God loves us. Unfortunately, we are so disgusting to him that he has had to destroy the Earth multiple times and even kill an innocent man in order for us to get the picture that he doesn't really want us to go to hell. Never mind the fact that having created everything, he also created the Tree that Eve is said to have eaten, the serpent that tricked her, and knew all along that it would happen that way and now we will pay for our disobedience. Never mind that he is the only "parent" in the world that would threaten to lock his kids in a cellar or a dark room and torture them forever and doesn't get a call from CPS.
But after sending his Son down to take on our sins and killing him to make us all clean, why doesn't God just come in and hang out with us? Make himself known? Not only that, but why promise to destroy the Earth within the life time of Jesus if we have all been spared by Jesus's blood? And why didn't that destruction actually occur and why are people still waiting for it to happen two thousand years later?
There is no sufficient answer to these questions. Even a theist will say that there is no sufficient answer that can be given because we mere mortals would never understand God's mysterious ways. Argue against logic by presenting an argument that can never, ever be tested or proven seems to be the best and safest route they can take. Otherwise, they would have to admit that their loving Creator isn't so loving after all.
From the point of view of theism, this is an interesting conundrum. From an atheist perspective, however, and one who believes that the sole purpose of religion as it exists today is one of control or oligarchy, the question is moot.
ReplyDeleteWhy are there so many strange happenings in religious discourse, most of them which make no sense given the image that most people have of their deity? Because each little bit was added in in an effort to control a populace - most notably, the concept of hell, and the long-and-ever-changing list of things that can get you into it.