A Short Story Called Bullshit

Let me tell you a story:

      You get a phone call.  A man informs you that the government has deposited $5000 in your bank account.  He then informs you that you must put in 40 hours of work at a government facility because they paid you. 

How do you react? 

You ask why the government paid you and than man responds, "they are kind." You tell the man that you don't want to work at the government facility.  He then tells you that you will serve life in prison if you do not work.  You then ask the man to remove the money from your bank account.  He says that taking the money back is not an option.  You have only two choices, do a weeks worth of work or go to prison.  

 How do you feel?

This story is analogous to a tale called the bible. 

In the the bible a power-hungry god creates man.  This god, if he exists, created you.  Once you were created, god demanded that you praise him.  

How do you react?  

You ask god why he created you and he responds, "I am kind."  You inform god that you do not want to spend eternity praising him.  He then tells you that you will spend eternity in hell if you do not praise him.  You then ask god to un-create you.  He says being un-created is not an option; you have only two choices, praise god for eternity or go to hell.

How do you feel?

I feel pissed.  As humans we realize that it is wrong to force a 'gift' upon someone and then demand something in return.  Linkin Park summed it up, "The sun doesn't give light to the moon assuming that the moon is gonna owe it one - so find another place to feed your greed while I find a place to rest".  That is exactly my attitude towards god - piss off and feed your greed else where.  If god did exist, is he really the type of entity you wish to praise?  Do you really want to go to heaven only to spend eternity praising a pompous spirit with an inflated ego?  When measured by human standards, god is a jerk.  

Of course I am well aware - we can't impose human morality upon god because he is god.  Or maybe it is because Christians don't enjoy their god being a tool. 

Denny Burk, a Christian, wrote: 

God is love. Therefore He must exalt Himself so as to draw people into worship. This is not narcissistic because it is no vice for Him to exalt the beauty of His own perfections for His creatures’ enjoyment and blessing.

I totally forgot that god is love!  Sorry, I must have lost the loving somewhere along the story of the great flood, no wait - it must have been when I was reading about god killing the first born of each Egyptian - No! I know, I forgot that god was love while I was reading my old favorite, the bible, and these two girls got their father drunk so he would have sex with them and they could bear offspring!  Silly me.  It cannot be narcissistic for some being who was here before us to conveniently label himself as the definition of perfect and demand that we praise him for being the epitome of love.

Try finding god's love in a hospital room where his plan for a newborn was to strangle to death on its umbilical cord during delivery.  Think about all the Christian mothers who had stillborn babies.  God is love.