If Bible-god Could Change
By Carl S ~
If Bible-god could change his mind, what changes might he make?
1. As a parent he wouldn't allow his children to feel responsible for all the chaos they experience in life, and for the deaths, poisons, and destruction inherent in Nature.
2. He would forbid those who claim to speak in his name from exploiting emotions, through hammering at those emotions with all manner of confusing and conflicting demands attributed to him.
3. He would not play favorites, telling some they are much better than others and therefore have the right to dominate, denigrate, snub, persecute, jail and execute whomsoever they say he hates.
4. This god would encourage humans to think for themselves and never take his word for anything on faith. He'd want them to think freely and become independently mature.
5. He'd tell those intelligent creatures: Wisdom is attained in doubting and searching after the facts continually.
6. He would say, "Please, no praise or worship. Save your praise for one another. Don't spend your time, money, and labor on me. I'm completely happy with myself."
7. A caring deity would not allow his creations to torture nor be tortured by others. And, by an example, he would never torture them.
8. A deity who gave a damn would admit he makes colossal mistakes with the human race (if not what the mistakes are), and will be good enough to apologize and sympathize because, let's face it, he has no experience of what it is to be human.
9. He would make clear a hatred of the religions of prejudice and the promotion of ignorance, fears, hatreds and holy wars, since they have done more harm than good.
10. If he cared at all, he would tell humankind that uncertainty is not to be rejected; that only death is absolutely certain, for which there is no insurance against its finality. In no uncertain terms he'd say: You have one guarantee to one life; live it fully.
All of these things a deity would do if he cared - but cannot. Because you see, the deity we speak of here is the Abrahamic God: yesterday, today, and the same forever, and can't be any different from what he was made to be. There is neither progress nor hope with this "God." Since he doesn't do any of these things at all, obviously he doesn't give a shit.
If Bible-god could change his mind, what changes might he make?
2. He would forbid those who claim to speak in his name from exploiting emotions, through hammering at those emotions with all manner of confusing and conflicting demands attributed to him.
3. He would not play favorites, telling some they are much better than others and therefore have the right to dominate, denigrate, snub, persecute, jail and execute whomsoever they say he hates.
4. This god would encourage humans to think for themselves and never take his word for anything on faith. He'd want them to think freely and become independently mature.
5. He'd tell those intelligent creatures: Wisdom is attained in doubting and searching after the facts continually.
6. He would say, "Please, no praise or worship. Save your praise for one another. Don't spend your time, money, and labor on me. I'm completely happy with myself."
7. A caring deity would not allow his creations to torture nor be tortured by others. And, by an example, he would never torture them.
8. A deity who gave a damn would admit he makes colossal mistakes with the human race (if not what the mistakes are), and will be good enough to apologize and sympathize because, let's face it, he has no experience of what it is to be human.
9. He would make clear a hatred of the religions of prejudice and the promotion of ignorance, fears, hatreds and holy wars, since they have done more harm than good.
10. If he cared at all, he would tell humankind that uncertainty is not to be rejected; that only death is absolutely certain, for which there is no insurance against its finality. In no uncertain terms he'd say: You have one guarantee to one life; live it fully.
All of these things a deity would do if he cared - but cannot. Because you see, the deity we speak of here is the Abrahamic God: yesterday, today, and the same forever, and can't be any different from what he was made to be. There is neither progress nor hope with this "God." Since he doesn't do any of these things at all, obviously he doesn't give a shit.