God wants blood. There doesn’t seem to be any other explanation. He demands sacrifices on His feast-days, sacrifices of birds and animals. He demands that people even sacrifice their own children, on occasion. He demands that when His Favorite People are moving into land He has promised them, that they will wipe out every man, woman, child and animal in the cities He is reallocating (Deuteronomy 20: 16-18).
God says kill it, and give it to God (or His friends...)
And don’t piss Him off! He has been known to curse all humanity for all eternity for eating an apple. He once wiped out all of humanity – again, every man, woman and child – except for Noah and his immediate family. He has destroyed individual cities in a fit of anger.
He’s no different from any other nightmare monstrosity from humanity’s Stone Age past, a manifestation of all that is brutal and random in the Universe, a Universe that can send lightning and meteorites from the sky to devastate the earth.
And He must be appeased the only way that humans know to appease a violent bully who randomly inflicts torture – give Him anything He wants… and if you can’t find Him, give His friends whatever they tell you He demands.
Give, donate, tithe, sacrifice… because otherwise, He will take it in blood. And His friends tell you that then He will be happy.
No different from the pre-Biblical flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh. When Utnapishtim (the Noah figure) finally lands his boat on the mountain and lets all the animals out, the first thing he does is burn things in sacrifice.
“The gods smelled the savour, The gods smelled the sweet savour,The gods crowded like flies about the sacrificer.”
Well, at least it’s only one God that monotheists have to appease these days… But on the other hand, there’s no longer anyone to keep Him in check.
The Gospel According to the Romans 
Hey Robin. Some thoughts, if I may.
– God also changes his mind about destroying His people as He becomes angry with them, and shows them mercy. (Exodus 32).
– He shows them mercy again, and again even as they rebel against Him. (Judges 2)
– Even though Adam and Eve disobey and eat from the forbidden tree, God continues to establish and cultivate relationship with humanity. (Abraham, Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, etc.)
– Even though Adam and Eve eat the forbidden fruit, by choice, distancing humanity from God, and bringing in division between man and God with sin, God sends His Son to atone for that disobedience, bridging that division forever, and not only for God’s Chosen People, but for ANYONE who chooses that atonement. (God is the one to actively reconcile the destruction man brought in to their relationship.)
I am not saying God doesn’t destroy (I think my own blog shows pretty clearly that He brings destruction). I am just trying to point out some instances where He shows compassion, grace, mercy, love, patience and hope, and that He isn’t just out for blood all the time. I personally believe, the Bible indicates He seeks relationship with people far more than He seeks to ruin their lives.
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Hi Mac,
The Old Testament God and his Covenant with the descendants of Abraham is an interesting story, and one that may make sense to those descendants.
From the point of view of the original inhabitants of the “Promised Land”, however, it is unjustifiably barbaric for Moses’ followers to be required to kill every man, woman, child and animal in the cities of that area.
What possible justice is there in killing infants in that situation? Just because God had made a worship-pact with a tribe of “Israelis”, are they allowed to kill every “Palestinian”, good or bad, old or newborn? Why would God require genocide?
I hope you will keep a wider view in mind as you read the Bible, try to think things through from all points of view.
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The Jews created their god just like the Mayans created theirs, and each needed blood sacrifices. This reflects more on their culture than it does on any god. The Ancient Egyptian gods did not require any human sacrifices as far as I know, nor any of the Hindu gods.
The idea that a god would come down to earth and sacrifice himself to himself so that he could forgive humanity for their sins, ignores the sin that god committed, by committing suicide, since we are told this was all his orchestration.
I can understand the Christian religion appealing to people of earlier periods when superstition reigned, but for this idea to be flourishing in a period when people are suppose to be beyond superstition only shows that we are not,
nor are many people thinking critically or rationally.
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He sacrificed his only son to himself to save humanity from himself. Try and get your head around that reasoning. Totally bonkers.
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Very concisely phrased, Eileen. Thank you.
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It should read “This god wants blood.” Otherwise it neglects the other gods who don’t and shows a bias to the Judaic god(s) – there were more than one at one time.
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Gjsterp, I agree with you. I’ve posted before on the relative merits of polytheism compared with monotheism. In this particular situation, I’m looking at the Judaic Yahweh specifically, and considering him as manifestation of a god of terror and chaos, a representation of the uncaring and ruthless Universe, to be placated in any way possible by pre-scientific Bronze Age humans – but not really relevant in the 21st century.
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