Psalm 18

I find this image of God quite intimidating. The speaker shares how God helped him defeat his enemies in two ways. First God came down riding a cherub and was basically on fire, both of which are interesting things to think about. I do not really know why God would have wanted or needed to ride a cherub (pictured to the left) but the speaker claims he did. Also, I am not sure when heaven and hell comes into play with these psalms, but the description given to God seems much more like something related to the fiery pits of hell and the devil than the pearly white gates of heaven. God then destroys the enemies but not really because the speaker has to do that later in the psalm. Apparently they were not as pious as the speaker who at great length describes how blameless he is before God, which gives him the right to call on God's help for this fight. So after God saved the speaker from "drowning" by throwing lightning bolts, he gives the speaker enough strength to go back and crush his enemies without the use of God's arrows. Even though the enemies cried out for God's protection, he ignored them and continued to supply the speaker with the ability to kill them. This is a conflicting point of view and it gets tricky to question this matter, let alone explain it, but it does not make sense that God would be so adamant about helping this one man destroy many, even though he was pious. Here is where it gets confusing. If there is only one God, and the many different religions with different beliefs end up all praying to the same higher power, then God would not be able to help them destroy each other because they all worship the same higher power and are all pious in their own right. This then throws into question if there is only one higher power or that the Jewish God is different from the Christian God who is different from the higher power from all other religions. It is incredibly scary to think of God assisting someone in battle, especially sense in this situation it was one man against many.

(Disclaimer- I'm sorry to bring this up and I do not know too much about it and if I am wrong please correct me and I of course do not condone any terrorist actions but I do think this is a valid point.) The terrorists that were responsible for the 9/11 attacks were under the distinct impression that God was on their side and was supporting them in their actions. "The majority of terrorist attacks have been committed by groups claiming to act on the basis of religious motivation"(Burns). On the flip side, I am sure that some of the innocent people who died that day were devout individuals who believed in God. So who was in the right if both sides believed that they had the support their God? Religion has been the cause of many violent acts, which always seems contradictory, but again, if two religious groups of people with the belief that God is on their side, especially with the way God fights in Psalm 18, what is the outcome going to be like?

Work Cited:
Burns, Charlene. "Terrorists base motivation on beliefs Religious, political commitments are powerful allegiances." The Spectator. 2009. 21 Apr. 2009 .