Is Christian Doctrine predicated on Doom?

[Masterblaster]

I think it is!
There is a dark cloud over all this that almost extinguishes the Jesus message of hope. That is my opinion. What is yours?

Let us look for Doom. Let us look for Hope.

Where does the root lie?

[Masterblaster]

Hello TRANSPONDER

You say - "God had the last laugh though, no matter whatever bartered deal he made with Abraham, he destroyed Sodom, and another city along with it, just to show who was really boss."

You are correct in this.
All through the Bible, God asserts who is Boss. He does this through a third party, who attributes local conflict news to God's intervention. A dominant God was central to the Judaic identity. This Doomsday Deity is mythological, very old, very pagan, and very basic. It is the grunt of language and the tweet of music. Do you want to go there, TRANSPONDER ( I nearly wrote down Transporter)

[TRANSPONDER]

Hello TRANSPONDER

You say - "God had the last laugh though, no matter whatever bartered deal he made with Abraham, he destroyed Sodom, and another city along with it, just to show who was really boss."

You are correct in this.
All through the Bible, God asserts who is Boss. He does this through a third party, who attributes local conflict news to God's intervention. A dominant God was central to the Judaic identity. This Doomsday Deity is mythological, very old, very pagan, and very basic. It is the grunt of language and the tweet of music. Do you want to go there, TRANSPONDER ( I nearly wrote down Transporter)

Feel free, as they say where I live. I've been called far worse on various boards where I was addressed as "Tranny". I don't really need to Go There as regards the vengeful Iron age god - boss who would strike a nation down just to get some exercise. I really don't know how a modern day Jew would feel about being told this was his or her God who expected obedience and worship. Fortunately, I'm not required to worship any God. Not even Karma. No more that I worship evolution.

[Masterblaster]

Hello TRANSPONDER

You say - 'No more that I worship evolution'

That is exactly what it is, a worship evolution, in script. An expert in this whole area ,called himself , an historian of ideas. I think that that description should demand authenticity from all involved.

Psalms would be a good place for us to start. We can go back from there and we can go forward. This is a chronology of idea(s). Where was the ball dropped. Was there ever a ball?
Psalms is a consistently narrow announcement of a few basic concepts .They date from the recent past (approx 650 BCE). Where did they get the following notions.

1.God is awesomely awesome.
2.God picked us Jews
3.We need to bow to God
4.God has promised a visit in the future.

????

[Masterblaster]

Hello TRANSPONDER

It is amusing to notice how the Psalms appear to be numbered. They appear to me to be ascending in terms of their ferocity. The higher the number the higher the emotional level. See if you can find something with more intensity that has a smaller number.

"Psalm 137
1 By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept
when we remembered Zion.

7 Remember, Lord, what the Edomites did
on the day Jerusalem fell.
“Tear it down,” they cried,
“tear it down to its foundations!”
8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction,
happy is the one who repays you
according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants
and dashes them against the rocks.

This song got into popular culture with Boney M.
( without the baby-b(d)ashing (is that a real phrase?))

[Masterblaster]

Hello TRANSPONDER

Somebody almost fumbled in this ancient game of Telephone. Look!

Psalm 137:8 Daughter Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is the one who repays you according to what you have done to us.
9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

Wisdom:[8] Therefore he that speaketh unrighteous things cannot be hid: neither shall vengeance, when it punisheth, pass by him.[9] For inquisition shall be made into the counsels of the ungodly: and the sound of his words shall come unto the Lord for the manifestation of his wicked deeds.

John 3:36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. 

Revelation 21:8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

In the end, the ball of vindictive bile crossed the game line, to score a win, of sorts. John retrieved the position, just as he started to wobble towards kindness.

[Masterblaster]

Hello
If we look at the origins of the early OT, then we see a people in severe distress. They have been out of luck for a long time. They go monotheistic pagan. They grab a God, ring-fence it and stick up warning signs. This is called desperation It is straight out of the volcano God playbook.Dress it up with theistic social norms and you had a workable religious solution for the Tribes of Israel 2000+ years ago.

Jesus was born a theistic Jew. It is like saving Private Ryan, it is ,near impossible to extradite the human message of compassion and hope from this historic morass. God is essential in the Jesus message if we are to take it seriously. God worship is its context.