wesr: I wouldn't weigh too heavily on small interpretations of single deut. and ps. verses. While I'm certain the hypothesis was a clear indicator of those interpretations, they are interpretations which have occurred after evidence arose suggesting the alternative polytheistic origins of the Abrahamic religions.
I am aware that there is significant evidence of the polytheistic nature of the beliefs of the early Israelites- both in the form of documentation (previous texts, known histories of these prior polytheistic religions) and more directly, physical evidence in the form of religious trinkets (such as clay figures of Yahweh and his wife, Asherah).
Regardless, it's all rather interesting! :)
bozzle: Given the reality of the world we find ourselves in, I can't buy that people truly consider their god to be all loving and caring.
Let's assume for a second, as you did, that there is a God. I'll go with the Christian god as I suspect he will be the most commonly understood example given this is an Australian forum.
There is no denying that religious belief coincides quite strongly to geographical location, and the predominance of a religion among your family members and peer group as you grow up. There are obvious exceptions to this, but I'll continue anyway.
Christian dogma dictates in no uncertain terms that those who do not accept Christ as their saviour will perish in hell. No ifs, ands, or buts. If someone has not accepted Christ, it does not matter how good, nor how innocent they are: They cannot enter the gates of heaven (nor can anyone with personal wealth - something interesting to note on a stock trading forum).
Now, some 8 million children die every year before the age of five. Most of these children, and their parents, by want of geography, believe in gods other than the Christian god. Depending on how literally people take the bible, these children will burn in hell for an eternity.
An all-powerful and all knowing deity has created them in predominantly non-Christian countries like India, or in isolated tribes throughout South America, where they may never be exposed to Christianity. Their geographical isolation, coupled with the desires of the Christian God means that through no fault of their own, they will be tortured for eternity for failing to reconcile original sin.
Consider that for a second. Before you finish reading this sentence, a handful of non-Christian children under the age of five will die. Their families will be distraught, and will have been praying to their own god: The god they were brought up with. But this won't matter.
The Christian god is aware of the above. Furthermore, the Christian god, being all knowing, having "God's plan", and having decreed the Christian dogma to the prophets, has engineered this situation. He explicitly created a world in which the vast majority of people would not be exposed to Christianity. He then engineers events which lead 8 million children under the age of five to die every year (I believe it's actually closer to 10 million, but I'll ignore this). The vast majority of these are not Christian, because they were born to non-Christian parents.
Think about that: There are 8 million parents a year potentially praying to a god to spare their child. Their prayers will not be answered. If the Christian God were real, this apparently "all loving and caring God", organised a world in which people would be isolated from Christianity. He then engineers the circumstances of their death, while describing a horrible punishment for their death in ignorance of revelation.
There are people in the world who believe that this is how their "all loving" God works. To borrow the words of Sam Harris, "to think in this way is to fail to reason honestly, or care sufficiently about your fellow human beings".
I do not many people DO NOT adhere to such a belief, but perhaps consider that, regardless, any god you follow engineers situations in which millions of innocent children die every year, all in the name of his "plan".
If anyone reads the above and considers "oh, but God works in mysterious ways", or "yeah well nobody can understand God", I must suggest that it would be hypocritical to say such a thing while also claiming any and all remotely positive occurrences in the world as evidence of his existence and his goodness. You cannot have your cake and eat it too; if you do not understand his mysterious ways you cannot make any sound basis of reasoning for him to be good OR bad. You cannot choose whether or not you are able to understand him dependant on whether it suits the argument being posited against your beliefs.
