Yeah as a person living in the wealthiest country in the world, chilling and posting on the Internet, I'm sure you are in a great position to tell the starving Africa child he is blessed. The problem of evil is one of the main reasons I don't believe in a god. Further, even if one exists he is not praise-worthy.M I'll leave it to Trey Parker and Matt Stone: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/-IjBi1eEaAA" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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theres nothing more annoying than when players give 'all the glory to god' after they win something. like they don't give themselves any credit for the hours spent in the gym. weak.
Oh give me a break, I'm one of the biggest proponents of taking care of the poor and I've donated to some charities many times because I find some of things they go through appauling compared to our gluttony, like how some in Haiti are eating dirt while we waste half our food. I never said they didn't have a bad plight but what I'm saying is they are still blessed, just not perhaps in the way you're thinking. There are ways to look at it and see how they may be more blessed than a millionaire (like, for example, how they aren't a threat to be robbed and people won't ask them for money). And what if one is able to overcome their poverty and be able to appreciate the value of having less? MANY have done this and some don't require much to be happy. As for God and his role, why does life have to be fair? How come I wasn't born with the looks of Brad Pitt or Denzel Washington and have women lining up for me? How come I wasn't Bill Gates son or born into the British royal family? How come I'm a nice guy that'll treat a woman right but most pretty girls go for jerks? Life isn't fair and sometimes those things you think don't go your way are blessings in disguise, I know some events in my life go that way.
And I forgot to add two posts ago that if life were fair and all things were equal we'd be in HEAVEN. Life is about hardships struggles and coping with fears. No one no matter how rich, poor or of what culture and creed is immune to that.
If you don't believe in God (I call it something like a universal force but whatever you want to call he/she/it/they/whatever) then it won't matter what I or anyone else says. But I was just calling out the argument that somehow because life isn't fair and there are starving children and people who die in natural disatsers and the like that it somehow proves God doesn't exist. Like I said, life isn't fair and if it was we'd be in paradise right now.
I've always felt God was more a watchmaker than an active player. The idea of infinite punishment is to me the most petty and narrow minded concept to the point where I'd expect more out of My God to put some thought into. To find the joys of life should be every persons gift. Yet there are those who still are born in slavery and brutal abuse. They're unnoticed and unseen yet we're to believe in a cosmic power who acts in our stead and in spite of ourselves. Jesus's life and teachings is a powerful concept, yet most are content withhis divinity rather than what he had done on a humanly possible basis. It's a personal and sub conscious compromise, and by doing so it refocuses the person on the self and the here and now rather than the ideal. I mean, there's still forgiveness involved...but more for yourself rather than what others have done to you. Such is the pattern of an individualistic society
Agreed, the idea of hell is what scares people so much into beliving Christian theology. That's not to bash Christianity but if God is as much of God of love and compassion as is claimed, he'd at least be able forgive and teach people the errors of their ways. That's why I put stock into near death experiences: www.near-death.com Again, why does life have to be fair? Life is about suffering and overcoming setbacks. Just because God doesn't actively and magically rescue people Old Testament-style doesn't mean the entity does not exist. And have you not heard of the term "That which doesn't kill me makes me stronger?" If you were just handed everything, you'd learn nothing and would not have to grow stronger by staying spirtual through dark days. Jesus' [Yahshua] story had some embellishment to it imo and had ideas of paganism as well as Ancient Egyptian theology added for reasons I won't get into. But Yahshua certainly didn't live to be worshipped in a cult of personality imo because in that case, what do you learn?
If God is a watchmaker, he made a really ****ty watch. Seeing children live for 30 absurdly painful seconds before dying, is truly an eye-opening experience. Talk about a "setback". If there is a God, he has a hell of a lot of explaining to do. Does any child deserve to be born with his own internal organs, OUTSIDE his body? Give me a break. Thank you God, for making me an atheist. Thank you Darwin for giving us definitive proof that we share a common ancestor with the great apes. "Just because there is no proof does not mean that god doesn't exist!"
God is a yearning humans have because they want to believe that they are special. They are not more special than any organism on the planet. We might as well be discussing heaven for plants and individual blades of grass. You are not a unique snowflake.
Aye-aye-yi-yi. It is impossible to get some things across to people. Heck, if there's a God and I'm living a painful childhood, I'd rather die and be back in peace (heaven after dying) rather than suffering on earth. Even those that are well to do have a lot of BS and drama to deal with in this dimension.
I don't think this is necessarily whether God exist but whether we are all blessed. I am willing to accept the idea that God exist but if so I don't think it is anything like the loving personified God of Judeo Christian philosophy but a being completely beyond our comprehension.
That's what I think too and that's the problem with most people, they think either have to believe in a faith, especially Christianity, or if not then there may be or definitely isn't a God. That's why I say eliminate the middle man of organized religion and just pray to God/universe (whatever you wanna call the high force) and just live a good life striving for perfection.
Just want to clarify about some of your perceptions of non-believers... Non-believers are not scared. If the concept of hell is true, it will be true regardless if you are scared or not. People who don't believe in the Christian or any doctrine, uses the same logic you use to conclude that "Lord of the Rings" or "Harry Potter" is fictional. We are not scared of Voldemort or the evil that the ring can bring. According to the Christian doctrine, there are only 2 criteria that your are judged upon. At the time of death, do you believe in Jesus as the messiah and if you are truly sorry for your sins? It doesn't matter if are a priest who molested children, lived a life in luxury or proverty, etc, you are allowed to enter the kingdom of heaven as long as you truthfully answered yes to the questions above. While a non-believer who lived his/her life on the same moral standards as everybody else is sent to hell because they concluded that the evidence was not convincing enough. The Christian proposal that god is fair and just does not match our current standards of what justice is. The discussion about heaven and hell does not in any way try to refute the existence of god but rather, provide another pointthat the general characterization of a just god is not quite true.
