Why not--Maltheism? (Religion)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Saturday, July 02, 2011, 14:52 (4903 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

Firstly, I have to ask who ever said that the Judeo-Christian God was ONLY a loving God? "Fear God and give him glory.." is repeated throughout the old testament and there are numerous accounts of God's destructive nature. Don't lump religidiocy in with what is actually in printed in the text. 
> -I'm not confusing this; but by and large most branches of Christianity view the NT as the whole and the OT as purely historical. The God represented by Christ (when read without the light of the OT) seems puzzling. Rev. Bell (who has recently cast doubt in evangelical sources in regards to Christ and Hell) seems to me to take such an approach. References to hell and Satan are meagre through the entire book, and only takes an extremely small role in the Synoptic Gospels. (Unless of course you put more weight on John and Judas being possessed by Satan.) -My studies have underlined Bell's view. The NT represents a new covenant, and overturns many pieces of OT law. There is very little to say about Hell and damnation--especially in the NT. But the focus in Christian religion is clearly upon these foundations:-1. Nonviolence. (Turn the other cheek, instead eye for an eye.)
2. Christ's death was as an atonement sacrifice for the entire human race.
3. Treat the sick with compassion and love.
4. Treat the poor with compassion and love. -These are four points you directly glean about God's nature here, especially if you're a full-fledged Trinitarian. The only reference to punishment or damnation here comes when you start reading in Acts; but even then "Eternal Death" in Jewish spiritual terms simply means being severed from God. It doesn't mean hellfire. -But from a broad perspective, LHP religions were wiped out after the advent of Christianity. As a group, we selected the "good" parts of our God only, and downplayed the negative. In the time of Christ, most peoples used their Gods to describe the psychological states of people--if you were drunk, you were infused with Bacchus, for example. War cults and death cults all served roles in early religion--look at Carthage and Ba'al Hammon. These cults advocated a more predatory nature of God and thought that we should value THAT nature of God, namely a respect and reverence out of fear. My goal with the OP was to point out that this is distasteful to modern "civilized" man, and that we pick and choose pretty rampantly what parts we wish to promote. Man does have a predatory nature, is it absolutely correct to try and abolish this? (Religion tries to abolish... I think we really just redirect it.) I have a very "holistic" (pardon the pun) view here that is looking at how religion has changed for us over time, and I find it interesting that the final religious choice is one that supports government and organization. -> In the Kabbalah's account of Adam and Eve there is a portion that does not exist in the traditional Torah where Adam returns to the Garden of Eden and is confronted by the angel that transforms into the devil and finally again into God. The concept of both creative and destructive natures of God(s) is literally in every religion. However, saying that all order comes from destruction is a bit of a misnomer and misrepresents the law of entropy. Yes, humans eat plants, but the plant is not destroyed(it merely changes its form of existence)(2nd Law of Thermodynamics). This is where we cut to the scene of a monkey holding a baby lion up to an African sunrise and start singing the 'Circle of Life'. 
> -I agree with you, mostly. I hope I've clarified some of this above...-What do you use for your Kabbalistic source? I've only got an encyclopedia written by a modern Rabbi. -You also forgot to mention Lilith!-Yes the form of the plant changed, but the direct result is more disorder (entropy). You'll lose 90% of that plant to heat for the 10% that joins your body. "Destroyed" is an appropriate term here--because the form of that plant you ate will never again exist in that construction or series of connections.--> Secondly, this poem you linked has the flavor of a poem from Ancient Babylon called the Seven Fiery Phantoms which by accounts seem to be referring to some Ancient Meteorological event.-This doesn't shock me. Left-hand-path religions have a tendency to synthesize elements from very diverse religious traditions. The same album I took that from also has songs to Maha-Kali, and Tiamat--Indian and Babylonian traditions respectively. -Where did you get that poem? I would love to get my hands on more, reading that made my fingers burn for my novel...

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"