Theology | Is There a God of Hate?

Is There a God of Hate?

(c) 2023 by Vernon Miles Kerr and VernonMilesKerr.com

FirstCuppaJoe for Tue Mar. 21 (thread)
Today’s #MorningMeditations yielded these topics: #Visions #TheGodOfHate

V I S I O N S
Once, I read an article saying that there’s a state between sleep and wakefulness, a sort of “semi-consciousness,” when vibrant, realistic images flash in front of you for a few seconds. Ever, since about Y2K, I’ve had that experience fairly often.
When I say “realistic,” I mean photographically so.
Once on a near year-long project for the State of Ohio, we were well past the Fall, but hadn’t yet seen snow — then I got “rolled-off,” and sent back to California. Driving home, I was fretting about the fact that I wouldn’t be there to watch their beautiful woods — in which I had hiked and camped often – “fill up with snow.” The next morning, as I awoke, lying on my back, I opened my eyes and there, on the ceiling above me was a beautiful picture, of a woods, filled with snow. The image would measure about 4 feet by 6 feet. Beautiful, bare tree trunks and intricate branches stood against a pale blue, pre-dawn sky. The picture quality was like 8K video. I blinked my eyes and another scene in some other part of the woods, appeared. Depicted, were trees along a frozen, snow-covered stream-bank. The image-quality was equally beautiful and detailed. I was conscious enough to experimentally blink my eyes again, and a third location appeared. I thought, “I wonder what would happen if I closed my eyes for five seconds.” I tried it. End of slideshow.
I’ve experienced many similar occurrences since then. Usually, the images last no more than two or three seconds, then poof! Gone. The predominate subject-matter seems to be either geometric, art-deco-like shapes, or plant life. This morning I saw one that looked like a monster from an old Star Trek episode who inhabited something like a tar pit. That brings us around to the second subject “The God of Hate.” “What’s the connection,” you ask? Keep reading…

3/22/23 This is where I left off on 3/21…

T H E G O D O F H A T E
Yesterday, a friend—and ex-member of the cultish church I was in—were talking about the way that church had “interpreted,” the King James Version of the Bible, in order to come up with the unorthodox practices it promulgated – like keeping the Jewish High Holy Days and abstaining from shellfish and pork (to name a few of those practices.) She agreed that if something like the Bible is so subject to interpretation, it hints of human origin. But I had to agree with her that even though the Bible is filled with unscientific falsehoods, some of its wisdom, about practical, everyday living hints of inspiration from a higher power. It’s a mixed bag.

The conversation then turned to, “if a ‘God’ inspired it, what kind of God would allow so much human suffering?” (The Rape of Ukraine came to mind.) I was about to tell her of my theory that God, through the human soul, actually lives in each of us. So, anything any human being suffers is experienced by God in real-time. Human suffering is temporary, and tied to the physical plane. This physical life—ALL physical life—is temporary and is experienced for an eternal purpose, which will be revealed when we leave it.
I say, “I was about to tell her…” Before I could, she said the evils, like babies and moms suffering in Ukraine are “Satan’s work.” I said, “I don’t believe in a “Satan.” She refused to continue the conversation.
I guess we all “pick and choose” which parts of the Bible — if any — to believe. The reason I don’t believe in a “God of Hate,” is that people’s “near-death-experiences,” seem to overwhelmingly describe a “God of Love.” Love and Hate cannot co-exist. The Biblical account says that one of God’s Archangels started coveting God’s Throne and convinced a third of the lesser angels to join him in a rebellion. How can a being of pure “spirit,” with no physical needs become covetous for a “political position”?

So, this gets around to the “Star Trek monster.” The night after the above conversation, I awoke to one of those “semi-conscious” crystal-clear images. It was a humanoid form, made apparently from tar. It was holding up one arm, giving an obscene gesture. I had to wonder if the subject-matter was propelled by the conversation about Satan. If so, was Satan flipping me off, for my naiveté, or was it merely my subconscious flipping off and thereby ridiculing the concept of a “Satan.” Or, was it completely random and meaningless? If random, what weird corner of my mind did it come from?