Their Personal God

[dave_littler]

For quite some time now, I've been saying that not only do cultures create their gods in their own images, so too do individual believers within these cultures invent their gods in their own individual images. Not too long ago, we got some medical data which seems to support this contention.

A year or so ago, I remember reading about some

Comments

[rayefrenzy]

Very interesting. I think some of the hostility might not because Christians feel they are personally being attacked but because the core of their faith is being questioned. I mean, what are the basics? God is love. Love God, Love your neighbor. And I'd like to think some Christians actually think about this. They see some of the situations where God isn't love. And no one is loving their neighbor. So, maybe they're hostile because they're questioning it too. Shit is hard. And no one likes to be told "Hey, everything you love and believe and adore is wrong/false/made up

[dave_littler]

But see, this is essentially what I'm talking about. The god you choose to say you're worshiping wouldn't order genocide, because, being a human being with a functioning moral core, you deem genocide to be "wrong". Therefore, your god could not condone it either. Therefore he didn't order it. Therefore you ignore that part of the bible, even though you otherwise consider that book of the bible to be a factual account of events. This is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on incidents in the bible where the christian god is described as being more directly responsible for horrible shit, like when he chose to murder every man, woman and child on earth aside from the eight people he liked in the flood.

Or this: http://dave-littler.livejournal.com/118870.html

Or this: http://dave-littler.livejournal.com/59678.html

[rayefrenzy]

Honestly, I think most of the OT isn't a factual account of events at all. Hell, even a lot of the NT is screwy. But I like to take the 2 Thessalonians 5 approach: "Test everything. Hold onto what is good".

Maybe what I'm trying to get at is that, yes, I am most definitely one of the people this entry is about. But I'd like to think its less trying to align God to my morals, as much as trying to work out what the hell God's morals are to begin with. I went to Bible college and only came out with knowing 2 things; shit's fucked and what the fuck. And while I know shit is fucked, I still couldn't let go of the fact that Jesus had done some pretty fabulous things in my life and I didn't want to let that go. We're all groping around in a dimly lit room trying to figure things out. I guess that's what makes this life so fun.

[dave_littler]

Well, alright, for the sake of clarity, since I know you can ask any two christians what they think of any bit of dogma and get three different answers: What do you think hell is, who deserves to go there, and how were the rules determining who goes there established?

And do you believe that Jesus was in fact the christian god, Yahweh, made flesh?

[rayefrenzy]

Ah fuck. You caught me with the thing I know the least about: hell. I don't think or know if hell even exists. For a while, I thought if it truly were eternal separation from God, then perhaps you just simply cease to be, as opposed to whatever else the afterlife could be (i'd like to think its a giant ho-down and I get to ride dinosaurs. i hope i'm right). Really, the only thing I know is Jesus said that no one comes to God except through him. So, I got that down. But I'd like to think God reveals himself to us in different ways all the time. I also think that "if you seek, you shall find." I'll stop rambling. In short, I don't know.

But I do believe that Jesus is God made flesh, yes.

[dave_littler]

Fair enough. For me, my final and most unwavering moral judgment against the christian god comes in my condemnation of the concept of hell. I see in the traditional conception of hell nothing that resembles justice; it's nothing more than a petty and megalomaniacal tyrant punishing those who dared to not bow down to him (which, if you cruise back a few entries on my "christianity" tag, you'll see I've spoken of somewhat exhaustively and don't need or want to beleabour now).

But this brings me to a key question (and another one I've brought up before!): It seems that you don't view the bible as a particularly reliable or consistently accurate source of information, if you disregard the parts you don't like or agree with. If this is the case, how do you internally justify treating some of its other more outlandish claims as credible, feeling that it's not a source of information which is all that reliable and apt to tell lies?

[rayefrenzy]

The short answer to your question (im kinda outta town and stuff, I know I havent answered shit as thouroughly as I would have liked) is my testimony and the fact I feel it is perfectly acceptable to be in a constant state of questioning, doubting, and figuring it out. I know that Jesus has done some outstanding, amazing, stuff in my life (And ill spare you the details, I dont wanna sound like I'm converting you) and the gospels say Jesus was always patient with those who doubted. I'm certain we're all gonna die and we're all gonna be a little (or majourly) wrong about this stuff, and I can't wait to know in full. But, as 1 Corinthians 13:12 says "For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known"