I have boldly made the claim many times about how god is abusive, yada yada.
Without fail, there is almost always someone to come along and correct me by saying that I am wrong about god. Instead, he is loving and merciful, and has provided the way for us to "be saved". Without god we would all be damned to hell just for being born. So he's not abusive; in fact, he's the opposite. He's our loving and caring father.
People who make this claim are like battered wives who constantly defend their abusive husbands. This article talks about the reasons why captives sometimes actually defend their captors and form an emotional attachment to them: http://www.mental-health-matters.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=167
Abused women will defend their husbands saying stuff like, "It's my fault. He punishes me because I am so stubborn. He loves me and is trying to help make me better. He wouldn't do it if I could stop making him mad. He's a really nice guy. He does it because he loves me. It's for my own good."
And isn't this exactly what religious people say about god as well?
When I try to point out to people that their god is a bully, they immediately defend him saying, "He loves me, and all these trials he lets me endure are for my own benefit."
I believe that religious people are in a captive situation with god. And when I try to set them free, they fight me, their rescuer, and defend god, their captor. The article I linked to above describes how some prisoners will actually help their captors fight off the police who are there to rescue them.
God has them so convinced that he is the good guy, that they will defend him no matter how much shit he drags them through.
God has this system in place where everyone absolutely depends on him to be saved from it. But he never forces you to take advantage of it. Your choice is to either let him help you (by conforming with all of his conditions) or try and make it on your own where you are destined to fail. No, the only way to escape this horrible fate is to submit to god.
In a nutshell, god says, "Choose me or I'll throw your sorry ass into hell!"
But religious people don't see it that way. They view god as not a tyrannical dictator, but a rescuer who just happens to love you so much that he would do anything to save you from this hell.
But if god created the universe, then he created hell. He decreed that if you don't follow him, he will send you there. God created the whole problem and then "kindly" offers to save you from it. God has convinced you that it is all your fault that you are going to hell because you were "born into sin". It is YOUR FAULT, but he is there to save you from it.
He is the abusive husband who creates the problems and then takes it out on his wife, all the while convincing her that it is somehow her fault. He has her brainwashed into thinking that he abuses her for her own good.
I stick to my position that god is abusive, manipulative, and not worthy of anyones praise! Any god who has to purposefully inflict pain and trials on someone in order to make them better is no better off than an abusive spouse. What if I held my sons hand on a hot stove burner to teach him that hot is dangerous? Even though I would try to claim that I was just doing it for his own good, I would be sent to prison as an abusive father and I would probably lose all parental rights to him. But god can do it and everyone loves him for it and defends him. WTF?
And the worst part is that this abusive god isn't even there and yet he gets all the credit for being awesome and wonderful. This imaginary god has the whole world dancing around like a bunch of mindless zombies praising him and defending him, while he drags them through the proverbial shit!
I felt that way my whole life. I felt that if I didn't submit to god that he would punish me. I was always taught that I had a choice, but I always also felt that my only choice was to either submit blindly to god OR go to hell. That's not really a choice, is it? And that is gods escape. He claims that he doesn't force anyone to obey him. But he does in a sneeky round-about way: he threatens your soul to eternal hell if you don't obey his every command. It's like me saying to my wife, "Satisfy me sexually whenever and however I want it OR I will beat you within an inch of your life." I don't physically force her to do anything, but I use FEAR to get her to do what I want.
But remember, I love my kid by burning his hand. I give my wife free agency to be or not to be my sexual slave. I just love them both so much! But the rules are the rules and I have to follow them. I made the rule that if she doesn't submit to me that she gets beat. So if she gets beat, it's her own fault. She didn't Choose The Right!
God has you convinced that he is perfect, therefore, if anything goes wrong it is your fault. If you have a trial it is because he's trying to teach you a lesson.
If you lose your job, it's a trial. God is trying to teach you something. So... what if I followed someone around and fucked up their life as much as I possibly could? My intention is to give them trials to make them a better person. But I would go to jail as a stalker!
God is a stalker, an abuser, a manipulator, and he has you brainwashed that he does it all to you because he loves you. You defend him and you love him for it!
Free yourself from this abusive god. You are the battered wife who just foolishly keeps going back for more!
11 comments:
I think you hit this right on the nose. We are the ones in the wrong, we are the sinful one, we are the guilty one, we are the one who is never doing enough to get the love of god. So glad I'm out of those clutches.
If you kiss Hank's ass, he will give you a million dollars when you leave town.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-hpdULWb8
Brad, thank you. I'm glad too! I see that you live in Boise. Are you a former Mormon?
TheDude, thank you for sharing that video. I've seen it before but it really puts the god idea into perspective. I have created it into a link so it's easier for people to view.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=05-hpdULWb8
"he threatens your soul to eternal hell if you don't obey his every command."
This is your fundamental mistake that causes your whole argument to fail.
God doesn't send anyone to hell for not believing in Him.
God sends people to hell because they are sinners.
You hate God, deny His existence, and claim that even if He did exist, you would never want to be in His presence, or love Him, or honor Him.
He gives you exactly what you want.
The only alternative to God is hell.
You don't go to hell for not believing, you'll go to hell because you're an evil, depraved, twisted sinner who wants nothing to do with God and is on track to getting EXACTLY what you want from Him.
EriK, how can I hate god if I don't believe in him? How can you hate chocolate cake if you have never tasted it?
You just said it was a mistake and then you repeated it. Who made the rule that we all go to hell because we are sinners? God did. Therefore, my argument has not failed at all. You just reinforced what I am trying to say.
"...you'll go to hell because you're an evil, depraved, twisted sinner..."
Wow, I don't call you evil, depraved, and twisted just because you don't believe what I don't. Keep the personal attacks out of it or I will start deleting your comments.
If you fault God for composing a situation of reward/punishment for the pursuit of eternal values and truths, then you have just found fault in every parent who cares for their child.
Every parent (with a few exceptions) sets up the same situation to teach and guide their child. There are a variety of disciplines, however the basic system of reward/punishment is often adopted. A child is rewarded for doing something good or the child is punished for doing something bad. This system is used until the child can make their own choices, and even then they are still reminded of the consequences of their choices throughout their life. You say God is unfair because "he created hell", but doesn't every parent create their own punishments? You say God is unfair because our only choice is to submit to his ways, but hasn't every parent stated the familiar phrase, "as long as you live under my roof, you will follow my rules"? You say God is unfair because he allows punishment, but have you ever seen a parent who has no discipline? It's chaos. So because my parents punished me from time to time and I kept coming back to them - that now makes them abusive? Really? Check your logic. I don't recall if you had/have children, but I assume you do. Answer honestly, have you ever punished you child? Have you ever rewarded your child? If you say no - this whole thing is a complete lie. If you say yes, then you are just a plain hypocrite which I feel sorry for. Either way, you need to start seeing things as they are, not as you "think" they are. (I quote think because I really believe there's not much thinking going on).
I don't have time to correct your misguided and misinformed information. But one thing I've never understood is how you keep fighting against someone who you believe doesn't exist. It's like me getting on here to prove to everyone that the easter bunny doesn't exist. It's just as ridiculous as listening to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad deny the holocaust. It makes no sense.
Speaking of hypocritical. You always say your open minded and criticize religious faiths for attacking others who don't believe - but the very minute I get on here and share my thoughts and point of view, I get attacked and you resort to name calling. Who's the abusive husband now?
Yes, I do have children and yes, I have punished/rewarded them. If I was a believer, I would have used a very similar argument myself. The reason why they are different is because I don't punish my children FOREVER WITH AGONIZING PAIN! If god's rule was that you had to spend a little while in "time out" for all your sins to help you learn your lesson, then I would see how comparing god to a parent would be more applicable. Do you remember my analogy of burning my son's hand on a stove? I have already shown that if parents emulated the example of god, then they would all be in prison as child abusers.
I didn't say god is unfair... I said he is abusive.
Really? You believe in a magical book full of fairytales and magic, and you tell me that I am the one who isn't thinking? Atheists don't refer to themselves as FREE THINKERS for nothing.
The difference between "god" and the easter bunny is that millions and millions of people don't literally believe the easter bunny is real. If they did, I'm sure that there would be plenty of posts here about that. It makes perfect sense.
When did I ever attack you? I just respond to you when you leave comments? Personal attacks will do nothing to further the god debate, so I don't engage in it. And even if I did, that doesn't make me your husband.
BTW, Tyson, your blog is interesting and obviously very well thought out. I can see that you're no dummy. The one thing I might suggest is that you include some references. I say that because I have never ever heard that science is now moving away from the germ theory. I happen to know that vaccines are vitally important. Polio was once a feared and deadly disease but has now been completely eradicated thanks to vaccines. If the germ theory was false, how come the vaccines that were created worked so well and still do? H1N1 threatened to be very deadly but it was stopped in it's tracks by... a vaccine!
References please!
Thanks for the advice - I will try to implement more references . . . that's if I find the time to get back to my blog. I never said that science is moving away from the Germ Theory . . . well, not the science that is shown to the public anyway. I did mention research is being done. I can try to find some references, but they are few and far in between. like I said, the medical field has found themselves too far invested, they can't admit they are wrong now - not with big pharma paying the bills. If you have any specific questions, let me know. I'll see what I can find
If you can't hate God because you say he doesn't exist, how can you write a whole blog on who he is and his nature?
Do I really have to answer that?
I blog with the hopes of setting people's minds free of the superstition and myth. I talk about his attributes so that people will see how ridiculous their beliefs are.
All the comforts you enjoy in your life are because of science. All the guilt you feel in your life is because of religion.
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