The Abrahamic God has a lot of different messages that he is trying to spread as widely as possible. Most of which I would say contains a lot of value. For instance, off the top of my head:
- You should not kill or steal
- You should love even your worst enemy. Hate no one
- You should forgive even the worst criminals, given their apologies are sincere
- You should treat others no different from how you would like others to treat you (though as we know there are exceptions to that one)
Etc, etc... So yes, there are quite a few things that the world should learn from the above - and that we all would benefit from if more people lived by them. And every day I am very thankful for my Christian upbringing, which put a lot of focus on the above exhortations.
...but this thread is not about that. This thread is dedicated to what I consider to be the sick part of God, namely his unconditional need for worshipping and attention. Has no believer ever asked himself/herself whether this part of God is actually necessary, or even justified? Especially when the cold truth is that we are suppost to be willing to commit beyond horrific actions just to show how much we love our creator. I mean, he once told Abraham, one of the most central figures when it comes to the Abrahamic religions (obviously), to kill his son, and Abraham was just about to do so, to God's relief, when God finally decided to call it off. Thus proving that God would rather watch us kill our families than stop worshipping him. He want our full, unconditional trust at all costs, even if that means committing crimes and highly immoral acts. And now Abraham, who was actually willing to kill his son in cold blood, is widely considered a great prophet...
How does anyone fail to see the sick part in this? We are supposed to put God above all laws and morals, and love him more than anything else. If he tells you to murder your wife and children you better be willing to do so, otherwise you don't deserve to have God's mercy. If you are not willing to blow up a school full of innocent children after God told you to do so, then that's to bad: You don't deserve him.
To me though, his message (regarding the points in the beginning of the thread) should work perfectly fine for all of humanity even if no one worshipped him. But he wants more; he would rather watch the whole world burn than be forgotten...
In conclusion: Let's just say I would rather not kill my future son or daughter than worship the greatest attention-whore known to man.
