Thank you for sharing your wisdom. I should keep out of this section but for all my life I have never said anything to anyone about religion and frankly put up with so much crap and religious hypocrisy I suppose I am responding to those times now passed. The funny thing is I would not throw religion out if I found myself ruler of a country as I see the need. I don't have it if anything goes wrong I usually find I have put myself in that situation such that I could be taken advantage of or lose. I don't blame the thief or God but myself for not looking after my stuff. So it irritates me when folk abdicate personal responsibility to luck or the will of God. Up until I enrolled here I would support anyone's crazy ideas simply to be polite so I think after all those years I have opportunity to say something and unfortunately I do. But I am getting old and grumpy so what do you do. Alex
To get an accurate perspective it would better to compare the time, the place, and the circumstance It is worthless and unrealistic to atheists. Proof God exist?. For atheists, I agree. The thing is, God as a metaphor, is nothing but a ... metaphor. God exists and God does not exist depending on the individuals. The belief in God, is that God is the ultimate source. Not something that just happens to be around that we either choose or not to take on board, as if we have a real choice in the matter Jan.
I don't think that the Biblical God literally evolved. (I don't think that the Biblical God literally exists.) But the idea, concept and image of their God prevalent among the early Hebrew community does seem to have grown and developed. During the time of the prophets particularly, it acquired a much more pronounced ethical dimension. That's reflected in the differences that you point to between the earlier and the later Biblical books.
Yes "luck" an "God" is 2 of the thangs i also dont have beliefs in... an my nirvana bloomed when i relized that no one deserves punishment or blame (which includes me)... but ever one is held responsible for ther actions... an those who take responsibility for ther actions tend to be beter off... perty simple realy.!!!
My first reading of the whole Bible in 1968 was a revelation ! I decided to read it because a dear school friend had just got himself converted to Christianity, much to my surprise, as he was great fun up to then. I did indeed conclude that God evolved, almost perceptibly chapter by chapter. After a few pages in Genesis it quickly becomes clear that God was the tribal God of the Israelites and hated all the nearby tribes. Quite often he punished his own chosen tribe for disobeying trivial rules. In the New Testament, he is often rather nice and becomes the God of the Gentiles, but you need to ignore the last book (Revelation) to retain this opinion, for in that book he dishes out horrendous punishment to much of mankind, saving only a few thousand Jews who will become the inhabitants of a new Jerusalem. You also need to ignore the references to the wailing and gnashing of teeth. After reading it, I was totally convinced it was mostly invented history embellished by magic as a literary device. Another interesting thing I noticed, is the long conversations with God in the Old testament, that gradually disappear. God actually dwelt among the Israelites, sometimes in a tent, and was regularly revealing himself in the form of a cloudy or fiery column. He even had a seat on the famous ark of the covenant. Later, he hid in a bush up a mountain. In the New Testament there are no conversations with God (unless you assume Jesus was God). God says very little at all. It's almost as if he's retired to some remote realm, just above the clouds, sitting on a golden throne. According to some historians, much of the Old testament was written down centuries after the events depicted Try this test: Think of a long conversation you had, say, a year ago. Could you write down, from memory, word for word, exactly what was said by each person without inventing anything or summarizing ? Much of the Pentateuch involves extremely long conversations with God and with only one person present as a "witness". Even if a scribe was present, recording conversations, there is still a problem. I have, in my working life, sometimes taken "minutes" at meetings. It's quite a tricky occupation. I was often criticized for recording falsehoods. For my part, writing down conversations, hundreds of years later, from oral tradition, without resorting to invention, stretches credulity to breaking point.
There is a common idea that God never changes. But how could anybody know ? God created a world that changes all the time. Planets and electrons are moving about. Animals and plants evolve. Perhaps that tells us something about the nature of God ! Whilst on a long sea voyage, looking out at the ever changing water and weather, the only respite was the book that fascinates everybody and must contain true wisdom. In that book, God does change, but is that man's concept of God changing or did God change ?
