Was the God of the Old Testament
a psychopathic tyrant?

Blazing Reader,

"God sounds like a psychopath," my son said to me after I read him the first two books of the Bible.

I could not disagree.

Many Christians and Jews claim that Western civilization's success has been built upon the Bible, its God and his Ten Commandments. Yet Yahweh seems guilty of many of the crimes that we, in the freedom movement, accuse politicians and globalists of perpetrating today.

For example...

The story of the flood was nothing short of mass genocide at the hands of Yahweh.

Then the Book of Exodus contains plenty of child sacrifice — with God sending an angelic serial killer to murder the first-born sons of the Egyptians. Yes, the Egyptians were enslaving the Israelites, I know. But isn't murdering a baby — because his parents had slaves — critical race theory at its worst?

And then there's the scene when Moses comes down from the mountain and finds God's "chosen people" worshipping a relatively harmless (when compared to Yahweh) golden idol. Forget about freedom of expression, anyone who wouldn't immediately recant was no longer among the chosen and had a sword put through his or her belly.

Another shocking scene, albeit on a smaller scale, is where Moses' nephews, newly ordained priests, make a mistake during their first religious ceremony. Without delay the Bible says, "Fire, therefore came forth, from the Lord's presence and consumed them, so that they died in the Lord's presence."

I don't particularly find this kind of behaviour God-like or spiritually uplifting. It's not the type of being I would want any state to bow down to.

Feeling like a "heretic," I did some searching and discovered the writings of Father Seán Ólaoire. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1972 but has since been excommunicated for questioning how the God of the Torah could warrant our adoration.

In his book, Setting God Free: Moving Beyond the Caricature We've Created in Our Own Image, he has this to say about the above-mentioned scene where God kills Moses' nephews:

"This is the most extreme case of Obssesive-Compulsive Disorder that I've come across, accompanied by a homicidal rage that took the lives of two newly ordained, enthusiastic priests for messing up a detail of the liturgical event."

Did I mention Father Seán has a PhD in transpersonal psychology? His psychological assessment continues:

"Without batting an eyelid, Moses immediately orders two of his first cousins — Micheal and Elzaphan, neither of whom were priests — to carry the corpses outside the camp, while warning Aaron himself and his other two priest-sons to show no sign of shock or bereavement lest they further infuriate God and bring about their own deaths and, perhaps, collateral damage."

Is this the type of God that should have supremacy over a nation (as is stated in the Canadian Constitution) or in whom a nation should put its trust (as is stated on American bills)?

Father Seán concludes: "Moses, knowing God as 'an intimate,' is afraid that if Aaron reacts to the murder of his two sons, God may completely lose it and murder a whole bunch more of the Israelites. Maybe Moses was afraid that God would vent His frustration by shooting up the nearest schoolyard. Are you really a follower of — or even a believer in — this cosmic psychopath?"

Any individual who wants to accept this "cosmic psychopath" as the "one true God" is free to do so — as long as they don't drown, stab or ignite anybody who disagrees. But it's not a depiction of the Divine that I could worship, no less argue that a nation should pledge allegiance to.

Much like many politicians and tyrants, who have the attitude of "rules for ye, but not for me," this Old Testament tyrant should take note of his own "thou shall not murder" injunction.

Seán Ólaoire's book, Setting God Free, reads like a novel — where Yahweh and Moses are put on trial for crimes against humanity. Despite the horror it unapologetically examines, Father Seán manages to add so much humour and clarity that I find it hard to put the book down. You can pick up a copy at: https://blazingpinecone.com/shop/setting-god-free

—John C.A. Manley

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona: A Dystopian Love Story, the forthcoming All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of speculative fiction. Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber at: https://blazingpinecone.com/subscribe/