There is a lot of great stuff in the Christian Bible. In it we are encouraged to love our enemies, avoid conflict, love our neighbor, obey the law of the land, etc… I am in agreement with the bible on these points. Unfortunately, there is also a lot of bad stuff in there also. It is therefore very important that we read the bible critically and discern what is good and what is evil within it. In the south and in the congregations I was raised in, to suggest that the bible is not the literal “Word of God” is equivalent to the sin of tempting man to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

For me however, many of the words and deeds accredited to God in the bible are blasphemous against the true and only God. Instead of listing the blasphemous scriptures here I will refer you to my other post, “My objections to Christianity”. There are of course hundreds of other immoral actions credited to God in the bible but these are a few that are especially important to me.

Mainstream Christianity embraces the view that the bible is God’s uniquely inspired divine word. This belief, if expanded to the whole of scripture sketches a view of a God who is angry, intolerant, misogynistic, racist, unforgiving, etc… In this view God literally did command the Hebrew people to commit genocide against many other people groups, God literally commanded them to murder homosexuals and their disobedient children. I am clearly against this view. This to me is blasphemous (blasphemy = to speak against) against the true God of the universe.

Does that make me anti-christian? To the extent that traditional Christianity makes God out to be immoral, absolutely. Does that mean that I am against Christians? Absolutely not! Does it mean that I am against inherency? Yes it does, and anyone who supports inherency needs to be ready to defend the actions of their God.

What frustrates me most about this “debate” is the fact that those who most vehemently support inherency and a literal interpretation of the Old and New Testaments seem to be those who have read and understand it the least. Truly biblically illiterate “Christian” people seem to be the most convinced that they are right and unless I repent and believe as they do then I will surely be met in the afterlife with judgement and eternal suffering. I cannot conceive of a more arrogant, ignorant, and hateful way to perceive God, people, and the world.

To the extent that I believe in a loving God that accepts me as I am (but loves me to much to leave me that way) I am a Christian. To the extent that I am against slavery, genocide, young earth creationism and the like, I can no longer with integrity claim to be a christian and beyond that, I am against these things. I am confident that a literal interpretation of the bible results in the spreading of ignorance and hate throughout humanity. Out of true love for humankind I am fighting against this ignorance and these prejudices. It is my moral responsibility.

So in conclusion, I am not against Christianity, but I do disagree about many of the words and actions ascribed to God in the Old Testament. In my view, it is blasphemous to suggest that God is as he is described in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. I can no longer take a literalist, inherantist approach towards the bible. I will go further than that and say that IF God said and did the things ascribed to him in Genesis through Deuteronomy than my morals are superior to His and He is not worthy of my worship. I know that is shocking to some but I feel that strongly against slavery, genocide, misogynism, racism and the like. It seems blasphemous to me to ascribe such tainted morals to the God of the universe.

I truly believe that most people hold such a literalist view of the Bible because they have never read it.