A Personal Loving God? NOT!

A Personal Loving God? NOT!

John Stone

“We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further.”

-Richard Dawkins (1941 - ), "The Root of All Evil," UK Channel 4, 2006

God, as theologians quoting the Bible want you to imagine, is an “invisible magical man in the sky:”

· "God probes every heart and perceives every urge of thought" (1-Chronicles 28:9)

· "[God] knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalms 44:21)

· "[God's] understanding is infinite" (Psalms 147:5)

Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan used Psalms 147:5 to set forth Orthodox Judaism’s Understanding God: ¹

“God can therefore know what is happening to every single atom in the universe at every given instant. No matter how great the number of simultaneous events, it is nothing compared to God's infinite knowledge.” ¹

The rabbi continues:

“We know Him [God] though our prayers for life, health and prosperity, as well as our hopes for mankind…. three times each day, we address God and say, ‘Blessed are You, O Lord, our … Great, mighty and awesome God, Highest One, Giver of love and goodness, Master of all… King, Helper, Deliverer, and Shield.’ This prayer expresses our most basic feelings toward God. “²

Judaism claims “God is our individual, personal God. ³

“That is why the verse [Deuteronomy 6:5] says to love him "with all your heart... all your soul... all your possessions. ... God has shown you the right path and allowed you to grow. He arranges events according to your special circumstances, to teach you and guide you at every stage and moment." 4

With this background in mind, this is Judaism’s “Personal God” summarized:

· "[God's] understanding is infinite" (Psalms 147:5).

· "God probes every heart and perceives every urge of thought" (1-Chronicles 28:9).

· "[God] knows the secrets of the heart" (Psalms 44:21).

· God is our individual, personal God.⁴

· He [god] arranges events according to your special circumstances ⁴

Last, but not least, Judaism, as well as Christianity, maintains that absolutely nothing exists that was not created by God and it is ALL for your good.

“There are no coincidences in life -- everything that happens is from God…” ⁵

“Everything God does for you is a gift…” ⁶

Now a simple example to clearly illustrate the idiocy of this theology ― without a doubt!

Who created cancer? Why God of course! Based on this God theology, it is God who gives CANCER to certain humans, picking and choosing individuals to infect using God’s infinite wisdom. Consider these examples:

· Innocent babies: ⁷

“About 10% of all cancers to strike children under the age of 15 are diagnosed in infants one year old or younger. Infants get the same types of cancer that tend to develop in older children and adolescents—acute leukemias and tumors of the brain, nervous system, lymphatic system, kidneys, bones, and muscles—but the prognosis, behavior, and treatment of these cancers in infants can be very different. .. infants with cancer have a much lower five-year survival rate than older children (33% vs. 75%, respectively)…”

· Children,

· Mothers,

· Fathers,

· Your wife or husband, or

· You

You pray continuously and ask others to join in. You send out emails for prayer, go to your preacher or priest for prayers and blessings for healing. Yet strangely:

· Innocent babies die of God’s cancer

· Children die of God’s cancer

· Mothers and fathers die of God’s cancer

As God screws the innocent with suffering, great pain and death, to whom are these lessons being directed? YOU, as you watch them die? THEM and they can only suffer in horrible pain before finally expiring? Yeah, God really shows those dead babies and children that have been brought into this world ― God kills them with Cancer -- "to teach you and guide you at every stage and moment."⁸ Or maybe your loving and personal God killed your baby to teach YOU a lesson! Yeah, that's the ticket! Yada, yada, yada! Yeah, and the theologians will give you an excuse only an idiot will swallow; “God works in mysterious ways.”

· “For centuries, theologians have been explaining the unknowable in terms of the-not-worth-knowing.” -H. L. Mencken (1880 - 1956)

People, stop with the ignorance!

This god stuff is just FICTION! And you know it NOW!

· “I've often thought the Bible should have a disclaimer in the front saying this is fiction.” Ian McKellen, Interview on the Today Show, May 2006

Parting thoughts to ponder:

"I cannot conceive of a personal God who would directly influence the actions of individuals, or would directly sit in judgment on creatures of his own creation." -Albert Einstein

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." -Martin Luther King Jr. (1929 - 1968), Strength to Love, 1963

Footnotes:

1. Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, Understanding God, Aish.com, http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/Understanding_God.asp

2. The Handbook of Jewish Thought (Vol. 1), Maznaim Publishing

3. Rabbi Noah Weinberg, 6 Constant Mitzvahs: #4 - Love God, Aish.com, http://www.aish.com/spirituality/foundations/6_Constant_Mitzvahs_4_-_Love_God.asp

4. ibid

5. Lori Palatnik, The Guiding Hand, Jewish Literacy, Aish.com, http://www.aish.com/literacy/concepts/The_Guiding_Hand.asp

6. Rabbi Noah Weinberg, 6 Constant Mitzvahs: #1 – Know These is a God, Aish.com, http://www.aish.com/spirituality/foundations/1_-_Know_There_is_a_God.asp

7. Rachel Williams, The Youngest Cancer Patients, OncoLog, Nov 2004, Vol 49, No. 11, http://www2.mdanderson.org/depts/oncolog/articles/04/11-nov/11-04-1.html

8. ibid, Rabbi Noah Weinberg

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