# a god who is not a bastard **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 4, 2009, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374 "2009-02-04T04:37:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Anne\_Neville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Anne\_Neville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anne_Neville)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/21 "2009-02-04T15:26:06Z")
> [@Oregon\_sunshine](#): > > The eternal god and goddess who keep the seasons cycling, don’t have time for much mayhem. Sez you. It hasn’t been snowing almost every day for a month where you are, has it? Or ask the Australians who just had that heat wave if the cycle of the seasons can’t cause mayhem. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/22 "2009-02-04T15:27:17Z")
> [@BrightNShiny](#): > > With regards to Hindu mythology: > > Off the top of my head, I can’t think of a story where one of the major three (Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma) were intentionally harmful to innocent humans. But there’s so many stories and variations on stories, that I might have missed a few. There are some examples of violence in Hindu mythology, often at the behest of the gods. Shiva chopped off his son Ganesh’s head because Ganesh wouldn’t let him into the room where his mother (Shiva’s wife) was bathing… then replaced it with an elephant’s head because his wife made him save the boy. Indra (the king of the devas, or lesser gods) was supposed to have slain the child Hanuman (the monkey god\*) because he flew up to the sun and tried to eat it, thinking it was a giant mango. He also ended up having to resurrect his victim because Vayu (the god of the wind, and Hanuman’s sort of surrogate father) got angry and stole all the earth’s air. FWIW, the latter story is an example of lack of regard for humans, since the main reason that Vayu’s departure from the earth was a problem is that all the humans were suffocating. Weapons of war also figure prominently in Hindu mythology; the _Brahmastra_ is a spear that can pierce any defense, and the _Sudarshana Chakra_ is a sharp-edged disc that guards righteous types (and sometimes slaughters the bad guys). ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/23 "2009-02-04T15:54:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Weapons of war also figure prominently in Hindu mythology; the _Brahmastra_ is a spear that can pierce any defense, and the _Sudarshana Chakra_ is a sharp-edged disc that guards righteous types (and sometimes slaughters the bad guys). Yeah, my mom…and I am a little embarrassed to admit this, since she’s a fully trained RN, just kind of…credulous at times…believs that’s proof positive that ancient India had nuclear weapons back then. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/24 "2009-02-04T15:56:27Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Yeah, my mom…and I am a little embarrassed to admit this, since she’s a fully trained RN, just kind of…credulous at times…believs that’s proof positive that ancient India had nuclear weapons back then. Heh. Tell her that the head of the Indian nuclear weapons program is a Muslim and watch her head explode. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/25 "2009-02-04T16:05:14Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Heh. > > Tell her that the head of the Indian nuclear weapons program is a Muslim and watch her head explode. Oh, come on. I don’t like her much but I’m not wishing death upon her. 🙂 Or rather, knowing my mother, Holy Hellfire will rain down on _me_ for having the temerity to suggest such a thing! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/26 "2009-02-04T16:15:56Z")
I can’t think of anything the Eight Taoist Immortals have done that are particulalry dickish. [Lu Dongbin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%BC_Dongbin), the Drunken Immortal, is pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/27 "2009-02-04T16:25:22Z")
> [@](#): > > a god who is not a bastard > [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](#): > > I think Jesus was pretty ok too. Well, technically, weren’t his bio-dad and his mom unmarried? People who think they’re God or who play God are generally bastards. Does that mean God’s a bastard for thinking He’s God? ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/28 "2009-02-04T16:35:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > People who think they’re God or who play God are generally bastards. Does that mean God’s a bastard for thinking He’s God? Ah, probably not. Like Dizzy Dean said, “It ain’t braggin’ if you can do it.” ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/29 "2009-02-04T16:41:35Z")
Partying with Dionysus in Vegas would get out of control, I bet THAT would be a weekend never talked about again. ---
**Author:** ![Reno\_Nevada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Reno\_Nevada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reno_Nevada)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/30 "2009-02-04T16:53:15Z")
> [@ArrMatey](#): > > Many of the ‘dead’ religions we see today (Greek, Norse, and various asian ‘mythology’) are the victim of victors. One of the first things that happens when a religion is overthrown is that their stories are either edited or downright re-written to make the deities and heroes within much less ‘deific’ and much more ‘bastardly’. When we read about the attrocities of, say, Zeus or Odin, we’re definately getting a filtered view through the lens of whomever did the later translations. I think that these religions are more the victim of changing tastes or attitudes toward proper deific behavior than any deliberate re-writing. In other words, I don’t think anyone altered Homer or Hesiod to make the gods look worse–different times call for different gods. There were edited mythos, of course–Hera, for instance, was (probably/maybe) a sovereign goddess of the pre-Greek peoples; when the Greeks conquered, she became the subservient wife of their chief god. Or not, of course; it is very hard to guess at what people believed that long ago. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/31 "2009-02-04T16:53:21Z")
**Sitnam** , I could tell you stories… ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/32 "2009-02-04T17:08:19Z")
Eris. She’s a bitch, not a bastard. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/33 "2009-02-04T17:17:09Z")
> [@Illuminatiprimus](#): > > You didn’t have to be a bad person to get the gods to fuck with you, just caught up in their activities (Arjunna in the Bhagavad Gita springs to mind - “no, don’t get all pacifist, kill those Kuru fuckers!” quoth Krishna). But you have to bear in mind that the Mahabharata, the epic from which you have quoted, is just that, an epic. It is a story of rivalry between groups of people and Krishna in it plays no greater role than just a warrior with no performance or display of miracles. It is not a ‘religious’ book in the same sense as the Bible or the Koran. The war was like any other war, where innocence of indivduals does not play a role in determining who should or should not be killed. When Krishna exhorts Arjuna to ‘kill’, the purpose is not to lay waste humanity in order that it recognizes who is the boss, but to act out of a sense of duty without attachments, emotional or otherwise. Most of Hindu mythology appears to be very similar to Greek, with most of the fighting between Gods themselves and not much with humans per se. ---
**Author:** ![wisernow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@wisernow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wisernow)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/34 "2009-02-04T17:47:47Z")
> [@ntucker](#): > > Not to get too hung up on facts in the pit, but do you have a reliable cite for this, or is this just some garbage you’ve heard and believed without verifying it? Koran Surah 2 : 191 Slay them wherever you find them, and drive them out from wherever they drove you out, for feud and persecution is worse than bloodshed. But attack them not in the vicinity of the Hallowed Mosque unless they attack you first; however, if they attack you there, then slay them! This is the only appropriate requital for those who disbelieve! Koran Surah 4 : 56 Those who vituperate Our revelations, We shall cast them in the Fire! And as and when their skins singe, We shall replace them with fresh layers of skin so that they keep tasting the fiery torment uninterrupted. Verily Allah is Meritorious and Sagacious Koran Surah 9:5 Then, when the auspicious months have passed away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them and take them captive and ravage them and lie in ambush for them. But if they repent and establish worship and give to the deserving their due, then get out of their way. Verily Allah is Magnanimous and Merciful! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/35 "2009-02-04T17:54:23Z")
> [@wisernow](#): > > Koran Surah 2 : 191 > Slay them wherever you find them, and drive them out from wherever they drove you out, for feud and persecution is worse than bloodshed. But attack them not in the vicinity of the Hallowed Mosque unless they attack you first; however, if they attack you there, then slay them! This is the only appropriate requital for those who disbelieve! > > Koran Surah 4 : 56 > Those who vituperate Our revelations, We shall cast them in the Fire! And as and when their skins singe, We shall replace them with fresh layers of skin so that they keep tasting the fiery torment uninterrupted. Verily Allah is Meritorious and Sagacious > > Koran Surah 9:5 > Then, when the auspicious months have passed away, slay the idolaters wherever you find them and take them captive and ravage them and lie in ambush for them. But if they repent and establish worship and give to the deserving their due, then get out of their way. Verily Allah is Magnanimous and Merciful! All of those are specifically against polytheists, not “unbelievers.” Mohammed was railing against Arabs who “joined gods to God.” ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/36 "2009-02-04T18:02:12Z")
[Batty’s Divine Left Testicle](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2056155&postcount=84) loves you. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/37 "2009-02-04T18:13:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > It’s a Nerf religion. I am stealing this one. > [@](#): > > Just popped in to mention this, from an anthropological standpoint: Many of the ‘dead’ religions we see today (Greek, Norse, and various asian ‘mythology’) are the victim of victors. I’m pretty sure the Greek myths had been written down and standardized by the time Christianity came along. ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/38 "2009-02-04T18:26:18Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > The Judeo/Christian god … > > The god of Islam … Dude, it’s the SAME god! The God of Abraham. Different prophets, though. ---
**Author:** ![liberalbill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6de8d8/32.png) [@liberalbill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberalbill)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/39 "2009-02-04T18:28:36Z")
Read The Shack by Wm. Paul Young the God in that book is no bastard but is cool and not the same old hell fire and brimstone rectum of evangelicalism ---
**Author:** ![The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9fc348/32.png) [@The\_Flying\_Dutchman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Flying_Dutchman)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374/40 "2009-02-04T18:35:02Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > All of those are specifically against polytheists, not “unbelievers.” Mohammed was railing against Arabs who “joined gods to God.” What a relief 🆒 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-god-who-is-not-a-bastard/484374.md?page=3)