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When I did believe in God (as in the Abrahamic God), I did believe Him to be wrathful. At that time, I believed this for both of the reasons you've listed.
When I was a little girl (age 12) reading the Bible for myself in search of truth, the God of the Old testament seemed incredibly angry and vengeful to me and I was terrified of Him. As I got older and continued seeking the truth, I eventually had my own personal experiences with Him. Talk about Loving and liberating! Changed my entire world view and perception as well as my perception of the Bible. I got glimpses of love from my family (particularly my grandmother) but this was above and beyond and in its purest form.
I think if people perceive God to be wrathful, most people, it's because of what people have told them and by the spirit which those people share it with them. For those who read it themselves and perceive Him as wrathful, keep searching, because I am 100% sure that God is unconditionally loving. Yes, even the God of the Old Testament. I can't make you see it. No one else could make me see it either. BUt when I experienced it for myself, I knew beyond a doubt.
When I was a little girl (age 12) reading the Bible for myself in search of truth, the God of the Old testament seemed incredibly angry and vengeful to me and I was terrified of Him. As I got older and continued seeking the truth, I eventually had my own personal experiences with Him. Talk about Loving and liberating! Changed my entire world view and perception as well as my perception of the Bible. I got glimpses of love from my family (particularly my grandmother) but this was above and beyond and in its purest form.
I think if people perceive God to be wrathful, most people, it's because of what people have told them and by the spirit which those people share it with them. For those who read it themselves and perceive Him as wrathful, keep searching, because I am 100% sure that God is unconditionally loving. Yes, even the God of the Old Testament. I can't make you see it. No one else could make me see it either. BUt when I experienced it for myself, I knew beyond a doubt.
I would not suppose anyone is seriously suggesting that anyone who thinks that god is wrathful and vengeful made up the idea out of whole cloth.
To me, it's fairly simple. Holy books are inherently subject to interpretation of convenience. There's a lot of material in the Bible, and not exclusively the OT, that portrays god as petty, vindictive, sadistic and insecure. There's yet more material promoting god as one's "heavenly father". There are millions of people who had emotionally abusive or just plain grumpy fathers. Projecting from that, a heavenly father is also abusive and/or grumpy but with unlimited power. So you have things as a result like Jonathan Edward's sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, which in my day at least was part of American History taught to every sixth grader -- some of whom have abusive and/or grumpy fathers. And so it goes: pentecostal firebrands preaching hellfire and brimstone, more restrained ministers who are not above using some creative guilting and shaming and threatening now and then, and a significant part of the populace who are vulnerable to such things.
I was fortunate to have been raised in an intact, stable, loving home by reasonably competent parents, so I sailed through evangelical Christianity with no real guilt issues or insecurities or self doubt in spite of all this, but I know plenty of people who, as Christians, never felt assured of their salvation and as deconverts, ever wonder if somehow all the BS wasn't true after all. As Christians they were tormented by the weakness of their faith, and as unbelievers they are tormented by their inability to turn belief on like a faucet -- if they could, they would. The emotional agony of these people is palpable.
Just wondering. Them's aren't fightin' words....just "How come"...?
Thanx in advance.
As the song goes, "'cause the Bible tells me so."
Also, the entire concept of a god who will send one to eternal punishment for simply not believing in him cannot be considered anything but "wrathful".
Also, the entire concept of a god who will send one to eternal punishment for simply not believing in him cannot be considered anything but "wrathful".
I agree with this.
I mean come on. Seriously.
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