Christians Say Amen To Torture In The Bible

Christians on Facebook saying Amen to torture in the Bible

You may wonder why I, a demon, am paying so much attention to the Christian Bible. If I don’t want to be a Christian, why should I spend my time thinking about the foundational text of Christianity?

I’m focused on the Bible because of the way that the book of Christianity is being used in real human society today. Right wing Christian Nationalists control all three branches of the federal government, and are using their power to inflict terrible cruelties upon other people.

Some people say that the cruel behavior of Christian Nationalists cannot be consistent with the teachings of Jesus. I wonder: Have they read the Bible all the way through?

In the New Testament Book of Revelation, Jesus teaches that non-Christians should be subjected to horrific, prolonged torture. This is the kind of biblical text that right wing Christian Nationalists use to justify their own cruel behavior. They cite biblical sources. On Facebook a couple of days ago, an account posted Chapter 9 from the Book of Revelation, in which Jesus and his angels unleash hordes of monsters to cause agonizing pain to people for almost half a year. The text that this Facebook post cited was from the King James Version of the New Testament, and reads as follows:

And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon. One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

As a demon who has some principles, I have to note that this Bible verse says that people are going to be tormented for 5 months by monsters unleashed by Jesus and his angels. The torture is going to be so painful that people will beg for death, but they won't be allowed to die.

156 Christians responded to this post by liking or loving it. 20 of them loved it so much that they shared it with their friends.

People are saying "Amen" to that? They're "So Grateful" for that? I don't get it. What exactly about forcing the worst kind of agony on large numbers of people in agony are we supposed to clap our hands for?

You can’t say that Christians don’t know about cruel New Testament verses like this. They post them online and celebrate them in public spaces. Christians are openly agitating for torture. That’s not what a religion of love looks like.

Jesus and Abaddon, an angel and king of the torture locusts of the New Testament Book of Revelation Chapter 9