Not Another Religious Blog: My God is Better Than Your God

I read Psalm 18. This particular was fairly similar to others with its message of God as a shield, except for the intense imagery of God's wrath and fury against others. Take this piece of imagery: "They heaved, for smoke rose from His nostrils/and fire from His mouth consumed,/ coals blazed up around Him." Well. This is not a happy God, but I don't find the imagery to be frightening or even contradictory. The Hebrew people claim that he is their sole protector of the "chosen ones." I understand why a Hebrew psalm would recognize God as their sole protector, but I don't like the "my God is better than your God" idea.

Perhaps the idea of God accepting and enveloping all Christians is a modern idea. The problem is that I'm looking at the situation from a modern perspective. It seems that in Hebrew times, God was theirs to claim. He was responsible for their fortune, and killed the enemies. Other groups held this belief; look at the crusaders, for example. They killed many Jewish and Muslim people in the name of God. It seems that today, most people accept that most religions have a higher power, and respect those beliefs. Different religions may fight, but I think that it has less to do with their higher power than history, revenge, or territory. What about the case of the suicide bomber? Their sacrifices may be in the name of their religion, but I think it has more to do with their traditions that are being threatened, than their higher power. Now that I think about it, I feel that religious intolerance doesn't really deal with God, it deals with foreign traditions and beliefs. After all, God's existence and attitudes are created by each individual religion. If there is a universal higher power, it seems that it would be merciful to all religions.

Some depictions of the higher power. I randomly typed in: God and Allah.