Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - Another "what if" Theology thread for religious and non religious alike

Tophat665 · 01-04-2004, 09:35 PM

Chavos, it's not that the OT is bad in and of itself, it's that:
1) According to at least one source ("Who Wrote the Bible", Friedman, Harper 1997, ISBN: 0060630353) the Pentateuch at the very least was written by committee, and that leaves a very confused, even contradictory story to begin with. What ever happened to the Raven in the Flood story? Remember a giraffe is a horse designed by committee.

2) The Fundamentalist pseudoChristian fanatics spouting medieval filth these days base many to all of their arguments in the OT, usually Leviticus and Deuterotomy.

And

3) I said OT god to just pick the root god of the big three - Judaeism, Christianity, and Islam.

Now, with that in mind, if the God that lead the Jews out of Egypt and plagued Job to win a bet and sent his son to death to cleanse original sin and changed his name when he talked to Mohammed, if that God were 1) Proved to exist and 2) Turned out to be randomly evil, where does that leave you?

I ask the question for three reasons. 1) The two threads out there for what if God did/did not exist seem to me to beg for a third question (and maybe a fourth, having to do with, say, what if the Jews or Mormons were the true church). 2) I'm digging back to High school for this one, so it's heavily decontextualized and paraphrased, but wasn't a Roman soldier once asked if he believed in the Christian (or maybe at that time Jewish) God, and he said, "Yes, and I hate him." 3) Finally, the Subgenii are a joke, but, in their joke they postulate the very thing I do for the purpose of this thread: God is all powerful and evil.

I realize there are lots of excellent scholarly answers to the problems of Earthly injustice and pain, and some of them I can even see the point of, but an equally valid answer would be that there is injustice and pain because God is Evil.

I do not believe that to be the case, but it is an interesting idea to kick around.

All that said, does the question make better sense now? If you don't feel like answering it, I actually do understand that, but please let me know if I have clarified it enough.

01-04-2004, 09:35 PM	#8 (permalink)
Tophat665 Minion of the scaléd ones Location: Northeast Jesusland	Chavos, it's not that the OT is bad in and of itself, it's that: 1) According to at least one source ("Who Wrote the Bible", Friedman, Harper 1997, ISBN: 0060630353) the Pentateuch at the very least was written by committee, and that leaves a very confused, even contradictory story to begin with. What ever happened to the Raven in the Flood story? Remember a giraffe is a horse designed by committee. 2) The Fundamentalist pseudoChristian fanatics spouting medieval filth these days base many to all of their arguments in the OT, usually Leviticus and Deuterotomy. And 3) I said OT god to just pick the root god of the big three - Judaeism, Christianity, and Islam. Now, with that in mind, if the God that lead the Jews out of Egypt and plagued Job to win a bet and sent his son to death to cleanse original sin and changed his name when he talked to Mohammed, if that God were 1) Proved to exist and 2) Turned out to be randomly evil, where does that leave you? I ask the question for three reasons. 1) The two threads out there for what if God did/did not exist seem to me to beg for a third question (and maybe a fourth, having to do with, say, what if the Jews or Mormons were the true church). 2) I'm digging back to High school for this one, so it's heavily decontextualized and paraphrased, but wasn't a Roman soldier once asked if he believed in the Christian (or maybe at that time Jewish) God, and he said, "Yes, and I hate him." 3) Finally, the Subgenii are a joke, but, in their joke they postulate the very thing I do for the purpose of this thread: God is all powerful and evil. I realize there are lots of excellent scholarly answers to the problems of Earthly injustice and pain, and some of them I can even see the point of, but an equally valid answer would be that there is injustice and pain because God is Evil. I do not believe that to be the case, but it is an interesting idea to kick around. All that said, does the question make better sense now? If you don't feel like answering it, I actually do understand that, but please let me know if I have clarified it enough. __________________ Light a man a fire, and he will be warm while it burns. Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.