GOD THE LEGALIST

Legalism is the doctrine that certain actions are immoral no matter how much good is meant and could be caused by them and no matter how much evil results from doing the action. The Islamic fanatics who flew into the World Trade Centre killing thousands were legalists.

Legalism is despicable which is why it has to force itself on its victims.  One way it forces itself is by getting them to mistrust their own intellects.  That is the most dangerous method of all for it is so effective.
 
Legalism is implied by theism for theism implies that God is a mystery and so are his works and if that is so then we should believe in his mysteries no matter how silly they seem meaning that we are legalistically bound to believe and follow the gospel or divine revelation. God is all-powerful and by manipulating our feelings and thoughts he can get us to bring his plan to fulfilment. People would not pray if they didn’t think this. This implies that consequences are God’s concern and not ours so we should be legalists. Legalism is bad news because it does not care what the results are. Legalists could forbid saving a doctor’s life instead of your father even when the doctor alone knows the secret of curing cancer.
 
Religion or theism makes extra rules that we would not be burdened with otherwise. Secularists have a morality but believers have to add laws about respecting God which means more laws as if we haven’t got enough. God implies that legalism, making rules and not letting anybody think of the circumstances, is a duty. It is our duty to believe in this evil doctrine of legalism is there is a God.
 
Christianity is very disturbing to children which is why it is more diluted these days than homeopathic medicine though this watering down is contrary to the official Church teaching and scriptures. For example, the idea of hell can make a child very frightened and worried. Children are hard to shake from unhealthy beliefs for they are innocent and easily upset and just as easily screwed up forever. The fear and guilt of Christianity can haunt children destructively and restrict their desire to be free and happy for years. Even when the child grows up it can exercise its malign influence subconsciously. Without religion there would be one thing less to cause trouble through misunderstanding and understanding of its principles. Understood or not, religion is still a disease. The existence of religion is an appeal for legalism.
 
Even when religion tells us to believe something, say that God is three persons or the pope is the head of the Church under Christ, it is dangerous for these things are mysteries. It is still telling us that it is sinful and wrong to disbelieve these things so you cannot separate beliefs from morality. You cannot say you forbid disbelieving your doctrines on pain of sin but do not invent unnecessary moral rules for that is what you are doing with the beliefs.

Every religion presents you with doctrine that you do not understand. In Christianity, it is a mystery why Jesus decided to die so terribly and be born of a virgin. It is a mystery why birth control is wrong in Catholicism. They tell you that God must be allowed to plan your family for he is so wise but then they run off to the doctor instead of letting God take full control of their sickness.

God is a mystery. The reason he allows evil cannot be fully discovered. So if you believe in God you are believing in a moral code that comes from a mysterious being and which should be full of mysteries. If our moral codes cannot tell us why suffering should be or why it is better to have free will despite the human evil and suffering it causes, then it is only to be expected that God will ask us to do things that makes sense to him but not to any of us. The way then for anybody to invent cruel rules and call them mysteries which are really good rules is opened up wide and clear.

This is dangerous. This is where fanaticism starts off. No wonder there is so much of it commanded in the Bible.
 
You can’t believe in sin unless you believe in God for sin is an offence against God. To believe in sin is to say that there must be moral obligations that seem ridiculous to the whole world but which are nevertheless correct because God’s ways seem evil but are not. But such belief is incoherent for then even the doctrine that we must love our neighbour could be evil in some way we cannot work out. Morality becomes a load of prejudiced assumptions through and through. But this is not morality at all. Morality is doing what you believe minimises harm not what you guess is for the best - the only exception is when you have to guess, when reason is no help.
 
The legalism of God is sinister.