I’ve been thinking lately about God, assuming He exists. Mainly, I’ve been thinking about the Judeo-Christian biblical conception of God, and asking myself, crazy as this sounds, if He exists, Is God a sociopath?
I pose this question seriously, and apologize in advance for offending anyone by probing this idea. But consider:
You are expected to worship Him.
You are expected to acknowledge His perfection.
You are expected to live by His standards.
You are expected to fear His Judgement.
You are expected to please, not disappoint Him.
You are expected to do penance when you’ve strayed from His rules.
You are expected to be in awe of, and fear, His omniscience.
You are expected to be in awe of, and fear, His omnipotence.
You are expected to prize His love, and fear His wrath.
You are expected to seek, and follow, His guidance.
When He feels unheeded, He licenses Himself to unleash cruel, violent, devastating rages (see the Flood, among countless other examples).
He is a punisher.
He is perfect.
He has no guilt; yet He instills guilt.
He “made,” and he “works,” the world and universe from “above,” sitting in Judgement of all who deviate from Him.
He is infallible.
He is unaccountable.
He is callous—a cause of, and silent witness to, untold violence and suffering in the history of humanity.
He is “entitled—”to judge, and punish, as He likes.
He is controlling to a highly pathological degree, for all the reasons stated above.
He is merciful, so long as you heed Him. Otherwise, He can be merciless.
He expects to be idealized and treated like a God.
He rages, and inflicts the cruelest of punishments, when He feels defied.
His word is the bible.
Now you tell me: If I were describing a human being in these terms, what conclusion would you draw? I suspect, if you weren’t feeling defensive, that you’d conclude that we’re talking about someone with a case of seriously malignant narcissism edging, perhaps, into the realm of sociopathy?
But, of course, I’m describing the Judeo-Christian God.
Think about this: from the earliest age, this is your almighty Father figure. You are taught to worship Him, seek His love, His mercy, accept His perfection and infallibility.
You are taught that His word is final; His wrath is justified; to feel shame before His eyes.
You are taught to have to work hard to earn your way back into His good graces, and to be grateful for His forgiveness.
His judgement is final, and even terrifying.
Now if this is the Father figure we’ve been raised to heed and idealize from birth, is it not fair to wonder how much this relationship—with God—might predispose us to end up with a sociopath?
Does one’s adult relationship with a sociopath not replicate, in certain ways, one’s relationship with God?
I pose this as food for thought, nothing else. But I will follow-up this post in the next several weeks, to further flesh out my thoughts, factoring in, as well, your initial feedback.
(This article is copyrighted (c) 2010 by Steve Becker, LCSW.)
There is only one belief for me on this site! and that is to heal from the spath that has profoundly effected our lives today. It saddens me that we come here to heal, not get into a bitter debate that has been raging for thousands of years. People’s religious belief should never be justified and fought for on this site. It is obvious that there are many religious people on this site and many that are not and I would never offend any of them with what ever it is they have in there life and there beliefs. To me LF is a place of calm and reason…
I just don’t like seeing bloggers that were once helping one another now upset with one another, it is certainly not the place for this kind of debate being such a sensitive subject for many!
OK, I’ll go along with that!
I don’t have any problems with the old text God. He was strict, but from what I’ve read, there were spritual reasons for his wrath.
Thank goodness for Jesus. His grace protects us from those circumstances.
But, I personally have no issues accepting right and wrong, black and white terms of thinking regarding the spirit and our actions.
My God is not a sociopath. His way is truly the right way.
🙂
Wow. A flame was thrown my way. At one point, I would have felt the need to defend myself vigorously. But now, I can easily step aside, averting a ploy to become engaged in a public tit–for-tat. I have this site to thank for my strength. I see the signs. I see the wise admonitions from those who are lovefraud vets that we are not always amongst friends. I feel something in my gut. Unlike in the past, today those things I will not ignore. Rather than becoming engulfed in the flames, I step aside. Not out of cowardice, just the opposite. Out of the strength to take responsibility for guarding the precious moments of life that we can never get back away from time, spirit and energy vultures. I’ve done that one too many times. Not this time!
I see the beauty of No Contact. I equate that with No Response when online. It’s just as powerful. I’m feeling darn tootin good right now! I am choosing to focus on my path of healing, being careful of who I select to walk this path with me.
Thanks to all of those who have provided life-affirming, considerate, loving, empathetic, caring, kind, healing and supportive comments with such wisdom and grace regardless of your creed, your class or your color.
I personally applaud, you, Steve. I think your musings are incredibly astute, and pertinant to our purposes here. I donot think you meant to offend anyones sensibbilities, but to openup a dialouge.
I have enjoyed reading the thread, and pondering for myself whatto believe.
Frank Lee, I must say, I tend to agree with you on this one, and hope you’re not still hiding behind the sofa…very interesting.
Was it CG Jung who said,”evil is always inevitably elsewhere”.
I paraphrase.
Open-mindedness is key. Always remain teachable.
It was perhaps three weeks ago, when one of our more religious bloggers stated that it was okay to ask Jesus, (or was it God?) for revenge on our enemys, or those that had wronged us in some way. Wow.
I am at a point in my life where hind-sight is 20/20. I am swallowing some hard truths about myself…my choices, my life-style, my losses, my failures….and I have been RIGHTIOUSLY angry at others (spaths, I think), but I have hated that ugliness in myself, and prayed and prayed for help in forgiving….I am led to the idea of 100% accountability.
Praying to MY GOD for revenge is ignorant. Just my opinion.
That is not to say that I don’t tell him the truth about how I feel, and how injust it all seemed….sometimes I rage, and ask why? Sometimes I’m not sure I believe at all…and I share that with God, too.
Anyway, my computer crashed, and have limited opportunity to come, read and share, but I miss you all, and again, thought the thread was great.
EB, 🙂 back atcha!
healingfast:
And you used that flame to light your candle for a calm evening! GOOD for you!
It’s pretty clear the peeps who come on Lf and cause trouble, throw flames, gaslight and are downright nasty! you’ve got to question their motives and think how lonely and aweful their life must be, that they need to come here for jolly’s.
If you read back their posts…..they are always contradicting topics and thier ‘beleifs’ and then attacking others, either outright or passive aggressively.
Pay no mind……
But…..such as life…..and here as in the ‘real world’…..we have a choice NOT to continue any dialogue.
There are predators and sewer dwellers here just like there are in ‘real life’. They can’t hide their stink with patchuli oil…..the stench comes through.
Good for you! Tha’ts really all I wanted to say!
KIMMY!!!!!!
Dang girl……don’t stay gone so long……the nights are not the same withoutcha!
How are YOU?
Miss you darlen!!
BIG
XXXXX and OOOO’s to you!
I love pattoilli oil! Remindsd meof my hippy days, but Sandle-wood is even better.
YUCK!
It reminds me of a skank friend of spaths who would come over and sit on my leather couch…..and when I’d come home I’d say ……oh…xxx was here today? Spath would look at me like I was a psychic…..and say….no he wasn’t….i’d say yes he was……and he sat right HERE onthe couch.
It’d freak spath out…….
I would comment each time i knew xx was over…..
He’d never tell me he had xx over…..so I just mind fucked him with my ‘knowledge’…….what was really his scent!
🙂
xx used it to avoid showering. YUCK!