Have you ever noticed how closely the god of the Bible resembles an abusive spouse and how often it's believers seem to be in an abusive relationship with it?Abusers use fear, guilt, shame, and intimidation to wear you down and keep you under his or her thumb. Your abuser may also threaten you, hurt you, or hurt those around you.
This site gives a list of 23 questions to help you decide if you are in an abusive relationship. The more "yes" answers, the more abusive the relationship is. Here are some of them. How many apply to a Christian's relationship with their god?
Do you:
- feel afraid of your god much of the time? (Psalms 19:9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever)
- avoid certain topics out of fear of angering your god? (Psalms 19:14 Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD)
- believe that you deserve to be hurt or mistreated? (Ezra 9:13 And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;)
Does your god:
- blame you for their own abusive behavior? (Leviticus 26:14-46)
- have a bad and unpredictable temper? (2 Chronicles 30:8 ...and serve the LORD your God, that the fierceness of his wrath may turn away from you.)
- hurt you or threaten to hurt you or kill you? (Deuteronomy 30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live)
- threaten to take your children away or harm them? (Exodus 20:5 ..for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me)
- act excessively jealous and possessive? (Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God)
- control where you go or what you do? (Deuteronomy 6:2 That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son's son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged.)
- constantly check up on you? (Psalms 94:11 The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man,)
So, with "yes" to 10 out of 23, I reckon that makes it a fairly abusive relationship.
I think you need to realize that you cite evidence and interpret it according to your own belief system, but for another person with a different belief system it interprets into the exact opposite. Here is a part of my belief system that shows you how an opposite interpretation arises:
ReplyDeleteI am talking from a Muslim stand-point by the way.
1- Rule 1: We are asked to seek the pleasure of God
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Why? Because God didn't ask us to do anything except for a benefit to us, nor to abandon something except for a harm to us. Greed, arrogance, ignorance prevent us from realizing that at some stages, but as we grow up and learn, this becomes more and more obvious.
Rule 2: If we please God, we get rewarded. If we displease him, we get punished.
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Why? Ask any Dad why he rewards or punishes his kid.
Rule 3: Because I am a Muslim who believes in God, his Greatness and do not associate any partners to him (i.e. because I follow the message that each of his messengers called to), God wants to punish me in the lightest possible way
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God does not destine any harm to any human being except for a sin. No sin, not a single needle's pinch of ache. If you sin, the easiest way out is to repent and compensate people if your sin involved offense to another human. If the sin is between you and God, repentance is enough. If you don't repent, God will not try to punish you with hell fire. He will first try to punish you in this life (getting sick, poor, ...), and this is why repentence removes these conditions when made sincerely. If this doesn't sanitize you from your all of your sins, God makes the moment of death more painful (equal to 3000 hits by a sword). This is a stronger punishment, but much lighter than what's yet to come. If this is not sufficient to sanitize you, there is Grave punishment. If this is not enough, then is punishment on judgement day during judgement. If this is not enough, then a muslim has to go to hell for some time before entering paradise.
So it is actually the exact opposite of what you said. God is trying to punish you in the least way, with the door of repentance always open if you want to avoid punishment all together.