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A Loving God

Entry 871, on 2008-10-17 at 21:35:29 (Rating 4, Religion)

According to a quick search of the internet most Christians seem to believe their god is a god of love. Of course, that love only seems to extend a certain way when it comes to people who don't follow along with the dogma the various churches want us to believe. It never ceases to amaze me that many Christians will spend half their lives praising their god and referring to him as a "god of love" yet will take a sick delight in pointing out the sort of punishments he has in store for people like me who use our "god given" power of thought and free will and come to the conclusion that God doesn't exist!

A friend recently referred me to this little gem which is being distributed by some of the more disturbed members of the Christian faith who seem to gain a perverse pleasure from imagining what their god does to people who don't follow the necessary protocols.

Did You Know These Facts? I Sure Didn't Till Now

Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!
Make a personal reflection about this...
Very interesting, read until the end...

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7): Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sow, that shall he also reap.

Here are some men and women who mocked God:

John Lennon (singer): Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said: Christianity will end, it will disappear. I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him (1966). Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.

Tancredo Neves (president of Brazil ): During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency. Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.

Cazuza (bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet): During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Janeiro ), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: "God, that's for you." He died at the age of 32 of lung cancer in a horrible manner.

The man who built the Titanic: After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be. With an ironic tone he said: "Not even God can sink it". The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic.

Marilyn Monroe (Actress): She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said: "I don't need your Jesus". A week later, she was found dead in her apartment

Bon Scott (Singer): The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang: "Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell". On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.

Campinas (IN 2005): In Campinas, Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend... The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car: "My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You". She responded: "Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here... It's Already Full". Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact. The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken

Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer) said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written. In June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.

PS: If it was a joke, you would have sent it to everyone. So are you going to have courage to send this?.

I have done my part, Jesus said "If you are embarrassed about me, I will also be embarrassed about you before my father."

You are my 8 in 8 seconds. I am not breaking this. No way!

I'm told this works! Bishop T.D. Jakes "8 Second Prayer." Just repeat this prayer and see how God moves!

Lord, I love you and I need you, come into my heart, and bless me, my family, my home, and my friends, in Jesus' name. Amen.

I'm not sure what is worse: the fact that some people seem to take this collection of carefully selected factoids seriously or the fact that some believers seem to think its OK for their god to act this way.

I could name any number of people who have mocked God and didn't meet with a gruesome end like those described above. I could also name many good people who have never insulted God at all and did die horribly. Consistency doesn't seem to be one of God's strong points, does it?

There have even been various examples of people on the Internet who have deliberately insulted god and challenged him to smite them! Oddly enough - given the tone of the email above - God chose not to.

Some believers claim God doesn't mind a challenge. I found this, for example: "God is holy, but he is not so sensitive that his people cannot question him. God is much bigger than we are. He can take it. [in some cases mentioned on the original site] God actually invites his people to challenge him. Oh, doesn't this make us feel so uncomfortable!" Obviously this interpretation of the behaviour of God disagrees with the interpretation of the people who sent the email.

And what about the fairness aspect of all of this? Was it OK for God to kill Marilyn Monroe just because she said she didn't need Jesus? That seems a bit extreme to me! As does burning someone to death because they thought the Bible was the worst book ever written. OK, its certainly one of the worst, but killing someone for exaggeration seems a bit unfair. And what about the Titanic? Even if God thinks he can justify killing its designer it seems a bit much killing hundreds of other as well. If God is so great he could have really made a point and have only the designer drown!

So really this sort of email just reinforces the way I feel about extreme Christianity. I fully realise that moderate Christians would condemn this sort of thing as much as I would, and would also probably realise how pathetically childish its basic premises are. Moderates are fine. Its the nutty fundamentalists that really earn my contempt!

Comment 1 (1740) by SBFL on 2008-10-18 at 21:30:49:

So you found an email from some crazies and decided to write a post disseminating it. The fact you spent so much time analyzing it and using it as some form of justification for your views is amusing to say the least.

Comment 2 (1743) by OJB on 2008-10-19 at 10:09:57:

Did you get as far as reading the last paragraph? I said: So really this sort of email just reinforces the way I feel about extreme Christianity. I fully realise that moderate Christians would condemn this sort of thing as much as I would, and would also probably realise how pathetically childish its basic premises are. Moderates are fine. Its the nutty fundamentalists that really earn my contempt!

Comment 3 (1744) by SBFL on 2008-10-19 at 11:42:35:

Actually I did, and I was going to start with 'Despite the last minute disclaimer in the footnotes of your post...', but I felt my comment was still relevant even with you last paragraph.

Comment 4 (1746) by OJB on 2008-10-19 at 14:53:56:

Well there's not a lot of fun in blogging about things I already agree with. I don't have any great problem with moderate religious people but I do feel the need to continually put down the crazies. In the second paragraph I said ... this little gem which is being distributed by some of the more disturbed members of the Christian faith. Already I have singled out the "disturbed" extreme of Christians. Maybe it is you who should be asking yourself why you feel threatened by this?

Comment 5 (1748) by SBFL on 2008-10-19 at 19:46:51:

And what did I say to make you think I feel threatened? I have reread my 2 comments. I think you are grasping at straws.

Back to the point, I am fully aware you are referring to "some of the more disturbed members of the Christian faith."...now I take you back to comment 1.

Comment 6 (1750) by OJB on 2008-10-19 at 20:56:47:

OK, just to make everything clear, this is my position. I don't have any particular problem with moderate believers in any religion although I will debate them on the reality of their beliefs any time. I do have a problem with extremists of any type: Christian, Muslim, whatever.

I particularly find hypocritical believers annoying, especially those who preach about Jesus being a man who preached love and understanding yet they practice the complete opposite themselves. I mentioned twice in the original post that it was aimed at extremists. If that isn't enough I'm not sure what else to do.

Comment 7 (1752) by SBFL on 2008-10-19 at 22:09:17:

Yes, that is clear but it is important to note that I never disputed you were only referring to a small group. My point being that you let such a small group rattle you so much. Like I said before, I refer you to my comment 1. I have always understood that you don't find all Christians reflective of this group - you are not that unreasonable - so there is no need to keep trying to prove it. In fact if your comment 6 stands alone, I would almost entirely take the same view myself.

Comment 8 (1753) by OJB on 2008-10-19 at 22:19:19:

So it looks like we agree except you think I place too much importance on these groups. Fair enough, but I do take an interest in the influence extremist Christian groups have in other countries, especially the US, in areas such as teaching evolution, stem cell research, abortion law, etc. I am also aware that these people are trying to gain more influence elsewhere. That would be a disaster so I try to point out the deficiencies in their world view wherever possible.

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