
Following up on my article: A Repulsive God, I though I would now focus some attention on the New Testament. Christians would observe that most of “God’s” transgressions occur in the Old Testament. They argue that in the Old Testament “God” is stern and angry, while Jesus of the New Testament is all-loving.
We should examine, then, the quality of the love that Jesus promises to bring to humans. Jesus tells us his mission is to make family members hate one another, so that they shall love him more than their kin (Matt. 10:35-37). He promises salvation to those who abandon their wives and children for him (Matt. 19:29, Mark 10:29-30, Luke 18:29-30). Disciples must hate their parents, siblings, wives, and children (Luke 14:26). The rod is not enough for children who curse their parents; they must be killed (Matt. 15:4-7, Mark 7:9-10, following Lev. 20:9). These are Jesus’ “family values.” Peter and Paul add to these family values the despotic rule of husbands over their silenced wives, who must obey their husbands as gods (1 Cor. 11:3, 14:34-5; Eph. 5:22-24; Col. 3:18; 1 Tim. 2:11-12; 1 Pet. 3:1).
Make no mistake about Jesus’ character, in Matt. 10:34 Jesus makes it clear to his followers that he “did not come to bring peace, but a sword”. Continuing in this aggressive vein, Jesus says that “if a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned” (John 15:6).
These horrible passages have been used over the centuries to justify witch-burnings and assorted other tortures of non-believers.
Jesus’ violent side surfaces yet again in Luke 19:27, where he tells a strange parable about a king, in which he has the king say, “But those enemies of mine who did not want me to be king over them—bring them here and kill them in front of me.” If this passage does not refer to Christ and the kingdom of God, why does Jesus tell this parable? This indicates a very aggressive, violent and dangerous character.
Moving on…At the second coming, any city that does not accept Jesus will be destroyed, and the people will suffer even more than they did when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah (Matt. 10:14-15, Luke 10:12). God will flood the Earth as in Noah’s time (Matt. 24:37). Or perhaps He will set the Earth on fire instead, to destroy the unbelievers (2 Pet. 3:7-10) – but not before God sends Death and Hell to kill one quarter of the Earth “by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts” (Rev. 6:8).
Apparently, it is not enough to kill people once; they have to be killed more than once to satisfy the genocidal mathematics of the New Testament. For we are also told that an angel will burn up one third of the Earth (Rev 8:7), another will poison a third of its water (Rev 8:10-11), four angels will kill another third of humanity by plagues of fire, smoke, and sulfur (Rev 9:17-18), two of God’s witnesses will visit plagues on the Earth as much as they like (Rev 11:6), and there will be assorted deaths by earthquakes (Rev 11:13, 16:18-19) and hailstones (Rev 16:21).
Death is not bad enough for unbelievers, however; they must be tortured first. Locusts will sting them like scorpions until they want to die, but they will be denied the relief of death (Rev 9:3-6). Seven angels will pour seven bowls of God’s wrath, delivering plagues of painful sores, seas and rivers of blood, burns from solar flares, darkness and tongue-biting (Rev 16:2-10).
Make no mistake about any of the evils that you read in New Testament, for in Rev 22:18-19, if anyone adds or “takes away from the words in the book of his prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city”. This last passage of the New Testament instructs the reader to make no assumptions or interpretations on what he/she has just read. In relation, the Old Testament also states that “God’s” words and commandments are “perfect”, “wise”, “trustworthy”, and “forever”! (Deut 4:2, 12:32; Psalm 19:7; Isaiah 26:4).
Consequently, the notion that the “God” of the Old Testament is an angry “God” while Jesus is a loving “God” is, in fact, a baseless proposition. A simple read will reveal just how much of a crazy cult leader Jesus really was.
Thanks for reading,
Notes:
All Bible quotes taken from New Revised Standard Version
Leave a Reply