RE: Food for Thought: Can an All Powerful God Really Be Cruel?
I tend to believe that God was the ancient way of visualizing powers that influence our lives but we have no control over. The Bible is a book of wisdom and teaching passed down from one generation to another and subject to interpretation by each successive generation.
The concept of a "God" being exclusively male comes more from the writers of the Bible and the culture they lived in. I always preferred my young niece's view on that subject. After we had a discussion about the gender of God she advised me after some thought that "when I need God to be male, he will be and when I need God to be female, she'll be that too". Her concept is somewhat supported by the several feminine references to God that Christ was reported to have made.
Assuming Christ was a real character in history and his words were actually recalled and reported and not just attributed to him.
For me, the God of any other religion is no different than the Christian God, only in the minds of their followers.
I believe the bible teaches us a good moral code when viewed as lessons of wisdom.
You should actually read the Bible before forming such important opinions.
I've read it .. and often. The difference is I actually use my mind when reading it. I'm also entitled to my opinions and you have zero input on when I can form them.
"The God of any other religion is no different than the Christian God."
Q.E.D.
I'm sorry. I was running out the door and tried to reply too quickly. I agree it came off as arrogant.
But anyone who reads the Bible at even a cursory level understands that God's Number One Beef is his children going after other gods. ("I am the Lord and my glory I will share with no one.") He calls it adultery. It's what got Israel in trouble in almost every single chapter of the Old Testament. "Thou shalt have no other Gods."
So, if we are going to faithfully communicate what we believe to be God's Word, then we can't go around being politically correct all the time. God wants faithful witnesses that will tell it like it is. It doesn't help anybody to let them think they can make up their own beliefs and the go back to sleep and it will be ok in the end. No it won't.
Look around this and other threads. Every fourth comment is by someone trying to be popular by saying "I'm OK, your OK, why can't we all just get along?" While that may work for politics or philosophy, it won't work for talking about the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Jesus.
The Bible says what you believe, nothing else, determines whether you go to Heaven or not. So I would be doing a disservice to everyone to go around nodding my head (or ignoring) posts that try to say all religions and all gods are the same.
They are most certainly not.
nothing like the arrogance of the so called true believer.. funny how they are no different in any religion.. sort of like their so called exclusive 'God"