Why do Christians make God out to be dumb?

Good questions. I guess we could say that in one sense it is like a debt, a moral debt, which must be paid. One pays a moral debt by sacrificing something. In another sense it could be called a poison that has entered into the spiritual blood of mankind which has to be gotten rid of. Adam and Eve are the root and the poison has spread through the entire family tree. The debt is owed to Nature. There's a poison in Nature.It's remindful of a Shakespearian tragedy in which something is rotten in the state of Denmark and so the tragic machinery is set ineluctably in motion, unstoppable until there is once again a balance in Nature through sacrifice.God's Nature is such that it's a contradiction for mankind to be let off without the debt being paid. The structure of the universe is moral.Thinking about it further, I think "poison" makes more sense than "debt."Edited by robinrohan, : No reason given.

But that view of "God's Nature" by some Christians is what makes God look dumb.If you owe me money, I can forgive the debt with a snap of the fingers. Why do some Christians make God seem less capable? The usual way of dealing with a poison is to pump it out of the system or to administer an antidote to neutralize it. Why can't God do that?Why is a "sacrifice" necessary? How does a sacrifice relate to the poison analogy at all?

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The biblical text comes from an earlier era, a time when the natural way of dealing with a problem was to make a sacrifice to the gods. So the idea of a sacrifice presumably made sense to people of that era. It doesn't make sense today.It isn't so much that God is made out to be dumb. It is the fundamentalist Christians who reveal themselves to be dumb, by virtue of the way they keep trying to hold onto that antiquated story line.

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Compassionate conservatism - bringing you a kinder, gentler torture chamber

This idea runs all through the Bible. Yes, well, what I object to among the liberals is their trying to read into the Bible modern ideas which are not there and to slur over those ancient ideas that are there. I object to bogus interpretations of this nature. But this point is off-topic.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

was that atonement was an ongoing task, one that should go one continuously but that takes on special meaning coming up right now. We are about to enter Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. One thing that is clear is that atonement is NOT something that can be done through a third party. It is what you do, the personal acknowledgement of your own failings, the personal effort you make at reconciliation, that is important. Yom Kippur is the day when you need to stop, to take stock of YOUR relationship with others and with GOD.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Robin, what some of us are saying is that much of the bible isn't really about morals and values. For instance, the idea that god went through all the trouble of creating the fundamental laws of physics, biology, genetics, etc. and then demand that we not investigate any of those things and just call them all magic isn't about morals or values. It's just stupid, which is what liberals are trying to point out.For example, have you ever hidden easter eggs for the little ones to find? I have. It's fun to watch those little critters running around looking under plants and rocks. Now, imagine a woman showing up and telling the kids that they shouldn't look for the eggs because whoever that hid the eggs obviously intended for noone to find the eggs. It's not morals or values. It's just stupid.

A balance in nature? Everybody dies, and a rival nation comes in and takes over. That's not a reward for sacrifice, it's the worst-case scenario outlined by Horatio in the first scene of the play.Please use a different metaphor. You don't understand Hamlet.

God did no such thing.

God didn't create the fundamental laws of nature?

If it's that stupid, I don't know why the liberal Christians keep wanting to re-interpret it. You would think they would just ignore it.

I think I've got a good handle on Shakespearian tragedy. However, the view I was setting forth is traditional (A. C. Bradley).

I was rather shocked to find out recently that you think the Bible was inspired by God.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They'd ignore it if...(1) the fundamentalists didn't use the bible everytime they wanted to exclude certain rights to certain groups via the legal system
------(A) slaves loyal to their masters because jebus says so
------(B) ban interracial marriage because god never intended different races to mix... IT put them in different places after all
------(C) subjugating women 'cuz jebus says so
------(D) gay rights issues
------(E) I'm a moron...(2) the fundamentalists didn't try to impose christian so-called values and beliefs on everyone else(3) creationists didn't try to teach their goddunit doctrine in our schools(4) fundamentalists didn't bomb abortion clinics in the name of god(5) a myriad other thingsEverytime the fundies want us to go back to the dark ages, they always seem to be able to quote verses from the bible that support their views. Personally, since I'm an atheist I would just tell them to go to hell. But I'd have to be more politically correct I guess.Like I said before. To believe in the 6 day creation and the earth is only 6000 years old isn't about morals or value. It's just stupid, just like the idea that god created all the wonders in the universe and then would damn the curious ones down to hell. Just stupid... not to mention the obvious impossibility of all the marsupials somehow swam to australia from the middle east after gotten off noah's mathematically impossible boat.

I'm wondering why you think that shocking. It is what I would have expected, based on jar's posts.Note that inspired does not imply inerrant.

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Compassionate conservatism - bringing you a kinder, gentler torture chamber

While I must admit that I too am constantly amazed by robins flights of fancy, it really has nothing to do with the post he was replying to or the thread itself.There are though many Christians that make God appear both dumb and cruel. The idea that Jesus died as a condition of GOD forgiving Man and then making it selective and conditional so that the sacrifice only has meaning if some other condition is satisfied is a good example. It makes God look silly, childish and petty.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion