Done with Religion

by Mike Edwards

I didn’t leave God. I left misrepresentations of what God was claimed to be like. An unloving God isn’t worth believing in. I was turning out to be a better lover than God, and I am a sucky lover.

Predestination was being taught in my early twenties. Does God actually choose (elect) some to go to heaven and the rest go to Hell? A loving God couldn’t be prejudice!

I struggled being taught women had to be more submissive to men than men to women. What a set up for abuse. Then, I got married to a woman who didn’t need a go-between with her and God, and she didn’t need any man making final decisions when there was an impasse. God couldn’t be a sexist?

Then I had kids. I had always been taught spanking was biblical. This hothead didn’t need permission to hit a child rather than being creative with those little boggers. We never spanked our children and none ended up in prison. You would as proud of them and their partners as I am.

Hell NO! Why would a loving God torture anyone forever since such pain serves no lasting purpose? Humans wouldn’t even create such a place for their worst enemies. Such a place may be only imagined because of a Book. Why I Doubt Hell Is Real! God couldn’t be a hellish/sadistic torturer!

It makes no sense to me why God would condemn gays when they can no more choose who they love than straights can. Just ask straights or gays.  God couldn’t be a homophobe!

The Bible couldn’t be about saving people from a non-existing Hell. Jesus didn’t try to get people to say a magical prayer or confess certain beliefs to escape Hell. Jesus challenged us to look out for the interests of others than just our own. See here. One’s religion, or rebellion against a certain religion, is often based on the family born into whether it is Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, etc. Is God a God of chance? God couldn’t be a xenophobe!

Finally, I let go of the idea that God controlled or always approved writers’ thoughts and words to form a book we call the Bible. Sometimes the writers got God right; sometimes the writers may have gotten God wrong. Don’t we all. Some of the above views of God could only come from a supposed every-word inspired, Book. At least don’t claim your interpretations are inspired also.

I became convinced there are certain representations of God that must be true if loving. See here.  I don’t claim certainty because God hasn’t spoken to me audibly or visibly, but I got a strong hunch many beliefs about God I was taught in Christianity are suspect.