that wiki page you can see they use violence mostly for self defence.If you compare Buddhism with Islam and Christianity you can see Buddhism and violence wiki page is really short but the other two is very long.You should open several tabs.Wiki just had to open several articles for Islam Christianity.And that pages are getting bigger.

And as for all the wars that have been fought in Buddhist China, Korea, and Japan?

 

[Harikrish]

Nothing compares to the God of the bible. God is more than a bully. God is a homicidal, genocidal maniac who repeatedly punished the Jews and the world because he was displeased with the Jews.

1. God drowns the whole earth.
In Genesis 7:21-23, God drowns the entire population of the earth: men, women, children, fetuses, and perhaps unicorns. Only a single family survives. In Matthew 24:37-42, gentle Jesus approves of this genocide and plans to repeat it when he returns.

2. God kills half a million people.
In 2 Chronicles 13:15-18, God helps the men of Judah kill 500,000 of their fellow Israelites.

3. God slaughters all Egyptian firstborn.
In Exodus 12:29, God the baby-killer slaughters all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle because their king was stubborn.

4. God kills 14,000 people for complaining that God keeps killing them.
In Numbers 16:41-49, the Israelites complain that God is killing too many of them. So, God sends a plague that kills 14,000 more of them.

5. Genocide after genocide after genocide.
In Joshua 6:20-21, God helps the Israelites destroy Jericho, killing “men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” In Deuteronomy 2:32-35, God has the Israelites kill everyone in Heshbon, including children. In Deuteronomy 3:3-7, God has the Israelites do the same to the people of Bashan. In Numbers 31:7-18, the Israelites kill all the Midianites except for the virgins, whom they take as spoils of war. In 1 Samuel 15:1-9, God tells the Israelites to kill all the Amalekites – men, women, children, infants, and their cattle – for something the Amalekites’ ancestors had done 400 years earlier.

6. God kills 50,000 people for curiosity.
In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills 50,000 men for peeking into the ark of the covenant. (Newer cosmetic translations count only 70 deaths, but their text notes admit that the best and earliest manuscripts put the number at 50,070.)

7. 3,000 Israelites killed for inventing a god.
In Exodus 32, Moses has climbed Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. The Israelites are bored, so they invent a golden calf god. Moses comes back and God commands him: “Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.” About 3,000 people died.

8. The Amorites destroyed by sword and by God’s rocks.
In Joshua 10:10-11, God helps the Israelites slaughter the Amorites by sword, then finishes them off with rocks from the sky.

9. God burns two cities to death.
In Genesis 19:24, God kills everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from the sky. Then God kills Lot’s wife for looking back at her burning home.

10. God has 42 children mauled by bears.
In 2 Kings 2:23-24, some kids tease the prophet Elisha, and God sends bears to dismember them. (Newer cosmetic translations say the bears “maul” the children, but the original Hebrew, baqa, means “to tear apart.”)

11. A tribe slaughtered and their virgins raped for not showing up at roll call.
In Judges 21:1-23, a tribe of Israelites misses roll call, so the other Israelites kill them all except for the virgins, which they take for themselves. Still not happy, they hide in vineyards and pounce on dancing women from Shiloh to take them for themselves.

12. 3,000 crushed to death.
In Judges 16:27-30, God gives Samson strength to bring down a building to crush 3,000 members of a rival tribe.

13. A concubine raped and dismembered.
In Judges 19:22-29, a mob demands to rape a godly master’s guest. The master offers his daughter and a concubine to them instead. They take the concubine and gang-rape her all night. The master finds her on his doorstep in the morning, cuts her into 12 pieces, and ships the pieces around the country.

14. Child sacrifice.
In Judges 11:30-39, Jephthah burns his daughter alive as a sacrificial offering for God’s favor in killing the Ammonites.

15. God helps Samson kill 30 men because he lost a bet.
In Judges 14:11-19, Samson loses a bet for 30 sets of clothes. The spirit of God comes upon him and he kills 30 men to steal their clothes and pay off the debt.

16. God demands you kill your wife and children for worshiping other gods.
In Deuteronomy 13:6-10, God commands that you must kill your wife, children, brother, and friend if they worship other gods.

17. God incinerates 51 men to make a point.
In 2 Kings 1:9-10, Elijah gets God to burn 51 men with fire from heaven to prove he is God.

18. God kills a man for not impregnating his brother’s widow.
In Genesis 38:9-10, God kills a man for refusing to impregnate his brother’s widow.

19. God threatens forced cannibalism.
In Leviticus 26:27-29 and Jeremiah 19:9, God threatens to punish the Israelites by making them eat their own children.

20. The coming slaughter.
According to Revelation 9:7-19, God’s got more evil coming. God will make horse-like locusts with human heads and scorpion tails, who torture people for 5 months. Then some angels will kill a third of the earth’s population. If he came today, that would be 2 billion people.

- See more at: Top 20 Evil Bible Stories

 

[Twilight Hue]

Actually I never ever came across any god, let alone a bullying one.

 

[Chakra]

No offense, but I kind of blame the Abrahamic religions for giving such a evil representation of God. It's not wonder that people would want to be an atheist if they grew up in a family that worshiped the Semetic God. If only atheists were originally presented with the Great Vishnu, then maybe their understanding of God would be different. God is actually far more liberal and compassionate than what the Bible says.

 

[wizanda]

Think when you realize Jehovah can mean Lord of Mischief/Destruction; it makes far more sense of the Bible.

 

[nazz]

Islam and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christianity and violence - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have read that before.In that wiki page you can see they use violence mostly for self defence.If you compare Buddhism with Islam and Christianity you can see Buddhism and violence wiki page is really short but the other two is very long.You should open several tabs.Wiki just had to open several articles for Islam Christianity.And that pages are getting bigger.

You either did not read the article or you have a prejudice in favor of Buddhists.

 

[Not Bob]

Nothing compares to the God of the bible. God is more than a bully. God is a homicidal, genocidal maniac who repeatedly punished the Jews and the world because he was displeased with the Jews.

1. God drowns the whole earth.
In Genesis 7:21-23, God drowns the entire population of the earth: men, women, children, fetuses, and perhaps unicorns. Only a single family survives. In Matthew 24:37-42, gentle Jesus approves of this genocide and plans to repeat it when he returns.

2. God kills half a million people.
In 2 Chronicles 13:15-18, God helps the men of Judah kill 500,000 of their fellow Israelites.

3. God slaughters all Egyptian firstborn.
In Exodus 12:29, God the baby-killer slaughters all Egyptian firstborn children and cattle because their king was stubborn.

4. God kills 14,000 people for complaining that God keeps killing them.
In Numbers 16:41-49, the Israelites complain that God is killing too many of them. So, God sends a plague that kills 14,000 more of them.

5. Genocide after genocide after genocide.
In Joshua 6:20-21, God helps the Israelites destroy Jericho, killing “men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.” In Deuteronomy 2:32-35, God has the Israelites kill everyone in Heshbon, including children. In Deuteronomy 3:3-7, God has the Israelites do the same to the people of Bashan. In Numbers 31:7-18, the Israelites kill all the Midianites except for the virgins, whom they take as spoils of war. In 1 Samuel 15:1-9, God tells the Israelites to kill all the Amalekites – men, women, children, infants, and their cattle – for something the Amalekites’ ancestors had done 400 years earlier.

6. God kills 50,000 people for curiosity.
In 1 Samuel 6:19, God kills 50,000 men for peeking into the ark of the covenant. (Newer cosmetic translations count only 70 deaths, but their text notes admit that the best and earliest manuscripts put the number at 50,070.)

7. 3,000 Israelites killed for inventing a god.
In Exodus 32, Moses has climbed Mount Sinai to get the Ten Commandments. The Israelites are bored, so they invent a golden calf god. Moses comes back and God commands him: “Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.” About 3,000 people died.

8. The Amorites destroyed by sword and by God’s rocks.
In Joshua 10:10-11, God helps the Israelites slaughter the Amorites by sword, then finishes them off with rocks from the sky.

9. God burns two cities to death.
In Genesis 19:24, God kills everyone in Sodom and Gomorrah with fire from the sky. Then God kills Lot’s wife for looking back at her burning home.

10. God has 42 children mauled by bears.
In 2 Kings 2:23-24, some kids tease the prophet Elisha, and God sends bears to dismember them. (Newer cosmetic translations say the bears “maul” the children, but the original Hebrew, baqa, means “to tear apart.”)

11. A tribe slaughtered and their virgins raped for not showing up at roll call.
In Judges 21:1-23, a tribe of Israelites misses roll call, so the other Israelites kill them all except for the virgins, which they take for themselves. Still not happy, they hide in vineyards and pounce on dancing women from Shiloh to take them for themselves.

12. 3,000 crushed to death.
In Judges 16:27-30, God gives Samson strength to bring down a building to crush 3,000 members of a rival tribe.

13. A concubine raped and dismembered.
In Judges 19:22-29, a mob demands to rape a godly master’s guest. The master offers his daughter and a concubine to them instead. They take the concubine and gang-rape her all night. The master finds her on his doorstep in the morning, cuts her into 12 pieces, and ships the pieces around the country.

14. Child sacrifice.
In Judges 11:30-39, Jephthah burns his daughter alive as a sacrificial offering for God’s favor in killing the Ammonites.

15. God helps Samson kill 30 men because he lost a bet.
In Judges 14:11-19, Samson loses a bet for 30 sets of clothes. The spirit of God comes upon him and he kills 30 men to steal their clothes and pay off the debt.

16. God demands you kill your wife and children for worshiping other gods.
In Deuteronomy 13:6-10, God commands that you must kill your wife, children, brother, and friend if they worship other gods.

17. God incinerates 51 men to make a point.
In 2 Kings 1:9-10, Elijah gets God to burn 51 men with fire from heaven to prove he is God.

18. God kills a man for not impregnating his brother’s widow.
In Genesis 38:9-10, God kills a man for refusing to impregnate his brother’s widow.

19. God threatens forced cannibalism.
In Leviticus 26:27-29 and Jeremiah 19:9, God threatens to punish the Israelites by making them eat their own children.

20. The coming slaughter.
According to Revelation 9:7-19, God’s got more evil coming. God will make horse-like locusts with human heads and scorpion tails, who torture people for 5 months. Then some angels will kill a third of the earth’s population. If he came today, that would be 2 billion people.

- See more at: Top 20 Evil Bible Stories

At the very least, in these days, the God of the bible is a typical abuser. He expects you to love him and adore him and if he thinks you don't he will punish you with a "you're only doing it to yourself" attitude.

 

[Robert Vincelette]

I just don't like god and anything about him.Even as i child i liked the dark side better.I like to be left alone.But god just can't accept that.He wants everyone to believe in him love him.This is just crushing my soul.He is enslaving me.But he knows how to mess with human mind.He starts wars , most inhumane things are in his name.But what can men do against so much pain and hatred?

ps:don't say to me it's not the god's fault it's humans because buddhists are human too but they are very peaciful.The only difference is their religion.

If there is God and there is Satan, might not Satan disguise himself as God and use that usurped authority to inspire people to serve him by doing evil? e.g., ISIS or Westboro Baptist Church.

 

[Riverwolf]

If there is God and there is Satan, might not Satan disguise himself as God and use that usurped authority to inspire people to serve him by doing evil? e.g., ISIS or Westboro Baptist Church.

The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was NOT convincing the world that he didn't exist. That was his second greatest trick.

You've uncovered his truly greatest trick. ^_^

 

[dave_]

Any view or interpretation of deity is a fiction. You appear to have chosen a fiction that satisfies some need of yours.

I choosen the one that scares me most.If you don't believe in Zeus he doesn't get angry.I think all other gods are this way.But the one i am talking about is scary that's why i take him seriously.

 

[Astrologer]

The old "testosteronement" "god" sounds like a spoiled child. I see "god" as the being who designs, creates, and maintains the universe. I feel an integration with that being. Everything that I am, and have, has come to me as a gift. It's up to me to make the most of it. Religious rule books should be a guide only, with "common sense" as a close companion.

 

[J0stories]

Any view or interpretation of deity is a fiction. You appear to have chosen a fiction that satisfies some need of yours.

And? Why should that bother or effect you in any way whatsoever? You are free to hate whatever floats your boat but you are not free to dictate what others choose to believe.

 

[Sunstone]

And? Why should that bother or effect you in any way whatsoever? You are free to hate whatever floats your boat but you are not free to dictate what others choose to believe.

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

 

[Riverwolf]

I choosen the one that scares me most.If you don't believe in Zeus he doesn't get angry.I think all other gods are this way.But the one i am talking about is scary that's why i take him seriously.

Actually, I'd think Zeus, of all the Olympioi, would be quite angry that he's not getting the attention he feels he deserves. Guy's got quite the ego, I understand.

Trust me, if you know Greek Lore, you know that you do NOT **** with the Olympioi. Hubris was the gravest sin of all.

 

[we-live-now]

I just don't like god and anything about him.Even as i child i liked the dark side better.I like to be left alone.But god just can't accept that.He wants everyone to believe in him love him.This is just crushing my soul.He is enslaving me.But he knows how to mess with human mind.He starts wars , most inhumane things are in his name.But what can men do against so much pain and hatred?

ps:don't say to me it's not the god's fault it's humans because buddhists are human too but they are very peaciful.The only difference is their religion.

Sorry. You believe the God you have been taught. I did too. Not the true god. Your heart longs for the TRUE GOD and that is very good!

 

[1137]

I just don't like god and anything about him.Even as i child i liked the dark side better.I like to be left alone.But god just can't accept that.He wants everyone to believe in him love him.This is just crushing my soul.He is enslaving me.But he knows how to mess with human mind.He starts wars , most inhumane things are in his name.But what can men do against so much pain and hatred?

ps:don't say to me it's not the god's fault it's humans because buddhists are human too but they are very peaciful.The only difference is their religion.

I think that "God" - from what I infer you mean about it - is indifferent. It's this massive thing that can do whatever. It probably snapped us into existence and then forgot about us. Further, in my system the dark side is itself a God, and one of extreme importance. If God exists it certainly doesn't seem to care about us or what we do, but also doesn't seem to care about our relationship with it. Do what you have to do.

 

[ceseme]

God is our Father. This makes you his child. He's passionate about that. He gave us a pattern for the behaviors we must follow in order to be happy and to be able to return to him and have joy. But he isn't going to force you to obey, or anyone else, because he gave us free will so that we would know for ourselves the kind of people we truly are when it's time to face him when our judgment takes place.

Misery is created by people's bad choices. God only commanded for certain people to be killed in the OT because those people were totally corrupt, degraded to the point of offering human sacrifice and violating their own children in the most despicable ways imaginable. He couldn't allow that to continue. When the majority of people become wicked, they are ripe for destruction and will be destroyed. It was better for those children who had been thus used to be killed and borne up into the arms of God and be comforted, than for them to have lived and suffered mentally, and passed down those behaviors to their own children.

If you are inclined to rebel, you must also accept the consequences, of which we have been warned. In the end, it's all your choice. If you follow the guidelines Father gave us, you will be free, not enslaved. The adversary is the one who enslaves us. Anyone who is addicted to drugs, cigarettes or alcohol knows what it is like to be enslaved, but those who refrain from partaking of those things are free. These are tools satan uses to bind us, and make us susceptible to doing other things that take us further from a reconciliation with our Father.

Our Father wants us to be happy. We have all done things we shouldn't do, however, and that generates unhappiness. That's why he sent his son to make an atonement, so we would have an advocate with the Father to plead for us, that if we repent with all of our hearts we may receive a remission of our sins, and attain peace to our souls.

 

[we-live-now]

God is our Father. This makes you his child. He's passionate about that. He gave us a pattern for the behaviors we must follow in order to be happy and to be able to return to him and have joy. But he isn't going to force you to obey, or anyone else, because he gave us free will so that we would know for ourselves the kind of people we truly are when it's time to face him when our judgment takes place.

Misery is created by people's bad choices. God only commanded for certain people to be killed in the OT because those people were totally corrupt, degraded to the point of offering human sacrifice and violating their own children in the most despicable ways imaginable. He couldn't allow that to continue. When the majority of people become wicked, they are ripe for destruction and will be destroyed. It was better for those children who had been thus used to be killed and borne up into the arms of God and be comforted, than for them to have lived and suffered mentally, and passed down those behaviors to their own children.

If you are inclined to rebel, you must also accept the consequences, of which we have been warned. In the end, it's all your choice. If you follow the guidelines Father gave us, you will be free, not enslaved. The adversary is the one who enslaves us. Anyone who is addicted to drugs, cigarettes or alcohol knows what it is like to be enslaved, but those who refrain from partaking of those things are free. These are tools satan uses to bind us, and make us susceptible to doing other things that take us further from a reconciliation with our Father.

Our Father wants us to be happy. We have all done things we shouldn't do, however, and that generates unhappiness. That's why he sent his son to make an atonement, so we would have an advocate with the Father to plead for us, that if we repent with all of our hearts we may receive a remission of our sins, and attain peace to our souls.

(this sounds like propaganda to me) Do we really have "free will"?

According to Romans 9:16, it does NOT depend on our "will".

So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who runs, but on God who has mercy Romans 9:16

Paul tells us in Phil 2:13 that it is GOD who is inside us doing the work according to HIS will.

for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure Phil 2:13

John 1:13 tell us again that it is NOT our human will that does it, but GOD himself.

who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God John 1:13

Are you seeing these verses? The Church doesn't. They keep spreading lies about this so-called "doctrine" they have dreamed up called "free will". It's destroyed by scripture, but only if we believe scripture.

Jesus himself is the one who both CREATES our faith (within us) and continues until it is completed! Man's will plays NO part except to DIE FASTER.

Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith Hebrews 12:2 (partial)

Did you notice that the word "our" is NOT in the original and TRUE words of God? That's because there is but ONE faith that we ALL receive from Christ who not only IS all but IN(side) all. Col 3:11.

Do you really believe man has "free will"? The way I see it, scripture totally DESTROYS it. Can this "free will" keep us from dying? If it can't then we don't have it.