A Kinder and Gentler Yahweh?

When freethinkers critique Christianity by pointing out the relentless cruelty, violence and mayhem in the Pentateuch, Christians will often respond like this:  “Oh, well that’s the OLD Testament.   That doesn’t apply to us any more.  I base my religion on the God of the New Testament.”    I’ve often heard that sentiment expressed even from people who are not particularly religious.  The conventional wisdom is that God went through an anger management program in between the two testaments, and we ended up with a kinder and gentler Yahweh the latter portion of the Bible.  But is that really the case?

• The concept of Hell as place of  torment for the damned is pretty much absent from the Old Testament.  Eternal punishment is a New Testament concept, apparently enthusiastically embraced by Jesus. (Mark 9:47-48, Matthew 28:41)
• On the issue of slavery, the New Testament shows absolutely no moral progress over the Old.   Jesus assumes that the beating of slaves is a social norm and does not criticize it. (Luke 12:47-48)  And Paul’s letters support the institution of slavery as well. (Ephesians 6:5-7, Colossians 3:18)  In fact, one of of the shortest books of the New Testament, Philemon, is a letter sent to the owner of a runaway slave, asking him to take the slave back.
• The New Testament is not any better on the rights of women.  Passages like Ephesians 5:22, Colossians 3:18, and 1 Timothy 2:11-15, have been used for centuries to justify denying gender equality–both inside the church and in society at large.
• In a story clearly intended to extract more contributions from members of the early church, a husband and wife both drop dead when it is exposed that they’ve been holding out on their offerings.(Acts 5)
• In the last book of the New Testament, human history comes to an end with a cataclysmic battle of cosmic proportions which makes the wars of the  Old Testament seem like minor skirmishes. (Revelation 17-19)

Of course this is not an exhaustive list, but I think it suffices to make the point.  The biblical text simply does not support the idea that the God of the New Testament is  nicer version of Yahweh.  In fact, in some ways he’s more horrific.

What’s In a Name?

I haven’t been a part of the free-thought movement very long, so I may not be qualified to make these observations.  I am fascinated, however, by the amount of space taken up on various forums and discussion groups over issues of nomenclature.  I have personally grown used to the idea of being an “atheist,” and I’ve actually come to like the term quit a lot.  Other free-thinkers prefer to be known as “agnostic.”   Some atheists disparage the term agnostic and consider it a cop-out.  I’ve also heard people use other terms to describe their perspective such as “agnostic-atheist” or “militant agnostic.”   Deists, it seems to me, would also qualify as non-theists.   They might grant the possibility that some greater intelligence was involved in creating the world as we know it. (And Michael Shermer has certainly explored this possibility in a couple of his books.)  Yet Deists still believe that no supreme being is actively involved in manipulating the day-to-day operations of the universe.  Heck, I even know Christians who would qualify as functional atheists.

Is the hair-splitting among terms like atheist, agnostic, freethinker, and skeptic similar to a believer’s need to differentiate between Pentecostals and Neo-Calvinists?  Is this just another manifestation of the inveterate human need to judge and categorize “the other?”

Anyway–just thinking out loud late at night…. As always, I’m interested in your thoughts on this.