kupoartist said:
Not a believer. I'm open to the possibility, but considering that thousands of years of organised religions have largely been the basis for persecution of groups and the maintenance of hegemony, God's lack of intervention indicates either that he doesn't exist, or that he's one apathetic son of a bitch who couldn't care less that we're all fighting and dying amongst ourselves. And the respective deities of the world's religions have never been too hot on pulling the many areas of the earth all together. Why does each religion start off in a single area, rather than in several areas at once? How freaking lazy does Omnipresence make you?
That to me is why it's erroneous to say 'God is a crutch for the weak'. That's simply not true: it takes something quite impressive to believe that there's a lazy, malevolent being out there who needs to be worshiped in order that you can make it into his exclusive member's club. Perhaps it's stupidity, perhaps it's miraculous blind faith... it's not my place to judge
You know I am getting very tired of this same old argument. If God exists why does he let bad things happen? Why does he let bad things happen? Because he gave us free will to carve our own destinies. He has given us trials to overcome. Humanity is like a child, you CANNOT wrap it up in bubble wrap otherwise it will never learn. For example at some point in early life a child will learn not to touch hot things because they will burn. It’s the same with humanity, we learn from the disasters.
More over might I ask? How many of you have had bad stretches in your lives? Times when the world seemed a bad place that there was nobody for you. You eventually got out of it and came out of it a stronger person than you did before. Perhaps you learned who your real friends where or just strengthened your resolve. Bad times bring people together and allow us to grow and learn.
Let’s also remember the number of disasters that are the purpose of free will, i.e., the previously mentioned 911. God didn’t kill those people; God didn’t force those men to pilot those planes into anything. It was people killed and people who poisoned their minds with hate and all because of free will. Free will is something we have been given and as I previously mentioned it can be used for good or bad, it is the persons 'choice'
Every child is potentially the light of the world—and at the same time its darkness.
Either we want humanity to have free will, the ability to chart its own course and we will be hurt along the way or a collection of mindless drones following exactly the course set out for us by some invisible power. You can bask in free will and then denounce God for now intervening.
WTFDaveMustaine said:
Chris said:
Let people believe what they want to.
That would be nice wouldn't it? Tell that to my fathers side of the family. Without going into too many deatails most are in the mindset that if you aren't a baptised Roman Catholic then something is wrong with your morals. It's not that I don't like them, I do and we got along fine, that is until the subject of religion crops up then turns to the fact my mother is Methodist and I wasn't baptised. Naturally rather than going away the issue just snowballed and now there's a lot of bad blood between a lot of the older generations of that side of the family.
The only effect religion has had on my family is that it has drawn us apart. It's good that
they are so close to each other but from my point of view it's like groups in a schoolyard and my family are the ones left out.
I don’t want to sound mean or cruel but religion is like every other group of people in the world. There are those who are assholes, dick and try to force their point of view on everyone else. Politics has the same dividing effect on families, then perhaps we abolish it? Let’s remember that many families have been brought together by religion as well. This is not a one way street.
Hell my brother was thrown out of his own home, was separated from his kids because of the poisonous words of his wife’s parents into her ears that he was 'satanic' for not being a catholic. I know where you are coming from however you cannot blame God or a faith / religion for what people do because that is what it is in the end. People and how they use their faith.
