# Christians, how do you justify that God is not a total prick? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 25, 2011, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976 "2011-03-25T15:33:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/121 "2011-04-03T13:10:40Z")
I’m sitting here stunned. How can you possibly argue over the language nuances of the “Old Testament” as you read it in _English_?! wtf You can yak theology all you want, but trying to one-up each other while reading a - what? third time is a charm translitarated text? and then ping-pong over semantics?! And sheol is not Hell. Hell is not Hades. Hades is what you read about in Homer. Hell is what you hear about in Sunday Scchool. Sheol is something that Jews don’t think about often, because there are already plenty of dark places in the living world. ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/122 "2011-04-03T13:24:11Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > and punished a family whose father did not let his daughters be raped? :smack: Lot offered up his daughters. The angels made the would-be attackers blind. ---
**Author:** ![fumster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9c0ed/32.png) [@fumster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fumster)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/123 "2011-04-03T16:55:01Z")
> [@CitizenPained](#): > > :smack: > > Lot offered up his daughters. The angels made the would-be attackers blind. In my defense, all I learned about Lot is from [here](http://www.alltruebible.com/genesis_19-30.shtml). ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/124 "2011-04-03T16:59:43Z")
[God is a twelve-year-old boy with Asperger’s.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ucws1tSgEwM) ---
**Author:** ![Farmer\_Jane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Farmer\_Jane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Farmer_Jane)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/125 "2011-04-03T18:48:27Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > In my defense, all I learned about Lot is from [here](http://www.alltruebible.com/genesis_19-30.shtml). _sigh_ Well, that’s your fault. > **[LOT - JewishEncyclopedia.com](https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/10122-lot)** > > Complete contents the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia. If the Bible was full of perfect people, it wouldn’t be interesting. (: ---
**Author:** ![denbenenki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@denbenenki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denbenenki)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/126 "2011-04-06T19:13:39Z")
It is true, the God of Christians, Jews and Muslims (one and the same) is a prick…. towards humans, that is. He simply does not like or care about humans. He didn’t get along with the first two, he deliberately caused a fatal rife between the next two… he hated all the people because some angels were banging the women and decided to kill them all. (He later would discover a 14yo he made pregnant) To repopulate the planet, he chose a psycho-drunk. He failed to see before all his thousands of eyes the Egyptians were trying to worship him and instead decided he would pledge himself to be the sole god of the Hebrews-- who never heard of him and had no history of looking for him or acting like they even cared. He chose a fugitive murderer to convince the Hebrews to leave Egypt and follow him. Within the month he was sorry he had chosen the Hebrews and forced them to wander until the generation that had followed him had died in the desert. He wrote in stone thou shall not kill and then ignored when Moses did exactly that after breaking the tablets. He double-crossed man several times, issued the first curse, blew off the first promise, introduced jealousy and regularly encouraged war. Besides all this, the reason I feel this said God is a “PRICK” is because: He rewards those who are evil and those who lie.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![denbenenki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@denbenenki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denbenenki)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/127 "2011-04-06T19:43:27Z")
monavis: “Your God then, is not all knowing, all loving and likes to play cruel games” CRUEL GAMES: to pinpoint an example is the EXODUS. today, described as a repressed people, the Hebrews want to leave Egypt but cannot as Ramses will kill them. therein, Moses must persuade Ramses, who after conceding, decides to chase after them anyway. before this god came around, Ramses was about to throw the lazy, ungrateful people out of egypt and were trying to plan how. here comes a chance for all of them to leave and Ramses decides to stop them? why? Because God made his heart hard! that God, such a prankster-- he makes it so the Hebrews think they want to leave and ramses to think he wants them to stay— imagine all that effort of the egyptian people to PROVE they worshipped gods. and here comes a god and he picks the most apathetic among them. this god would get “it” wrong so many times, one might think he was an FBI agent. [p.s. i challenge your spell checker for “worshiped.”] ---
**Author:** ![denbenenki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/85e7bf/32.png) [@denbenenki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/denbenenki)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/128 "2011-04-06T19:52:47Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > Since He created Satan, and allowed him to destroy His children, doesn’t speak very well of the God you Believe in. He is said to know all things even before they happen so if man is imperfect it is not man’s fault, but the fault of such a creator. It sounds like this God loves to play games that are harmful to His children. A cruel being. such a human father would be put in jail! HOW CRUEL IS HE? this god is soooo cruel, only he could have come up with this curse or penalty/punishment: that pregnant women would eat their babies after giving birth!:smack: though that is paraphrased, it is exactly what the bible says. it chills me to type it. i cannot remember WHY he exacts that punishment, but it is somewhere within the first four books. if christians could isolate this to ALLAH, they would have an easier time in bedeviling that religion. ---
**Author:** ![arminvonstolz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/49beb7/32.png) [@arminvonstolz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/arminvonstolz)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/129 "2011-04-06T19:57:16Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > Long story short- the “Fire” of Gehenna/the Lake of Fire is the Presence of God/Jesus (Isaiah 30:33, Revelation 14:10. John 3:19-21). Everyone goes into the Presence- those in harmony with God & Jesus, who are (or who will be) trusting Christ as Savior & Lord, will delight in the Presence while those despise the Presence rage & cower before Them for the ages of ages (which may be a finite time or infinite) for as long as they despise the Presence. Eventually, God in His mercy may allow their own hatred to burn themselves up. I totally believe that many who leave this life as non-Christians for whatever reason will love & embrace Christ on the other side (Afterlife or Resurrection). I also totally believe that it is a dire risk to constantly respond to Christ’s invitation with a defiant refusal as one never knows when God will decide to respect that & abandon one to oneself. Really ? One can change their mind (convert) after death ? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/130 "2011-04-06T22:26:37Z")
> [@Skammer](#): > > However, a good case can be made, Biblically, that Jesus’ death on the cross provided salvation for all. All, as in, everyone. Those who know Christ are getting a taste of the Kingdom of God here and now, but eventually all people will come to know Him. Hell is a place reserved for the devil and his angels. Interesting. In the 70s and 80s I was a member of the RLDS , now called Community of Christ. Some of the doctrine that appealed to me then was the idea that even after this mortal life people would have the different glories and more opportunity to repent and grow. If I remember correctly, only those who came to a full knowledge of God and JC and still rejected them , were bound for damnation , because they chose it. Another doctrine that appealed to me was the idea that the eternal fire was an awareness of our imperfections , if we were in God’s presence and not prepared. It seemed to me like coming into the brightest light when we’re not ready. It hurts and we can’t stand it. In that case, being away from God , until we are ready, is an act of mercy and love, not judgement and punishment. At least, that’s how I saw it at the time. No Longer. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/131 "2011-04-06T22:51:04Z")
> [@FriarTed](#): > > I totally believe that many who leave this life as non-Christians for whatever reason will love & embrace Christ on the other side (Afterlife or Resurrection) It never made sense to me that a good person , who actually lived a life of compassion toward his fellow humans, would be punished, while a person of mediocre character who happens to believe in Jesus goes to heaven. I often used Gandhi as an example. He revered the teachings of Jesus, but rejected Christianity because of the horrible example set by Christians. > [@](#): > > I also totally believe that it is a dire risk to constantly respond to Christ’s invitation with a defiant refusal as one never knows when God will decide to respect that & abandon one to oneself. IMO, there’s a huge difference between hearing the words about Jesus being Savior, and the calling of our own inner voice. Using Gandhi as an example again, most of the Christians he experienced set a horrible example. Why would their testimony carry any weight or conviction? Yet , he talks about the inner voice as the voice of God and much of his life spent in pursuing the truth guided by that voice. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/132 "2011-04-06T22:52:28Z")
> [@arminvonstolz](#): > > Really ? One can change their mind (convert) after death ? I believe LDS, and offshoots believe this and teach it as doctrine. I’m not sure what other denominations might. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2011, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/133 "2011-04-06T23:10:41Z")
> [@surrounded\_by\_literalists](#): > > _Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me._ This tells me that it is by\*\* works\*\* that God will recognize your heart. Those who think that they can hurt others, confess, accept Christ, then go and do it all over again are in for a BIG surprise. I don’t see it that way. After coming through Christianity to reject the idea that God would need any physical sacrifice to forgive us, I read the NT and the teachings of Jesus differently. I think the teaching is that it is our inner selves that are known. We can hide and disguise that from each other , but not from God. I think the many comments about works tells us that our real life works, day to day, are reflective of our true inner selves, regardless of what we give lip service to. Maybe that’s what you’re saying and just phrasing it differently. Furthermore, I think that inner self has nothing at all to do with superficial labels or the circumstances of our society. Love and compassion , are love and compassion, regardless of other details of belief. So is being judgmental, selfish, or dishonest. Speaking of that particular verse, something occurred to me that relates to the OP. Much of what Christ taught was that we are to reach out to those in need across all class, gender, and tribal barriers. IOW, if you know people are in need , and do nothing, you’re guilty of not following the commandments of God. It’s a basic and very clear principle of the gospels. Now think of the OP and title. Doesn’t God know about all the need here in our mortal lives and have all the means to take care of them? Is God ignoring the principles Jesus taught? ---
**Author:** ![monavis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e0b2c6/32.png) [@monavis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monavis)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/134 "2011-04-07T11:06:22Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I don’t see it that way. After coming through Christianity to reject the idea that God would need any physical sacrifice to forgive us, I read the NT and the teachings of Jesus differently. > > I think the teaching is that it is our inner selves that are known. We can hide and disguise that from each other , but not from God. I think the many comments about works tells us that our real life works, day to day, are reflective of our true inner selves, regardless of what we give lip service to. Maybe that’s what you’re saying and just phrasing it differently. > > Furthermore, I think that inner self has nothing at all to do with superficial labels or the circumstances of our society. Love and compassion , are love and compassion, regardless of other details of belief. So is being judgmental, selfish, or dishonest. > Speaking of that particular verse, something occurred to me that relates to the OP. > Much of what Christ taught was that we are to reach out to those in need across all class, gender, and tribal barriers. IOW, if you know people are in need , and do nothing, you’re guilty of not following the commandments of God. It’s a basic and very clear principle of the gospels. > > Now think of the OP and title. Doesn’t God know about all the need here in our mortal lives and have all the means to take care of them? Is God ignoring the principles Jesus taught? I don’t see how a supreme being who created beings with flaws would then punish them because of their flaws. As I see it: If Genesis was the truth, then people should not be worried about suffering in an after life when the punishment for commiting the sin that Adam and Eve was supposed to have commited by eating fruit of the tree of knowledge, was death, and why a supreme being who is said to know all things would not want them to know the difference between good and evil, and then cause all living things to suffer death. And humans to suffer for all eternity; when if He knew all things then He should have known that what He created had flaws. This supreme being is supposed to know much, much, more than a human parent, and if a human parent acted this way the children would be taken away from them! ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/135 "2011-04-07T11:52:03Z")
> [@arminvonstolz](#): > > Really ? One can change their mind (convert) after death ? I don’t believe it’s impossible. Depends on how much God has dealt with them in this life & how much they have resisted the Light they’d been given & whether that resistance is ingrained in their character. ---
**Author:** ![raindog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@raindog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raindog)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/136 "2011-04-07T12:44:03Z")
> [@denbenenki](#): > > HOW CRUEL IS HE? > > this god is soooo cruel, only he could have come up with this curse or penalty/punishment: > > that pregnant women would eat their babies after giving birth!:smack: > > though that is paraphrased, it is exactly what the bible says. > > it chills me to type it. i cannot remember WHY he exacts that punishment, but it is somewhere within the first four books. > > if christians could isolate this to ALLAH, they would have an easier time in bedeviling that religion. Can you cite that for me? ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/137 "2011-04-07T12:59:03Z")
> [@monavis](#): > > I don’t see how a supreme being who created beings with flaws would then punish them because of their flaws. As I see it: If Genesis was the truth, then people should not be worried about suffering in an after life when the punishment for commiting the sin that Adam and Eve was supposed to have commited by eating fruit of the tree of knowledge, was death, and why a supreme being who is said to know all things would not want them to know the difference between good and evil, and then cause all living things to suffer death. And humans to suffer for all eternity; when if He knew all things then He should have known that what He created had flaws. > > This supreme being is supposed to know much, much, more than a human parent, and if a human parent acted this way the children would be taken away from them! I remember an old quote from the movie, Oh God. When God was asked why he allowed all the suffering that went on, he asked “Why do YOU allow it?” indicating that we have been given the resources to create a paradise and what we see around us is the result of our choices. From a speculative spiritual sense, What makes more sense to me, is that we are co creators, and volunteers in the temporary world of duality, good and evil. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/138 "2011-04-07T13:07:30Z")
> [@cosmosdan](#): > > I remember an old quote from the movie, Oh God. When God was asked why he allowed all the suffering that went on, he asked “Why do YOU allow it?” indicating that we have been given the resources to create a paradise and what we see around us is the result of our choices. Of course, the problem with that is it’s simply wrong. Yes, we could make the world a better place; but there’s plenty of sources of suffering that we simply don’t have the power to fix. An _omnipotent God_ does not have that excuse. ---
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/139 "2011-04-07T13:41:29Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Of course, the problem with that is it’s simply wrong. Yes, we could make the world a better place; but there’s plenty of sources of suffering that we simply don’t have the power to fix. An _omnipotent God_ does not have that excuse. I agree. That why the concept of souls who voluntarily participate in mortality and the world of duality, makes more sense. In that case, dealing with whatever comes along, be it man made of mother nature, becomes part of the temporary experience. ---
**Author:** ![overlyverbose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/9dc877/32.png) [@overlyverbose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/overlyverbose)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2011, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976/140 "2011-04-07T20:53:56Z")
> [@Cumberdale](#): > > the god of the Bible is every much as human as the Greek gods. Forget about what the preachers say on Sunday and his apologists claim. The bible presents a god who is vindictive, petty, jealous, etc. All very human traits. If a god does exist, it’s not the one of the Bible, or Koran for that matter. I suppose that’s true. All of them seem to act like toddlers most of the time. One would imagine that if you had the power to save or destroy all humanity, you’d use that power a little more responsibly than any of the gods that have been put forth in history. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/christians-how-do-you-justify-that-god-is-not-a-total-prick/575976.md?page=8)