Spiritual Abuse or God's Discipline?

It's inhumane and hateful to hide behind rules, summon scriptures, or to invoke a deity in order to sanction cruelty.

What came first? Does the spiritual abuser feel they must fulfill their interpretation of scripture and inflict suffering on people? OR... is the spiritual abuser already a bully and finds justification for his cruelty in the scriptures?

In other words, does the pastor in the cartoon feel obliged to fulfill the scriptures, even going against his conscience in hurting people? Or, is he a person who lacks compassion and empathy and has found a way to hurt people legally?

I've come to the conclusion it's the latter. And it creates a vicious self-justifying circle of inhumanity.

I see it every day when some people comment on my more challenging cartoons. They say things like, "It's not me. It's God!" "It's not my truth. It's God's truth!" "I'm not saying it. The Bible is!" "I don't care if you don't like me or think I'm mean. I'm just standing for God!"

It's like they're not even human, but programmed droids.

You feel like you're talking with a textbook and not a real human.

My experience and observation has taught me that there's not much use in arguing with them. Again, it's like arguing with a robot or a book. Nothing changes.