Reply #4: That's a false dilemma. [View All]

[skater314159]

That is something that has been used for years as propaganda against Judaism. Saying "Christian God nice, Jewish G-d bad!" is very offensive to Jews and the Jewish interpretation of the Tanakh. I find it really ironic that the people who most emphasize the "vengeful god of the old testament" are Calvinists and other fundamentalist Christians, not the Jewish people whose religious text it was first. Except for some hard-core Orthodox and Hasidic Jews , most Jews don't see the Tanakh as being the "inspired, infallible, uncorruptable word of God" like right-wing Christians do.

Furthermore, people who believe will envision God in their own image, and unfortunately, most people don't have a very good understanding of theology. Add that to a less than stellar ability to visualise or be accepting of others, and well, you get assholes creating a Supreme Asshole in their own image. Several great Rabbis and Saints have commented on this - so the making God have the same emotional issues as the person projecting does spans both the Jewish and Christian faiths. Neither has a corner on that market.

I believe that as time goes on, and people reach higher levels of awareness and are more accepting of their fellow men and women on this planet, hopefully the amount of hatred, vengefulness, and insecurity will disappear. I know that not everyone will be cool - heck, I guess the universe has an asshole quota or something, but on the whole, I think we are doing better.

For me, I always choose love and peace over mean assholes any day be they Jewish, Christian, Islamic, Atheist, Hindu, or whatever have you.