Wasn't it Abraham who God commanded to kill his son in order to test his loyalty? What kind of a God would do that? A pretty creepy one, I think. Given a choice between a child of mine, and a disembodied spirit calling himself, God Almighty, I'll take my kid everytime.

If this is the kind of reasoning the faithful aspire to, its no wonder we're so nuts. This is the kind of rationale that inspires countless psychotics to commit acts of violence against their families.

The bible is sublime. Horribly beautiful. Half is horrible. Half is beautiful.

That's my two cents worth on Abraham, and I'm not going to sugar coat it. Stay tuned. There's more to come.

Threadbear, If you like the story of Abraham, you’ll LOVE the one about Job. But you probably have some familiarity with it already.

A conversation ensues in Heaven, with Satan present, about Job's faith. Satan challenges God by insisting that Job will denounce God if put to the test. God gives permission to Satan to afflict Job, with an unbelievable series of sufferings.

Anyways, at the end of his tether, Job cries out for an explanation for all this, and God weighs forth with his famous response, which I think I can paraphrase accurately as “I’m God, I don’t have to tell you sh**.”

Sounds like an episode of the Sopranos to me.