Monday, March 17, 2014

Bill Maher slanders God because He wants to be God

Bill Maher has now joined the 'slandering-God-and-publicly-exhibiting-your-Biblical-ignorance', club. Not that any of us thought he had high thoughts of Yahweh, or that he had anything particularly profound to say about Holy Writ. He probably still thinks that the Gospel narratives were borrowed from Osiris, Mithras, and Beowulf. But 'Dr. Maher' has yet outdone himself again, by making more "religulous" claims about the God of Scripture.

"But the thing that’s really disturbing about Noah isn’t the 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."(1)

The problem is, that if you open up Scripture, you find that the Old Testament narratives take great care to argue against such an interpretation. According to Scripture, why did God drown everyone in the flood? Did God really punish everyone, for the crimes of just a few?

"Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" Gen. 6:5

"The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth." Gen. 6:11-12

If that wasn't enough, the next example of fire and brimstone in the Bible, argues precisely against Maher's caricature (literally). In the narrative of Sodom and Gomorrah, we find that God goes at lengths to demonstrate that He will not judge the righteous with the wicked. (Note: the claim is not that "bad things" won't happen to the righteous, but that they will not face his wrath). Moses writes:

"Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham still stood before the Lord. And Abraham came near and said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it? Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” So the Lord said, “If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.” Then Abraham answered and said, “Indeed now, I who am but dust and ashes have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: 28 Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?” So He said, “If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.” And he spoke to Him yet again and said, “Suppose there should be forty found there?” So He said, “I will not do it for the sake of forty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak: Suppose thirty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not do it if I find thirty there.” And he said, “Indeed now, I have taken it upon myself to speak to the Lord: Suppose twenty should be found there?” So He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.” Then he said, “Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: Suppose ten should be found there?” And He said, “I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.” So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place." Gen. 18:22-32

There are countless other examples in Scripture that testify to the fact that God never punishes "innocent" people. Furthermore, severe manifestations of his judgment, in history, are always the result of high-handed, unrepentant sin. And when he does punish those we perceive to be innocent, the problem is with our perceptions, not with God's internal consistency or with His Holy character. In fact, the person who lacks internal consistency in this case is Bill Maher. Bill Maher knows that there is a moral law and he knows right from wrong. That is, because like all people, deep down, he knows God (Rom. 1:18ff). Indeed, he is made in God's image. The problem is, that Bill suppresses this revelation in unrighteousness, as St. Paul says. He knows that the God of Scripture is the same God that has impressed His law upon his heart. So the only thing left to do is to lie about God, and slander God's word, claiming that it contradicts some moral law that he cannot account for as an atheist.

And guess what.

In making this claim Mr. Maher is a big, fat hypocrite.

As this video demonstrates, Bill Maher has confessed that he is pro-death and wants to play God. He confesses that he wants to kill as many people as possible, basically because he hates being stuck in traffic. (for real)

(1) Bill Maher: God 'a Psychotic Mass Murderer' who 'Drowns Babies'