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Then what happened?

I began to study the bible. It was as if I had seen that collection of ancient writings and religious traditions for the first time in a totally new light. Contradiction after contradiction, factual fallacy after factual fallacy popped out of page after page. The cultural conditioning that had been imprinted into my mind since early childhood regarding the "holiness" of these prescientific and superstious notions simply evaporated. This misleading collection of ancient writings knows nothing and is in no way reflective of The Universal Force Of Life that permeates time, space and matter and operates in us, through us and as us. Furthermore, it's definition of Deity is seriously harmful to the spiritual climate on this planet. Yet, it is injected into the moldable minds of little children generation after generation.

How is the biblical definition of Deity spiritually harmful to the spiritual climate on this planet?

The various attributes and characteristics that ancient peoples attributed to their ideas of Divinity ... of God ... stemmed from many folkloric traditions. These orally transmitted beliefs and notions
dealing with the nature of God became established as written literature during the reign of King David. This was the beginning of what we know today as the bible. At least, the first five books and they set the tone for all the writings that were later added. Remember, ancient Israel was a theocracy with a priest/king. In their view, divinely ordained to rule. "Chosen" by God.

In this limited view, they saw God as a human-like entity with a very human-like temperment.
Their concept of God could become judgemental about things as mundane as political policy. It could reward or punish humanity sometimes quite unjustly with natural disasters, warring invasions, famine, pestilence and other forms of hardship. God, for these peoples, reflected a fear of the uncontrollable. So they invented a "reason" for being subjected to these trials of life by this
human-like entity. They concluded that they were being "punished" for something that humanity had done at the beginning of time. The commission of "original sin". A glorified guilt trip.