Is God a Bonehead, or What?
I received an email from someone who asks whether God is a bonehead. What do you think? John, love your blog. It has helped me come out of fundy Christianity of the mennonite persuasion.
Just wondering here. I've never seen this tack taken before:
When God created the angels they must have been perfect along with Satan. Apparently they rebelled, and were subsequently kicked out of heaven, indicating a free will on their parts. So God's plan was fucked up. Then what does he do? He tries again by creating man. Same result, except this time he let an evil serpent into the garden of eden to tempt his second attempt of perfect beings.
Is God really such a bonehead? Two failed attempts here. Funny thing is though, some angels remained loyal. The evil choice of one did not doom them all necessarily, it was a true individual decision. Somehow we weren't granted that same opportunity, we're all doomed by association with adam and eve. Any thoughts?
14 comments:
I've always had these questions too. I never thought of God as a "bonehead," but I have wondered why Adam and Eve were blamed for bringing evil into the created order when Lucifer and his gang had already rebelled prior to their sin. I'm really interested in finding out what some of you theologians have to say about this, as my background is in philosophy and history.
Boneheads exist.
God is a bonehead.
Ergo, God exists.
Looks airtight to me.
Interesting. My father was raised as a Mennonite. He was excommunicated from the church when he was 15. This would have been about 1939. His own family rejected him, turning their backs and shunning him, as is the habit among this brand of Mennonite. In spite of their overwhelming love, I'm glad they did this. It would be a couple decades and then some before I came along. But had he not been rejected by the church, I may have never come on the scene.
But I exist, and I am here with you now. And I enjoy having my say.
Regards,
Dawson
And the logical conclusion is that there is no assurance that once all the "redeemed" are in heaven, they won't once again rebel. If the angels did, even in heaven, why won't they?
Or is that all in God's plan; another boatload for hell? Was that maybe what He wanted all along? After all, what He wants, He gets; He is omnipotent, isn't He?
It's worse than that. After the Adam & Eve fiasco, the fourth person ever created kills the third person ever created. God then leaves humanity alone for a while until he decides to wipe out everyone but the best folk on Earth, Noah and his family. What happens after God kills everyone but Noah? Noah and family immediately screw up and the whole "killing everyone" plan becomes absolutely pointless.
Yes, if God exists, he's a huge bonehead.
Actually there is another solution; god*cough* is evil and enjoys creating chaos.
evie,
Adam and Eve are responsible for bringing evil to Earth .
No, Michael, it was Yima, the first man, who brought evil to Earth by eating the flesh of oxen and drinking the fermented juice of the haoma plant. So sayeth Zarathustra.
And remember, while YHWH merely inspired Moses to tell his story in the Pentateuch, and, presumably, filled him in on the details when they were chatting behind the clouds on Mt. Sinai; and "Allah" (same guy, different nickname) had Jibreel (Gabriel) dictate the Qur'an to Mohammed, Ahura Mazda -- also the 'one, true God' but only a distant relation to the other guys -- hand-delivered the Avesta to Zoroaster when they met on the side of a mountain.
And why, Michael, do you accept one of these and not the others? Or maybe better, why do you reject two of these but not the third?
Heres another one.
Someone reads your blog and comes out of the mennonite persuasion.
First, I don't think even a former mennonite would call it the "mennonite persuasion".
Second, it doesn't ring true; ah, what the heck, I just don't believe it.
The pattern is becoming obvious, read some Loftus material, like to amazon.com and buy some more books, and live happily ever after.
Singh, you can be skeptical if you want to. It doesn't matter to me. I am inured to it. Nonetheless, the questions still deserve to be answered.
Hi singh,
why don't you and darren dazzle us with your rebuttals to our arguments instead of wasting your time here?
You could be doing be out sharing the word with people that you have a hope of saving.
What arguments?
They are stupid questions in the "have you stopped beating your wife" mode.
The argument is clear, and the motivation behind your refusal to address it is equally clear. Why does an omnipotent, omniscient God make so many mistakes repeatedly?
Reggie, in a blog like this one, when you leave comments it is helpful to tell us WHY you think that an argument or question is "stupid." The mere assertion of such does not help your cause.
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