|
|
The short answer to the above question is "no, Yahweh doesn't exist." The long answer is why I'm writing this essay. I will demonstrate why I think it is impossible for the biblegod to exist. If this deity is described in a self-contradictory manner, then it follows that it is non-existent, according to the law of contradiction; and biblegod most certainly falls into this category.
Psalms 89:14
Justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall
go before thy face.
Here we have, in one verse, two supposed attributes of the biblegod. Are they correct? Does biblegod exibit these attributes of justice and mercy? Let's see what the Bible itself has to say.
1 Samuel 15:1-3:
Samuel also said unto Saul, The LORD sent me to anoint thee to be king over
his people, over Israel: now therefore hearken thou unto the voice of the
words of the LORD. 2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, I remember that which
Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up
from Egypt. 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they
have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling,
ox and sheep, camel and ass.
Note the reason why king Saul had to destroy the Amalekites: "I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he laid wait for him in the way, when he came up from Egypt." That's it! That's the only reason given, despite protestations from Christians that we Atheists ignore the context. The text plainly states that it was because of what they had done to the children of Isreal, some 400 years before! Bible Believers love to ignore what the Bible says when it suits their fancy, but the words are there and they're unambiguous.
There is no justice in punishing people for something their ancestors had done some 400 years previous. How is it just to have women, children and suckling infants slaughtered because of their ancestors made war against Isreal? The answer? It isn't, otherwise justice means nothing; it's an empty term.
Where is the mercy in having women, children and suckling infants, hacked to pieces? Where is the mercy in having animals senselessy slaughtered because some petulant deity has decided so? The answer? It is nowhere to be found in this text, especially with regards to this deity.
The plain truth is that -- if this event ever happened -- the Isrealites used their god in order to justify their slash-'n-burn philosophy of conquest. They weren't alone in doing such things. The times were barbaric and they were no different than the other peoples around them. But what does that say for their god? The same thing it says for all the other war gods of antiquity.
According to the law of contradiction, X cannot equal not-X, i.e., two contradictory propositions cannot exist simultaneously. Either biblegod is just, or he isn't, either he is good or he isn't. If he acts in an unjust manner, then saying he is just is contradicting oneself; it's as simple as that.
Psalms 25:8
Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach sinners in the way.
Good and upright, eh? Well, let's see what the Bible had to say:
The Bible says that because David had taken a census of Isreal, there had to be consequences to David's act. How does the biblegod meet out his "goodness?" He has 70,000 men of Isreal killed because of David's "sin." You can read it for yourself in 2 Samuel 24.
How can one possibly equate that with goodness without being self-contradictory? The answer? One cannot without being totally irrational. And what does it say for the justice and uprightness of biblegod? A good and upright god would not have killed innocent men. That's the long and the short of it.
Anyone good and upright would have dealt with the perpetrator, but it would seem that in the topsy-turvy world of the Bible, slaughtering 70,000 men for the sin of one man is a good and upright thing. Praise the Lord, he really knows how to teach sinners a lesson!
The Bible is replete with such examples. The biblegod drowned all his creation because he thought they were all "corrupt," including children, infants and even animals (Genesis 6). He had all Midianite males, as well as women who "had known a man," slaughetred mercilessly, but let the Isrealites keep those women and baby girls who "had not known a man," as their personal slaves (Numbers 31). I'll let you figure out how they determined that a woman had "known a man."
He had 42 boys ripped apart by two she-bears because they had dared taunt a "prophet" about his bald head (2 Kings 2). He commanded and sanctioned human sacrifice (Leviticus 27: 28,29; Judges 11:29-40; Samuel 21:1-9 ). He had babies "dashed to pieces" and pregnant women's bellies ripped open, thus killing both them and their offspring (Hosea 13:16). I could go on and on with such stories, but the point is made.
Conclusion
How anyone can defend a deity who is said to have done or commanded such things is, frankly, beyond me. The Christian who defends this--and there are many who do--is being totally irrational. No rational man would do such a thing. Reason tells us that goodness, justice and mercy, do not permit one to command or sanction such atrocities, especially not if this goodness and mercy is said to have no bounds.
Faith in and the defense of such a deity has nothing to do with reason. I have even heard a Christian defend the biblegod in these terms: "Killing babies was always wrong, is always wrong, and always will be wrong unless God is doing the killing. Where is the double standard?" (Emphasis mine)
Have you ever read anything as senseless as this? I have, and I've read such things on many occasions written by Christians who try to pound it home every chance they get, i.e., that their god is full of goodness and is just and mercifrul. How can a rational man defend such a proposition? A rational man cannot.
Faith has nothing, repeat nothing, to do with reason. It is as irrational as irrational can be, no matter how many times a Believer tries to couch his words in reason. Weasel words are the order of the day when speaking with a Bible Believer.
Does the biblegod exist? Could any such god exist? The answer is emphatically and unequivocally "NO!" Nothing so self-contradictory could be real, unless one lives in the Twilight Zone of the Bible.
