Who's saving whom now?

[Civil War Man]

While washing dishes at work today, my mind began to wander as it often does. This is where my train of thought brought me.

Suppose, for a moment, that there was this guy named Jesus living in modern-day Israel during the reign of the Roman Empire. And now suppose that in some way he possesses a segment of the power and consciousness of the Old Testament deity, whether through being a host, conduit, or some kind of demigod. For the Old Testament God, assume for the moment that most of the stories involving his direct intervention (i.e. him acting like a petulant dick) are true.

So Jesus eventually gets brought before the Roman courts, tried, convicted, and executed. And a religion rises up proclaiming that he died to save all of humanity from its sins. And the previously vengeful Old Testament God becomes, at least to most believers, a much calmer, gentler deity.

But I was thinking, wouldn't it be a much more interesting and coherent story if the end were a little different?

Think about it. God becomes concerned when Adam and Eve obtain knowledge of morality. He effectively wipes out the entire human race on at least one occasion. Moses has to talk him down from killing all of the freed Israelites when some begin worship the golden calf. He flat-out destroys two cities because most of the citizens were inhospitable. And he torments a man for years because another cosmic being bet that the man would lose his faith if his life went bad. All in all he comes off as an egotistical, insecure, and selfish entity.

IMHO, the story seems much better if Jesus were sent to earth not to save humanity, but to save the God that Jesus is proclaimed to represent. That in order to learn a little humility, Yahweh is in some way forced to live as a human and eventually die an ignoble and painful death. Kind of like the Time of Troubles in the Forgotten Realms D&D universe.

[Surlethe]

Somebody we all know beat you to it. Good thoughts, though; I've started writing a "fanfic" along those lines. I ought to get back to work on it.

[Civil War Man]

Somebody we all know beat you to it. Good thoughts, though; I've started writing a "fanfic" along those lines. I ought to get back to work on it.

Yeah. I've read all the essays from the website. I just thought it was interesting to consider the angle of Jesus being sent to Earth to save God from his fairly numerous sins.

And, just so you know, I idly considered posting this in fanfics or AMP because of how it could translate into an improved story.

[Patrick Degan]

Of course, this sort of begs the question as to whether a petulant, raving egoist like Yahweh is capable of that level of self-examination. The OT evidence suggests not.

[Prozac the Robert]

You know, I like that. A sort of childish god that grows up. Or spun a different way, an evil god that finds redemption. I think either would be more interesting.

[Civil War Man]

Of course, this sort of begs the question as to whether a petulant, raving egoist like Yahweh is capable of that level of self-examination. The OT evidence suggests not.

As I mentioned before, the best way to explain that would make it be forced at some level. There has been made mention of other Gods in the OT. Perhaps Yahweh's superior decided that he needed a lesson.

[SirNitram]

The idea rolled around in my head for a while. Moses talking God down was compared directly to a child being told NO! for the first time.

[wolveraptor]

But how the hell would you write for a god? Who could accurately portray what an immortal, omnipotent, omniscient being is thinking? The last trait makes it virtually impossible, as god would surely draw upon knowledge from the future, the past, or alien civilizations thousands of parsecs away.

[Civil War Man]

But how the hell would you write for a god? Who could accurately portray what an immortal, omnipotent, omniscient being is thinking? The last trait makes it virtually impossible, as god would surely draw upon knowledge from the future, the past, or alien civilizations thousands of parsecs away.

The thing is, he's technically not omniscient, since he was unable to see Abel's death. He actually appeared to Cain and said, "Hey, where's your brother?"

And, of course, there's the line about how after Cain was cursed, he fled, passing beyond Yahweh's sight.

As for omnipotent...iron chariots.

So basically that leaves an extremely powerful immortal being with a bit of a sadistic streak and questionable moral fiber. Hell, they were able to make a Star Trek character out of that.

[Alan Bolte]

Doesn't Q say he knows the diety in question?