God is not Zeus, Stop Acting Like He Is

Okay. If this post ever gets any widespread attention, it’s gonna go up in flames. But y’know what? Screw it. I haven’t seen anyone else acknowledge this, so here it is.

First, some ground rules for this argument: I’m going to be talking about the Judeo-Christian God, specifically the God referred to in the Christian Bible (yes, both the Old and New Testaments). I’m not as knowledgeable about the intricacies of the Jewish God, nor the Islamic Allah, so I won’t be mentioning them in this rant post. I’m just going to talk about how Christians, more so Protestants, end up treating God as this strange entity akin to Zeus or Athena, despite claiming that they don’t.

With that out of the way, let’s get down to business.

I haven’t been to many churches. Being raised in a mostly atheistic household, it’s awkward for me to walk into a church and sit in a sermon– mainly it’s due to the people there, but it’s also due to my general distaste for doctrines and dogmas. Even the least offensive of churches has some sort of interpretation of the Bible that they push upon its congregation. It’s especially weird when you consider that Protestants supposedly broke off from the Catholics- the main Church- because of that oppression of belief. I’d argue that nowadays the majority of Protestant sects are much more dogmatic than the Catholics, with much more hypocrisy. I’m getting off track; my point is, even with my limited experience in church dynamic, I can safely say that I will most likely never encounter a church that doesn’t treat God like an external figure, instead of an internal one.

Here, let me explain what I mean: God is all knowing, all powerful, all seeing, all hearing, etc., yes? He created everything, and while He is outside of these things, He also is everything. Without getting into the weird stuff, everything that is living and non-living holds the essence of God. Using the mysterious thing called ~logic~, what would mean that we humans also hold the essence of God. This is what the Holy Spirit is, or the conscience (so the Christians say). But, really, think about it. If God is the Holy Spirit, which resides within us, why do people treat him as if he is a purely external figure? He obviously isn’t– yes, as the Creator of everything in existence He is, but He is also within us (and you could go as far to say that He is us, as different facets of Him, but that’s for another day), as the soul, the Holy Spirit, whatever you want to call it. It means that honoring yourself and self reflecting means honoring God.

So, why is it that people treat him like an external figure? I believe it’s mainly just misinformation, at least in people outside of the religion and the newly initiated. You can’t really describe something so extremely abstract and philosophical as God being everything yet simultaneously being outside of everything. However, it’s also due to the fact that children raised in a God-worshipping household are literally unable to wrap their heads around this fact. Children are very much based in reality, and process everything in terms of real objects. Trying to tell them about God as this wonderful creator of everything that also is everything is, frankly, nonsense (not to mention it’s basically brainwashing but, that’s for yet another post). So, you end up having to explain God as an external person, completely disregarding His actual essence… and then that child has that image stuck in their head. Do you know how difficult it is to break someone of their childhood beliefs (or lack thereof)? Psychologically, childhood beliefs are the cornerstone to everything they are made up of, and trying to convince them that what they were taught in that childhood is wrong is basically attempting to sabotage their psyche– and, as with any case of mental safety, they become extremely defensive and will shut you out entirely. It doesn’t help that in the case of Christianity, their beliefs are encouraged to the point of superstition, and, well, we all know where that goes (hint hint SPANISH INQUISITION, SALEM WITCH TRAILS, ETC.). Of course, that’s not to say that people can grow out of their childhood beliefs by themselves, especially in cases where the beliefs, to them, seem like nonsense. I’d imagine reading about the myths of Zeus and other Greek gods, and then comparing them to how the Judeo-Christian God is described would do the trick. God forbid you actually voice these opinions though…. and that, coincidentally, makes the whole thing unravel.

Being an outsider to all of this, I have no bad memories of Godly teachings. In fact, I quite like reading the Bible outside of all the wars and battles and death and drama rubbish. I do have my opinions about certain parts of it, but no matter which kind of Christian God you’re dealing with, it’s a bit insulting to insinuate that God, the all knowing all powerful Creator that is both outside and inside of everything, is similar to Zeus, a pathetic little thunder god that sticks his dick into literally any hole he can find. Seriously, not even God did any dicking. Why do people like Greek gods again?