Atheists come up with ideal god

[ignoramus]

[Iroscato]

[robvalue]

I wouldn't worship anything. I have sensible two-way relationships or none at all.

I would pretend to worship something if I was in danger and I thought I could pull it off as a ruse to get away at some point.

[sinnerdaniel94]

there are multiple verses saying not to kill. you're questioning why God commanded the Israelites to slay the Canaanites, and the answer is that God said the sins of the Canaanites reached such a level that they deserved to die. Just like how we execute murders in our society, God exercised His justice.

Yes, the Bible says not to kill, although what it actually means is 'Adult male Israelites should not kill other adult male Israelites, everyone else is fair game.' But I digress.

If God is powerful enough to create to create the entire Universe through an act of will, why did he need the Israelites to kill the Canaanites? God could have simply blinked them out of existence, thus removing the need for one band of nomadic semi-savages to slaughter another. On a related note, could you list the sins committed by the Canaanite and Amalekite infants that the Israelis butchered?

Maybe your society executes murderers. Mine doesn't. Apparently, we're on a higher moral ground than Jehovah.

Shall I tell you why God ordered the Israelites to slay the Canaanites? It's quite simple, really: The Canaanites had land that the Israelis wanted. The Israelites were going to get the land. The most direct way of accomplishing this was war (it typically is). The wholesale butchery had to be explained some how or other, so the Israelites came up with, 'God told us to do this. Yeah, that's it. The Canaanites were going all sinny, so we stopped the sin with genocide, which is clearly not a sin if God says it's ok.'

It never fails to astonish me how theists can't grasp the moral conundra like this that fill the Bible.

Boru

God cannot do evil. He is perfect in righteousness. It's not wrong for God to kill because when he chooses to, it is just. And in fact you deserve to die too, and so do I. You think the Canaanites had it bad? Read the book of revelation. People refuse to believe that God is angry at us. And he can pour out His wrath whenever and however He pleases. In the last days He pours out His wrath on the Earth and it includes disease, the sun burning people to death, the water turning into blood, giant hail stones. We sin and sin but God is patient and loving. He is slow to anger and He came to save us, but there will be a day when He will destroy all evil people. You're not as good as you think. You think you can tell God what's best? you're but a mere spec of dust. Stop thinking you're better than Him.

[Homeless Nutter]

God cannot do evil. [...]

Wait - what? I thought god could do anything. So he's not omnipotent anymore? What happened?

[Cyberman]

Why do you have to keep talking about a story when you talk about your god?

[Crossless2.0]

And yet, your loving gawd has been content to stand an the sidelines for nearly 2000 years doing fuck-all to help.

He sent His Son to die, so that we don't have to pay for our sins. that's doing something

Our word for today, kids, is "allegedly".

In another thread, you asked (whether tongue-in-cheek or not I couldn't tell) how evidence works. Here's a nice teachable moment. I'll type slowly so you can follow along.

You make a claim such as the one I quoted. It's up to you to provide evidence for your claim if you wish others to believe it. And the evidence can't simply be the book from which you heard the story in the first place. The Bible itself is the claim, not the evidence for the claim. So where is your evidence that the extraordinary things claimed in the Gospels actually happened?

Bonus points if you can justify believing the ridiculous stories in the Bible while dismissing out of hand the equally ridiculous stories told in other religions' holy books.

My ideal god? Probably something along the lines of what Einstein or Spinoza believed in. Certainly an "ideal" god (whatever that actually means, if anything) would be too majestic and magnificently other to display the human, all-too human pettiness of your god. Face it, your god is the invention of a barbarous and ignorant people. They get a pass from me because they lived during a barbarous and ignorant time, and their religious beliefs were in line with their locale and place in history. You don't have that excuse.

[robvalue]

Ways in which I am more powerful than God:

1) I can easily demonstrate I exist

2) I can lie

3) I can do "evil"

4) I can provide useful, practical information to people that they didn't already know

5) I can move objects about

6) I can walk

7) I can forgive without having to kill my offspring

[Crossless2.0]

Why do you have to keep talking about a story when you talk about your god?

Excellent question. Too bad it's too subtle to make an impression on him.

[Iroscato]

Yes, the Bible says not to kill, although what it actually means is 'Adult male Israelites should not kill other adult male Israelites, everyone else is fair game.' But I digress.

If God is powerful enough to create to create the entire Universe through an act of will, why did he need the Israelites to kill the Canaanites? God could have simply blinked them out of existence, thus removing the need for one band of nomadic semi-savages to slaughter another. On a related note, could you list the sins committed by the Canaanite and Amalekite infants that the Israelis butchered?

Maybe your society executes murderers. Mine doesn't. Apparently, we're on a higher moral ground than Jehovah.

Shall I tell you why God ordered the Israelites to slay the Canaanites? It's quite simple, really: The Canaanites had land that the Israelis wanted. The Israelites were going to get the land. The most direct way of accomplishing this was war (it typically is). The wholesale butchery had to be explained some how or other, so the Israelites came up with, 'God told us to do this. Yeah, that's it. The Canaanites were going all sinny, so we stopped the sin with genocide, which is clearly not a sin if God says it's ok.'

It never fails to astonish me how theists can't grasp the moral conundra like this that fill the Bible.

Boru

God cannot do evil. He is perfect in righteousness. It's not wrong for God to kill because when he chooses to, it is just. And in fact you deserve to die too, and so do I. You think the Canaanites had it bad? Read the book of revelation. People refuse to believe that God is angry at us. And he can pour out His wrath whenever and however He pleases. In the last days He pours out His wrath on the Earth and it includes disease, the sun burning people to death, the water turning into blood, giant hail stones. We sin and sin but God is patient and loving. He is slow to anger and He came to save us, but there will be a day when He will destroy all evil people. You're not as good as you think. You think you can tell God what's best? you're but a mere spec of dust. Stop thinking you're better than Him.

I exist. God doesn't. By dint of my existence, I kick the shit outta your imaginary friend.