AgnosticBob AtheistPants Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 I saw this topic on another message board and decided to put my own two cents in. I did a poor job, so I sat down and wrote this up as my explanation for my answer. Anyone else want to put in their two cents? With enough cents, we might just have some cents to spare for those who have no sense…err…cents. Is God evil? If we're talking about the god of the Judeo-Christian Bible, then most of us know that this book contains instances when God is good and instances when God is evil. Let’s take for instance the supposed exodus of his people from Egypt. In the book of Numbers, chapter 11, the Israelites are starving in the desert and cry to Moses for meat to eat. God causes quail to come in from the sea (I had no idea quail were water fowl) and fall all about the camp, three feet deep, and a days walk in every direction(1) . That’s quite a lot of food for the 600,000…dare I say a little overkill? But God is good to his people. Now, the people, having been without meat for so long, were overjoyed and worked for two days gathering the quail. The one who gathered the least amount gathered about 1 and 1/3 TONS(1) of quail. For some reason, this angered God and when they finally sat down to eat, “while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed” (Numbers 11:33 NIV), he struck them with a plague and killed them. Is this the act of a good god? He provided food for them, and then killed them before they could swallow the first bite. Apologists, save your breath. It doesn’t matter if this was only a small number of people who had been complaining and God was teaching the others a lesson. It’s still the act of an evil mind. Say you were lost in the wilderness for weeks with your family. One of your children complained to you of being hungry for something besides the few saltine crackers you ration them each day. You go out hunting and find a whole warren of rabbits. You bring back enough for everyone, several times over. You cook it and lay it out for your children. You hand the first piece to the child that had complained. Then as the child put the food to her lips, you quickly grab her by the head and snap her neck. You look to your other children and say “Would anyone else like something besides saltines?” Are you a loving parent teaching your (remaining) children <edit> to be satisfied with what they have or are you an evil bastard who should be tied to a stake in the desert sun, his belly split open and intestines let to spill out before you so you can watch the buzzards feast on them while you die? Again, don’t bother me with your explanations, apologists. “That isn’t what happened”, you claim. “God provided food for his children and there were those among them that didn’t trust him to continue to provide, so they hoarded it. He killed those who did not trust him.” Again, let’s say you are lost in the wilderness for weeks with your children. Your children complain that they are hungry for something besides the few saltine crackers you ration them each day. You go out hunting and find a whole warren of rabbits. You bring back enough for everyone, several times over. You cook it and lay it out for your children. One of them immediately begins packing some away for later. You quickly grab her by the head and snap her neck. You look to your other children and say, “ Does anyone else not trust me to provide more food for you later?” Are you a loving parent trying to teach your children that you will always provide for them or are you an evil bastard that deserves to be impaled on a lance through your rectum all the way out your sadistic mouth? God supposedly loves all of his creation and would not have any perish, yet he kills his children for very few sane reasons, if any. The bible is full of stories like the above where God either kills his children or commands that they be killed for being greedy, for mocking a prophet, for not knowing who he is, for being proud of their appearance, for disobeying their earthly parents, for believing in other gods, for complaining, for engaging in adultery, for disobedience to him, and worst of all, for OTHERS’ disobedience to him! This is only a partial list…please don’t think his villainy is limited to these few things. There are many more ridiculous reasons the God of the bible kills his children. This is not the behavior of a good god. So is God evil? Is the father who kills his three year old son while teaching him to fight because he thought the boy may be homosexual(2) vile and contemptible? Is the stepmother who fills her own children's bellies while starving her husband's children from a previous marriage(3) unanimously labeled as wicked? Why then should God be any different? Just because he's God? The theist's answer to this is unequivocally "Yes." Mine is not. If indeed the God of the bible exists, he is most definitely evil. (1) http://bibleresources.bible.com/passagesea...amp;version1=72 (2) http://www.365gay.com/newscon05/07/071405childMurd.htm (3) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13988087/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotBlinded Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 It's a damn good thing that God never did any of that shit! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KT45 Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 If god makes satan seem like a reasonable guy then yes, god is evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thackerie Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Yes, of course the god portrayed in the wholly babble is a cruel, psychopathic tyrant. Even if he had not killed (or ordering the killing of) all those innocent people in the OT, the fact that he created hell for the eternal torture of people who had the (gasp) audacity to question him is sufficient to qualify him as evil. But, you'll never get a fundifart to admit that; all you'll get from them is some BS about how "gawd's ways are not our ways, blah, blah, blah ..." In one of her endless preachments on another thread, amy marie defends the nasty old bastard with this clever retort: "Could you do any better." Damn right, I could! And so could just about anyone here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OnceConvinced Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 Man, God really is a bastard isn't he? Great read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dra_Mucd_Uha Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 The Flying Spaghetti Monster is definitely not evil. Apparently you have not been touched by his Noodly Appendage. Tsk tsk. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nirrti Posted August 3, 2006 Share Posted August 3, 2006 The Flying Spaghetti Monster is definitely not evil. Apparently you have not been touched by his Noodly Appendage. Tsk tsk. And at least he would offer his own self as food if someone was starving instead of killing them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Minstrel Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 What...God can't count? It was He that sent the overabundance of quail. (what- were they just "stunned"?) What would the scene have resembled if those blessed Israelites had only gathered enough for each to have a good meal? A mile or half-mile of rotting, decaying sea quail...three feet high? Sheesh! Where was the manna going to fall? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightley Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Is God evil? yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BTDT Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Great post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trancelation Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Without a doubt it is. God is what we make of it. And when God is a reflection of evil people, then God is evil. We make God in our image; not the other way around. If God made people in its image, then people are evil. At least the ones that believe they were made in its image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paloriam Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Any god that would stand by and allow it's followers to be raped, murdered, bombed, etc and do nothing is an evil god. Of course I can't envision any god(s)/higher beings/etc that would truly care about us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 Even the Babble admits as much. This is the "other" 3:16 I like to toss around from the KJV, this being from the Book of Jonah instead of John... and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgnosticBob AtheistPants Posted August 4, 2006 Author Share Posted August 4, 2006 God is like Tony Soprano. He’s gracious and treats you well as long as you’re continually kissing his ass. Step out of line though and you’re gonna get whacked. Just a few verses earlier in Numbers 11, we see how God handles complainers in general. He lights their asses on fire! I could definitely see Tony doing this. “You wanna complain about sometin’? I’ll give you sometin’ to complain about, you mothuhfuckas!” “Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.” (Numbers 11:1 NIV) You’ll notice, the God of the Old Testament has got human limitations like Tony. “…the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD…” If God is omnipotent and omniscient, how could they have complained about their hardships where the “LORD” wouldn’t hear them? Also like Tony, God has a terrible temper. Shouldn’t an all powerful and good God be above petty anger? Being that he created us, shouldn’t he understand our shortcomings, our lack of faith, our greed, our fears instead of getting pissed off about them? Of course he should…unless he’s evil. The long and the short of this is that God is a human construct and therefore has human characteristics and limitations. We created God in our image, not the other way around. God has all the attributes of a human: the emotions, the physical limitations, the stature, the selfish nature. But if it turns out by some incredible chance God actually exists and is exactly as described in the bible, how can you not believe that he is most decidedly evil? Tony Soprano at least has an excuse. He’s an imperfect human who is affected by his environment. He grew up in a dog eat dog world and learned to do what he believes he has to do in order to survive. God has no excuse. He should be above the murderous tantrums the bible says he throws when things don’t go his way. Yes folks, the Christian God is nothing if not evil. And if he does truly exist, I won’t be surprised to see the image of Tony Soprano kicking my ass into hell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueGiant Posted August 4, 2006 Share Posted August 4, 2006 It would have to exist to be evil. So, no, but many of the followers are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dra_Mucd_Uha Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Even the Babble admits as much. This is the "other" 3:16 I like to toss around from the KJV, this being from the Book of Jonah instead of John... and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. I'm either looking in the wrong place, or there is no Jonah 3:16... lol, that is what you meant, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RankStranger Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I did a little search in SAB. Here's the verse that he was talkin' about: Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. I also found a similar one in Chronicles- I think it's more clear that Gawd is causing the evil: Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dra_Mucd_Uha Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I did a little search in SAB. Here's the verse that he was talkin' about: Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. I also found a similar one in Chronicles- I think it's more clear that Gawd is causing the evil: Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. Awesome, thanks. I wasn't sure if he had said it incorrectly or if I had interpreted him wrong. I'll have to remember those verses. They could be put to good use one day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zandore Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 Is God evil? If what is in the Bible is true....then yes God is very much so evil. The Flying Spaghetti Monster is definitely not evil. Apparently you have not been touched by his Noodly Appendage. Tsk tsk. The Invisible Pink Unicorn (Peace Be Unto Her) (May Her Holy Hooves Never Be Shod) Invisible Pink Unicorn Invisible Pink Unicorn Temple of the Invisible Pink Unicorn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beowulf Posted August 5, 2006 Share Posted August 5, 2006 I did a little search in SAB. Here's the verse that he was talkin' about: Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. I also found a similar one in Chronicles- I think it's more clear that Gawd is causing the evil: Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. Awesome, thanks. I wasn't sure if he had said it incorrectly or if I had interpreted him wrong. I'll have to remember those verses. They could be put to good use one day. Dang it! That's what happens when your memory starts to fail. I guess in the case of Babble verses, that could be a good thing. It is 3:10, not 3:16. Thanks for the catch and correction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snookums Posted August 9, 2006 Share Posted August 9, 2006 I did a little search in SAB. Here's the verse that he was talkin' about: Jonah 3:10 And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not. I also found a similar one in Chronicles- I think it's more clear that Gawd is causing the evil: Chronicles 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. tamuchly...I just slipped it into a post on anohter chatroom... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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