God Hates You, Hate Him Back: Making Sense of The Bible

"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully." - Richard DawkinsThis book demonstrates and displays these qualities of the biblical God book by book, all through the 66 books of the bible, from Genesis to Revelation the character of the biblical God is exposed and on full display for all to see.I wish this book was mandatory reading for all people on planet earth. I read about two or more books a week on average. When I read I always think about which books I would have my future kids read(If I ever have them) and which books I think would be the most important and beneficial to have the whole world read. This book made the list.Most people are not going to suffer through reading the higher critics hit parade works on the bible. This book combines humor, wit, accessibility, as well as high educational and entertainment value. It is a great cocktail to help expose people to the multitude of absurdities in the "good book" that almost all believers have made a pre-mature concession in believing its contents divine, true, and good.Until a little over two years ago I was seeking to be a Christian Philosopher and Apologist. I have read hundreds of book related to Christian Apologetics in one way or another . I have read all of Lewis, all of Schaeffer, all of Peter Kreeft, all of Dr. Geisler's books, including his encyclopedia A-Z twice, and his Systematic Theology twice, I have read Plantinga, McDowell, Craig, Ravi, Moreland,Holding, Swinburne, N.T Wright, Paul Copan, R.C Sproul, Van Til, Gary Habermas, Lee Strobel, David Noebel, Francis Beckwith, Chuck Colson, Nancy Pearcy, Chesterton, Stuart C. Hacket, Martin, Richard Purtill, Stephen T. Davis, Dembski, Behe, Johnson, Collins, Paul K Moser, and many other Christian Philosophers and theologians. I was going to spend my life defending Christianity.I set out to read all the top skeptic books to see of my faith could withstand the scrutiny. To make a long story short I realized I was dead wrong. I have now read over 170 skeptic related books and I am now a confident Atheist.It is easy to get bogged down in all the complicated back and forth that goes on in the philosophy of religion. Realizing the utter absurd and malevolent nature of the Biblical God is something anyone can readily grasp and understand and it is often very powerful once people are exposed to it and understand that context is not going to resolve the issue.Most Christians are conditioned from a young age to view the God of the bible in a certain idealized way. They first get exposed to the Idea of the biblical God through their parents, pastor, and a very selective reading and commentary of the bible. For most Christians this process is continued throughout their life, their idealized view continues to get bolstered and fortified by the Christian books they read their pastor and friends. The conditioning is often so thorough and entrenched that they often do not see the obvious implication and meaning of the text but instead read into the text what they have been conditioned to believe or they dismiss the texts that are not in accord with their conditioned view and think they must not mean what it seams to mean or that some apologist must have some good explanation that would resolve the apparent problem."No man ever believes that the Bible means what it says: He is always convinced that it says what he means." - George Bernard ShawThere actually is a whole litany of rationalizations that Christians use, everything from "Gods ways are not our ways" to "We cant Judge God". These attempts to get God off the hook do not hold up under even cursory examination." I will call no being good, who is not what I mean when I apply that epithet to my fellow-creatures; and if such a being can sentence me to hell for not so calling him, to hell I will go." - John Stuart MillThe infidel Guy the other day said this"One of my facebook friends says that they "absolutely LOVE the lord!" I could not possibly "absolutely love" anyone that; kills children, drowns babies, burns people alive, slaughters the innocent, inoculates people with dreaded diseases, modifies babies to have horrible genetic disorders, sics animals to attack and ki...ll children, punishes people by raping them, inflicts pain and death indiscriminately? You?"Here is a satirical response I wrote.Well you see God is perfectly good by definition. There is no evil in the bible or even any imaginable hypothetical evil that anyone could think up(such as tormenting the mass of men and women for eternity... o wait I forgot he will do this in hell) that could even in principal disconfirm this. Besides we would not even have any ethical bases NOT to commit unwarranted gratitouse acts of genocide, rape, murder and things such as ; unless we worship and believe in the almighty morally perfect being who sanctions, commits, and or condones genocide, rape, murder and things such as.You see, we can judge the charactar and actions of all the other Gods and all the other versions of the God of the bible, such as calvins God, but we must not and cannot judge the version I hold to, why? Because he told me personally that he cant be judged by man. He did say we could judge his actions to be perfect and holy, as long as we dont judge anything in a negative light(:When you cant differentiate whatsoever, what and what is not becoming of a morally perfect being, then how can we as humans say what or what not is good for man? If we cant give an example of even what in principle would falsify this concession to a perfect being and if we are at a loss to say what would make him less then morally perfect , then what are we really saying when we say he(God is jesus and jesus has a penis, so god is a he, deal with it) is the most morally perfect being possible? I used to think we could know something about morals from what god taught us in the bible, but then God both affirmed and denied moral claim x, as well as breaking his own rules. So that took me back to square one. Why would god try to teach us ethics when he new we could not understand ethics?I guess in the end we just have to have faith that he is morally perfect, even though predicated on our view of God we cant really say what that means. How can we believe that something has a certain quality when we cant even know what it is at all? God is a tricky fellow. I guess what he does must just look so stupid sometimes because we are so stupid, but then I wonder if he wants a relationship with us then why did he not make us smart enough to understand him? But I just know he is morally perfect, he told me he was yesterday. (:"God so loved the world that he arbitrarily decided to damn the majority of it" -Ingersoll. I dont understand it, and I dont understand what it even means to believe it, but praise the baby jesus I believe it.(:If I could have a Christian only read a handfull of books to deconvert him, this is one of the ones I would have him read. It forces the person to view the biblical God all through the bible frome Genesis to Revelation. If you are a Christian I challenge you to read this book and judge for yourself if you can reconcile the God of the bible with your idealized view of God. If you look up apologetic responses I challenge you to see if they can withstand scrutiny of Counter responses( Such as the outstanding response Hector Avalos wrote to the Arguments Christian Apologist Paul Copan gave in Defense of the Character of the God of the bible.)This is a great and handy book, buy some for friends, family and yourself. You wont regret it.

Let me just say from the outset that I have been a friend of the author's for more than 20 years. There will be those people out there, the detractors that will argue that perhaps I am being biased in my subjective summary. I would argue the opposite and in time to come it should be revealed that during the latter stages of the writing of this book, I was in fact as critical as I possibly could be to assist the author in somehow reaching his goal of writing a book that would appeal to the broader community. To this end the author has gone beyond what I thought was achievable for a subject matter that let's face it doesn't bring people together but rather divides the masses. Maybe that has always been the intention of those that were responsible for the authoring of the Bible.When reading CJ Werleman's book you immediately get a sense of who he is as a person. I won't go into any detail in this regard because that is a journey that the reader is entitled to take without the intervention of pre-existing signposts that are the opinions of friends, enemies or other readers. This is indeed a journey that started almost 2 millenia and continues to this day. For the detractors out there who have accused CJ of being opportunistic in presenting a critical review of the Bible I would simply say that writing a book of this nature doesn't make you friends. If anything it will serve to only distance the author from his own friends who will find the flavor of his written passages to be too confronting. This isn't a book about negativity. It is not about taking cheap shots at someone's belief system. How you view the meaning of life is your business and I would suggest that God Hates You challenges the reader to get off their respective backsides and go to the alleged source for that which guides them in their daily lives: the Bible. And this is what I felt reading his book because it was almost as if he was saying "have you really sat down and read the Bible and asked yourself what it means to YOU?" So what does your God mean to you? Is he a kind God? Is he an angry God? And most importantly is he the God that has you always thought?This book is a challenge. Sure it is written with undeniable humour and wit that will become synonymous with the authors future works that will no doubt appear on the horizon. But most of all it is a book that won't be read by itself. You see what is most ironic is that the legion of Christian supporters out there who will gladly persecute CJ for his daring, what will be lost on these people especially along with the so-called biblical scholars, theologians etc is that CJ will have done more for inspiring followers to pick up the Bible and see for themselves if what HE has to say in God Hates You has currency for them. He does not care if you choose to believe his version of events. Why should he. He knows the Bible has been around for 2 thousand years and in all likelihood will be around for another 2 thousand. But essentially speaking his desire is to engage with his reader and go hand in hand on a journey of spiritual discovery and awakening where the reader is actively encouraged to refer back to the Bible and decide if the math adds up. That takes bravery. At every step of the way there are voluminous references and as such the author has a target on his back waiting for the arrows and spears of the defiant individuals who will cry out that CJ simply misunderstands or is taking things out of contest. Is he? Go read the book and decide for yourself. Show the same bravery as the author and step out of your comfort zone and take the well trodden path without fear to ask if things are as they seem.I could say a lot of things about this book. But in the end the only thing that I can say that has real meaning is that I am an Atheist and I was compelled to go to the Bible and read it. There are those that will tell you that the Bible has a specific meaning that requires guidance to appreciate it. But I would argue the value of such a book. Just remember, if you truly believe in God, then you stand before your creator and not the experts. God Hates You isn't about right or wrong. It is about giving power back to the common person and promoting freedom of thought. I won't tell you that your God is a vengeful being. CJ will give you his opinion. But behind that opinion is a recognition on his part that you the reader, whoever you are will need to look your God in the face as you do in your own mirror. Ask yourself what you see. He did. Now he is asking you to do the same.

This might be the best ever title for a book. I took 17,814 words of notes (copying and pasting from Kindle). It is packed with hilariously presented, bulletproof facts to keep the godly at bay.I was brought up by a Bible-bashing father, and am an ex-Christian atheist myself. It would break my Dad's heart if he knew I had read this. I wish he would read it.As Werleman points out: most Christians will have heard only the hand-picked verses preached in church. "Sound-bites sell because most people don't have time to drill deep into the heart of the issues." Well, Werleman has drilled deep. He lays bare the lies of a loving God and of gentle Jesus. We see the vengefulness, genocide, racism, homophobia, misogyny, ethnic cleansing, infanticide, and the support of slavery.As well as the wickedness contained in the Bible, Werleman highlights the large number of contradictions and fallacies. He combs mercilessly through every book of the Old and New Testaments. This is an amazing accomplishment, one for which I am extremely grateful.Natasha HolmeAuthor of 'Lesbian Crushes and Bulimia: A Diary on How I Acquired my Eating Disorder'

If you do then it is probable that this book will annoy you greatly. It lays bare the inconsistencies, contradictions, and downright lies contained in the Bible. This invented god has a flair for evil, hate and wonton destruction. He loves you so much that he wants you to burn in hell for eternity.God Hates is an amusingly written romp through each part of the book on which Christians and Jews rely for their faith. See how the vengeful, spiteful god destroys nations, civilisations, and people with glee. Discover the lies told about gentle Jesus, meek and mild, condemning those non believers to an eternity of torture. Your hopes for heaven are dashed when you discover the less than lottery jackpot chances of making it past the pearly gates. Friends and loved ones gone before to heaven? No way. Just now, heaven is empty; the Bible says so.Mr. Werleman tells the tale with open eyes; do you have the courage to read this book?

What can I say? A clear, concise no-bones depiction of the absurdities in and of the bible. Written with wit and humour - sometimes hilariously - this book still manages to clarify a great many misconceptions and you find yourself actually learning and remembering things that made no sense when reading the actual book itself. I have nothing but praise for the author who certainly did his research. If you have any doubts about the bible, read this and learn.

Although I had not had the time to go through the bible (I refuse to use capitals) in such detail it has always been glaringly obvious to me that the "creation" is fictional. One very important point left out is that any life, animal or vegetable, that was created before the sun could not have survived as the temperature on earth would have been around absolute zero, which from memory is somewhere around -273c. To me this so called loving and compassionate god had to be the most vindictive cloud surfing bastard ever. Back to the book! The information about documentation of people, places and events that are only mentioned in the bible and written purely from hearsay, up to several thousand years after, was for me further proof the bible should be retitled "Suckers Book of Bulls***". The book is an absolute masterpiece and I am recommending as many people as possible buy it. Especially poor misguided "Believers".

A lot better than I thought it would be and such incredibly good value - got mine on Kindle. I actually studied when I was young and as the years have gone by I have questioned the rubbish that I worked so hard to remember. This guy really knows his stuff and the book is most definitely worth buying it clears up quite a few things.