Loving God

Armageddon – image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay

Written on the 8th of December, 2024

Over a year ago now, I was visited by some Jehovah’s Witnesses (JWs). One of the women came a few weeks earlier and we’ve had a relatively good chat about God’s Goodness. While I’ve mentioned my Catholic upbringing which falsely taught me about the wrath of God, I felt regretful that I did not mention how I have begun to learn about God’s Love and God’s Goodness from Jesus who is back on Earth and lives down the road.

So while I initially felt intruded upon when the two women showed up announced just as I sat down to have lunch, I felt glad to be offered the opportunity to discuss the fact that Jesus is back on Earth sharing the Truth about the reality of our Loving God. The woman said she came back because I told her I would look into how God’s Love is portrayed in the Bible via the JW’s organisation website. Despite her interest in my affiliation with Jesus and Mary (Magdalene) whom she has heard of, she had no idea that they lived in the vicinity (no doubt they have been listed as a “do not call”).

I’ve shared with her and the young woman who sat quietly next to her, that the main principles that Jesus teaches, is that God’s Love is available to us all and that we can have a personal relationship with God. She kept driving the conversation to the need to read the Bible. I said that while I know very little about what is contained in the Bible, I am aware about it’s description of God as being wrathful, rather than loving, and therefore untrue.

Image by Agnieszka Monk from Pixabay

I asked about how she feels about some of the descriptions of the wrathful God and she said the Bible only depicts a loving God. I found that surprising, has she not read some of the descriptions that even I am aware of? I suspect that she feels that she is not allowed to have an opinion or a feeling that might contradict the Bible’s authority. Upon leaving she made a comment that God will soon “smite the wicked”, to which I replied that she does not believe in a Loving God, but rather a punishing one, because God can’t be loving by definition if God will punish and exterminate the wicked. She argued with me, that God is loving but also has to smite the wicked. I gave her a hug and walked the ladies to their car filled with young people, whom I would love to have met.

I pondered about how I treated this lady, whether I was kind or arrogant towards her. I felt challenged by the conversation as is often the case, when having a discussion with people who believe their religious faith is the right one and that you must come to see their point of view. I also still find it somehow challenging to talk about Jesus being back on Earth, as I am still worried about people’s reactions to this and their judgments.

I decided to look up what the Bible says about the wrath of God and I must say that I was shocked!

Wrath means extreme anger and the following versus demonstrate a god of rage and hatred for those of his children that he does not approve of.

Image by Eynoxart from Pixabay

Right from Genesis, the “God” of the Bible is portrayed as wrathful and vengeful:

“So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” (Genesis 6:7)

“Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight and was full of violence. God saw how corrupt the earth had become, for all the people on earth had corrupted their ways. So God said to Noah, “I am going to put an end to all people, for the earth is filled with violence because of them. I am surely going to destroy both them and the earth.” (Genesis 6: 11-13)

Image by Pexels from Pixabay

This is how the prophet Nahum describes “God’s” wrath against Nineveh:

“God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies.” (Nahum 1:2)

“The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? And who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.” (Nahum 1:5-6)

“…with an overrunning flood He will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue His enemies. (Nahum 1:8)

‘“Behold, I am against thee,” saith the Lord of hosts, “and I will uncover thy skirts upon thy face; and I will show the nations thy nakedness and the kingdoms thy shame. And I will cast abominable filth upon thee and make thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.“‘(Nahum 3:5-6)

“There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall cut thee off; it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm.” (Nahum 3:15)

“Behold the storm of the Lord! Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest; it will burst upon the head of the wicked.” (Jeremiah 30:23)

Image by Eynoxart from Pixabay

“You shall make them as a fiery oven in the time of Your anger;
The LORD shall swallow them up in His wrath,
And the fire shall devour them.” (Psalm 21:9)

“Therefore the wrath of the LORD was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred His own inheritance.” (Psalm 106:40)

“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 7:20)

“‘He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.’ When a scourge brings sudden death, he mocks the despair of the innocent. When a land falls into the hands of the wicked, he blindfolds its judges. If it is not he, then who is it? (Job 9:22-24)

I have included other Bible quotes below referring to a wrathful “God”. This is the kind of God majority of people believe in, because all of the Christian religions are based on the Bible. Even though majority of these texts have come from the Old Testament, the New Testament portrays Jesus’ crucifixion as a sacrifice to appease the angry “God” of the Old Testament.

It is clear that whoever wrote the Bible were themselves terrified of God and blamed God for all of the pain and suffering that humanity creates. Perhaps and most likely, they were also under the influence of some very wrathful and power hungry spirits, whom they believed to be God and who they felt they had to appease. The graphic descriptions of this evil character that God is portrayed to be, have been used to carry out gruesome and horrific torture on countless of innocent people throughout the ages.  

If we think about it logically, if the All Mighty and Powerful Being that God actually is, was to get angry with us, we would definitely be wiped off of the face of the Earth. If such a Powerful Being felt such anger as described in the Bible, surely no life would be spared. And here we are, despite all the evil (acts out of harmony with God’s Love) we commit on daily basis, majority of us still get to enjoy all the pleasures that this Earthly life provides. This clearly demonstrates a Merciful and Loving God, who wants us to be happy despite our choice to sin and as is the case for majority of us, our choice to ignore, or worse, believe terrible things about God.

I had no idea how much this Biblical description of the wrathful “God” would affect me. Perhaps this is why I have not been interested in reading the Bible and perhaps it is a good idea to do so, because I surely in the depths of my soul have believed in such a “God”. Despite there being no requirement of Catholics to read the Bible, its legacy is deeply intrenched in the Catholic institution and in the hearts of its congregation. Now I understand better, why I have feared God my entire life and why it has been so difficult for me to desire a relationship with God.

When religious people say they love God, they are actually confusing fear with love. Religious people fear God, they must if they believe in the Bible as the authority on God, as God’s Word. I really don’t believe that you can love someone you’re terrified off. While obedience to a loving authority is a gesture of respect and an aspect of love of the law, fear of the law or the law maker is not based on love. Fear dictates that we obey in order to avoid punishment, not because we feel compelled to do the right and moral thing. While our hearts are filled with fear of God, we cannot love God until the fear is released from out hearts.

The Bible verse from 1 John 4:18 states, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”

Hundreds of Christians email Jesus to threaten him and judge him. Other people email in really good and sincere questions. I leave you with how Jesus responds to the question What are the Bible’s most serious flaws? 

Jesus and Mary answer questions about the content of the Bible

Here you will hear about the many contradiction, in the Bible and learn a lot about the role of Jesus and his relationship with God.

As I face the lies I believe about God, I desire with all my heart to let go of this wrongful, unfair, blasphemous image of God, so that God’s Truth about Himself can be revealed to me and written on my heart.

Other Bible quotes justifying the belief in a wrathful “God”:

“Neither their silver nor their gold
Shall be able to deliver them
In the day of the LORD’s wrath;
But the whole land shall be devoured
By the fire of His jealousy,
For He will make speedy riddance
Of all those who dwell in the land.” (Zephaniah 1:18)

“Therefore the Lord says, The LORD of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel, “Ah, I will rid Myself of My adversaries, And take vengeance on My enemies.” (Isaiah 1:24)

“Through the wrath of the LORD of hosts the land is burned up,
And the people shall be as fuel for the fire;
No man shall spare his brother.” (Isaiah 9:19)

“Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD.
I am weary of holding it in.
I will pour it out on the children outside,
And on the assembly of young men together;
For even the husband shall be taken with the wife,
The aged with him who is full of days.” (Jeremiah 6:11)

“The LORD has fulfilled His fury,
He has poured out His fierce anger.
He kindled a fire in Zion,
And it has devoured its foundations.” (Lamentations 4:11)

Referring to Jesus:

“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.”  (Revelation 19:15)

“Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!” (Romans 5:9)

Exodus 

“I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people.Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” (Exodus 32: 9-14)

“God” ordering murder!

Then he (Moses) said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’” The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Then Moses said, “You have been set apart to the Lord today, for you were against your own sons and brothers, and he has blessed you this day.” (Exodus 32:27-29)

“The Lord replied to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me I will blot out of my book.Now go, lead the people to the place I spoke of, and my angel will go before you. However, when the time comes for me to punish, I will punish them for their sin.” And the Lord struck the people with a plague because of what they did with the calf Aaron had made.” (Exodus 32:33-35)

“And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.” (Revelation 14:9-11)

“And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvellous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.” (Revelation 15:1)

“And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever.” (Revelation 15:6-7)

“He moves mountains without their knowing it and overturns them in his anger.” (Job 9:5)

“God does not restrain his anger; even the cohorts of Rahab cowered at his feet.” (Job 9:13)

“Even if I summoned him and he responded, I do not believe he would give me a hearing. He would crush me with a storm and multiply my wounds for no reason. He would not let me catch my breath but would overwhelm me with misery.” (Job 9:16-17)

“If I hold my head high, you stalk me like a lion and again display your awesome power against me. You bring new witnesses against me and increase your anger toward me; your forces come against me wave upon wave.” (Job 10:16-17)

“Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.” (Psalm 2:12)

“The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath…” (Psalm 2:4-6)