Hating God

[Youkilledkenny]

Rather it's the actual God or the idea of God, do you think God is bad enough to be hated?
Why should God be hated?
Why shouldn't God be hated?

Or should God be loved more than anything else that has, does or will exist?

[Zzyzx]

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I see absolutely no reason to hate, love, fear, or fight over 'gods' – invisible, undetectable, proposed, supernatural entities that cannot be shown to be anything more than imagination. Why would / should a rational person get emotional about such things?

There may be sound reason to dislike (if not hate) PROMOTERS of the various 'gods' – who typically present themselves as special, chosen, enlightened, superior, saved, heaven-bound (or whatever) – and who exhibit negative attitudes toward those who do not share their beliefs (disdain, suspicion, hatred, aggression, etc).

'My god is better than your god (and a LOT better than no gods)' appears to be the mantra for many fervent believers.

'You hate god' seems to be a remark by Theists directed toward Non-Theists. I do not recall anyone here or elsewhere declaring that they 'hate god'.

[Youkilledkenny]

[Replying to post 2 by Zzyzx]

Why would / should a rational person get emotional about such things?

Probably for many of the same reasons why people debate such a topic.

'My god is better than your god (and a LOT better than no gods)' appears to be the mantra for many fervent believers.

Maybe that's because that is all they have on which to cling?

[Divine Insight]

Rather it's the actual God or the idea of God, do you think God is bad enough to be hated?
Why should God be hated?
Why shouldn't God be hated?

I feel extremely sorry for the God described in the Bible. According to the Bible this God is jealous, wrathful, and had an extreme need to be worshiped and loved. He sounds like he's in pretty pathetic shape actually. He's also clearly very desperate, especially in the Christian version of the Bible.

Also if the God of the Bible truly is omnipotent and omniscient then he must also be extremely stupid. If that's the case can God be blamed for being stupid? Should we hate stupid people, or feel sorry for them that they weren't given a better brain?

What would be God's excuse for being stupid? Did God create himself to be stupid? Or was he always that way by nature? And if he doesn't have any control over his own nature, then why call him "God"?

So the Biblical God has my deepest sympathy. I hope he gets well soon. I'll be more than happy to offer him free consultation since he obviously can't deal with things intelligently on his own.

Or should God be loved more than anything else that has, does or will exist?

Well, as I stated above, the God of the Bible has some serious mental health problems. He might be trying to do the right thing and just messing things up really big time. It's hard to know.

The God of Buddhism is far more interesting I think. I'm really not sure if the God of Buddhism should be "loved" or not. I don't know enough about it to say. One thing I can say about it is that it's not demanding to be worshiped or loved, or even believed in. So it apparently doesn't have all the egotistical and mental problems the God of the Bible has.

[Divine Insight]

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I see absolutely no reason to hate, love, fear,... {snip}

The idea that I would need to "fear" a loving God is utterly absurd. Especially a God that I am supposed to "love".

Why should I fear a God that is worthy of my love? Yet, in religions like Christianity and Islam we are supposed to fear this God that we are simultaneously supposed to love. That's an oxymoron right there.

If there is such a thing a loving God who is worthy of being loved, then that God would most certainly have no bones to pick with me.

So if there exists a truly loving God I have absolutely nothing to fear.

The only God I would need to fear would be a God who is unworthy of being loved. Basically a hateful demon.

These theists can't have it both ways. Either their God is a loving God worthy of being loved, in which case I would have nothing to fear from this loving God. Or this God is a hateful wrathful God who hates on decent loving people for no good reason. But if that's the case, then this God wouldn't be worthy of love himself. Nor would he be a loving God in he first place.

These religions are so obviously false that the only "miracle" associate with them is the miracle that so many people continue to believe in them. And that would be far better attributed to a lack of rational than to being a "miracle".

I don't see it as being a "miracle" that so many semi-evolved primates aren't fully rational. It's probably just a natural state of affairs.

[Willum]

Well - assuming God exists, and nothing else, I imagine he's be like everything else in creation, doing the best he can, probably being misunderstood.

No one and nothing really wants to be hated, so God is probably an unwilling victim to false stories and allegations of characteristics he doesn't have.

So, I'd doubt he'd be worthy of hate.
Maybe those people who portray him a certain way so they can go murder people are deserving of hate.

Otherwise, I endorse what DI said, above.

[Demented_Literature]

I don't hate god any more than I hate unicorns. So I guess hating god is not something I can answer. I'm not particular to hating things I don't believe in.

Hating the idea of god; not really too much of that either. What is there to hate? Assuming god as an entity existed; and he/she/it presented itself to me I imagine I would accept or despise it within the merits presented.

But as I said; I have been presented with an idea that I have rejected. And an entity which I don't believe exists. I am indifferent to the idea of god; and I'm not at all fond of the Christian god. Considering Christians can't agree on what/who god is or the nature of god. So I have no reason to hate anything here.

I don't particularly like the bible; I think it's a disgusting piece of literature that is taken out of context to force and enforce punishment on those who are innocent and justify and exemplify those who believe they are unanimously good. But even then I don't hate anything in particular.

[1213]

...Or should God be loved more than anything else that has, does or will exist?

Bible says love God means that we keep his commandments (meaning at least the ten commandments).

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
1 John 5:3

Inversely, if we don’t love God, we don’t love our neighbor, because love your neighbor is the sum of those commandments and it is the result of love God. Person who loves god, loves also his neighbor and person who loves his neighbor, shows love to God also.

Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not give false testimony," "You shall not covet," [TR adds "You shall not give false testimony,"] and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love doesn't harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Romans 13:8-10

Because of this it would be good, if people would love God more than anything, because it would mean that people love others as themselves. But I think people should be free, if someone wants to do what is not good, he is free on my behalf and I am not going to force people to love God.

[Zzyzx]

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Bible says love God means that we keep his commandments (meaning at least the ten commandments).

Inversely, if we don’t love God, we don’t love our neighbor, because love your neighbor is the sum of those commandments and it is the result of love God. Person who loves god, loves also his neighbor and person who loves his neighbor, shows love to God also.

Loving neighbors does not require loving God -- and those who profess to love God are not assured to love neighbors.

If someone requires religious instruction and gods in order to love their neighbors, I conclude that they are a miserable person who only acts 'good' for fear of punishment or hope for reward (after they die).

Quoting Bible passages does not make one a good person -- and may indicate exactly the opposite.

[OnceConvinced]

It makes no sense to me to claim that I hate God. How can one hate something they don't believe in?

I could look at movies and Tv shows. For instance Voldemort from Harry Potter is one horrible piece of work. He is truly evil. But do I hate Voldemort? How ridiculous that would be! Of course not! He is just a fictional character in a set of books and movies. It would make no logical sense to say I hate him.

Likewise the same applies to the thousands of gods that have been promoted by believers over the years. I don't hate any of them either.

I wonder whether a Christian would claim they hate all the other 1000s of gods out there? If so that would make them a very hateful person, hating all these other thousands of gods and only loving one.