Let's see, this higher power, for some reason, out of the 100 million galaxies, to pick this one, and out of all of the plantets, to pick this one, and out of all of the species to pick humans, and out of all of the humans to choose the most backward of people to speak on His behalf.
And during his picking and choosing, he likes to make himself known. Parting the seas, turning rivers into blood, pillars of clouds and fire, shouting from the mountaintops to make the nations shudder, stopping the sun (?!) from moving so the Israelis can have a longer war day, and the list goes on. For the Christians he casts out demons, causes pigs to commit suicide (ok, they were possessed), and causes the dead to rise up from their graves and invade Jerusalem on passover night ("Why is tonight different from every other night...Holy Shit!"). And for Mohammed, he was nice enough to split the moon in half and put it back together to scare the enemies of Islam.
And after we evolve morally and intellectually, He says "Ok, I'm done with you guys" and decided to go to one of the other 100,000,000 galaxies. Maybe to the world of kitten people. This sudden "poof" should either tell us that God left, that God got really sullen and weird, or that, most likely, EVERY holy book is just literature, and is not reporting history as it really was, but just the imaginations of their authors.
If God would just go "Hey Guys, sorry, for the delay, but as it is written "And God Remembered", and I just did again!" then this whole debate would be moot. But the believer would say "God doesn't want to. he wants you to have free will", while ignoring that not so long ago (in Godly terms), he was Mister "Look At Me! Talk to Me! Tell me what you want and I'm there, dude!" In other words, the holy books, in order to tell a great story, has God in your face, but in the real world, guess what - crickets chirping. There isn't anyone home. Never was.
And during his picking and choosing, he likes to make himself known. Parting the seas, turning rivers into blood, pillars of clouds and fire, shouting from the mountaintops to make the nations shudder, stopping the sun (?!) from moving so the Israelis can have a longer war day, and the list goes on. For the Christians he casts out demons, causes pigs to commit suicide (ok, they were possessed), and causes the dead to rise up from their graves and invade Jerusalem on passover night ("Why is tonight different from every other night...Holy Shit!"). And for Mohammed, he was nice enough to split the moon in half and put it back together to scare the enemies of Islam.
And after we evolve morally and intellectually, He says "Ok, I'm done with you guys" and decided to go to one of the other 100,000,000 galaxies. Maybe to the world of kitten people. This sudden "poof" should either tell us that God left, that God got really sullen and weird, or that, most likely, EVERY holy book is just literature, and is not reporting history as it really was, but just the imaginations of their authors.
If God would just go "Hey Guys, sorry, for the delay, but as it is written "And God Remembered", and I just did again!" then this whole debate would be moot. But the believer would say "God doesn't want to. he wants you to have free will", while ignoring that not so long ago (in Godly terms), he was Mister "Look At Me! Talk to Me! Tell me what you want and I'm there, dude!" In other words, the holy books, in order to tell a great story, has God in your face, but in the real world, guess what - crickets chirping. There isn't anyone home. Never was.
“I've done everything the Bible says — even the stuff that contradicts the other stuff!"— Ned Flanders