Christian mercy


Ken Ham is very sad for Bill Maher. Maher is going to die someday, as are we all, and then, according to his cult beliefs, Bill Maher is going to suffer in torment for eternity because he called his peculiar god mean names. And you know what that means? Right now, in this life, Ken Ham gets to put on his sanctimony face and drone on about how his god is a loving god who will set you on fire if you don’t love him back … all while completely oblivious to how his every word shows that Maher is right, god really is a psychotic mass murderer and tyrant.

So Ken Ham says, I’m reminded that God is a God of grace and mercy, and then quotes the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men and cites the Bible, cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, 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).

Yes, one day, when God determines, Bill Maher will die and enter eternity: “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Hebrews 10:31).

And just where, in Ham’s testimony, is he refuting rather than reinforcing the fact that his god is a monstrous psychopath, a horrible, awful being we’re supposed to worship submissively or face the most awful torture?

Ham ends by saying he fears for Bill Maher’s soul. I fear living Christians and their death cult far more.


Turns out Bryan Fischer is saying the same thing. His proof that god is merciful is the fact that Maher wasn’t struck dead instantly.

Comments

  1. brianwestley says

    because he called his peculiar god mean names.

    …because he held an erroneous opinion about that god’s existence when he died. Petty and psychotic don’t begin to describe such a god.

  2. aziraphale says

    It’s always pleasing to be reminded of verses such as Revelation 21:8.

    Especially when I consider how many lies Ham has published on his website.

  3. playonwords says

    Ken, didn’t you know that there’s an invisible rainbow unicorn going to spear you with his horn condemning you to an eternity in an undetectable teapot between Earth and Mars.

  4. Felis Mediterraneus says

    I don’t think Revelation 21:8 is that bad. Am I the only one who’s flattered to be in the same club as sorcerers? I mean, come on, sorcerers!

  5. robro says

    Ham may also find himself among the idolaters. Given the way he worships that Bible, you might think that thing was his god.

    Side note: Bizarreness in the page layout this morning. Seems the sidebar wants to go below all the content. Perhaps it’s the hand of god or Manos or similar badly produced scare story.

  6. jb says

    I once called out a Christian friend on this kind of thing, who was gloating on Twitter after Roger Ebert’s death that Ebert would have all eternity to think about how wrong he was to deny God. I told him I found his attitude deeply offensive, and how dare he presume to judge Ebert. My friend responded that my beef was properly with God and not with him, and I should take it up with God. Apparently one of the rules of the Death Cult is not to talk about the Death Cult.

  7. inquisitiveraven says

    Seconding robro about the page layout wonkiness. It also affects the top page. I suspect that it’s related to the words “turns out” at the bottom of the post, below the line dividing the post from the assorted links for sharing.

  8. leftwingfox says

    Turns out… God may have the limited power to smite blog formatting temporarily. ;)

    Bow down and tremble!!

  9. says

    I’m not sure I would go with “a psychotic mass murderer and tyrant” (although I do not think it’s wrong) but there is definitely a strong element of spousal/parental abuse.

  10. peterh says

    I only bother to take the time to consider Ken Ham’s irrationality to help me calm down from the excitement of watching paint dry.

  11. raven says

    Ham ends by saying he fears for Bill Maher’s soul. I fear living Christians and their death cult far more.

    Yeah, me too. The xian god is nowhere and does nothing, likely because he is imaginary. Xians like Ken Ham however, are real and can do real things in the world.

    Xian sponsored terrorism has been a problem in the USA for decades. And the tens of millions of anti-science, anti-education, anti-democracy fundies like Ken Ham are a major drag on our society and will destroy it if they can.

  12. raven says

    Ham ends by saying he fears for Bill Maher’s soul. I fear living Christians and their death cult far more.

    This is BTW, just Pascal’s Wager.

    There are thousands of gods, hundreds of religions, and 42,000 sects of xianity. If Ken Ham picked the wrong one, he is going to be in trouble forever.

    In fact, Brahma hates Pascal’s Wager. Ken Ham will come back in his next reincarnation as a tapeworm and it will take him millions of years to work his way back up to field mouse.

  13. says

    What gets me is, if they truly believe this god exists, who drowns worlds, torments loving followers for a bet, arranges to have his only son nailed to a tree and all the rest of it; why the hell do they praise him as loving and merciful? That’s one seriously fucked up dictionary they have.

  14. Endorkened says

    Say what you want about Maher’s politics, but he did have a helluva line recently.

    “March Madness really is a stirring reminder of what America was founded on: making tons of money off the labor of unpaid black people.”

  15. knut7777 says

    More than once I have encountered that barely suppressed christian glee at the imagined infinite torture of the apostate. It gives me the creeps like nothing else. You know there are clubs for people like that.

  16. anteprepro says

    Proof that these kind of Christians are petty, vindictive, cruel, and humorless. They aren’t willing or able to tolerate the slightest bit of dissent or criticism, let alone mockery. They expect that every human should be just as irrationally shoved into apoplexy over such things as they are. And they thus consider it forgiveness and mercy if anyone, including their fictional deity, has a slightly less extreme reaction to it (even if they, ya know, are still going to punish you for eternity over it ).

    They think that their omnipotent and omniscient god is just as small as they are. Granted, that interpretation at least has Biblical justification, but it’s still humorous.

  17. busterggi says

    “ungodly men, cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars”

    At least he had the self awareness to leave pompous self-righteous assholes off his list.

  18. hexidecima says

    it’s very telling that Christians have their masturbatory fantasies of everyone being “punished” for disagreeing with them.

  19. sigurd jorsalfar says

    God’s mercy is as convincing to me as the Gorn’s “I will be merciful”.

  20. pokeyblow says

    This God, who punishes those who don’t adequately praise him, reminds me of the Twilight Zone kid who sent people to the cornfield.

    Basically a hostage situation.

  21. says

    Christians are always redefining words, “purity” and “humble” for example. But redefining “love” and “mercy” as not throwing everyone in a lake of fire, or as not throwing everyone in a lake of fire right now, well that’s just bonkers.

    Trying to think like a religious person makes my head hurt.

  22. says

    “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God”

    I have no doubt it would be, if a god existed. Ham pounds on the one thing that drove a nail firmly into my ability to believe – fear. It’s a lousy basis to believe, let alone worship. What kind of god needs to use fear? One not worthy of a second glance.

  23. U Frood says

    The Christian God is a merciful God, who wants to forgive all mankind. For some reason, this all-powerful God can only forgive mankind after sacrificing his son. And even then, can only forgive those who believe in his son.
    If you weren’t raised a Christian, and thus have no reason to believe the words of the bible, too bad, God can’t help you.

  24. julial says

    The lure of heaven isn’t better than the threat of hell.
    What is one supposed to do to amuse oneself after doing everything interesting a few trillion times?
    After counting each grain of sand on every beach in every permutation of order a few million times what is one supposed to do with the remainder of forever?
    Go ahead, torment me, at least it’d be a break in the boredom.

  25. coffeehound says

    His proof that god is merciful is the fact that Maher wasn’t struck dead instantly.

    Right. because the last oh, 30 years of Maher’s life as measured against an eternity of torture really counts as God’s great grace and mercy. I wish they would just occasionally think about the bullshit that they spew.

  26. ButchKitties says

    The lure of heaven isn’t better than the threat of hell.

    Glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t get the appeal of eternal life. Sure I would like to live a lot longer than the average human life span. But if what I want is to live for 10,000 earth solar years, and my options are approximately 80 years or infinity, the 80 years is a whole lot closer to what I want than the infinity.

    But hell? I can’t think of a single human being in history who deserves eternal torture. Finite crimes deserve finite punishment. In fact, the only being who would be deserving of that kind of punishment would be a being who puts other beings into eternal torment; the only being who would deserve eternity in Hell would be God.

  27. julial says

    Eternal torture isn’t much of a threat if heaven is just as bad after the first few (negligible in comparison) epochs.
    I’ve run into the argument that torture as such isn’t actually used. That the eternal torment is the result of separation from God.
    First, as he’s such a prick, I think separation the preferred condition.
    Second, at the moment, AFAIK I am currently separated from the cosmic jerk and don’t appear to be suffering. Actually, it’s pretty pleasant.

  28. stinkyj says

    Saw Richard Herring’s stand up comedy show “We’re All Going To Die” recently.

    His take;
    Heaven is a nice fairy story to tell the kids when Grandad / Fido kick the bucket.
    Hell is to stop you topping yourself to go there immediately.

    Plus lots of jokes about masturbation.

  29. brianpansky says

    His proof that god is merciful is the fact that Maher wasn’t struck dead instantly.

    but that’s not very merciful, i thought he was supposed to be supremely merciful.

    also, humorously (and obviously), this is yet another attribute of god which is indistinguishable from there being no god at all.

  30. methuseus says

    I have always wondered what the difference is between saints that perform miracles and the sorcerers and such that will be thrown in hell. Seriously is the only difference that they were doing miracles in the name of the wrong God? I really never liked that even as a kid.

  31. Thumper: Token Breeder says

    On the “Heaven does not sound appealing” topic; I was fairly certain the Bible describes Heaven as “eternity singing God’s praises”, and some Googling has confirmed that Revelation 4:8-11 does describe it this way. An eterntiy of licking arse, surrounded by creatures with entirely too many limbs? No thanks.

  32. says

    julial @29:

    The lure of heaven isn’t better than the threat of hell.
    What is one supposed to do to amuse oneself after doing everything interesting a few trillion times?

    It’s worse than that.
    In heaven, you’re [general you] supposed to spend eternity glorifying god. Just like you did while alive.

  33. tsig says

    After an eon or two the sweetest pleasure of heaven would be just as much torture as the most fiendish punishment in hell.

  34. says

    tsig, the sweetest pleasures of heaven would be ruined by the odious presence of Ken Ham, Kent Hovind, Jerry Falwell, Mother Teresa and their ilk. I mean, who can get off with those incessant panty sniffers hanging around singin’ ’bout Jeezus 24/7?

    Wait. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

  35. cuervocuero says

    Yes, the ever popular cat litter cover up sniveling why ‘god’ *doesn’t* show His power KABOOMAH! right then and there on the scoffing apostates and heathens.

    Bcuz, mercy, that’s why!! Not laziness, not non-existence but *mercy*. But you just wait! You.Just.Wait! Some day..maybe in the afterlife, if it doesn’t happen in real life!! Then it’s pain and suffering for you, infidel!! -shaking of fists, bemoaning that secular law restrains their ability to become Nimrod, mighty hunter before the Lord-.

    I await the day the US state “Stand your Ground” laws officially start including defense of religious freedom to terminate heathens.

    It really isn’t a big leap from swallowing that excuse to seeing anything bad happening in a person’s life for no apparent damned reason as Just Punishment for past deeds they did…somewhere…somewhen, ergo anyone wanting to help the disadvantaged is defying the Almighty’s Judgement.

  36. says

    His proof that god is merciful is the fact that Maher wasn’t struck dead instantly.

    But, but, but, … God is totally merciful! “Plenteous in mercy, …;” it says it right there in the divinely-inspired KJV!

    More proof, as if any were needed: if it weren’t for God’s abundant mercy, there’d be an awful lot of us fried by lightning. And there’d be nobody on FTB.

    Praise be to God for his wonderful love!

    */snark*

  37. Richard Smith says

    I have clear evidence that Santa Clause exists. He’s never given me any presents. This is because I’ve never been nice enough to warrant any. I have been naughty enough to get coal, however, yet I’ve never received any, either. This is because of his benevolent and forgiving nature. Therefore, this total lack of action on his part, either positive or negative, proves Santa’s existence!

  38. mikeyb says

    Ham is a actually more characteristic of the views of most Christians throughout history from Johnathan Edwards on down the line, and not of liberal Christianity or sophisticated theology TM. We must remember the origin of all religion is primitive fears and terrors, of natural forces, other people and chaos. Otherwise why would you posit a divine tyrannical despot to rule over all if didn’t think the alternative was total chaos. I always think of Asimov’s short story Nightfall as a real insight about what religion is really about. I prefer the divine despot YHWH over the NT version. Though he was genocidal, his lust for revenge at least was satisfied by smiting the enemy in this world, and not in an imaginary realm for all eternity. I think there is something deeply depraved and psychopathic about you if you actually take the notion of eternal hell seriously and actually believe it could ever be justifiable and reconciled by a so-called loving just God, either that or you’ve been psychologically tortured into these beliefs kinda like the character in Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.

  39. Lofty says

    Seeing as no gods exist, essentially Hammy is just wishing his enemies bad nightmares. It’s the anticipation, you see.

  40. says

    Cross-posted from the thread about the Westboro Baptist Church:

    If your pastor preaches that God loves everyone, you should run as fast as you can from that vile place. This is the granddaddy of all lies belched forth from the bowels of hell.

    That’s Steve Drain speaking. He was Fred Phelps’s closest disciple, and is now a sort-of replacement for Phelps.

  41. Azuma Hazuki says

    I have never yet seen a single good apologetic for the idea of eternal torture. Not one. And I’ve had a looooooot of people try them on me recently.

    The one a lot of these moral defectives seem to like is “God is infinitely great, therefore any sin at all is infinitely bad and deserves endless torture.” They can never explain this one; they just say it.

    Then there’s the even worse one where some glib apologist (I forget who) says “Hell is necessary for human dignity,” i.e., the choice to reject God fully and finally must be honored. Transparent revenge fantasy; it is not “dignified” to scream and wail and thrash on fire, much less for all of eternity. This one made me want to commit crimes ending in -cide.

    There doesn’t seem to be any reaching some people about this. I really wonder if they are simply physically incapable of empathy, or need to suffer torture themselves to understand what it is they believe. Ingersoll said it best when he responded to one of this kind by saying, basically, “if you really believed this you’d never sleep again.”

  42. unclefrogy says

    when I die I don’t want to go to heaven I would know anyone there!
    uncle frogy

  43. randay says

    This merciful god is going to punish people eternally for nothing more than a thought crime. The expression “the living god” fills me with wonder and humor. What meaning can “living” have in relation to a god? It only applies to actual living creatures here on earth and probably some other planets. A god cannot be alive, nor dead for that matter, because it is supernatural and is around for eternity, whatever those things mean.

    Gods “lives” in people’s imagination. They can also imagine it is dead. It’s not hard to do. It is even easier than the first option.

  44. says

    peterh #14

    I only bother to take the time to consider Ken Ham’s irrationality to help me calm down from the excitement of watching paint dry.

    Well ventilated area, peterh. Well ventilated area.

  45. Rey Fox says

    I just want to say that I’ve read this post, and I’ve been slogging through the Bible for some time now (in the gospel of John in time for Easter), and I’m really really having a hard time seeing how anyone can take this shit seriously anymore. In 2014. The only way to tell a cult from a mainstream religion is the degree to which the followers adhere to the holy text.

  46. robster says

    It was writ:”Turns out Bryan Fischer is saying the same thing. His proof that god is merciful is the fact that Maher wasn’t struck dead instantly”. More likely a proof that the god/jesus/mo/al/spook does not exist. Seems to me it’s never done anything, ever.