God is extremely egotistical and prideful. Why does he not defend his name?

God is extremely egotistical and prideful. Why does he not defend his name?

God’s inflated ego and prideful nature, --- one of the deadly sins, --- demands that we love, honor, obey him and forgive his evil ways before he grants us access to heaven.

Many atheists and non-religious writers and even the spiritually minded have been playing fast and loose with various dis-respectful titles and adjectives that God seems content to ignore.

“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.” ― Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion

This goes against God’s inflated ego and prideful nature. With God’s inordinate self-esteem and conceit, one would think that he would not sit back in such a dishonorable way and would be concerned about saving face.

If you or I had to suffer all of the vilifications God is tolerating, we would quickly start defending ourselves and our good name to all comers. Yet God does nothing and his pride dwarfs anything you and I might have.

God has retaliated in the past for less offensive reasons. If the charges against God are slanderous lies created by those who just want to denigrate, vilify and defame him, why does he not retaliate?

Has God lost his pride, honor, self-respect and over-inflated ego?
Does he no longer care about his dignity and good name?

Or is it all true and he fears to show his face on earth?

Regards
DL

reply to post by Greatest I am


This should be good... lol

I'll be watching this thread... S&F

reply to post by Greatest I am


We are made in his image, what's to defend.

Second

As a former christian when I read this stuff, I often wonder just how many assumptions the original poster is making about the God of the bible. I came to the conclusion after being a believer for about 10yrs, being reformed and even studying theology that the God of the OT and the NT are unreconcilable. They're two different people.

Now, Christian apologist who've gotten really clever these days with their theology will paint the following picture. (this is what I was taught) God is a loving God. His actions in the OT are those of a jealous lover who was out to protect his beloved, his chosen people. Satan came in and stole his beloved (in Genesis)...

I'm going to stop here because if you logically follow this thru you'll see all the problems with it.

Overall, it's plausible I suppose. How would a lover act if another came on the scene and stole your significant other?

The problem I have with this is, it reduces God to a fickle temper tantrum throwing God. Not a jealous lover.

And can Christians really equate the OT God to that of a romantic lover chasing his bride (the church)...

It's a stretch.

He probably doesn't defend his name, because he has all his followers doing it for him. Or he doesn't exist, which is probably the more likely answer. Or if there is a God, he doesn't care about you attacking the "idea" of the christian God.

Imagine if the "christian" God is real for a moment, would he give two cents based on his character in the OT if you spend all day bashing some other God? Nope.

Good question and excellent thread.

The “sins” were / are decided by man not by a god. About a year ago I watched a documentary on the History Channel about the catholic religion. One of the things I found amazing is how the church adds or removes rules as they see fit.

For example suicide became such a concern around the sixth or seventh century the church decided to make suicide a mortal sin. “God” didn’t say you would go to hell if you kill yourself some Cardinal or Pope decided it’s a sin.

Now they say sodomy is acceptable. LOL! Oh and you don’t even have to believe in god let alone attend church it sounds to me like we’re all going to heaven. (it’s going to be a crowded freaking place.)

How does anyone take organized religion seriously? The Catholics accept anybody and everybody no matter how much you sin. The Muslims will kill you if you don’t agree. Then you have the Jews….don’t get me started on the Jews.

THE GOD DEPICTED IN THE BIBLE AND THE TESTAMENTS (and all other religious books for that matter) DOESN'T EXIST, IT'S MANMADE, A FICTIONAL CHARACTER...

Seriously, how can people not see that "somehow" this God has all human traits, feelings and flaws...

I'm open to the existence of a God, but this one is so blatantly fake I can't believe in 2013 we're still debating over it...

Being that I am not God, all I have for you is this:

Matthew 27:40

"You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

Luke 23:39

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

The judge doesn't have to defend himself, he watches the evidence pile up and makes a decision when he's heard enough.

reply to post by Greatest I am


Lol. From my point of view the bible is a slander piece on god from those who kinda have missed the point. God having ego. . More like humans projecting their own ego pride on god.

Why should god care about the name when humans are not describing him but something created in their imagination that is close sometimes but not 100% god. God is the ultimate servant of all but knows what really will serve the soul and what will not.

reply to post by Greatest I am

If you or I had to suffer all of the vilifications God is tolerating, we would quickly start defending ourselves and our good name to all comers. Yet God does nothing and his pride dwarfs anything you and I might have.

God has retaliated in the past for less offensive reasons. If the charges against God are slanderous lies created by those who just want to denigrate, vilify and defame him, why does he not retaliate?

Because God is NOT A PERSON.

When has 'he' retaliated, exactly? What proof do you have of that? (the Bible doesn't count, nor the Qu'ran, as 'proof')

Are you being serious with this question? "[H]is pride dwarfs anything you and I might have." Sorry, but, this is preposterous...
mankind has been "assignating" human traits onto 'God' since time immemorial. Floods and earthquakes and bombs do not = "God's retaliation". We are CENTURIES beyond when any of those ideas held water.

What I don't understand is: Why do people continue to believe that "God" gives a damn what is happening here?

reply to post by Greatest I am


The only excuse for God in this instance is that he doesn't exist.

wildtimes
reply to post by Greatest I am

 

What I don't understand is: Why do people continue to believe that "God" gives a damn what is happening here?

God (the source of all religion and spiritual/paranormal activity) do give a damn about what happens here but this place has a purpose so direct involvement is kept on personal level (between god and the soul, god has decided has come long enough to listen) and normally with as free will as possible.

When man is ready for symbiosis it will happen.

This video says it better than words.
Antiloop - Believe

reply to post by LittleByLittle

God (the source of all religion and spiritual/paranormal activity) do give a damn about what happens here

The 'source' of all religion is not "God." The source is humans trying to figure out a confusing world. You again, here, are projecting HUMAN traits onto a NON-HUMAN entity, which may or may not exist.

Battleline
reply to post by Greatest I am

 

We are made in his image, what's to defend.

Second

Are you saying that you would let yourself be slandered even if you could do something about it or are you saying there is no slander?

Regards
DL

reply to post by Greatest I am


Greatest I Am, greetings, broom here. Brooms know not much of pride and arrogance, being nothing but simple cleaning utensils. Their knowledge is feeble and pitiable.

Nevertheless, what is possessed can be shared.

You affirm that God, as revealed to us in the Bible, is prideful and arrogant. Of course you do so mockingly implying that if God in Bible times did not tolerate incorrigible wickedness, why does he so in our day?

One scripture that pops to mind is this one: "Jehovah is not slow respecting his promise, as some people consider slowness, but he is patient with YOU because he does not desire any to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9.)

That scripture quoted above explains why God has been patient in executing justice in the earth. It is not that he is slow to act, rather it is his patience toward us.

Here he reveals why he is patient. He doesn't want anyone to die.

As you have stated many claim that God is a horrible person that loves to kill, etc. Yet that is not what he says. Take for example God himself speaking through a prophet of old when he said: " “‘Do I take any delight at all in the death of someone wicked,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘[and] not in that he should turn back from his ways and actually keep living?’" - Ezekiel 18:23.

So we have God himself speaking here. He takes no pleasure in killing, anyone. In fact he reveals this about his nature, again in the same book you claim has him being this horrible person: " And Jehovah went passing by before his face and declaring: “Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abundant in loving-kindness and truth, preserving loving-kindness for thousands, pardoning error and transgression and sin, but by no means will he give exemption from punishment, bringing punishment for the error of fathers upon sons and upon grandsons, upon the third generation and upon the fourth generation.”

So he claims to be, instead of a vindictive, arrogant God, one of mercy, of loving-kindness, of long suffering. One who is very slow to act when needing to dish out punishment. He is very slow to get angry. And he is very ready to forgive and pardon the errors of people.

And there are many cases in the Bible where we see this is true. Take for example the bad king Manasseh, who did on a great scale what was bad in Jehovah's eyes, setting up false worship in his realm, turning to apostasy, and even involving himself in pagan cultish practices such as burning his own children to the god Moloch. He did on a great scale what was evil in God's eyes. And God sent him into captivity as punishment for his badness. But Manasseh repented from his sins and pleaded to God for forgiveness, and God granted it to him.

That is not the God you paint him to be. Or at least those who accuse him of such.

That is one example. Another, off hand, is that of the ancient city of Nineveh. It was such a violent city God was going to bring it to ruin, and he sent a prophet to warn them that if they did not repent he was going to execute punishment on them for their wickedness. God detests violence. Well, the people in the city repented. And God forgave them, and did not execute the judgement he was planning on executing.

In fact, the prophet whom God sent, Jonah, got upset God didn't execute judgement on the wicked people. And Jehovah reasoned with his prophet: “You, for your part, felt sorry for the bottle-gourd plant, which you did not toil upon or make get big, which proved to be a mere growth of a night and perished as a mere growth of a night. And, for my part, ought I not to feel sorry for Nin′e·veh the great city, in which there exist more than one hundred and twenty thousand men who do not at all know the difference between their right hand and their left, besides many domestic animals?”

You see he would rather be forgiving. He has consideration, even of wicked people. Even now he allows them to exist. Even though many of them refuse to acknowledge his existence.

But do not mistake his patience as permissiveness.

He reveals that in the proper time he will act. For example, when God tells us that he is not slow in executing judgement, (as we consider slowness, because a thousand years to us is as only a day to him) because he is patient with us, so as that all may be given an opportunity to repent. You should not be fooled into thinking he will never act. For the very next statement is this: "Yet Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered." - 2 Peter 3:10.

In fact when God does come to vindicate his name it will be swift, and everyone will have to acknowledge at that point that he is just in what he is to do. Just as he was always just in the past when executing judgement upon law-defying people. We know that he never acts without giving warning first. And never without just cause:

"And I shall certainly magnify myself and sanctify myself and make myself known before the eyes of many nations; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah." - Ezekiel 38:23.

Just because he does not work according to your time-table, or mine, does not mean he will not act. He will act, and it will be at the right moment. Perhaps not in our viewpoint, but it will nevertheless come at the right time:

"For [the] vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late." - Habakkuk 2:3.

His mindset is beyond our understanding. Yet he is patient enough, and big enough, to endure, with great patience, many injustices done against him, without retaliating.

When he does execute vengeance, it is not out of a desire to do so. Rather, it will be because justice requires him to act. He will not want to bring an end to wicked people, but he promises he will act, for the good of all. For the good of all future generations to come, and also for the good of all meek, and sheep-like people who live in suffering because of all the lawless people.

Greatest I am
God has retaliated in the past for less offensive reasons.

Seriously.

Poor Onan was supposedly smitted down by God because he 'pulled out' during sex with his new
bride ... the wife of his dead brother that he was forced to marry. That was supposedly
punishable by death.

But it's okay with God that all these nutters run around the planet, mass killing in His name.

Doesn't make sense.

God is missing in action ... and it's like the freak'n Lord of the Flies here on Earth ...
the kids are running the show and the parent is no where to be found.
We all know how Lord of the Flies ended. REALLY BADLY.

alphaTango
As a former christian when I read this stuff, I often wonder just how many assumptions the original poster is making about the God of the bible. I came to the conclusion after being a believer for about 10yrs, being reformed and even studying theology that the God of the OT and the NT are unreconcilable. They're two different people.

Now, Christian apologist who've gotten really clever these days with their theology will paint the following picture. (this is what I was taught) God is a loving God. His actions in the OT are those of a jealous lover who was out to protect his beloved, his chosen people. Satan came in and stole his beloved (in Genesis)...

I'm going to stop here because if you logically follow this thru you'll see all the problems with it.

Overall, it's plausible I suppose. How would a lover act if another came on the scene and stole your significant other?

The problem I have with this is, it reduces God to a fickle temper tantrum throwing God. Not a jealous lover.

And can Christians really equate the OT God to that of a romantic lover chasing his bride (the church)...

It's a stretch.

He probably doesn't defend his name, because he has all his followers doing it for him. Or he doesn't exist, which is probably the more likely answer. Or if there is a God, he doesn't care about you attacking the "idea" of the christian God.

Imagine if the "christian" God is real for a moment, would he give two cents based on his character in the OT if you spend all day bashing some other God? Nope.

edit on 30-9-2013 by alphaTango because: (no reason given)

"Christian apologist who've gotten really clever these days with their theology"

We have no point of argument my friend but I did pull this quote down.

I have been around a bit and FMPOV, the caliber and quality of Christian apologists has dropped quite a bit in the last few years.

Regards
DL

Nevermind.

tweetybird0428
Good question and excellent thread.

The “sins” were / are decided by man not by a god. About a year ago I watched a documentary on the History Channel about the catholic religion. One of the things I found amazing is how the church adds or removes rules as they see fit.

For example suicide became such a concern around the sixth or seventh century the church decided to make suicide a mortal sin. “God” didn’t say you would go to hell if you kill yourself some Cardinal or Pope decided it’s a sin.

Now they say sodomy is acceptable. LOL! Oh and you don’t even have to believe in god let alone attend church it sounds to me like we’re all going to heaven. (it’s going to be a crowded freaking place.)

How does anyone take organized religion seriously? The Catholics accept anybody and everybody no matter how much you sin. The Muslims will kill you if you don’t agree. Then you have the Jews….don’t get me started on the Jews.

I hear you but FMPOV, the Jews have the best theology of all of the Abrahamic cults. They do not believe in killing all who do not believe as they do but both the Christians and Muslim have those traditions.

Regards
DL

MadHatter364
THE GOD DEPICTED IN THE BIBLE AND THE TESTAMENTS (and all other religious books for that matter) DOESN'T EXIST, IT'S MANMADE, A FICTIONAL CHARACTER...

Seriously, how can people not see that "somehow" this God has all human traits, feelings and flaws...

I'm open to the existence of a God, but this one is so blatantly fake I can't believe in 2013 we're still debating over it...

No argument friend and if open, I invite you to look into this. Apotheosis is real and this is not the method that brought me mine but it is close.

Bet you thought I was an atheist Eh?

www.youtube.com...

Regards
DL

ProfessorChaos
Being that I am not God, all I have for you is this:

Matthew 27:40

"You who are going to destroy the temple and build it in three days, save yourself! Come down from the cross, if you are the Son of God!"

Luke 23:39

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Messiah? Save yourself and us!"

The judge doesn't have to defend himself, he watches the evidence pile up and makes a decision when he's heard enough.

This is the same judge whose justice can be bought by ransom and bribes and human sacrifice. Should you trust a God who sells his justice to the highest bidder?

Regards
DL