The Deeply Unsatisfying Theory of a Judeo-Christian God
This is a continuation of a previous post, in which I lay out my reasons for rejecting the a creationist god. Here I’d like to briefly address another problem I have with the concept of the Judeo-Christian God.
Scientific progress has sequestered modern Christians into a very narrow interpretation of god’s role in the universe — compared with the role he played in, let’s say, the first millennium. God is no longer the architect of the celestial spheres, he is a cosmic watchmaker, and he has stepped back to let his creation run its course. He rarely interferes.
However, the bible tells us of times when god did interact with man. What happened on these occasions? Well, in Genesis he is bested by a snake and two people successfully hide from him (3:5,3:9). Later on, he tells a man to build a boat, so he can flood the entire world, because he thinks that is the best way to destroy evil (Genesis 7:4). Some time after that, he gives us what are ostensibly the most important laws in the universe…carved on rocks (Exodus 20). Too bad the guy he gave them to lost his temper and broke them, so god made him carve them again (Exodus 32). Skip forward a bit, and he makes a wager with the devil about torturing a man (Job 1:9-12). Finally, the last time he really did anything of import, he nailed himself to cross, and cried out to himself “Why [have I] forsaken [myself]” (Matthew 27:46). And then he entreated himself to forgive us, because we know not what we do (Luke 23:34). Can you see where I am going with this?
These are supposedly the actions of the creator of the universe: the most powerful, intelligent entity we can conceive of. And these are the ways he chooses to interact with his creation. Why didn’t he just strike all the evildoers dead, instead of drowning the entire world? It was surely in his power. Why didn’t he carve his commandments in diamond, or titanium, or better still, burn them into the back of our hands? Why is his final redeeming act to mankind so morbid and nonsensical?
If these are the works of the Ultimate Creator, it’s tragic that they are not examples of divine perfection, supreme logic, mind-blowing power, and universal comprehensibility. Instead, his whole plan is foiled by two hungry naked fuckers, and in order to save them from the punishment he devised, he has to torture himself to death.
I’m sorry, I just can’t swallow that.
April 10th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
My take on the Bible boils down to three possibilities:
a) God is insane;
b) The authors of the Bible were insane;
c) The Bible is a sanity test to see if you can pick out the sane parts from the crazy parts.
Or all of the above.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I can’t swallow that god either…
I think that in Jesus our whole conception of what power and authority are turned upside down.
April 12th, 2009 at 12:28 pm
I don’t think the god your describing is the only other option… thank God for that.
Sounds like you’ve been reading the Bible with a lot of my conservative friends.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Yet, Wes…how do you justify your argument that the God you thank does exist? A warm and fuzzy feeling “in the heart”? Certainly not from reading the Bible? Just because you “feel” it must be so?
There is certainly more justification for a brutal “God Hates Us All” Jehovah in the Bible than there is for the doctrines of the declining liberal churches.
May 13th, 2009 at 4:28 pm
Not to forget that Jesus is ready to see the vast majority of us burn. We are unworthy of him, no? That seems like the traditional power relationship is fully in place to me.
June 17th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Why are you wasting your time talking about a nonexistent god? Life’s short and futile, with no promise of an afterlife. This post and this comment is an exercise in inefficiency.
I have learned not to hate that which doesn’t exist…just move on already.
June 17th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Well Rob, I get that question a lot. I’d say there are a few reasons why I keep writing, and why the lack of god is an important topic for discussion:
1) Given the history of the human race, and its manifest propensity to believe in the supernatural and/or god(s), the existence of god is an important question that all humans need to grapple with.
2) I’m not sure there isn’t a god…yet. I’m obviously pretty certain that there isn’t one. Almost positive, in fact. But in order to re-build my world model around a different framework, it’s gonna take a lot of hard work. To be fully confident about anything, you have to examine the issue very closely…
3) …and that’s kinda the point of this blog: to lay out my logic as this transformation happens. Writing it all down and thinking critically about it is part of the process of coming to terms with my atheism. I wanted to chronicle the process.
Some people may be able to dismiss the issue with a simple “there is no god,” but I’m not there yet. As little as I like to admit it, I’m still rehearsing the arguments.