Why Believe?

I watched a portion of the recent movie “Noah” last night on TV.  I saw it on the big screen when it came out and thought it was pretty good.  Last night it hit me as a comedy, or historical science fiction much like 10,000 years BC with Raquel Welch, or Jurassic Park.  Special effects were good, story line not so much.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for me to believe that God is not evil.  As I look at the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, Noah, Adam and Eve, etc. it is clear that God has wrath and is capable of throwing temper tantrums that kill multiple human beings.  If he is real, why would he kill the beings he fabricated?  It appears I am more patient, understanding and forgiving of a young puppy than God is of humans.

I was brought up to believe that God was a loving, forgiving, heavenly father.  If he exists he is more like an abusive father, butchering humans when they do not do what he wants them to do.  At the same time he supposedly gives us free will.  Why would he do that then punish us for exercising our free will?  So, do we have free will as long as we do as we are told, otherwise we spend eternity in hell?  Is that free will? 

And on the forgiveness front he is awful.  If one believes the creation story (which science has de-bunked more times than I can list) Adam and Eve did not do as God said, so not only did he kick them out of Eden he cursed humans for all generations to come.  Really?  Is that a loving and forgiving father?  No, that would be a petty being who holds grudges. 

And God does not even live up to the standards of supporting freedom and liberty that we have established in our secular government.  God discriminates against women.  God supports slavery.  God promotes bigotry.  Jesus really blew it when he did not denounce slavery or promote women’s rights.  If the argument is he was speaking to a group in a certain cultural setting that does not apply today, then I ask why we would believe anything he says using the same argument?

In fact, other than fear of damnation, a concept developed by those who worship God, I can think of no good reason to believe in God.  I am more forgiving than he is.  I love my fellow man or woman regardless of gender, sexual preference, country of origin, culture, and religious belief.  If I am more loving and forgiving than God, then why do I go to church, why do I give the church my money?  In fact, why should I believe in such a despicable deity at all? 

If God answers prayers then why do any children die of cancer?  If God answers prayers why does Trump even have a chance of being elected?  If God answers prayers why am I not rich and famous and young and handsome?  If God answers prayers why do we still wage war on one another based on religious belief, dreams of power and money?  If God answers prayers then why do people die when they beseech God to save them?  This God even allowed his own son, so the story goes, to die.  Not just die, but to be executed in one of the most cruel and tortuous ways devised by man.  What kind of father does that?  If you say because he loved sinners more than his own son I would answer that there is not much evidence in the Bible that he loved those who did not do his will.  And his own son?  Jesus.

If he is real we should kick him out of office.  If he is not, what the hell are we spending all this time and money on?  If I have no fear of death I cannot fathom a reason to believe.  I believe I am more moral than God.  If I had his powers I would fix a host of painful human issues and I would do it in a way that I could be seen doing it so that there would be no doubt of my existence.  Supposedly he was not shy about doing public works 2,000 to 4,000 years ago:  Red Sea, Sodom and Gomorrah, the Flood, burning bushes, walls come tumbling down, water into wine, walking on water, rising from the dead, etc., etc.  It doesn’t count today if an event occurs to call it a miracle because it is not currently explainable or is not predictable.  God seems to have become the new Wizard of Oz, a charlatan hiding behind a curtain preying on people’s fears.

So tell me again why I should believe in such a God?