It's a very good argument whenever discussing atheism with a religious person: if god is flawless / perfectly just / infallible / all-loving etc, then why is he ascribed with so many human flaws, such as jealousy (Exodus 20:5, 34:14, etc), hatred towards a group (Isaiah 23:11; modern-day hatred directed e.g. at sexual minorities), vengeance (Numbers 35:21), why does he order death or destruction (Isaiah 23:11 again), or why does he even care how one lives their life?
Never once got a good answer.
And yes, he does the fear aura that's mentioned in the bible. Simply put, he rules by fear and forced ignorance. His dictates indicate to stay away from magick in all its forms. Only His priests should conduct limited forms of magick and divination.
I follow the Light-bringers - they're the ones who brought fire, intelligence, inspiration, and technology to the world.. even knowing the dangers if wielded maliciously. It's also rather peculiar that the very light-bringers are also demonized alongside "hellfire" memes that go back to Dante's Divine Comedy.
> for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God [Exodus 20:5]
God describes himself as jealous!
I am an occultist and a witch. I don't particularly work with many Gods, but I do work with 2 (Brigid and Loki). Others have worked with and against me at times.
First, there are a LOT of these types of beings. The Caananite Sky deity, later known as YHVH, is only one such. However, He was able to place Himself as the seat of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
> if god is flawless / perfectly just / infallible / all-loving etc
Simply put: they aren't. Even they do have limits. Those limits are a lot different than what we'd normally think of as limits. The reason why the Abramanic religions view their deity as that is primarily propaganda - the believers couldn't come to terms that they were fallible.
> then why is he ascribed with so many human flaws
It's my belief that they were human as well, and figured out the secret of ascension.
> (bible quotes)
The quotes you used are primarily the Christian names. The Torah version of those are nowhere near as clear as you indicate. In ancient Hebrew, no vowels were written down. It was the job of the head Rabbi to *interpret*.. divine, if you will, the hidden vowels and do a divination of the words in the Torah. And due to this, the meanings of the verses you quote change as times change. You can see this if you compare an Etz Hayim from decades apart. A stark notable change in readings happened just after WWII.
> why does he even care how one lives their life
That's complicated. Many of us in the occult not only believe in reincarnation, but also that each of us are pieces that are combined to make "me". And between death and life, those pieces can be jumbled around.
I've been able to access my past and some of my future lives. From someone who is timeless (think: deity), they're looking at the big picture, across all your lives. That path leads somewhere, and those decisions in each life matter to that course. Again, we're usually too narrow focused to see that, and most are also without the techniques to discern futures and past/future lives.
Some of us have larger plans. others, not so much. But usually those "plans" also have larger responsibility, and a lot of hardship. I just happen to be on a different path than most on this earth. It doesn't make me any more or less special than the rest of you.
It's always interesting to read a different perspective, thank you for your response. But let's try not to derail the thread any further ;) if you'd like to continue the conversation, my email is in my profile.
You have interesting characters like Math fab Mathonwy, who somehow must rest his feet in the lap of a virgin unless he was at war, or he will die. Or Cú Chulainn, who was amazingly badass to the point that he had to be stopped by mass female toplessness.
I haven't the faintest clue what those are supposed to symbolize or represent, but it's sure interesting.