The monster under my bed is your god *

In the story of Abraham and Isaac in the old testament: Assume there is a god, who communicates with you clearly, and assume that he has given you this command. What is your moral DUTY to this being? Did Abraham pass or fail God’s test?

He failed. The ONLY moral answer in the story of Abraham and Isaac is that he failed. Miserably. If Abraham knows this god figure, and he speaks to him constantly and knows his will, and if, as people claim, god is abundantly against human sacrifice (most of the time, except in the case of himself, where he sacrifices himself to himself in order to excuse humankind from their just punnishment, or in the case of Jeptha and his daughter), if I were Abraham, my answer to this being that commanded me to kill my son would be “my god is a loving god, he would never command me to murder my child in sacrifice to him. I don’t know who you think you are, but my god would never do this, so go away – and by the way, where IS my god and why isn’t he protecting me from an evil monsterous tyrant like you in the first place”. God was not testing Abraham to find out what he would do – if god knows everything, he already knew what he would do. He was testing Abraham so ABRAHAM would find out what he would do – and he failed the test.

We’re back to Euthryphro – is something commanded by god because it is moral, or is it moral because it was commanded by god. If you want to Argue that Abraham did the right thing, by attempting to murder his child on the command of god, and that god stopped him just in the nick of time and that proves god’s morality, then you’re coming down on the side that anything is moral if god commands it. Genocide. Slavery. Rape. Sacrifice. Blood. What kind of moral authority would command a loyal follower to commit human sacrifice on his child in the first place? In current times, we think people are crazy when they do this. We hear on the news many cases of people killing their children because “god” told them to. They heard god’s voice, and therefore murdered their offspring. We see these people as crazy. Not heroes. But we exalt this biblical character as a good and righteous man? Seriously?

The bible is full of immorality, full of hatred and injustice and abhorent acts and commands. Christian apologists claim that in the old testament, these acts somehow don’t count, because Christ gave us a new covenant. But Christ himself stated that he came, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law, through himself. And who gets to decide what is still valid, and what is not? There are many, many laws in the old testament that are not followed today. Like wearing two different types of clothing together (no cotton-poly blends allowed). Or eating shellfish. Or how you are supposed to have sex, and in what position. HOliness laws. Bathing laws. Murder laws. Slavery laws. You ask a christian today, and they don’t follow them – that’s absurd. But when you ask a christian why they are against homosexuality or equal rights, they run to Leviticus and point to two verses there, amid a million others that they ignore. Or point out the story of Sodom and Gommorah – which have NOTHING to do with homosexuality at all. They claim those to be valid, because they agree with something that they don’t like. Everything else is out, though.

Who gets to make these determinations? Who has the authority?

IF the bible is the infallable, perfect word of god, and it gives us an absolute guide to life and it is all we have to point us to what this god wants – why is it so unclear? Why is it up to each individual or denomination to interprit? There are over 30,000 denominations of people who call themselves “Christians” and none of them agree on matters of doctrine. And most of them are quick to point out that THEY are the ones that are right – and all others are mislead and lost. You would think that if this were god’s one chance to communicate with his creation, he might have been a bit more clear – or issued a version 2.0 – or something. If christians can’t even agree, how are they supposed to spread their faith to non believers who know how to think for themselves and can use logic and reason correctly in order to point out that some of these things don’t make any SENSE. We would not make excuses for any other book, any other history, any other story that we make for this book.

And if you want to say we have to just take it on faith that the bible is true and all the biblical accounts are accurate – why not have to say the same thing for the Koran? Or the book of Mormon? Or a multitude of any other religious holy books out there? What makes yours so special that it is absolutely above reproach, while all others are clearly in error? Because the book itself says so? I’m pretty sure the others say similiar things. Using the thing you’re trying to validate as validation does not work. It’s really old. So what? We have a lot of things that are really old. That doesn’t make them all true. We have the Odyssey and the Illiad. They’re older than the bible. But we know that they are fictional stories and myth – not an account of a god. Why are we willing to apply logic and reason to EVERYTHING but our own particular beliefs?

Do we care if what we believe is true?

I do.

And that’s why I can’t believe it anymore.

What if I’m wrong, and god does exist?

Then I’m wrong. If I were to find out that the god of the bible exists, I would definitely believe. Whether or not I would worship it would be another question entirely. The existance of god does not mean that god is good. Any god that expects or demands worship is not necessarily a good god. Any god that would give us brains to question and discover answers to ANYTHING in the world, except his own existence, which we are just supposed to take on faith is mind blowing.

the character of god is somewhat like a mob boss to me. I’ve heard this analagy before, but find it to be absolutely brilliant. If you do what I tell you to, and worship me and pay me homage appropriately, I’ll protect you, and you’re good. As soon as you don’t, I’m going to come and get you and break your fingers/legs/appendiges. If hell is a real place and I am sent there for an eternity of suffering because I refused to give up thinking, reason and rationality, I will go there knowing and believing that I’m more moral than the being who sent me there.