God Is Not Love

Since religious people just loooove to accuse Atheists and Agnostics of not knowing their Bible, I'm going to do a little study, just like I used to do when I was a Christian. Except with a whole lot less cherry-picking and a lot more honesty.

This is such a pretty Bible passage. I just love to quote it, even still:

4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8 Love never fails...

Great thoughts. Whoever wrote this had the right idea, don't you think? I really do. 

Weird though, that the Bible would say that God is love. By this definition, God is far from being love.

"Love is patient, love is kind."
Interesting. Yet the Biblical God didn't have much patience or kindness in the garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed him ONE TIME and he booted them out of there, cursing them multiple times and bringing thousands upon thousands of years of sin and evil upon the world. I don't know about you, but that doesn't strike me as particularly patient. I have yet to toss my lil rascals out of the house for any of their misdeeds.

Was God patient and kind to Uzzah when he struck him dead for touching the ark to try to steady it? I mean, after all, it's not like the guy had bad motives. He was trying to steady the ark to keep it from tipping or falling. Striking people dead doesn't seem all that kind to me either but what do I know. I've never struck anyone dead for any reason. It's not my thing.

"It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud"

Yet the God of the Bible does little else but envy and boast.  In fact, in Exodus, he declares that his NAME is jealous. He spends a whole heck of a lot of the old testament boasting about how holy, mighty and great he is, and even more time ordering the slaughter of nations who don't give him the honor and praise he seems to need. If you don't think God is proud, read Job. It's really a story about God showing off.

"It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking"

I'm just going to leave that as is because if you've actually read the Bible and you remember how God behaves in the old testament, this is a hoot and a half. I can't imagine anyone MORE self-seeking. He demands constant adoration and is jealous and angry when he doesn't get it. "Coincidentally" narcissists behave the same way.

It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.

Oh man. I wish I were more like God and could keep my temper when people around me start complaining. Oh wait. He DOESN'T. He burns them to death with fire. 

Numbers 11:1 - Now the people complained about their hardships in the hearing of the LORD, and when he heard them his anger was aroused. Then fire from the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

If you want a good laugh, try getting a "Bible person" to discuss this with you. Their justifications are heaps of fun. Gosh, imagine how mad God was that after all the miracles he'd performed for the Israelites, they had the nerve to complain! Was performing miracles hard for God? Did it tire him out? Was he as tired as someone who'd been traveling through the desert all day? Poor God! No wonder he lost his temper! Now, if someone disrespects you, is it okay to kill them with fire? If they are ungrateful enough, is it okay? Is that love? If it's for their own good in the after-life, is it okay? Hmm...

Now what kind of hardships were these people experiencing? A stubbed toe? The wrong brand of shampoo, perhaps? Umm, no. They had been traveling through the desert with nothing but manna to eat, which the Bible describes as tasting "like something made with olive oil." How would you feel about eating the same thing day after day, for every single meal, and nothing else while wandering in the hot desert sun all day? My kids can't even stand to eat the same dinner 2 nights in a row! I put up with my kids' complaining when I feed them a 3 course meal that they haven't eaten before. Am I more patient and slower to anger than God??

And as for keeping no record of wrongs...gosh. I guess you don't need to when you immediately kill the people you feel have wronged you. It doesn't take much record-keeping for that.

"Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth."

Psalms 137:8O daughter of Babylon, you devastated one, How blessed will be the one who repays you With the recompense with which you have repaid us. 9How blessed will be the one who seizes and dashes your little ones against the rock.

Wow, sounds a lot like rejoicing in evil to me! I can't think of a more apt example of rejoicing in evil than that, folks!

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

God didn't protect the Israelites as soon as they got a little grumpy. He didn't protect anyone except Noah and his family in the times of the flood. He didn't protect Tamar from being raped by her brother and living the rest of her life as a "desolate woman" even though she hadn't done anything wrong. He didn't protect Dinah either. He didn't give Uzzah a 2nd chance. He didn't hope for the people in Noah's day to change their ways. He drowned them. God didn't protect the nations he sent people to destroy - nope - not even the children, babies, or pregnant women. Perserverence is a difficult concept for a God that gets people-torching mad over a bit of grumbling. 

My oh my. The mental gymnastics it takes to be an apologist!

Oh well, I guess I'm just judging this based on my "limited human knowledge". But do you know what smells exactly like hypocrisy? A god who tells us to forgive and then fails to forgive again and again and again.

Maybe God's love and mercy isn't so wondrous after all. Because yanno, just maybe, it doesn't even exist.