Just wondering...Jaianniah

asked 21 Dec '09, 11:53

Jaianniah's gravatar image

Jaianniah
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I think it comes about because of the tendency for people to anthropromorphize whatever God represents to them. i.e. ascribe human qualities to something that is not human.

From what I can gather, most people's concept of God seems to reside roughly in the area of old guy with long white beard sitting high up on a cloud looking down on humanity.

From there, it is only natural that God should have human-like emotions, reasoning and judgements.

So pleasing God is going to get approval from God, and displeasing God is going to incur "the wrath of God".

I suspect that most of the "wrath of God" type statements, if followed back to their origins, are more about the misinterpretation of the nature of universal energy, or even a deliberate manmade attempt at controlling the behavior of others, than any genuine reflections of universal truths.

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answered 21 Dec '09, 16:15

Stingray's gravatar image

Stingray
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Those phrases were adopted by some religions to instill fear and control. Having been taught as a child that if we don't behave God will punish us or on the day of judgement we will be banished to the fires of hell, I held on to this picture of God for quite a while ( I went to Catholic convent schools). Needless to say "The Wrath of God" was a term I was familiar with and upon awakening was more than happy to let go.

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answered 22 Dec '09, 00:38

Michaela's gravatar image

Michaela
35.0k22677

I could go back to primitive days when the weather was understood to be the Gods punishing humankind or blessing humankind. "It is raining! The Gods are angry with us! Thunder and lightning! They are really peeved now! Hurry we must make a sacrifice to appease the Gods!"

Now this next part is going out on a wire here, in the Bible we are told "God made it rain 40 days and 40 nights", the story of Noah. We are told "God brought plagues upon Egypt." the story of Mosses. So it comes to mind if we take our bibles at face value understanding, were the ancient primitive people right, God does control all weather and so did do these things on purpose? Or could it just be that God told Noah of what was coming, and told Mosses of what was coming? In the case of Noah it seems more prophetic, and in the case of Mosses it seems more mind control. Mosses understood through God to command the weather just as Jesus did later.

Through all of this, it does give something to ponder on about where the wrath of God came from though.

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answered 22 Dec '09, 11:06

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
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edited 22 Dec '09, 11:19

the wrath of god is simply a term for karmic justice.the wrath of god was an easier concept to impart to a people who had a limited understanding. think of it like the abc of spiritual enlightenment. the lessons had to start some where,Christ, through his teaching, especially through the parables-brought out the fuller meaning.dont we do the same to our children- dont we have to instill a bit of fear in order to keep them safe.i.e.- dont go with strangers, dont take candy from strangers, etc.-a reasonable amount of fear can keep one safe.to ''fear'' god only puts man in his place-he is to know that the real power of the universe is not under his command-that there exists a true power and the ''fear'' is actually a healthy respect.

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answered 28 Dec '09, 16:28

user-442%20%28google%29's gravatar image

user-442 (google)
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God is love but that is not all God is. Because God has emotions that is why we have emotions because God created us in the image of him so we are like him. So, therefore he has all of the emotions even the jealousy emotions. That is why he said their shall have no other gods before me. He tells you he is a jealous God. He is a loving God. But he also gets angry with us humans the way we act, the way we treat each other and our selves, the way we seem to worship everything except him. We sometimes God is the last we go to. We believe in so many things besides him. He sees the evil that some do in this world and yes it all after many centuries he gets angry and he sends the warth of God to us but sometimes in the mist of all of that he repents and either don't to it or sends us help.

The human race as a whole seems to be really confuse, not knowing, not caring at times, and can be very destructive as well as can be very caring and helping. So, yes God does get mad at his own children like we might get made at our own children when we have taught them better and we will say they know better.

If you created something and gave it love, care and watched over it and all it ever did mostly was forget about you and tried to do so much bad stuff than emotionly you would get very angry at it and since you are all powerful and you have the ability to destroy it you have to use a lot of reserve for the human race continues to push your buttons to make you angry.

All small gods in methology got angry and did their warth on whomever or whatever and they most of the time did not love you at all our God does love us very much.

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answered 24 Dec '09, 06:53

flowingwater's gravatar image

flowingwater
7.1k63997

The Bible teaches that our God is a jealous God. Thou shall not sin. The wages of sin is death. God gave Adam and Eve every thing in the Garden of Eden, and asked one thing in return, and they disobeyed his words. God sent Adam, and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, and for the first time they were aware of their nakeness. God speaks to us all the time, and we really do not listen to what God is saying to us, and the only way for him to get our attention is by doing what he does not really want to do. And in reality, it is in these time of dispair, that we really come to realize that there is a God, and he is really real in our lives; because there is really no one else that we can turn to except God. God has to show us his signs,and his power for us to believe that he is real.

Why did God let his only son Jesus die for us? Why did God not save Jesus from all the pain, and suffering, he went through for our sins? It is to get our attention, and for us to realize what we doing when we commit sin? God love is unconditional, but in the same token, we do not listen to the words of God, to be saved. And when, and if, we do not to listen, God has to do something necessary to connect us back to him, and to save us for our own sake.

God knows the weakness of man, and he knows that man will sin again, and again, and when he sees that man is loosing hope, and faith in him, by not respecting his teaching, he does what needs to be done to save some of his children, before it is too late for them. God knows what is in our hearts, and what is in our thoughts. We cannot fool God, we cannot hide from him. He is a good God, we are sinners, because we do not want to listen to the words of God. The word fear, really means to love, and respect God, and it is a small thing for him to ask from us, considering all the things he has done for us in our lives.

The word wrath and fear of God, is the love and the respect for God, that we need to give back to him, for all that he has done for us. It is just a little thing for us to give back to God in return for all that he has done for us.

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answered 27 Dec '09, 05:05

Inactive%20User's gravatar image

Inactive User ♦♦
480134203

I recently saw a movie called Zeitgeist.

There's some things in the movie that will illicit fear from people bound to religions.

One of the quotes I remembered though in regards to a Christian God, was from George Carlin

"...'cause I gotta tell you the truth folks. I gotta tell you the truth.... When it comes to bullsh#t.....big time, major league bullsh#t, you have to stand in awe of the all time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims......religion.

Think about it.

Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man, living in the sky that watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these 10 things he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry for ever and ever, 'til the end of time...............................................................

But he loves you

He loves you

He loves you and he NEEDS MONEY!

He always needs MONEY!

He's all powerful, all-perfect and all-knowing, and all-wise but somehow........just can't handle money.

Religions takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes and they always need a little more.

Now you talk about a good bullsh#t story........ Ho-ly Sh#t!"

I think fear is destructive and negative and is the basis of many of our problems. It's used by governments and religion to maintain the status quo. From the War against terror, the War on drugs and the War on obesity to us accepting change in our lives and progressing to our full potential. That's a lot of warring, too. When will they have a War on the homeless of our society, the starving, the underpriveleged, the sick?

I think never. There's no money or profit in it. Which sadly, as the movie espouses, is where governments and religions rate humanity....below profit. These facts are undeniable, well documented and authentic if one cares to research the claims presented in the movie.

I try not to fight fear but I do recognise and accept it when it comes and then look at the reasons why I fear. I can normally dismiss the fear once I realise it's not part of the reality I want to create.

Having said that, everyone has their own paths and whilst I personally denounce religion as indoctrination and control, I don't denounce anyone following these paths as I firmly believe, we will all find the truth regardless of our path if it is our intent.

Peace

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answered 14 Jan '10, 07:03

Phil%201's gravatar image

Phil 1
1662

like i said before god and the prophete are one thing! and religion is something else! what do men that seek power and control do when they see something that work they take it and use it! to serve there ego! but the thing is that the teaching those prophete used was higher then what men with ego could understand so if you are able to find what is left and true using reason and discernement you can find it! so take what is good and leave the rest!The discovery of older manuscripts, which belong to the Alexandrian text-type, including the 4th century Codex Vaticanus and Codex Sinaiticus, led scholars to revise their view about the original Greek text. Attempts to reconstruct the original text are called critical editions. Karl Lachmann based his critical edition of 1831 on manuscripts dating from the 4th century and earlier, to demonstrate that the Textus Receptus must be corrected according to these earlier texts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bible_translations And He urged all true disciples to go out into the world and make disciples, not church members. Men will tell you, 'There he is!' or 'Here he is!' Do not go running off after them.nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you."Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.Bibles to Matthew, chapter 6, verses 5-13.

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answered 20 May '11, 03:40

white%20tiger's gravatar image

white tiger
21.9k116117

The wrath of God was a depiction of catastrophic proportions. A climatic event that arose after an emotional disruption. The people believed that the catastrophe occurred because of their misbehavior. The fear of God was a response to these occurrences. The fear of God kept civil order, domesticating wild people. The love of God is the unconditional truth, that we all are brought into existence with freedom of will.

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answered 29 Jan '12, 11:43

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Constantine
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