The Reasons why "Just Following Jesus" Doesn't work

[Cyberman]

Eternity of anything without an escape clause is the definition of Hell.

[drfuzzy]

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He didn't need to "make a way"; he needed to forgive us for being literally unable to obey his rules. Instead, what he did was offer a vicarious sacrifice of blood-magic (of himself) in order to atone for the infractions against the rules he made (himself), and in order to "cash in" that atonement, one must submit to the will of this deity-- which just happens to consist of a lot of the weird prejudices and world-views common in the ancient Near East, among a particular people in Canaan.

How this isn't the most obvious priest-con-game on the planet baffles me. Listening to you Christers prattling on about the "love of God" and then listing all the things God expects of you (and me!) is a bit like watching the movie The Invention of Lying, where everyone just automatically believes everything Ricky Gervais says.

Paul uses the word "agape", which means "selfless love, one that demands no repayment" (according to the translators at BibleHub), and yet those of us outside your little (big) cult can clearly see that there are numerous strings attached... apparently, including sacrificing your ability to actually understand what humans have discovered since the invention of the Scientific Method in favor of the priest-writings of Bronze/Iron Age sheepherder-warrior-priests.

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Let me know if I am wrong about your world view, I am basing it off a discussion we had last year about the function of the world, but you don't think the world to have a way it ought to work. So your judgment on this "false god" you created doesn't matter, because there is no right or wrong. What matters is only that which people agree upon in your part of the world, at this current time and date. If tomorrow society believes differently then your world view may change with it. Right? Yet, if you want to use the Bible to form a proper view of God then let's look at all of it.

But if you try an use the Bible to support your view, or even use it to counter my beliefs, the you must use all of it; not simply picking and choosing bits and pieces (particularly as stand alones, outside the contexts of what came before it in its own pages)...
He creates everything for Himself (as He is the creator) and made them in a way where they would glorify Him, as creator, He is the only thing worth praising/worshiping/obeying. Then mankind rejects His provision and believes the lie that they could be their own god. They lived without shame or pain in harmony with the world and each other. Yet, they would rather believe a lie than live under the protection of God. This throws mankind into sin. This causes one son to murder the other out of envy. Then others begin to collect women as if they were trophies. People are so evil that God is done with them and decides to flood the earth. Yet, He shows mercy to 8 people because He made a promise to Adam and Eve that He would send someone to defeat evil. The flood doesn't show how evil God is but how depraved man is. No one is worth saving, out of all the people on the earth the only reason He saved the family of 8 is because of His mercy. This is known  because when that family got off the boat they sinned. So God tells man to disperse and fill the earth, but they don't they build a tower to their own glory. So, God makes them disperse by confusing their languages. After this He picks a man in order to make him into a nation so that He might bless the world through Him/them. He frees that nation out of slavery from an evil King who would rather call himself god then submit to God. The nation He saves hates Him and complains constantly although God saved them from slavery and provides their needs and even is among them. So after wandering for 40yrs, because they would rather have that then to trust God to give them the land He promised. He does bring their children into the land. So what do they do. They disobey and follow after other gods and do their own thing, which result in evil and depravity. So after they receive a good prophet they ask for a king again wanting man to rule them instead of God. They have one bad king after another because people are evil. Yet, God keeps his promises. Even in exile, which is one of his promises for them if they disobeyed, he brings them back and defeats their enemies. So do they act right? No. They become self righteous and religions thinking they can earn their way to God. They would be the very people who would crucify the one they claim to serve. Yet, through all of this God has been giving promises about sending a messiah who will cover their sins. As well as promising to remove their heart of stone and giving them a new heart. He does do this when he sends Jesus who is a perfect man because He is God. He didn't come to condemn but to save. Man deserves nothing but just punishment from God but He instead makes a way for us to want to obey Him and love Him. He makes it possible for us to know him as well as be like him in behavior and thought. That we may be free from evil and dwell in His glory forever living as we are supposed to. He shows His enemies love, mercy, and grace so that they might repent from their sins, and believe in His promises,anoints them with His Spirit, adopting them as His Children.But if you are going to refuse Him and lie to yourself about His nature you will receive the full weight of it. He is a just and Holy God and He doesn't waiver. I am going to be honest with you, I wouldn't wish this on anyone. I unfortunately do not have the ability to fully make this clear to you how unimaginable His wrath will be.

You can roll your eyes, you can call me crazy, you can say I belong to a cult but the truth isone day you must face Him and the question is: will you have to pay for your transgressions against Him by drinking the cup of judgment, or will you rest in His arms because He granted you true life through your faith and obedience?

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This is TRUTH: God will crush out your evil; with the depths of His love, or with the cup of His wrath 

Yeah, people have been making that threat for as long as the idea of a deity existed.  Funny how god never showed up to do the crushing.  It was always MEN doing the crushing and killing and raping and murdering and utter genocide of any group that doesn't believe what the priests were saying.  Then after writing was invented, the scribes joined the after-war parties, and made up stories about how their god fought for them.  They also made up stories about how god punished anyone who didn't obey.  It's all about control.  Keep the sheeple in line, make 'em give you money for lying to them.

[Rhondazvous]

Christianity is the privilege to know a God who would take on your rightful punishment in order to be like Him and with Him for all eternity no matter what the world says about you or God. None of what you said is taught in the Bible.

A religion that believes it's right to punish people for things over which they have no control is psycho. For that god to take on that unjust punishment is masochistic.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Christianity is the privilege to know a God who would take on your rightful punishment in order to be like Him and with Him for all eternity no matter what the world says about you or God. None of what you said is taught in the Bible.

A religion that believes it's right to punish people for things over which they have no control is psycho. For that god to take on that unjust punishment is masochistic.

That's why I emphasize the nature of the created people... because the Christians would retort that we are the ones who choose to disobey The Rules/Will of God. The psychopathic part is telling us we have a "debt" we did not voluntarily take on, which we must repay by accepting that psychopath's "free gift" of paying the debt to himself if I'll just cower/worship/obey.


That's also why I included the lines about "you chose to" in the narrative, before. It's a sick fairytale.

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ETA: It just dawned on me that it's a federal (and usually, also state) crime to do what God is claimed to do. He sends his prophets (who claim to work for him and his son-self) and faithful to tell us about the debt we owe just for choosing to come and open a shop in this neighborhood without their approval, and to tell us that Big Powerful Boss™ will hurt us beyond belief if we won't join their group. At least, it sounds very similar:

(a) Whoever in any way or degree obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion or attempts or conspires so to do, or commits or threatens physical violence to any person or property in furtherance of a plan or purpose to do anything in violation of this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.
(b) As used in this section—
(1) The term “robbery” means the unlawful taking or obtaining of personal property from the person or in the presence of another, against his will, by means of actual or threatened force, or violence, or fear of injury, immediate or future, to his person or property, or property in his custody or possession, or the person or property of a relative or member of his family or of anyone in his company at the time of the taking or obtaining.
(2) The term “extortion” means the obtaining of property from another, with his consent, induced by wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence, or fear, or under color of official right.


Looks like God's getting 20 years... no wonder he never shows himself!

[TheRocketSurgeon]

Oh by the way, the above is 19 United States Code § 1951, called the Hobbs Act, commonly referred to as the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act.  It's typically used to bring down mafia types and gangs, but I'd like you to consider for a moment:




Which of these two $10M mansions belongs to the Organized Crime Boss, and which to the pastor of a megachurch?

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The top is Joel Olsteen; the bottom is Pablo Escobar. Both $10 Million mansions.

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[Rekeisha]

You say God is the Canaan storm god. Do you have documentation from archeologist of the evolution of the God of the Bible coming from the Canaanite storm god? There is documentation that traces how Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons came from Christianity. You can trace how Christianity and Islam came from Judaism. So it should be traceable through documentation.

Another of your statements is that God made mankind imperfect and then will judge us. This is not supported by the biblical accounts. This makes me come to the conclusion that you have created a false god, either intentionally or unintentionally, in order to defend your desire to not believe. The truth is God created mankind to be without sin yet man chose to sin and still chooses to sin. He has given you everything you need to recognize Him as God and He will judge you not for what you don't know but what you do know and what you have done with that knowledge. Creating a false god to disprove the need for repentance, or simply for the sake of create an argument, will not save you. Your sin against the true and Holy God still stands. That is why today I invite you to repent and seek God's forgiveness for your sins.

Actually Num 5:1-11 does not say that and I discuss that here. Still let me repost it here since the font there is so small in my past post. 

Rekeisha

I believe you are talking about Number 5:11-31. Is your explanation from your own interpretation or from someone else's commentary on these verses. Either way that is not what is displayed in the scriptures. The husband is just suspicious of His wife being adulterous. So he takes her to the priest. As God would know if she has been faithful or not. So it is God who will make her barren (if she was unfaithful), not abort her child, or show that the husband is in the wrong (if she wasn't unfaithful) by her not getting sick. 
(let us talk about the bitter cup)

11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12  “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man’s wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him, 13 and sleeps with another, but it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn’t caught in the act; 14 and if a feeling of jealousy comes over the husband and he becomes jealous because of his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he becomes jealous of her though she has not defiled herself—15 then the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is also to bring an offering for her of two quarts of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembrance that brings sin to mind.16 “The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord . 17 Then the priest is to take holy water in a clay bowl, and take some of the dust from the tabernacle floor and put it in the water.18 After the priest has the woman stand before the Lord , he is to letdown her hair and place in her hands the grain offering for remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’— 21 at this point the priest must make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her—‘May the Lord make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when He makes your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.22 May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’“ And the woman must reply, ‘ Amen , Amen.’23 “Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He will require the woman to drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25 The priest is to take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, wave the offering before the Lord , and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Then he will require the woman to drink the water.27 “When he makes her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, and her thigh will shrivel. She will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.29  “This is the law regarding jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority, 30  or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the Lord , and the priest will apply this entire ritual to her. 31 The husband will be free of guilt, but that woman will bear the consequences of her guilt.”

There are a great deal of things that are not explicitly spoken of in the Bible because the bible is mainly about how sinful mankind is and God's plan to redeem us. You are correct, some people are not consistent with the christian faith. Either they are in error and the Holy Spirit will make them aware of their inconsistency or they are not christian and only lying to themselves and others about their faith. Now as for picking and choosing I do use discernment to determine what should be followed, as it pertains to the bible, and my reasons are biblically based. If the world came together with no purpose whatsoever, then there is no right or wrong. You just pick and choose based on the society you live in now. Your reasons to condemn your idea of god is not based on anything that is absolute, it is as arbitrary as your reasons for morals.

Except you have to obey. God wants to love you. He wants to give you everything. He doesn't want to have to hurt you, but he will if you don't submit to his will.

Obeying God is like obeying a good father. I have a good father and he was not out to harm me but to protect and love me. Not all authority is bad and when you are under good authority it is actually protective. Ps 136:1 says Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. The only ones God wrath will be against are all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 

If any being, god or alien or human, were to exhibit the traits described in the Bible (both the loving and the vicious), and was to actually come here and try to bribe me with the carrot-and-stick of paradise or vengeance (heaven and hell) in that way, I would defy it. I would wage war upon it, were it within my power to do so.  And if you had not been brainwashed by your overgrown cult, you would defy it, too.

I would say you are waging a war. It is plain to me even though it may not be to you, that you have enmity with God. You create falsehoods in order to justify your position. This will not cause you to win in your battle against God. He fully understands that you are His enemy and with that knowledge He still suffered and died for you, because He loves you. He wishes to correct your corrupted thinking.

You said that you understood the verses in the bible, but if you do you are under far more condemnation than if you didn't.  If you do understand you are in blatant and willful disobedience against a good and Holy God, who has the right (as your creator) and power to put you in hell.  

When you fight against God you are not on the side of righteousness neither are you on the winning side.

[Rekeisha]

Christianity is the privilege to know a God who would take on your rightful punishment in order to be like Him and with Him for all eternity no matter what the world says about you or God. None of what you said is taught in the Bible.

You didn't actually read it, did you? 7-9 are definitely in the bible.

you are right 7 is in the bible everything else is a twisting of the truth or a blatant lie.

[Rekeisha]

I jumped from organization to order because their meanings are very similar. "To systemize or coordinate together" (these are my words)

My reasons behind a need for the exists of God is because of the need for a reason why materials behave as they do. What gives matter its properties? Why is there gravity? Materials just existing and moving in an orderly fashion does not solve the reason why things behave as they do. Materials don't have wills they just have properties. 
Now a god does have a will and can give a reason for why materials move in the way they should because a god gave them the properties and created the order in which they function.
God, the one and only "god", the one i have been talking about, is an orderly and purposeful "god", therefore: an Orderly and Purposeful creation...

If reality has a way it consistently works then I would say it has a way it should work. If it doesn't have a way it should work then when things don't work what do you call that? 

If your would view poses that reality must be consistent then subjective morals are an anomaly, because they are not consistent. You claim in your world view that morals are subjective, meaning that they change based on a societies will and the time where upon that society exists. So there isn't an consistent way one should love or administer justice, from one society to another, and throughout time. That is not consistent and it lacks integrity.

I feel as though you are taking order for granted. Why is there order? Why is there gravity? Do you believe there was nothing and then something and if so why? Where did matter come from and why does it behave in the way it does? You say order is a natural outcome of the world, why? Why do things this just fall into order? Where is your empirical data for all of this?

Threaten us all you like; we're not scared of your imaginary friend.

I am glad you are not afraid of my imaginary friend because I don't have one. 

Lies and mockery won't change the fact that God does exist and has given you empirical data all around you to reveal the truth of His existence. He even went so far as to give you a bible (you will be held accountable for the 20 years you had His word before you).  Your behavior of resisting God and thereby suppressing the truth of His existence will not save you. That is why He sends people to tell you the truth, to tell you that He has made a way to pay for your sins. This is mercy but if you refuse to repent, He will keep His word, and you have read about it. There is no need for threats, I know God and He wants you to escape His wrath.   

[Cyberman]

Pass this on to your god from me, would you?

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Thanks.

[TheRocketSurgeon]

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You say God is the Canaan storm god. Do you have documentation from archeologist of the evolution of the God of the Bible coming from the Canaanite storm god? There is documentation that traces how Jehovah's witnesses and Mormons came from Christianity. You can trace how Christianity and Islam came from Judaism. So it should be traceable through documentation.

Another of your statements is that God made mankind imperfect and then will judge us. This is not supported by the biblical accounts. This makes me come to the conclusion that you have created a false god, either intentionally or unintentionally, in order to defend your desire to not believe. The truth is God created mankind to be without sin yet man chose to sin and still chooses to sin. He has given you everything you need to recognize Him as God and He will judge you not for what you don't know but what you do know and what you have done with that knowledge. Creating a false god to disprove the need for repentance, or simply for the sake of create an argument, will not save you. Your sin against the true and Holy God still stands. That is why today I invite you to repent and seek God's forgiveness for your sins.

Actually Num 5:1-11 does not say that and I discuss that here. Still let me repost it here since the font there is so small in my past post. 

Rekeisha

I believe you are talking about Number 5:11-31. Is your explanation from your own interpretation or from someone else's commentary on these verses. Either way that is not what is displayed in the scriptures. The husband is just suspicious of His wife being adulterous. So he takes her to the priest. As God would know if she has been faithful or not. So it is God who will make her barren (if she was unfaithful), not abort her child, or show that the husband is in the wrong (if she wasn't unfaithful) by her not getting sick. 
(let us talk about the bitter cup)

11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12  “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: If any man’s wife goes astray, is unfaithful to him, 13 and sleeps with another, but it is concealed from her husband, and she is undetected, even though she has defiled herself, since there is no witness against her, and she wasn’t caught in the act; 14 and if a feeling of jealousy comes over the husband and he becomes jealous because of his wife who has defiled herself—or if a feeling of jealousy comes over him and he becomes jealous of her though she has not defiled herself—15 then the man is to bring his wife to the priest. He is also to bring an offering for her of two quarts of barley flour. He is not to pour oil over it or put frankincense on it because it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering for remembrance that brings sin to mind.16 “The priest is to bring her forward and have her stand before the Lord . 17 Then the priest is to take holy water in a clay bowl, and take some of the dust from the tabernacle floor and put it in the water.18 After the priest has the woman stand before the Lord , he is to letdown her hair and place in her hands the grain offering for remembrance, which is the grain offering of jealousy. The priest is to hold the bitter water that brings a curse. 19 The priest will require the woman to take an oath and will say to her, ‘If no man has slept with you, if you have not gone astray and become defiled while under your husband’s authority, be unaffected by this bitter water that brings a curse. 20 But if you have gone astray while under your husband’s authority, if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has slept with you’— 21 at this point the priest must make the woman take the oath with the sworn curse, and he is to say to her—‘May the Lord make you into an object of your people’s cursing and swearing when He makes your thigh shrivel and your belly swell.22 May this water that brings a curse enter your stomach, causing your belly to swell and your thigh to shrivel.’“ And the woman must reply, ‘ Amen , Amen.’23 “Then the priest is to write these curses on a scroll and wash them off into the bitter water. 24 He will require the woman to drink the bitter water that brings a curse, and it will enter her and cause bitter suffering. 25 The priest is to take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, wave the offering before the Lord , and bring it to the altar. 26 The priest is to take a handful of the grain offering as a memorial portion and burn it on the altar. Then he will require the woman to drink the water.27 “When he makes her drink the water, if she has defiled herself and been unfaithful to her husband, the water that brings a curse will enter her and cause bitter suffering; her belly will swell, and her thigh will shrivel. She will become a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is pure, she will be unaffected and will be able to conceive children.29  “This is the law regarding jealousy when a wife goes astray and defiles herself while under her husband’s authority, 30  or when a feeling of jealousy comes over a husband and he becomes jealous of his wife. He is to have the woman stand before the Lord , and the priest will apply this entire ritual to her. 31 The husband will be free of guilt, but that woman will bear the consequences of her guilt.”

There are a great deal of things that are not explicitly spoken of in the Bible because the bible is mainly about how sinful mankind is and God's plan to redeem us. You are correct, some people are not consistent with the christian faith. Either they are in error and the Holy Spirit will make them aware of their inconsistency or they are not christian and only lying to themselves and others about their faith. Now as for picking and choosing I do use discernment to determine what should be followed, as it pertains to the bible, and my reasons are biblically based. If the world came together with no purpose whatsoever, then there is no right or wrong. You just pick and choose based on the society you live in now. Your reasons to condemn your idea of god is not based on anything that is absolute, it is as arbitrary as your reasons for morals.

Except you have to obey. God wants to love you. He wants to give you everything. He doesn't want to have to hurt you, but he will if you don't submit to his will.

Obeying God is like obeying a good father. I have a good father and he was not out to harm me but to protect and love me. Not all authority is bad and when you are under good authority it is actually protective. Ps 136:1 says Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever. The only ones God wrath will be against are all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 

If any being, god or alien or human, were to exhibit the traits described in the Bible (both the loving and the vicious), and was to actually come here and try to bribe me with the carrot-and-stick of paradise or vengeance (heaven and hell) in that way, I would defy it. I would wage war upon it, were it within my power to do so.  And if you had not been brainwashed by your overgrown cult, you would defy it, too.

I would say you are waging a war. It is plain to me even though it may not be to you, that you have enmity with God. You create falsehoods in order to justify your position. This will not cause you to win in your battle against God. He fully understands that you are His enemy and with that knowledge He still suffered and died for you, because He loves you. He wishes to correct your corrupted thinking.

You said that you understood the verses in the bible, but if you do you are under far more condemnation than if you didn't.  If you do understand you are in blatant and willful disobedience against a good and Holy God, who has the right (as your creator) and power to put you in hell.  

When you fight against God you are not on the side of righteousness neither are you on the winning side.

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You dare to tell us we're angry at god? That is, yet again, after we have told you about fifty times that I have seen that we do not believe there is such a thing as a god, any god, and therefore we cannot be angry or have any other emotion toward this non-existent being. However, this Lord Voldemort El/Yahweh/Jehovah of yours is worthy of discussion as a fictional character whom certain over-obsessed fans of his literature have decided amongst themselves is actually a real person. God. Thing. Whatever. It's not real, but your stories of worshiping Darth Vader Jesus Christ and his violent father/self are disturbing and revolting to us, and so we react with revulsion. I swear, talking to people of your ilk feels like trying to explain to a full-time Brony at a Cosplay convention that he's wrong, and My Little Pony is just a story, while he says horrible things about me in return. You simply cannot separate yourself from the fact that it is a story you believe, because you have wrapped your whole identity around it for so long. We're not mad at your deity any more than we're mad at Zeus or Odin or Allah... what we're mad at are people who tell us that [Allah] has vengeance in store for us for not being [Muslim]. (Insert your own deity and religion of choice in the brackets; I simply chose Allah because it's the second-biggest cult, after yours.) You are doomed, too, of course, according to the believers in Islam, for being Christian. Better fear the wrath of Allah!! (Seriously, have you read the Qur'an? The hellfire threats in there are much better than your book's.)

I'm also exhausted from every single one (or so it feels) of the thousands of denominations of Christian, each with its own unique interpretation of scriptures, telling me that I don't understand their religion simply because I will not describe Yahweh's actions in the glowing terms you reserve for him. A "good father" does not kill his children, nor torture them, for disobedience. He shows up in person instead of just dropping by every so often and leaving a book for the kids to read and enact among themselves, per their own interpretations of his often-vague orders and guidance-lessons contained therein.

I understand the Genesis stories quite well. According to your version, man was created flawless (as was the rest of the world, free of sin and thus death), and only after disobeying orders and eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (aka "the original sin", which many Christians consider the need/basis for redemption via Christ's crucifixion) did we become mortal, sinful beings, separated from god. The problem is that, if taken literally, this becomes a ridiculous thing: the Creator of the story must have known that his creations would be curious enough to eat of this tree of knowledge of good and evil, so placing it in the midst of the garden and telling them "no no no!" was tantamount to pushing the food into their lips. A parent who put an explosive device in the middle of the living room, told the kids not to touch it, and then when it blows them up says, "Well, you should have listened to me instead of disobeying my orders", would be thrown in prison. Under the prison! But with your rose-colored glasses on, you cannot see what is plain to everyone outside your cult religious society circles... so you tell us that it is we who simply "do not understand", rather than seeing that we once saw it as you do, and came to understand more.

As for the information about the origins of Judaism, and thus Christianity (and Islam), there are numerous books on that subject. I strongly doubt you actually would read-- or if you did read, would automatically reject anything that clashes with your cherished beliefs-- anything I'd suggest, but I'm suggesting you do go read a few books on the subject that are not written by people who are of your particular type of Christianity. You can read about the polytheistic origins of Judaism in any number of books on the history of religion. Indeed, some Christians I've known fully acknowledge the polytheistic origins and admit to the evidence, believing that God revealed monotheism to Abraham after people forgot there was only one god and everyone worshiped pantheons. (Half the OT is about them trying to slide back into their polytheistic ways!) But it's clear that the rise of El to chief-among-the-gods and YHWH incorporated into the northern Canaanite religious traditions, as the Hebrews coalesced out of the Semitic peoples of the area, led to the eventual abandonment of the "our patron god is the greatest of the gods" approach, and to the attack on those still practicing the old ways, such as the worship of Asherah, the consort (wife/girlfriend/goddess-companion) of Yahweh. And so on. The traces are, like fingerprints at a crime scene, still found in the parts of your scriptures that weren't fully edited out by the later redactors. You'll explain them all away, of course, with some ridiculous apologetics done by one of the fundy-factories scattered across the US deep south (and for some reason, Colorado Springs), like your idea that "belly to swell and her thigh to rot" is an idiom about sterility rather than about a miscarriage induced by that priest (blood on the thigh... get it?), if she's pregnant by another man while the husband is away. It would also have the effect of rendering her sterile, after that miscarriage, as the later verses manage to point out. You have so much about the history of religion that you won't be taught by your church, but which you really should learn, if you're to come here and presume to tell us anything, let alone how we feel toward your imaginary friend you say will smite us.

I have twenty years of experience that tells me you won't honestly research anything I point you to, and your demand for the production of evidence will mean work on my part for no result, so I'm just going to tell you what I've learned from hundreds, likely thousands, of books and hope you put that first book down and pick a second book up, one day.