If the Biblical God is Real, He's a Genocidal Dictator: Preview

Illustration by Lord Moon

Written by Myra Sue St. Clair Baldwin

I have more research to do before writing a reflective essay titled "If the Biblical God is Real, He's a Genocidal Dictator!" 

Update (10/15/2019): Since I've been researching this topic, I have discovered that there's other material out there making many of the same points that I make. I like the title I chose, though. This project is on hiatus for now, although I will be adding some links to other material for my readers to look at. I plan to later read some of the literature out there that includes points I was planning to make, and eventually write a reflective essay & summary of the material - including stressing some of the points I was planning to cover myself.

I'm going to add another blog post covering my experiences with schizophrenia and homelessness. I'm on medication for my schizophrenia and currently not having symptoms of schizophrenia in the past. I will also be doing some reading about socialism, democratic socialism, fascism, and anarchy and reflecting on those as well in the future. 



I believe it's highly unlikely that the Biblical god is real.  I believe the Bible is another mythology. However, for the purpose of my article (or book), I will be treating the Bible as if it's the word of God and all true. If the Biblical god is real, and if the Bible truly represents his words and actions, then he is highly unethical in relationship to human rights and animal rights, and one shouldn't want to follow him and glorify him. I believe it's important to question leadership, and the Biblical god and Jesus forbid that people question them and they expect blind faith, plus they don't tolerate criticism. Therefore I am writing an article examining the ways in the Biblical text in which God is genocidal, abusive and a dictator.  There are agnostics out there who believe they should follow the Biblical god in case he is real, so they don't suffer God's judgment and an infinitely torturous hell. I'm here to say that God and Jesus shouldn't make threats like that to people, that people shouldn't accept God's cruelty that he's demonstrated against people and animals in the past, and that they shouldn't let God control them into blindly following him out of fear.

I found a YouTube video titled "God is an evil, malevolent, self-absorbed tyrant" that brings up some of the same points that I've been planning to make and more, although some of the points I'm making aren't included. The video references a couple of the same scriptures that I have referenced and some other ones as well.

Here are some of the points that I've been planning to make in my upcoming book or article. This list will grow as I continue my research:

• The Biblical god resembles a fascist dictator in many ways. It is important to know that fascist doesn't necessarily mean anti-Semitic. I will be elaborating on this point later on down the road.

• God is insecure and forbids idolatry (the worship of other gods) and turning away from God and Jesus. I believe in religious freedom (the freedom to choose which god(s) and/or goddess(es) one is going to worship) plus I support freedom from religion. I believe in cultural and religious freedom with the exception of not condoning human and animal sacrifice as well as violent Jihad, and this includes religious freedom and the right of societies to be free of cultural genocide. The only changes to the world religions that are and have been necessary are those that are violent to people and animals. God's history of commanding cultural (including religious) genocide in the past is unacceptable. All God needed to do in the past was to do something about religions encouraging human sacrifice,  plus he shouldn't have mandated animal sacrifice (which is animal abuse). Also, God shouldn't have directed wars on others, nor should he condone war with others today. Today he should do something about violent Jihad without a war on Islam. According the Bible, "through God all things are possible", so he should be able to take action nonviolently and without total destruction to the cultures and religions of others. I also support those who want to be free from religion, and they shouldn't be punished by God for that decision. God needs to have more respect and tolerance for individual rights.

• God is a genocidal maniac, he's homophobic, and he's a supremacist. He committed genocide twice in the book of Genesis and elsewhere in the Bible. 

• He brought the Great Flood on nearly everyone and nearly every animal and creature living in the book of Genesis. According to Genesis 7:23 (King James Version), "...Every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth; and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark." 

• God burnt down the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah after making threats against the people. A commonly long held interpretation of the scriptures in Genesis that told the story of Sodom and Gomorrah is that the city was destroyed because the men in the city were gay.  If this is the correct interpretation of the scriptures, that makes God homophobic and genocidal. Genesis 19:24-25 says "Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground." I'm not okay with God threatening members of the LGBTQ community and committing genocide against them. This is similar to what Hitler's regime did - imprisoning thousands of homosexuals and killing many of them, and that was horrific and tragic. There are also scriptures in the Bible in which God gave the death penalty as a punishment for being gay. Mankind that lay with mankind were to be stoned to death by the congregation.  Again, this is not okay. God shouldn't forbid homosexuality and cause people to discriminate against gays. Later in the New Testament, it became a forgivable sin if one were to follow God and Jesus. It really shouldn't even be called a sin at all that one has to be "forgiven" for. A lot of people are naturally gay and society (as well as God) needs to accept and embrace that!

• God destroyed the whole city of Nineveh (all that were unable to escape) for their "wickedness." The prophet Nahum in the book of Nahum foretold of the upcoming destruction of and genocide in Nineveh. Nahum 1:8 reads "But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies." Nahum 1:10 says about Nineveh: "Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity: her young children also were dashed into pieces at the top of all the streets..." 

•  The Biblical god believes he's superior to all other gods, plus he has a "chosen people" that he said was superior. Deuteronomy 7:6 reads "For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the Earth."

• God led the children of Israel to drive out the indigenous population of the       "Promised Land" including the Canaanites and Amorites, plus to commit genocide against them. Deuteronomy 2:2 reads "And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them". God wouldn't merely accept the Israelites living peacefully on the land with the native inhabitants for the natives were culturally different from them, with different gods than them. God also wanted the children of Israel to commit cultural genocide in the promised land, commanding them to destroy all the graven images. Deuteronomy 7:5 reads "But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire." It's not really okay for people to drive others of their land and to kill off people who already occupy the land, and to try to violently destroy their culture. This is akin to what some of the European powers did to the natives living in the Americas as they were seeking to colonize the Americas for farm land (to be worked on by slaves) and for precious minerals such as gold. Then the "settlers" of North America (or rather "invaders") forced many American Indians into the Christian religion and forced them to speak only in English, which is cultural genocide.

• Jesus of the New Testament is not the nonviolent ruler he’s been made out to be by a great many. He threatened torturous eternal hell fire (cruel and unusual punishment) in the New Testament against those that don’t agree to follow him and the Biblical god.  In Matthew 25:41, Jesus says “Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”  The Harper Collins Bible Dictionary (2011) describes hell as "a place of eternal punishment for the wicked." Jesus and God threaten nonbelievers who don't convert to Christianity, people who worship other gods other than the Biblical god, and people who speak out against Christianity with Judgment Day and eternal hell fire. People should be allowed to have alternate viewpoints, to be of different religions including Pagan and Hindu, and speak critically about religion and politics - including speaking critically about Christian, Judaic, and Muslim religions, without fearing God’s judgment.

• God encouraged the children of Israel to take the "spoils of war" including women and children when they went to war against the Hittites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Preizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites (those dwelling in the land that God promised to the Israelites). Deuteronomy 20:14 states "But the women and little ones and the cattle, and all that is in the city, even all the spoil thereof, shalt thou take unto thyself; and thou shall eat the spoil of thine enemies, which the Lord thy God hath given thee."

• God kept harshly punishing the Israelites with many wars against them for worshiping other gods.  A great many of them suffered and died, while many were repeatedly driven out the land where they lived. In 587 BCE, Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, which God allowed to happen as punishment. Lamentations 1:5 says about the city of Jerusalem"...for the Lord hath afflicted her for her multitude of transgressions..." Lamentations 2:22 says      "Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the Lord's anger none escaped nor remained - those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed." 

• In Old Testament days, God commanded that people be stoned to death for a large variety of  "transgressions".  In Deuteronomy 18-21, Moses (who's speaking for God) says that if parents have any sons that rebel against them, that the men should stone them to death. Violence against one's children is unacceptable! I will be adding more details to this point in the future.

• When God helped Moses take the children of Israel out of Egypt, where they were being held in slave bondage, he didn't just bring down violent wrath on Pharaoh and Pharaoh's slave drivers. He brought wrath upon all Egyptians, even Egyptian servants, and all of the Egyptian children, and on all the living creatures of Egypt. Only the children of Israel and their animals were spared from the torturous plagues. God could have delivered the Israelites from slavery without cruelty upon all of the people of Egypt, but he wanted to put on a big show to drive fear of the Lord into people, that they might believe in him. God hardened Pharaoh's heart ten times and he didn't have to. He could have softened Pharaoh's heart so that the pharaoh would let the people go without violently torturing all of the Egyptians and without all the death that God caused in Egypt. 

• God is guilty of animal cruelty. He destroyed nearly all animal life (plus the lives of other creatures) in the Great Flood. He also brought sorrow and death upon all the fish in the river, all of the Egyptians' cattle, and upon the frogs he sent into Egypt, as well as other living creatures when he brought the Ten Plagues against Egypt. God also mandated animal sacrifice as repentance for sin and he could have chosen to forgive these so-called sins without requiring animal sacrifice.

• God suppresses the opposition, is abusive and threatening, plus uses fear of his judgment to control the population. God and Jesus have forbidden blasphemy (criticizing God or God’s vital force). The children of Israel were severely punished with having to roam the wilderness for forty years plus were often times killed for daring to speak out against God.  In the Old Testament, one of God’s laws that he gave the Israelites included a law in which blasphemers were to be stoned to death. Leviticus 24:16 states “And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well as the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth  the name of the LORD, shall be put to death.” In the New Testament, there was some leniency showed towards blasphemy, except for      that of the Holy Ghost.  Matthew 12:31 states “Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men.” What exactly is meant by this latter verse is debatable, as various Christian or Catholic religions define Holy Ghost differently. Not allowing criticism against a leader’s power or “vital force” and severe punishment of one’s critics is what a dictator does. We shouldn’t accept living under the dictatorship of God. We should be free to question God’s power without fear of judgment. 

• God expects to be glorified and wants people to bow down before him and sing his praises. I will be elaborating on this point.

• The Bible is God's propaganda he uses to have great influence in the world. I will be elaborating on this point in the future.

• Not only is God homophobic, but he's also sexist. In Genesis 3:16, God speaks to Eve (after she and Adam ate the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), saying "... thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." I will be adding more evidence to support this point in the future.

• God accepted slavery in the old testament, which he regulated with special rules, rather than telling people not to commit slavery at all. When the children of Israel went into the land of the Canaanites and others and waged war on them, God permitted them to take slaves. I will be elaborating on this in the future.

• God expects people to have blind faith in his leadership. God's son Jesus healed some sick people, but only if they had strong faith in him. People who dared to question him were considered to be of little or no faith, and were left to be sick and/or physically disabled. People who don’t put their faith in God and Jesus will be subject to judgment and hell. This unfairly punishes people who think critically about the nature of God and the universe.

• God also controls people with the promise of great rewards in the afterlife. Many accept poverty in the present, and accept abusive work conditions while being placated by the future that God has promised them if they repent, obey him, have faith in him, and accept their current fate. God has set aside a luxurious exclusive place for those that blindly follow him and Jesus and wait patiently for the big day to come. 

• God has strict commandments, including commandments controlling people's sexual behavior and marriages. I will be elaborating on this in the future.

Sorry that some of this is redundant. It is a work in progress!

I was going to title this article or book "God is a Fascist Dictator", but the meaning of fascism is very complex and unique to the 20th century, so I couldn't quite make a case for it. But there are many ways in which God is like a fascist dictator and I will be pointing these out as I continue my research.

Bibliography

Holy Bible: King James Version. (1979). Nashville, Tennessee: Holman Bible Publishers.

See also:

• Myra Sue's Views
• Myra Sue's Biography

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