“It is a weak, and rather pathetic non-explanation to wish away mandated religious child-slaughter and child-sacrifice, as per the Old Testament.”
I agree. If God said to you go and kill your son (Jacob) and then burn his body as an offering to me...would you actually proceed to do it? God told Abraham to murder his own child! What kind of God is that anyway? Oh but then it turns out God was just bluffing to see if Abraham would obey him, even murder for him. The God of the Old Testament is way too human.
I don’t think God told the Israelites to do anything. I think they did stuff and looked back on what they did and then explained it to themselves as being “God’s will.” Just like we look back on say for example our victory over Hitler as “God’s will” or as God being on our side.
It’s similar to the way that people thank God for a medical cure and forget to thank the doctors who cured him. Who cured you? God or the doctors? I say it was the doctors. If they had not done their work do you really think God would have stepped in? I never heard of a single case where God even cured tooth decay. God is not telling anyone to kill anyone or to cure anyone. It all comes from the human mind.
Completely agree.
>>The God of the Old Testament is way too human.
And in that, mirrors the vanity, anger, venality and unstable temperaments of the Gods and Goddesses of Mount Olympus.
Clash of the Titans was on TCM recently!
Suppose Mohammad borrowed Pegasus from Perseus when he astral projected himself to Jerusalem.
Hardly. Your view of Him is too narrow. He is not a petty tyrant like the gods of this world, but if that's how you choose to perceive Him, that's how you will see Him.
It’s similar to the way that people thank God for a medical cure and forget to thank the doctors who cured him. Who cured you? God or the doctors?
Doctors don't *cure* anyone. They treat them. And God has healed plenty of people, myself included, and I've seen other cases. So your blanket statement is wrong.