The debate has been raging on for a while now, here on GhanaCelebrities.Com and other vibrant online platforms, about the existence of a supreme being who is up there monitoring everything we do.
I believe even staunch Christians must admit that it is a fair question to ask; that who is this God who requires only absolute devotion from us his subjects, and why it is that when it comes to religion everything must be taken on blind faith. Because whenever a shred of logic is applied to this ‘House of Cards’ that is religion, everything comes crumbling down as if one ventured down Alice’s rabbit hole themselves.
Today though, this piece would look at the Holy Book itself, the Bible, and give some pretty damning examples of the personality of God as shown in the Old Testament. After that maybe it can be explained to me how such a deity deserves any shred of devotion from us as people, aside from perhaps fear of not becoming the next victims of God’s wrath.
Most of these examples are familiar to Christians already, and often their faith requires it be buried deep somewhere in the subconscious without being given much rational thought.
This article challenges you to give it that rational thought, and come out with a satisfactory explanation of why a loving God would commit murder, infanticide, genocide, and various other atrocities as laid out in the Bible itself.
1. Do Not Make Fun of the Prophet
I am sure most of us are familiar with this story. Elisha was one of God’s better prophets back in the day, having taken up the mantle from Elijah and proven himself a worthy successor.
So one day some kids made fun of Elisha for having a bald head, his feelings got a little hurt and he cursed these kids. Forgetting the overkill of how a little teasing earned these children curses, God took it a step further and sent two she-bears to devour these kids.
There were forty-two of them, 42 kids who had to leave this earth because they made fun of a man of God. Admittedly not a nice thing to do, but talk about making a mountain out of a molehill!! (2 Kings 2:23-24)
2. Senseless Murder
There lived a certain Er, son of Judah, direct ancestor of David and Jesus. ‘Er was wicked, so the Lord slew him’; that’s a direct quote from the Bible, by the way.
So Er’s brother Onan, was then coerced into marrying and having sex with his brother’s wife. Onan refused to spill his seed in his brother’s wife, out of common decency perhaps? Anyway that also displeased God, who slew Onan as well. (Geneses 38:1-10)
Samson is one of the most famous people from biblical times, and often had God’s favour on him in all endeavours. He once gave a riddle to some Phillistines who were pals with his wife Delilah, and they made a bet as to whether they could answer or not. The bet was that the loser would supply the other 30 pieces of cloth.
Delilah wheedled the answer out of Samson and gave it to her pals. So the spirit of the Lord came unto Samson, literally; who then went out and killed thirty men, took their clothes, and used it to settle his debt. (Judges 14:1-19)
After being rescued from Egypt, the Israelites admittedly caused God a lot of problems with their constant whining and unfaithfulness, and God as usual responded by killing as many of his ‘chosen people’ as he could.
Somewhere in Numbers two elders challenged Moses, saying as to how he was lording himself over the rest of the Israelites despite the fact they haven’t seen this land flowing with milk and honey he promised.
Moses, of course, was displeased, and made a complaint to God. God responded, opening the ground to swallow these men who dared challenge Moses, taking their entire tribes along with them for good measure.
Some other Israelites saw it fit to complain about why God would kill so many people, but God failed to see their point, striking down 14,700 people, all the while failing to see the irony of killing people for complaining about his earlier killing. (Numbers 16:1-49)
3. Infanticide
The story of Uriah the soldier whom David had killed to steal his wife is quite well known. After taking the wife and getting her pregnant, God became pissed off and thus to teach David a lesson, he killed the newborn infant child, for being born in the wrong place at the wrong time. (2 Samuel 12:14-18)
Of course, the last of the ten plagues to strike Egypt was the death of every single first born Egyptian, man or animal. It just stands to reason that there were several children mixed up in that category, once again having to die just for being born at the wrong time. (Exodus 12:29)
All these, and I haven’t even mentioned the flood that wiped away almost all of humanity, Lot’s wife who got a raw deal just for looking back on an ongoing genocide, Ammonites and countless other tribes whom at one point or another in history have found themselves at odds with the Israelites.
I think my long overdue point here is that; is this the God we are supposed to give unconditional love and obedience to? Wielding power in such an arbitrary manner as shown in the Old Testament is more reminiscent of good old human dictators like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini than it is of a loving deity.
Now would be the time you explain away all this and hit us with why God is such a loving and caring being—if this is what we know of him.
We are just looking for intelligent dialogues and explanations…No offensive language.
PS: This post expounds on ideas gleaned from this article, which tackles this serious issue with appreciable humour. For a detailed list of God’s atrocities from the Old Testament, see here.
Note: Since we have added Religion to our various GC columns (running 2 articles a week on religion), we are looking to hire any person who can write on RELIGION—-particularly, for religion as we have several of our writers against religion.
We want to have a balance discussion on the issue of religion. Therefore anyone interested in writing on religious issues and defending religion should email Chris-Vincent via [email protected] . This is a paid position.
Some of the stories in the bible are scary. Good reason for anyone not to take all them as true or on literal face. Imagine God killing children for just being children which is to make fun. Hmm
Discuss Islam. I personality think you are scared of the backclash from the muslims
He knows his brainwashed head will be garnished with boobs if he does.
i meant bombs!
Plz, watch ” The Red Sea Crossing of the Exodus.” U TUBE. May the Almighty God Bless U All! JESUS IS LORD N KING! Prepare your heary for He is coming to fetch us to our everlasting Joyous HOME!
That was before Jesus died..and took all our burdens
The ignorance displayed here by gc staff is just astounding
Bless u, my dear. They will surely see us raptured. Had I known, is a fools language. We don’t care, we don’t care! But when one gets to the gate of hell, they will care…too late!
How is that ignorant? Is that not all from the bible with verses?
its like taking two scenes from a harry potter movie and claiming that to be the whole story
Don’t allow yourselves to be deceived into the pit of fire by anybody, children of God for Jesus is putting your names against ur seats in the HEAVEN AIRLINE n Jesus Christ the Pilot Himself will be landing on Earth Airport soon for our (Belivers) departure to The ETERNAL HOME. So get ready now, take ur passport (Confess Jesus as ur lord n personal Saviour n repent), n receive ur HEAVEN VISA (HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD) In ur Heart, n then off we take the Most wonderful unscheduled date trip ever in our lives. GOD BLESS U ALL. JESUS SAVES N IS THE ONLY LOVER OF ALL SOULS. THANK U!
No more Konky. Supreme Royalty. Jesus is Lord! I LOOOOOOOOOOOVE JESUS CHRIS♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ MMMMMUAH!!!
So all these are from the bible and none of the so called Christians could even explain or see how gangsta God is. This Christian God is wicked. This is why Islam is the best. I am glad all the Christians have disappeared from this article lol
The same Islam god that warrants the killings and deeds of his “holy” prophet? spare us.. Most muslims I know dont throw stones at Christians even tho we disagree..you are an exception..its a shame.. The end justifies the means..
And that is why God sent his only son Jesus to die on the cross for our sins, if not for his sacrifice you and i would long be dead.The bible just goes to show you that no one human is perfect, but no matter how disgusting your sins are God is willing to forgive them you just need to pray to him, confess them with an open heart and ask for forgiveness.In the old testament it was the law of God that that was used guide our lives and yes it was hard, if we were still under the law there would be no one to write this article and no one to even read it such is the wickedness of this present world because you and i my friend would be dead like those you speak of in the bible.The sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross is what keeps us here. THE END TIMES ARE HERE MY FRIENDS LET US RATHER NOT BE SAD BECAUSE WE WILL FACE MUCH PERSECUTION AND BE MADE FUN OF FOR OUR FAITH BUT RATHER PREPARE OURSELVES AND STRENGTHEN OUR WILL SO HAT WE WILL LIVE ETERNALLY IN A PLACE MUCH GREATER THAN THIS WORLD.
So this Gangsta God went about killing people and to help him stop killing people, he had to get his own son killed first? Does this make sense to you? Are you that foolish to believe these things? Why must Jesus come and die first before God will all of a sudden turn to become nice person? Useless. I am Jesus and I did not die anywhere for anyone
I pray that the Almighty GOD will forgive whoever wrote this article , I do not know if is Chris of GC ,but all the same I pray our GOD will forgive me, my sins and also forgive whoever wrote this article .No one should question the Almighty GOD.
Indeed Naa may he have mercy on us all, such is the Agenda of this site to confuse, make fun of and challenge the doctrines and word of God to push their own agenda down our throats.
Precisely! Their way to decieve ple to hell with them but we won’t give them the satisfaction.
But they also asked for people who write FOR religion..to balance it this is a debate not a personal matter
A foolish disrespectful debate to God’s face that wise people will never partake!
Okay well that is your opinion..it doesn’t mean that anyone who debates about this is not wise..everyone to their opinions and you have to respect that
You are foolish not to be able to take part in debate. God is a scam and that is why fools like you cannot defend him or why you believe him. You support a God that killed children? You are murder yourself then
The impudence…
But you just did by commenting so you are not wise
well said dear….
God is a fictional character being used as a scam to fool those who cannot think. See how they are here talking rubbish. which loving father goes about killing people like this for nothing? Only fools believe in God and say there is a God. He killed children for making fun? WTF
It is so ironic that ur name is Jesus
Yeah I am Jesus the one people say I died on some cross which I did not. lol. I was busy drinking palm wine with my boys
May u burn in the eternal barbeque
Eternal barbeque paa..eii
I say Amen to that!
No. He just blasphemous. Ple like that, their end is very sudden n satan welcomes them glady to eternal torture.
May God have mercy on your soul. Only a fool says there’s no GOod. You should ask for forgiveness before is too late. Remember your creator whiles you have the breath.
You are soo right my sister.
You who say there is no God, What right do you have to talk about Love, or even foolishness? What then is love and by what standards are you holding the fictional God to?
Bernice Offei ‘ Life is so short’ gosple song. Exclusive!
Yeah. She also sung Hold on Fast, a beautiful piece!
Also adding Esther Smiths song ‘ Nyame wo ho’ ft Morris Baby face. Whether u believe it or not, God is real!!!
Seek ye Jehovah while he may be found; call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; and let him return unto Jehovah, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7 ASV)
May God have mercy and forgive this writer for his sins. God bless
You again!!!…. hmm these are some of d things evident that Jesus Christ has inscribed on each one of us grace..whether saved or not. but careful the grace has limits..God is not mocked..He’s not a God of the old testament only but New testament as well..He stays the same.Whatever He did during those times He still can do now..Keep taking grace for granted and we will witness the situation of “Paul” or “Ananias and Sapphira” ..really hope its the former for u..cuz u wouldnt like the latter… its gross disrespect to go around almost every week bashing Christianity in particular. I dont believe in Islam and their ways but I dont think its fair to go around disrespecting what’s written in the Qu’ran etc. I will comment on no religious issues here anymore..
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” All your blabbing proves this Bible verse..I have said before that until there’s an encounter there’s no repentance..I do not pray for your destruction but may the power of d Holy spirit arrest you like He did to Paul..We will be praying for you..thats what you need and the others also who are conniving with you. Mercy!!
They shd read the whole of proverbs one and see their end
wooow!so u tryna tell us tht twasnt God Almighty who created us and the planets?..u tryna tell us tht twasnt Our Alpha n Omega who gave us life,created animals and everything in this world?..ah?!..why dont u discuss islam,or u scared of the bashing and death threats u´ll receive ayye?smh nyame hu wo mobor!..science or wteva u belive in didnt make u and I..if u interested to knw more abt God,just say so rather than bashing ur maker…hw3 sinti dua no b3 ba oo,nia 3b3 ba niso di3..ondu3 paaaa..may God hv mercy on ur soul and the souls of some of the commentators who speak nonfa abt this article
Answer about Lot’s wife : While she was
fleeing from Sodom with her family, she disobeyed Jehovah and looked
back. Because of that, she was turned into a pillar of salt.—Read Genesis 19:17, 26.
But why did Lot’s wife
look back? Maybe she wanted to see what was happening. Or it is
possible that she turned around because she could not believe that the
city was being destroyed. Maybe her faith was weak. Or maybe she wanted
to go back to the things she had left behind in Sodom. (Luke 17:31)
Whatever the reason for her looking back, she died when she disobeyed.
Just think of it! She died the same day as those wicked people of Sodom
and Gomorrah. That is why Jesus said: “Remember the wife of Lot.”