your God is just a tribal god?

Question

(this below is borrowed from lokasenna, who gave a great answer to someone else's question)

He's more of a angry war God then anything else. His named means ever-flowing and dated back to his origins as a volcano deity. It's a very bad idea to invoke him, he's one of the most dangerous deities due to his temper.

I think the Christian concept of God doesn't exist at all. It's impossible and contradictory. They endow him with too many attributes that doesn't match with his personality and define him into non-existence with the omnipotence and omni benevolent propaganda.

what are your thoughts on that?

Answer 1

Hehe, I'm flattered. :-)

To answer you question: Most all Gods and Goddesses in their most ancient forms started off as local deities. For example, Odin in one of his most ancient manifestations was a storm God endowed with the function of collecting the souls of the dead. This his oldest aspect survived in the lore of the Wild Hunt.

Now, onto the topic of YHVH. Yah is a Volcano Deity. The name YHVH itself may be from the Sanscrit "YHVH", meaning "Ever-Flowing" and thus relates him to volcanic activity. After a short time, YHVH became the National Deity of Isra-El, and was equated with El of Canaan. Many people do not realize that he comes from the Canaanite pantheon and was one of many Gods & Goddesses worshiped by the ancient Middle Easterners. As time went on, he began to absorb the attributes and functions of other Gods in his pantheon. Hebrews seemed to have associated YHVH with Ba'al, making the two gods (just as with El and Yah) nearly identical.

Anyone who has looked into the omnipotence paradox understands why I say that the Christian concept of deity is impossible and contradictory. If a God is all Good, he cannot do evil things and cannot be almighty. Most people would object and say that good can do evil but chooses not to do it. Well, if God is all good he can't choose to do evil things, can he?

Answer 2

I am curious what Hebrew name means "ever-flowing". His name has more of a reference to mountain. God is given many different titles. Each of these titles are descriptors fo WHO he is. God as described in the OT and the NT is the same God. The Bible never contradicts itself theologically. That is, the Bible is always talking about the same God and never contradicts on what this God is like. So as long as the "Christian concept of God" is derived from Scriptures it is not impossible nor contradictory.

Now I do question the claims of "omnipotence" and "omni benevolent propaganda". There is Scriptures to support some of these attributes but we readily accept these attributes when they aren't all clear in Scripture. And Christians and others tend to misunderstanding and misinterpret the ramifications that God is All-Knowing and All-Powerful. The "omni" terms were developed at a council possibly even at the most popular council due to the popularity of Dan Brown's Divinci Code, the council known as Council of Nicea.

Answer 3

Why can't God be angry and loving at the same time? God despises sin, and punishes it. However God blesses those that do good. Would God be Good if he allowed rapers, and killers to get away with what they did?


Evil and good are simply the two opposites that are found throughout nature. Without opposites, the Yin and Yang, life would not be possible at all. Without opposites we would also have no freedom of choice. Therefore God does not interfere. Imagine two armies approaching, they are fighting over something as simple as food. Both parties are praying to God for help. Who is God to help? And if God does not interfere could we reasonably conclude that He does not care and, therefore, does not exist? God is Self-energetic Mass-awareness. That is self-evident because energy and Awareness is all that exist. The energy part can be confirmed by any physicist and Awareness is simply part of our experience and cannot have developed out of dead matter or lifeless energy. Since everything is a condensation of his energy, for God only God exists. God is not a person and for that reason we should not try to understand God in human terms.

Answer 4

that's kind of a broad refutation of the whole thing...what are your sources? Because if you are only repeating things that you have heard from other people...the "immpossible" and "contradictory" part...not sure how it ties in with the whole thing...really...if the whole angry war god thing is a poke at the war going now...just because some dude says that he is a christian and uses it to conjure up support for an ill thought out war...doesn't mean that the God that he is misrepresenting is down with it...i dare say that maybe that person isn't actually a christian...read the book of john in the bible then tell me if you still think that God is some whack off shoot of a pagan or zoroastrian or whatever the case may be god.

http://tim.2wgroup.com/blog/archives/001148.html

this a great refutation of essentially all of the comparisons, maybe if you'll read it you can see the faulty reasoning in comparing Jesus/ the "Christian" God to the others.

Answer 5

Yahweh is very much connected to the ancient sun gods of the Egyptians, Babylonians, and others. His anger, his association with fire and heat, the belief that he brought the seasons and the rain, the bright glory that surrounds him, are all hints of his sun origins. Ancient man worshipped the sun because they recognized that it gave warmth, light, and life to the world. Later, they began to personify the sun as various gods, and eventually the gods were worshipped in their own right, with their solar origins forgotten by all but a few--the priests and those who were initiated into the religious "mysteries."

Jesus Christ is, himself, a recycling of these ancient myths. As the dying-resurrecting deity, he represents the sun, which "dies" in winter and is "reborn" in spring. This is the origin of Christmas and Easter, both of which were celebrated for thousands of years (under different names) long before Christianity came along. Compare the story of Mithra to that of Jesus. Both were said to be gods in human form, came to Earth as a baby, narrowly escaped death as infants, were born in a stable or cave, had 12 disciples, did many miracles, were killed on a cross, stake, or tree, spent 3 days in the grave, then resurrected and appeared to their disciples, promising to return later. Osiris, Dionysis, Quetzalcoatl, and many other gods had similar stories woven around them, all originating in the cycle of the sun throughout the year. Christianity is just another sun-god religion with the names changed to suit a different audience.

Answer 6

Um, no -- it is not the equal factor. The historical testomony makes transparent that the "gods" of alternative cultures had been viewed REAL gods by means of the Hebrews...they only were not the god of the Hebrews. Go again and browse how oftentimes the Hebrews are chastised for chasing after different gods -- no longer different FALSE gods, simply different gods. The Hebrews viewed all gods truly, they only viewed Yahweh or Jehovah *their* god, certainly committed to them, whose role used to be to safeguard THEM. They additionally viewed him essentially the most strong of all of the gods -- however NOT the one god. It used to be a "my god is higher than yours" sort of worldwide, and the Hebrews performed correct in conjunction with the opposite persons. Peace.

Answer 7

I adore Lokasenna's mind.. she is very astute and intelligent.
I happen to also agree with her thoughts on the christian god.

Answer 8

My thoughts have been consistant as ever, I have always said God is a God of Love, & then a God of Judgement & then A God of Wrath. God has given us 2000 yrs of love, now his Judgement & wrath is just in front of this world.

Answer 9

GOD HAVE MERCY