Can bible really be interpreted as if there is no torment but you cease to exist

[Abracadabra]

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I didn't say evil, judgement, wrath weren't useful tools for good. Job is a great example. However whether God brings judgement or he allows evil to happen, is irrelevant, as it doesn't prove He is evil inheritly. I said "is" not "does". I define someone (or something) as evil if they do something morally wrong or bad.

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But are these verses describing a calm collected all-wise entity who is simply passing out judgements and consequences? No, not at all.

Face it, the actual text clearly state that this God has been provoked into an emotional state of anger and he's going to pour out his wrath upon people. And evidently this God has been driven into this state of frantic madness simply because he's jealous that people are burning incense for other Gods.

It may not exactly be a display of "evil" per say. But it most certainly is a display of a God who doesn't even have the maturity to control his own jealous rage.

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To quote your verse "Because they have forsaken me" is a reason that justifies punishment. To use a recent analogy on evil; as a father I love my son. My son understands that there are consequences for his actions. I hold him accountable for his actions. The fact he doesn't "like" his punishment or whether he thinks it unjust is irrelevant as the expectation was established prior to his offence.

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These kinds of analogies with mortal parents are extremely weak apologies for a lame God. All you're doing here is suggesting that I should accept that a supposedly "all-wise" and "all-mature" God should be as lame as mortal men.

I personally feel that, if you as a mere mortal man, become angry and take out your wrath on your son because he failed to live up to your expectations, not only are you a pathetic parent, but you should even be taken to court and judged as being an unfit parent.

These kinds of arguments, that just because mortal men are ignorant, stupid and lose their temper, that a supposedly All-Perfect God should be just as stupid, are nonsense.

Anytime anyone uses the "parent analogy" trying to proclaim that God is at least as justified as an undisciplined mortal parent, they lose me. Making excuses for a supposedly "all-wise" God by comparing his actions with those of mortal morons doesn't say much for the God.

I personally don't support physical beatings, or physical punishments of any kind, as being an intelligent way to try to solve a problem. And this is especially true if they are being delivered in a fit of anger and wrath.

In fact, I argue that because these biblical stories suggest that God actually behaves this way, these stories cause people to think that this is an intelligent solution, and that punishments make divine sense.

So that's just yet another reason why these utterly ignorant and stupid stories should be exposed to be the ignorant unethical myths they truly are.

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I agree. These Abrahamic religions are without a doubt the cause of political unrest and they are a threat to the safety and well-being of everyone, not just the religious zealots who use them to stir up that trouble. You make a very good point.

This is precisely why I won't hesitate point out how utterly absurd their foundational doctrines are.

Zealots being idiots is what causes people to have unrest. Without religion, people would just find something else to fight about.

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I'm quite sure that people would fight about other things. But at least in those cases they'd have to confess that it's their own ideas they are fighting about.

The problem with Christian zealots is they delude themselves that they are standing up for some supreme being. And they can become extremely arrogant about this having convinced themselves that they "must be right" because they are standing up for "God".

Not only does this cause them to become overly arrogant about their own righteousness, but it also allows them to suck in other people to support their arrogance in the name of their God.

It's easy to use Christianity to quickly gain support from other Christians in the name of Christ, even though the leader of the movement may have a totally hateful agenda.

Just look at what happened in the case of Witch Burnings. How many people do you think could be convinced to go along with that if they didn't already believe in Satan and an idea that "Witches sell their souls to Satan".

It would be a superstition that would truly be hard to get people to support in general if it wasn't connected with religion.

Even Adolf Hilter used Christianity to support his genocide against the Jews. Many Christians claim that Jesus cannot be used to support this. But that's simply not true.

Here's a very easy argument to support killing Jews.

1. The God of Abraham instructed us to kill heathens and blasphemers.
2. Jesus taught that not one jot nor one tittle shall pass from law.
3. Jesus also claimed that he did not come to change the laws.

So there you go. If the God of Abraham has instructed us to kill heathens and Jesus said that he did not come to change the laws, not one jot nor one tittle, well, you better get out there and start killing heathens then!

I'm not personally suggesting that you should do this. I'm just pointing out how these fables can support that kind of madness.

Jealous-God religions are what I feel should be out-lawed.

The Christians have Jesus hating everyone who refuses to convert to Christianity. So jealous-God religions are truly suck.

Spirituality in general isn't so bad.

It's religions based on jealous-gods that ultimately preach hate toward non-believers in the pretense of "LOVE" that is so disgusting.

What could possibly be more despicable than that?

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I'm not trying to point out that Jesus denied the trinity as evidence or anything like that, as I feel that this would be a pointless endeavor. "One magical being denies the existence of another magical being (or some claimed attribute of their own magical being) ergo it doesn't exist" isn't exactly my style, now is it?

The thing is that Jesus wouldn't be a 'magical being' in that case.

If Jesus denied the trinity then he wasn't claiming to be the son of God, or anything other than a mortal man.

I personally believe that was indeed his position.

I believe that Jesus as a Jewish Mahayana Buddhist Bodhisattva.

I truly do. A mere mortal man like the rest of us.

He wasn't born of a virgin, he didn't raise from the dead.

And he most certainly wasn't the sacrificial lamb of a fictitious God in fables that he didn't even agree with.

If Jesus denied the trinity he simply wouldn't be "The Christ".

And that's my position. Jesus was a mortal sage. Nothing more.

That's exactly what I believe.