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Bill Maher on Loving our Neighbors

By Jeremy Myers
35 Comments

Bill Maher on Loving our Neighbors

Politically and theologically, I am fairly conservative. But when a liberal like Bill Maher makes a good point about Christians, I nod my head in agreement. Heck, maybe Bill has been reading my blog, because some of the points he makes I have made on this blog (Such as this point about a Pastor Leaving no Tip).

Before you watch this video, I should issue a warning: This video clip has foul language and crude humor. If that offends you, don’t watch it.

[Thanks goes to Sam Riviera for sending me this video.]

But someone might say… “Yeah, but Bill Maher is of the devil!”

… Right …

But then I did an internet search, and lo and behold, found a website which had “proof” that Bill Maher was satanic. Here is the evidence:

Bill Maher sign of satan

Not only is Bill Maher flashing the satan sign with his hand, that shirt looks pretty questionable as well… What is that? Some sort of serpent with a crown on it’s head?

Sigh.

I think it’s ironic that when someone criticizes the Christian religion by calling us to live according to the principles we claim to follow, we respond by accusing him of speaking for the devil.

Hmmm… That sounds eerily familiar to something that happened about 2000 years ago when Someone else showed up and started criticizing the established religion of the day…

Of course, now someone will criticize me of equating Bill Maher with Jesus…

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: atheists, Bill Maher, Discipleship, following Jesus, humor, loving neighbors

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Drunk with Blood: God’s Killings in the Bible

By Jeremy Myers
30 Comments

Drunk with Blood: God’s Killings in the Bible

Drunk with BloodAs I continue to write on how to understand the violence of God in the Old Testament, I am always shocked whenever I run into a Christian who thinks the Bible isn’t violent. I want to ask them if they have read anything outside of the New Testament (Even then, you have the book of Revelation and various teachings on hell).

One of the reasons is it is so critical to not only own up to the violence of Scripture, but also to have an answer for it, is because the violence of God in the Bible is one of the main reasons people today are rejecting Christianity and denying the existence of a good and loving God.

So if you happen to be a Christian who doesn’t know the Bible is violent, OR if you happen to think the violence of God in the Bible is “no big deal,” let me invite you to read  Drunk With Blood by Steve Wells. If you are a fundamentalist Christian, you will probably be offended at the humorous approach Steve Wells takes in his book, Drunk With Blood, by pointing out all the violence of Scripture, but I think that humor is the only way to write a 300-page book detailing all the violence in the Christian Scriptures. If the book didn’t contain humor, by the time we were done reading about all the killings in the Bible, most of us would want to kill ourselves as well. Without the humor, it’s depressing reading.

As for myself, I thoroughly enjoyed the book. I have read lists of the violence in Scripture before, but never one so detailed, so thorough, and so entertaining.

I personally don’t think Steve was “fair” with all of the biblical accounts of violence, since he often cuts off quotations in mid-sentence, but with all the clear “unfairness” in Scripture where actual human lives are getting “cut off” by God, it’s hard to quibble over minor details like that.

Look, if you want to know how the Bible looks to someone who doesn’t read the Bible through “Christian-colored” glasses, you must read this book. And if you want to know why Christians are often seen as hypocritical and violent, it is because we defend the actions in the Bible as “holy and just” while condemning identical behavior in people of other religions.

As a Christian myself, I believe Drunk With Blood should be mandatory reading for all Christians. 

And hey! Bill Maher recommends it too:

Drunk with Blood

Drunk With Blood shows us what we Christians don’t want to admit, that God is violent! The sooner we own up to this fact, the sooner we can start dealing with it honestly, and trying to understand the Old Testament violence of God in light of Jesus Christ dying on the cross.

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bill Maher, books, Books I'm Reading, violence of God, When God Pled Guilty

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Is God a Psychotic Mass Murderer who Drowns Babies?

By Jeremy Myers
40 Comments

Is God a Psychotic Mass Murderer who Drowns Babies?

Bill Maher is back at it…

Bill Maher

Late night comedian Bill Maher told his HBO “Real Time” audience on Friday that God was a “psychotic mass murderer.” He made the comments during a conversation on the biblical story of Noah and the upcoming Hollywood version of it that’s about to hit the big screen.

“But the thing that’s really disturbing about Noah isn’t that it’s silly, it’s that it’s immoral. It’s about a psychotic mass murderer who gets away with it, and his name is God,” Mr. Maher said, adding, “What kind of tyrant punishes everyone just to get back at the few he’s mad at? I mean, besides Chris Christie.”

Mr. Maher continued: “Hey God, you know you’re kind of a [expletive] when you’re in a movie with Russell Crowe and you’re the one with anger issues. … Conservatives are always going on about how Americans are losing their values and their morality, well maybe it’s because you worship a guy who drowns babies.” [Source]

This is exactly why I am trying to write my book on the violence of God in the Bible. Christians have never had a good answer to the sorts of criticisms raised by Bill Maher.

It is NOT good enough to say, “Well, you don’t understand how evil the people were …” or “We may not understand why God did it, but we know that since God is just and righteous, even things that appear evil are actually good.”

I was recently talking with someone about the violence of God in the Bible and I pointed out that we Christians have no problem condemning the violence that Allah commands Muslims to carry out in his name … why is it okay for God to tell His people to carry out that same sort of violence?

God drowns babiesHere is how he answered: “Because our God is the one true God. The Muslims carry out their violence because they want to, and then they attach Allah’s name to their violence to justify their behavior. It’s different for people in the Bible because God truly commanded them to do what they did.”

I didn’t say it then, but this is what I thought: “If that is so, the Muslims are more righteous than we are. Which is worse? To blame a false god for the evil in your heart, or to actually worship and follow the evil instructions of God and call it good?”

Please do not misunderstand! I am NOT saying God is evil! No! Far from it!

I am saying God is good. Perfectly good. God is holy, loving, merciful, and kind.

I am saying that God looks like Jesus, and the God that Jesus reveals to us would NEVER drown babies or command people to slaughter women and children.

I am saying that Christians have never had a good answer to the sort of accusation the Bill Maher levels against Christianity. And no, this is not just Bill Maher vying for attention. Bill Maher puts into words (as only Bill Maher can) what countless millions of people actually think: They may say that they don’t want to be a Christian because they don’t want to follow all the rules, or have been burned by the church, or it would ruin all their “fun.” But these are all lame excuses.

The deep truth, the hidden secret, the thing that most people are too kind to say out loud, is that many people don’t want to become Christians because they do not want to worship the Christian God. Why not? Because according to Scripture (and according to the teaching of many who bear His name), God is the greatest villain in the universe and the only reason He gets away with it is because He is also the most powerful being in the universe.

If God did the things Scripture says He did, but as a mere human, He would be the most hated person in all of history. Are we going to give Him a pass simply because He’s “God”?

Bill Maher says “No.” God doesn’t get a pass.

I agree with Maher.

But I don’t follow Maher in condemning God. No, there is another way of seeing God in the light of Jesus which helps us read the violent depictions of God in a whole new light.

I have been studying and thinking about this subject for fifteen years so far, and have been working on a book for over a year which explains my proposal, but I am facing problems with putting it into words.

Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that more is coming … and soon …

God is Uncategorized Bible & Theology Topics: Bill Maher, Books by Jeremy Myers, flood, Noah, violence of God, When God Pled Guilty

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