About Belief

You might have heard that the Christian god is a gentleman when it comes to belief. They say, “He doesn’t force his will on us.” I remember telling this to people as if I hadn’t read the rest of the story. If this is true, then why intentionally deceive people? We don’t have to get far into the Old Testament before we find that God has no problem manipulating people. We are told, by God if the author is not mistaken,

Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his servants, that I may show these signs of Mine before him, and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and your son’s son the mighty things I have done in Egypt, and My signs which I have done among them, that you may know that I am the Lord. —Exodus 10:1-2, NASB

Now, that sounds like God imposing his will on people to me. But get this,

So Moses and Aaron came in to Pharaoh and said to him, “Thus says the Lord God of the Hebrews: ‘How long will you refuse to humble yourself before Me?’” —Exodus 10:3, NASB

I’m not making this shit up. God forced Pharaoh to reject Moses’ demands, sent plagues to “show these signs” that the people would know how awesome God was, and then blamed Pharaoh for it? God is the bully on the playground grabbing the arm of the puny kid, hitting him with it, and taunting, “Stop hitting yourself.” After each plague, Pharaoh begged Moses to go, but then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and Pharaoh changed his mind again. So what? It was just some bloody water, frogs, gnats, the death of all their livestock, boils (on humans and beasts…but what beasts if they all died?), hail big enough to kill people and livestock (again, what livestock if it’s all dead?), locusts, and total darkness, right? Mind you, Pharaoh asked EVERY time for Moses to just go, but then God hardened Pharaoh’s heart again to make him change his mind. But God’s final depraved act to show his people how great he really is towers over the rest like a monument to the monstrosity that is YHWH.

Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; after that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.” —Exodus 11:1, NASB

So this is the one we’ve all been waiting for. The bully will finally let go of the wimp’s arm. So he’s gonna make Pharaoh eat a shit sandwich or something, right? Hmm…if only. Moses went to Pharaoh and said,

Thus says the LORD, “About midnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt, and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well. Moreover, there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.” —Exodus 11:4-6, NASB

Side note: Can we talk just for a moment about “all the cattle”? Those poor things must have been resurrected after each plague so they could be killed again. They all died in the cattle plague, then more died in the hail storms, now they’re gonna die at midnight?

Anyway, so here we have it. God’s plan is to murder people just because Pharaoh is doing what God made him do.

Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land. —Exodus 11:9, NASB

YHWH didn’t see a problem with manipulating this man’s will in the face of certain death of perhaps hundreds of thousands of people (if the population was nearly 3 million as some estimate). Surely the pro-life god was just bluffing…nah.

Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. —Exodus 11:30, NASB

Hundreds of thousands of deaths, many of which would have been children whom Jesus reportedly loves, weren’t enough. Nope, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart yet again and caused him to chase after the Hebrews. That’s the whole parting of the Red Sea you’ve maybe heard about.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided. The sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Then the Egyptians took up the pursuit, and all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots and his horsemen went in after them into the midst of the sea. At the morning watch, the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion. He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.” So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state at daybreak, while the Egyptians were fleeing right into it; then the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen, even Pharaoh’s entire army that had gone into the sea after them; not even one of them remained. But the sons of Israel walked on dry land through the midst of the sea, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses. —Exodus 14:21-31, NASB

So there you have it. God manipulated, sickened, and killed people to make others believe in him. But he’s a gentleman? I can already hear the objections. I’ve been there too. God of the New Testament is a bit different from how he was in the Old Testament (in spite of the New Testament scripture saying otherwise…or maybe that’s just Jesus). In the New Testament, we’re told,

God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, 12 in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. –2 Thessalonians 2:11-12, NASB

Some things never change—manipulate the wicked to be more wicked rather than more repentant. Got it.