Sunday, February 17, 2002
"Though shalt not kill, well, except in God's name"
I was going to get into a long history and list of wars and atrocities waged in god's name but to list the atrocities in the name of god or gods would entail more space than this page would allow wouldn't it. If you don't think that's true then I can't help you out here. All people of a particular faith generally believe that their god is good and benevolent. I'm completely at a loss as to how this obvious contradiction can be resolved within a belief system. There are many passages in the Bible that advocate war and immense cruelty. The biblical deity commanded men to invade other nations and kill all whom lived there, to engage in religious persecution, and to stone to death those who followed other gods. When we contemplate the magnitude of suffering that's gone on not only thru out history but in the world today, and an all-knowing all seeing god that must by defintion know of it, he would indeed in fact be intensely cruel no? I see no other conclusion.
I was going to get into a long history and list of wars and atrocities waged in god's name but to list the atrocities in the name of god or gods would entail more space than this page would allow wouldn't it. If you don't think that's true then I can't help you out here. All people of a particular faith generally believe that their god is good and benevolent. I'm completely at a loss as to how this obvious contradiction can be resolved within a belief system. There are many passages in the Bible that advocate war and immense cruelty. The biblical deity commanded men to invade other nations and kill all whom lived there, to engage in religious persecution, and to stone to death those who followed other gods. When we contemplate the magnitude of suffering that's gone on not only thru out history but in the world today, and an all-knowing all seeing god that must by defintion know of it, he would indeed in fact be intensely cruel no? I see no other conclusion.
