Why is god such an *******

[1069]

Hmmm. What a tough problem. This could probably be avoided if, when people died, they were just asked whether they wanted Heaven or Hell. A lot of scemantics problems could be worked out then. As a matter of fact, Hell could probably just disappear!

Hahaha!
You crack me up, Edify! :mrgreen:

 

[Edify_Always_In_All_Ways]

Hahaha!
You crack me up, Edify! :mrgreen:

Thanks, but if it's humor you want, let's wait until Baron comes to respond.

 

[1069]

Thanks, but if it's humor you want, let's wait until Baron comes to respond.

No, unfortunately; I find the Baron's hackneyed pendanticism merely tedious and not at all funny.

:sigh:

 

[Edify_Always_In_All_Ways]

No, unfortunately; I find the Baron's hackneyed pendanticism merely tedious and not at all funny.

:sigh:

:3oops:

(Pssst.... 1069)

(What?)

(I was being sarcastic. I don't think he's coming back- they usually don't. It was a joke. Sorry.)

(And I happen to be a huge fan of hackneyed pedanticism. Mocking it makes me feel like I have a purpose in life.):catapult:

 

[1069]

:3oops:

(Pssst.... 1069)

(What?)

(I was being sarcastic. I don't think he's coming back- they usually don't. It was a joke. Sorry.)

The Baron? Naw, he'll be back.
It's not that easy to get rid of him.

 

[Sergeant Stinger1]

There you have the single reason why debating God is silly.

---
There you have it, why debating God brings on some S---and D---- posts.

 

[Cephus]

1. God is not.

That's your opinion.

2. As an atheist isn't it hypocritical for you to ask if God is? I mean to be one, God would need to exist, wouldn't he?

I can read Harry Potter and decide that Lord Voldemort is an *******, that doesn't mean Voldemort exists. God is a character in a book, nothing more. As such, we can assess God's literary character and decide he's a sadistic prick.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

That's your opinion.

Very true.

I can read Harry Potter and decide that Lord Voldemort is an *******, that doesn't mean Voldemort exists.

There's a difference, though. There is no question that Lord Voldemort does not exist. God's existence or lack thereof cannot be proven.

God is a character in a book, nothing more.

And that's your opinion.

As such, we can assess God's literary character and decide he's a sadistic prick.

Yet since God's existence is questionable, the assessment of such lends itself to a psuedo-belief. Can one really hate something that doesn't exist?

 

[Adrian]

Why, you want to spent eternity licking some celestial bully's butt?
"Better to reign in Hell..."

:catapult:

Besides, if god made me, he'll like me the way I am. And if he doesn't, fvck him.

That's just silly.

 

[1069]

That's just silly.

Whatever would we do without your input.
It's just so... pertinent.

 

[rivrrat]

There's a difference, though. There is no question that Lord Voldemort does not exist. God's existence or lack thereof cannot be proven.

Prove that Lord Voldemort doesn't exist.

Yet since God's existence is questionable, the assessment of such lends itself to a psuedo-belief. Can one really hate something that doesn't exist?

To some of us, said fictional character's existance is not questionable at all. Not any more questionable than Lord Voldemort's or any other literary character's existance. They are identical, as far as I'm concerned.

So no, it is not a psuedo belief to dislike a literary character. There are a number of them I like and dislike. My "belief" in them is the same as the character(s) in the Bible - non-existant.

 

[Adrian]

Whatever would we do without your input.
It's just so... pertinent.

Given all the givens I stated, you decided you wanted to go to hell instead, with of course your own little amendment that hell would be pleasant, including your delusion of grandeur that you would somehow be the baroness of said hell. You're not thinking. "That's just silly" is exactly what your response merited, nothing more, nothing less.

But if it amuses you, why don't you go ahead and try to preach to a fellow atheist that there is no god. That'll be a terrific use of your time.

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Prove that Lord Voldemort doesn't exist.

Ask JK Rolling that one and I'm sure you'll have the answer.

To some of us, said fictional character's existance is not questionable at all. Not any more questionable than Lord Voldemort's or any other literary character's existance. They are identical, as far as I'm concerned.

So no, it is not a psuedo belief to dislike a literary character. There are a number of them I like and dislike. My "belief" in them is the same as the character(s) in the Bible - non-existant.

This is a far better stated athiest position on this issue. Though we completely differ on the issue, your comments, above, show more consistency with where you stand. I also like an appreciate your 'To some of us' and your 'as far as I'm concerned'.

 

[Gibberish]

Why does God let bad things happen in the world?

This question is probably as old as religion itself. It is a stumbling block for some of us, and for many more at given moments of tragedy. There are as many answers to this question as there are people who care to engage in theological dialogue. One understanding is that yes, God allows "bad" things to happen; God does not cause them to happen.

Most "bad" things which happen do so because God gives a radical freedom to God's people; we are free people, not puppets on a string. But God does not cause "bad" things to happen. God loves us and grieves with us in our pain when "bad things" happen.

Therefore, we might best respond by saying that God does not Will "bad" things to happen in life. Rather, "bad" things happen in the freedom that comes with the gift of life. When "bad" things happen to any of God's children, God is grieved and suffers with us, experienced most vividly in the hurt and suffering of Jesus the Christ for all humanity. Any "bad" thing which happens is never the last word. Rather, God is the deepest and last word, and that word is love and eternal life with God.

--The Rev. Dr. Douglass M. Bailey

Was God suffering when God killed all the first born sons in Egypt?
Was God suffering when God killed had all of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah burned alive?
Was God suffering when God declared man to kill all adulterers, blasphemers, fornicators, nonbelievers, homosexuals, those that work on the sabbath, and followers of other religions?

God sounds like the father that hits his child across the face when the child does something wrong and says "It's for your own good", or in this case burns/stones/etc. them to death.

 

[black wolf]

Ask JK Rolling that one and I'm sure you'll have the answer.
...

Not so fast
It is likely that she will confirm Voldemort's fictivity. But: perhaps she was divinely (potterly?) inspired without knowing it. Does that ring a bell? There's no way of ending the road of apologetic semantic relativism by decree.
Sadly we can't ask the authors of the Bible where they got their ideas from, or what they think about each other's scripture, or if it was ok to omit a lot of scripture from the canon, varying it at different times for different reasons.

 

[rhinefire]

To all that have had normal lives wouldn't hell be like the millions of lives that have been not much more than birth, hunger/starvation then death? Or birth- gas chamber? It may not be Dantes Inferno but when you think of all the horrors man has bestowed on man hell could be right here? I mean how bad does it get before you call it hell?

 

[Cephus]

There's a difference, though. There is no question that Lord Voldemort does not exist. God's existence or lack thereof cannot be proven.

There's no more rational reason to believe that God is real than there is to believe Voldemort is real. Just because you want to believe in the existence of God doesn't make God real, any more than wanting to believe in Voldemort or Darth Vader makes either of them real.

Yet since God's existence is questionable, the assessment of such lends itself to a psuedo-belief. Can one really hate something that doesn't exist?

Sure, plenty of people hate that which isn't real, or demand that which isn't real must be real, such as a "devil".