Modern Problems: Exploring the Abrahamic God

Having grown up with ultra-religious grandparents, the types to look forward to the rapture because they think they somehow fit the criteria for it, and then escaping the false idea of God I am now free to examine religion with impunity. I've read the bible over and over again, not once did I read it in church because I left it to the adults to delude me as all children do, but I have read it close to five times after having turned from God, just to ask myself how I ever believed in the first place. If you're ever looking to get into studying "The Bible" for philosophy class or any other scholastic pursuit, I suggest picking up a copy of "The International Study Bible" because it was deeply enlightening and offered better insights than a standard issue copy of the text. No amount of unbiased bible study will lead you to the conclusion that God is real, as a deity or entity, however. Unless you want to get figurative, then you're just fluffing your own ego.

I'll never stoop so low as to discuss God as anything more than a philosophical concept in a literal sense, because I've never been a big fan of comfort food for the soul. I prefer to experience all the sorrow life has to offer, developing lessons for myself and as they pertain to my life, rather than depending on an imaginary friend in the sky who lives in paradise while we live in squalor. For the sake of argument, however, let's say that imaginary sky daddy is anything but imaginary and is in fact tangible. I'll be forming a profile for God by using scripture from the aforementioned bible.

"No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it."—1 Corinthians 10:13

"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all."—1 John 1:5

"For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."—Hebrews 4:12

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."—James 1:17

" For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."—John 3:16

"God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?"—Numbers 23:19

"Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death."—Psalm 68:19-20

So I think with all this we can form an accurate description of who the Abrahamic God is and I needn't list more, though there are plenty more relevant things to list we will keep it shorter and more concise. God is, according to scripture, all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful, and all-present. He promises you everything you could ever desire, including eternal life, so long as you give him your undying trust and love. Yet, we must ask to the dismay of his allegedly devout followers, what happens when you don't worship this all-loving God?

We have established that God is a pretty cool guy, that he has our best interests in mind and that he can make promises of eternal life if we love him and devote our lives and souls to his cause. Seems no different than any other great con-artist, but let's not forget we are looking at this from the perspective that the Abrahamic God is actually real. Now what is the punishment for disobeying, turning away, and otherwise spitting on the name of God? Let's dive back into scripture and get a good look at what awaits us sinners, where this benevolent God sends dissenters.

"But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”—Revelation 21:8

"They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might"—2 Thessalonians 1:9

"...and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."—Matthew 13:50

"Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."—Matthew 25:41

"Death and Destruction lie open before the LORD— how much more do human hearts!"—Proverbs 15:11

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."—Matthew 10:28

So what are we able to conclude from all this? Our all-loving, all-knowing, all-good God is going to cast every sinner who turns away from his wonderful love into a lake made of burning sulfur. Mind you, God only does this because he loves them and is upset that they turned from his goodness. Luckily, he doesn't have to feel guilty about this because he says that technically it wasn't him who denied you access to heaven it was you and now the Devil is going to torture you for all eternity because of it. What sins other than turning away from God's love, the love that allows people to suffer for all of eternity in a lake of burning sulfur, send us down into the pits of hell?

It has been established now that you are the one, allegedly, in control of your life under God and that he takes no responsibility for your actions despite creating you, your operating system, all the rules, and having the power to stop you at any time. It seems pretty silly to me that our God doesn't just make life good for us like his life up in paradise must be, where we are all supposedly heading if we love him and live for him anyways, but instead leaves us here on earth with the ever-present temptation of all the wonderful and fun sinning. It is a bit convoluted, especially when our God isn't held to the same standard, but here are some verses from scripture to help you know what makes you a filthy sinner unworthy of paradise and deserving only of eternal suffering.

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."—Galations 5:10-21

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming."—Colossians 3:5-6

"If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them."—James 4:17

"All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away."—Isaiah 64:6

"Whoever conceals their sins does not prosper, but the one who confesses and renounces them finds mercy."—Proverbs 28:13

“There are six things that the Lord hates, seven that are an abomination to him, haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.”—Proverbs 6:16-19

James 4:17 is my favorite verse in the entire bible, because if I do ever get to meet the Abrahamic God I'm going to smack him in the face with it. The man can't even live up to his own standards, but now we have a pretty comprehensive list for the sins we shouldn't be committing unless the burning sulfur Jacuzzi sounds good to you. I don't know about you, but I've turned from God all over again.

All of this has successfully made me sick to my stomach, but it did bring me to a hilarious realization. This realization was about Satan, and how he is most commonly represented as having a goat head. Is this because Beelzebub, Satanas, Belial, the beast with many names, is actually a scapegoat for God and his sadistic needs to boil the souls of his less-than-righteous followers? I'd venture to say that this has some merit to it, and already exists as a theory, but I can't be pressed to investigate that right now as all this toxic religious filth is already taking its toll on my psyche. This is why I turned from God in the first place.

I'd never follow a leader, a God, who promises anyone eternal suffering for any reason. Especially not a God who can't live up to his own standards, allowing heinous acts to be committed around the world on a daily, even minute-by-minute basis. It seems that no matter what sort of criticisms you bring against the abuse that this deity called God commits, he always has an excuse as to why he is better and you are wrong. It is uncanny in behavior to someone with antisocial or narcissistic personality disorder.

Where was God when his followers stood me in front of a class, calling me fat as I was near tears? Where was God when one of his followers attempted to sexually assault me? Where was God when his chosen people were being slaughtered by the millions? Where was God when my mother beat me half to death throughout my entire life? Where is God ever, under any circumstance?

I'm under the impression that religion, Abrahamic religion, is abuse. There is no swaying me otherwise and I can provide much more evidence than any dogmatic religious zealot could. To say I am bigoted when it comes to religion is more than accurate, it is inarguable. God is not real, and no amount of anecdotal, mental gymnast generated, delusional evidence will change my mind.