Bronze aged Inquisition/Crusade

Many times when atheists attack the early church for the violence it has perpetrated in the name of God with the purpose of propagating their beliefs and obtaining world and political dominance, they tend to refer to such things as the Inquistions and the various crusades. What they fail to realize and I have been saying this for years; is that both of these types of events were favorably propagated and approved by the "good book" itself!

In this post I will be quoting heavily from both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible to demonstrate my claim. One of my favorite and in my opinions greatest works against religious institutions to date is 'The Age of Reason' by Thomas Pane. In that book he expresses his views about religion in general and I share the same sentiments as he did in the following quote:

"I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish church, by the Roman church, by the Greek church, by the Turkish church, by the Protestant church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.

All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit"
 Thomas Paine 'Age of Reason' 

Thomas Paine 1/29/1737 - 6/08/1809

2“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.3“You shall have no other gods before me. Exodus 20:2-3

20“Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed. Exodus 22:20

The good Lord lays down the law and commands the Hebrews to worship only him. This is the first sign of intolerance against all other religious beliefs and practices.This includes other occult practices.

18“Do not allow a sorceress to live. Exodus 22:18

31“ ‘Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. Leviticus 19:31

27“ ‘A man or woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads.’ ” Leviticus 20

The first time that the Israelites violated God's warnings against worshiping other gods they paid a heavy price for their sin. 

19When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.  27Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Each man strap a sword to his side. Go back and forth through the camp from one end to the other, each killing his brother and friend and neighbor.’ ” 28The Levites did as Moses commanded, and that day about three thousand of the people died. Exodus 32:19,27-28 

This was not the fist nor the last time that the good Lord would directly or indirectly through his faithful servants kill or slaughter his so called chosen people for violations of his laws. It's no wonder that the church had no problem carrying out the Inquisitions and various crusades in the name of the Lord. They saw his stamp of approval in the scriptures and believed that they too would be justified for doing the same exact thing! 

Some theists might say: "but that was God acting under the dispensation of the law and does not apply to us, we are under the dispensation of grace!" Oh really? Well Jesus did not fall far from the tree. In fact, I find the punishments for sin in the New Testament to be so much more evil and cruel than the O.T. gods death penalty. With Jesus your problems began at death and went on into eternity! 

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

First the good Lord establishes himself as the only true way to obtain salvation. There is no room for compromise and he is the one and only truth. Believing in him and him only will restore your soul in God's good graces. But just as the O.T. monster had consequences for not worshiping him or accepting him as the one and only true god so did Christ. 

It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." Mark 10:25 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs. 1 Timothy 6:10

The reason that a person who loves money is unable to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven is that he is preoccupied not with spiritual matters but with earthly matters. He is storing his treasures on earth instead of in heaven. Now this is where Jesus gets ugly.

28Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

41The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; 42And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 13:41-42

9Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men 1 Corinthians 6:9

8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Revelation 21:8 

I don't know about you, but being cast into a furnace of fire for eternity is a much more horrifying fate than simpy dying and fading into nonexistence. This demonstrates the most evil side of the Lord to date. Physical death should suffice if you are a pansy deity who gets offended for not getting enough attention and forced obedience and love of your creation whom you have intimidated since they first strayed till now. This god does not deserve worship but disdain. He does not deserve love but hate. He does not represent the greatest good but instead the greatest evil. 

God's cruelty to mankind is the model by which man can be cruel to one another in his name. All claiming to be doing his will are not far from the truth. For the god of the bible is a monster who if he existed, should be hunted down and killed on sight! Nothing says evil like God.