So many god myths are of angry gods that need to be appeased. This is true of the abrahamic god as well. Then Jesus came along and suddenly we think god is supposed to be loving and accepting and would never allow the cruelty that transpires day after day.

What if the gods ARE angry a-holes?!? We think that someone who is all knowing would be beyond feelings of anger and jealousy. What if god's not all knowing but just some jerkhole scientist who put us on this planet for his own sick amusement? What if god is more like the devil and will torture us unless we worship him?

I'm basically an atheist so I'm not actually worried about any of this but I do think it is amusing to ponder.

If there were a god of this earth then he is undeniably a total sick prick and I would never worship him. This all omniscient loving god does not exist. If anything the god of this earth wants us to throw virgins into a volcano. No?

He demands that we worship him as he shears us. When he's hungry he'll slaughter one of us for mutton. We bleat for mercy, and he strikes us with his shepherd's staff. Though coyotes and wild dogs circle us, the shepherd looks for a lamb plump enough to get the Greek treatment.

Don't wait for flowers or a phone call.

I think the scientist theory is a lot more likely than any divine being.

He was saying what if god was randomly generated everyday so one day he was cool and the next he was crazy angry. If I were making up a god theory that one would fit. Peaceful weather then huricans and tsunamis.

When I left the church I was afraid my kids would stay in. To have my oldest share ideas like that shows me he can think for himself. I'm angry the church got so much of me but so glad I got my kids out. Very happy hes going to school instead of a mission.

Wait, what if God really is an a-hole and he is angry about us portraying him as a hippie Jesus?

Since men invent gods, it's understandable they'd have the same follies that men have. Being a dick isn't that uncommon here on earth.

Aaaayup.

This is not meant as preaching, I'm just giving an alternate explanation "in universe" as comic book fans say...

Keep in mind most of the OT stories are about YHVH dealing with one small tribe in one small part of the world. There were lots of people all over the planet he left alone to do as they pleased. Kind of like in our time (although that opens him up to ridicule for not caring).

THEY started it by begging them to take them out of Egypt. He parted the red sea for them for cryin out loud. Why wouldn't he be angry? If you drain ALL the emotion from him or he ceases to be "the living god"--one of his favorite names for himself.

Tell that to the Amalekites, Midianites, Moabites, Canaanites, etc. Shall I go on?

It seems that the god you're portraying didn't deal with just one tribe. He used that one tribe to rape & pillage other tribes so he could get a monopoly on trade routes.

For the bible tells me so.

True that. Not my best work. I can't have it both ways. I'm so used to assuming they made up all those conquest stories long after the fact that I conveniently left them out. I was...what would be the inverse of cherry-picking? Turd-blind?

If God is real, he seems to favor really small groups of followers. Probably running with some obscure Himalayan Cult none of us have ever heard of before.

I let Mormons be my people before it was cool. They are too mainstream now.

Do not think that I came to bring peace on Earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household. He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life will lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake will find it. (Matthew 10:34–39 NASB)

And 17 chapters further into Matthew we read that there were zombies, too...

It's all HR Puffenstuff. Only more badly written and less relevant to my daily life.

Yay! Someone else who knows about HR Puffnstuff. I get blank looks from my spouse and anyone else I've ever mentioned it to. I had to find it on google to prove it did in fact exist at one time.

Yes, I am old. I was also born in NY state (Albany) and have relatives in Cooperstown, New Hartford, Utica, NYC and elsewhere. I keep looking at your name, onendagus? Did JS take that from where I think he did?

This scripture actually makes me very sad because it is very true. It has turned families against each other. I can no longer have a real closeness with my parents because of my unbelief.

Way to go, Jesus.

We are reading "Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan with our kids and discussing any questions they have.

I get really upset with folks that declare every natural disaster an act of god for some horrible deed, or that some particular person was saved from the death that their neighbor wasn't so lucky because of their faith.

We live on a planet that has a molten core, shifting plates, and weather. Is it really a shock that something big happens somewhere all the time?

Bow to her...The queen of filth and putrescence. Sorry, the "bow to me" part got me thinking of princess bride.

Does The Man In Black care to comment?

God is smart !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBQnjVX_gco

The idea that "god" was petty and insecure was one of the main reasons I rejected that kind of god.

We made him that way because we are petty and insecure.