During the God Talks

Yesterday, being Monday, I had the meeting with the Jehovah’s Witness lady. We get along well and chat about all kinds of things before we even crack the books for Bible study. It has been interesting talking to her the past few months. I’ve learned things about her beliefs and she has learned about mine. Neither of us has been converting the other, it’s all no pressure, just interesting.

Yesterday though, a topic occured to me which is still a little on my mind. God destroyed cities in his name, in order to get rid of people who were worshipping the wrong god(s), people who were corrupt, etc. So began the first holy wars. Now, seeing as God is supposedly able to know all and forsee all and meanwhile be full of love for mankind and the world/ planet. Why would he begin such a reign of terror and destruction? If he could see people continuing his holy wars in the way they have gone on, why would he start such a thing?

Did God make a mistake? Was God being greedy or intolerant and did he knowingly pass this way of handling things along to be continued by people in his name? How can I believe in a loving God if he would knowingly set this precident of death and destruction to any and all non-believers?

I don’t believe in devils, satan or hell for the very reason that any one/ force/ creature that preaches love can’t also hold hell over my head and expect me to believe they are loving, fair and caring, etc too.

It will be interesting to see what she has to say next week. I know she won’t have much time to look into it and I’m certainly not grilling her or testing her at all. We’re just discussing ideas and spirituality.

I admit I’m thinking of all the ‘witches’ tortured and murdered in the name of God. I’ve always thought those men who did these awful things were abusing their beliefs and taking in on themselves to pass out God’s judgement. What if they aren’t? What if all those so called fanatics were in fact, continuing on, just as God did himself? What if by showing people how to destroy non-believers he was also showing them how he wanted non-believers to be treated? What if God condones religious war and is actually not all that loving, tolerant or fair after all?