THE POWER/POWERLESSNESS OF GOD

 

“For me, religion is serious business — a farrago of authoritarian nonsense, misogyny and humble pie, the eternal enemy of human happiness and freedom.” – Katha Pollitt

 

**This post was recently revised to simplify things. It now contains all the separate posts together in one. When you wish to comment on a specific point please copy and paste it at the top of your comment so as not to confuse anybody. Also, if you wish to review any past comments all you need to do is click the THE POWER/POWERLESSNESS OF GOD link in the categories section at the top right of my main page and scroll down. You will find the original, individual posts. Click on one and read any comments and responses there.

 

• A Question of Will Power – The bible suggests that God is responsible for everything that happens, it’s God’s plan. But when horrible things happen, Satan often will get the blame. So is God then not powerful enough to overcome Satan’s wishes?

 

• How Can A Perfect God, Who Makes No Mistakes, Regret? – God orders Saul to kill all the Amalekites but Saul fails to do so. Even though God himself chose Saul to be the first Jewish king, God says, “It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king.” I Sam 15:11

 

• The Curious Times God Chooses To Punish – King Herod, who earlier was responsible for the slaughter of so many innocent babies and little children, is making a speech and acting all mighty and god-like. God doesn’t like this so he decides to intervene and use his superpowers. Acts 12:23 – “And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.” So King Herod isn’t either punished nor prevented from his earlier atrocities but, oh boy, act a little full of yourself and God personally interferes in the lives of his creation.

 

• If the Statement is True, Your Religion Is Vile – God created man imperfect & allowed Satan to cause their downfall, after which he would re-instate them only when he had forced them to kill him, ingest his body and rejoice in this plan for salvation.

 

• How To Spread The Word Of God? – How was God’s word supposed to be spread? If he was unwilling to reveal himself & speak his message himself, how? Most of the world was illiterate. There was very little written communication & even less travel, many areas of the world not yet discovered. 2,000 years have elapsed and most people are still destined for hell, either because they have not heard of Christianity or because the salvation legend is especially vulnerable to skepticism.

 

• Show Me One Example Of Perfection – If God is perfect and without fault why does he consistently make such blundering errors? The civil war in heaven, the flawed creation of humankind on multiple occasions that often lead to mass murder on God’s part, which he occasionally apologizes for (w/ a rainbow, gee thanks), etc.

 

• To Be Fair, Jacob DID Stop Bathing A Month Before The Match – In Gen. 32:24-32 Jacob wrestles with God! During this bizarre incident God touches Jacob’s thigh and dislocates it. But Jacob still prevails over God! God pleads with Jacob to release him but Jacob will only release him after God blesses him. As a result of this incident, Jews will not eat of “the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh.” Are the Jewish people insane? How do they justify such a bizarre reasoning?

 

• Only the loner is welcome – Are only hermits welcome in heaven? Matt 19:29 – “And everyone that hath forsaken horses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my names sake, shall receive an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life.”

 

Please visit my main page (https://doubtingthomas426.wordpress.com/) to gain a better understanding of where I am coming from. There you will find all my observations regarding religion and the bible categorized on the top Right hand side of the page. Please feel free to read through them and leave a comment or two if you like.