GOD - Chapter 5 (Control Freak)

Chapter 5 is designed to prove that YHWH, whose personality oozes from the pages at this point, is a 'control freak'. On this it largely succeeds, like the other chapters. "There are very few moral principles in the Old Testament," Barker begins. This is true unless one considers obedience to be a moral (I consider it a-moral.) YHWH leaves precious "little guidance toward leading mature ethical lives." 

Barker states, rather childishly, (but as befitting the character of these kinds of books) that "God is a helicopter parent." Sounds about right. He "meddles with his children's eating habits, washing rituals, travel routes, clothing choices, hair styles, artwork, underwear, sex lives, & toilet habits."

Our author explains the 'Holy of Holies', the rather ridiculously-named "inner chamber" of the tabernacle. The god specifies what he would like for candlesticks, curtains, tables etc... in his 'holy of holies', as if interior decorations were of the utmost importance. There are 10 verses in Exodus that expound upon the makeup of the proper Candlestick For The Lord, & then there are 13 verses, also in Exodus, dedicated to the Curtains Of The Lord. 

The 'Holy of Holies'

The extravagance of the Old Testament god must not have been unknown to those behind the criminal opulence of the Roman Church; perhaps we cannot blame their own tastes & proximity to Imperial luxury alone. Also highlighted are passages from Deuteronomy on how God will punish those who do not obey him, & from Leviticus on how bodily fluids make one 'unclean till evening.' 

Inside The Vatican, the opulent compound of the Roman Catholic Church

YHWH says that he is in-charge & the cause of all:

That they may know from the rising of the sun, & from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, & there is none else. I form the light, & create darkness: I make peace, & create evil: I the Lord do all these things" (Isaiah 45:6-7) (KJV)

In these passages, it is a Gnostic perspective of the evils of YHWH, not a conventional idea of YHWH's love & forgiveness that would be the 'obvious' interpretation. The New Testament must have been carrying an awful lot of  praise & exhortations of forgiveness, because these books are offering about nothing. Despite those 'holier-than-thou' people who represent the so-called 'godly way of living' , YHWH contradicts that anyone can live in God's ways:

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord"

Also of the Lord's doing is poverty & wealth & he is responsible for all birth & death. (Job 12:10) & finally 'People are nothing':

"All the people of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven & the people of the earth" (Daniel 4:35) (NJV)

'Nothing happens by chance' in YHWH's world, nor does he allow for chance in any of the accommodations he expects his followers to create for him. Colours, fabrics, materials, placements & lengths are all meticulously detailed by YHWH, for he cares about the specific type of wood that tables in his 'holy of holies' are to be created with. Why? Well, he is simply a control freak.