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God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 4:34 pm
The Bible...
... is a book...
... Is quite possibly the most disgusting thing I have ever read.
The Bible is what literally “scared” me away from Christianity.
So, God is commanding us to love him and if we chose not to (like love has always been a choice) then he condemns us to hell. Now for me... It’s not that I chose not to love this character... it’s more a matter of I cannot see how I’d be able to. I mean, come on.. he’s basically saying “Love me or die”.
I don’t love my family and those closest to me because I’m afraid I’ll be sent to hell for an eternal life of torture. I don’t love them because they are commanding me to. I simply love them. I love them for who they are and what they mean to me.
This is a scare tactic. If you’ve read this book and you think God loves you then I have three words for you - read it again. Please. For the sake of your own humanity.
That’s my rant for now. I’m looking for other ways the Bible has been interpreted here. And please, if you feel you have a strong argument against this, make sure you share it.
Scott
"We need not a God; just another human being to give life a meaning. For people are truly all people have" author unknown
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 4:53 pm
Are there any passages you would like to be interpreted in particular? The Bible paints a very detailed and sometimes complicated picture of God's love, mercy, wrath and justice, which require a lot of contemplation. I don't claim that I have it figured out, but I am at least sure that the Bible does not teach what you say it does.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Well God is commanding you to love him. How do you interpret that? I mean.. You've gotta have a fairly unique view of God to accept and follow such a command.. right? The way I see it, is you've gotta have an entirely different idea of 'love' and how you define it if you are to say God loves you.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 5:20 pm
God loves you like the sun beaming down on you in a clear sky. God's asking for love back, and that love is what makes your life complete. We're not talking slavery, but release. You might have your own metaphor to achieve the same thing... you might favour working things out for yourself to accept life for what it is. They both aim for the same end.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 5:30 pm
I presume you're referring to the "greatest commandment" (You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength). The laws of the OT are given within the context of a covenant made between God and His people. In those days a covenant was like a contract made between two parties, where both promised to do certain things for one another. So God makes certain promises to His people (that He will protect them, make them multiply, etc.) and in return His people promise to live the way God wants them to live. To love God just means to live for Him: to do everything according to His purposes and not our own. The greatest commandment says that we should not do this just with our actions (our strength) but our emotions and thoughts as well. In loving God with our heart, mind and strength we live the way we were created to live: we are living out our true purpose, which is ironically more liberating than living the way we want to live. So God, in His love, urges us to live this way, for our benefit as well as for His joy.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 5:43 pm
(February 12, 2010 at 5:20 pm)fr0d0 Wrote: God loves you like the sun beaming down on you in a clear sky. God's asking for love back, and that love is what makes your life complete. We're not talking slavery, but release. You might have your own metaphor to achieve the same thing... you might favour working things out for yourself to accept life for what it is. They both aim for the same end.
I fucking love you fr0d0. XD
God gives all the love in the world, the love of life and only asks that you love Him in return. Whether you do or not is entirely up to you.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 6:00 pm
Are you trying to tell me the Bible doesn't say God is demanding we love him?
Whether I love him or not is entirely up to me? Well knowing this dude I'm meant to be loving is going to send me to hell if I don't.. I'd be utterly doomed because I cannot chose to love him and loving such an entity seems somewhat difficult and well.. catastrophic. If nothing stood in the way of this being the truth, I'd wish God never created me with the ability to think like this because I don't want to rot in hell with a talking snake..
Another point is.. Why did God give me the ability to think this way when he knew it would be the reason I can never love him?
Gee.. thanks God.. I think i'd rather put up with Lucifer.. You obviously don't love me.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 6:07 pm
(This post was last modified: February 12, 2010 at 6:11 pm by Watson.)
(February 12, 2010 at 6:00 pm)Scott Anonymous Wrote: Are you trying to tell me the Bible doesn't say God is demanding we love him?
Whether I love him or not is entirely up to me? Well knowing this dude I'm meant to be loving is going to send me to hell if I don't.. I'd be utterly doomed because I cannot chose to love him and loving such an entity seems somewhat difficult and well.. catastrophic. If nothing stood in the way of this being the truth, I'd wish God never created me with the ability to think like this because I don't want to rot in hell with a talking snake..
Another point is.. Why did God give me the ability to think this way when he knew it would be the reason I can never love him?
Gee.. thanks God.. I think i'd rather put up with Lucifer.. You obviously don't love me.
Lucifer ain't gonna love you either, friend, but that's a whole 'nother debate.
I'm not telling you that God is going to send you to hell for not loving Him. He's not. That's not what the Bible says, either, but you have to read The Bible from a position of love. There's a message there that is not meant to be read metaphorically or literally, it is something between the lines. When you see it, you'll understand. 
So no, the Bible does no tsay God demands we love Him, and neither does God himself.
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 6:26 pm
I'm really liking that response, Watson =) Very Christian 
I was going to say, which book are you calling the Bible... but i'll stray from that..
Well you clearly have a very different view of this book you label as the Gospel. But you must admit, if it's content is taken literally, then we have a very corrupt instrument here. But do you really believe God would use a book to get his message out? You've seen it for yourself.. Because of this book and all the other plagiarized versions (which we can dispute), the world is home to thousands of different religions. Do you really think God would be so foolish as to present a book, which has been translated God knows how many times, as HIS Gospel? I know I wouldn't.. and I consider that to be pretty straight forward logic. Using a piece of written language which can be interpreted in so many ways.. just seems ridiculous. Surely God isn't trying to make this difficult for us?
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RE: God says “Love me or die”
February 12, 2010 at 6:36 pm
(February 12, 2010 at 6:00 pm)Scott Anonymous Wrote: Are you trying to tell me the Bible doesn't say God is demanding we love him?
Whether I love him or not is entirely up to me? Well knowing this dude I'm meant to be loving is going to send me to hell if I don't.. I'd be utterly doomed because I cannot chose to love him and loving such an entity seems somewhat difficult and well.. catastrophic. If nothing stood in the way of this being the truth, I'd wish God never created me with the ability to think like this because I don't want to rot in hell with a talking snake..
Another point is.. Why did God give me the ability to think this way when he knew it would be the reason I can never love him?
Gee.. thanks God.. I think i'd rather put up with Lucifer.. You obviously don't love me. Of course, you have a choice. God doesn't coerce, bully or force people to love Him. That wouldn't be loving of Him, and real love has to be out of choice (or it is just being God's slave). But with all choices there is consequence: just like choosing not to love your family damages the relationship between them and you, not loving God breaks that relationship, and broken relationships cause both sides to suffer.
I don't believe in hell, but I do believe that some of our suffering (our lostness, our anger, our pain) is due to that broken relationship. But everyone suffers because we don't love God with all our heart, mind and strength the way we should, whether we believe in Him or not.
And God gave you a questioning mind so that you could love Him with all of your mind: questions can only lead to truth.
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