That goes without saying, as according to the Bible all things that transpire do so according to God's will. However, God clearly judged Satan for his rebellion and continues to punish him.
That goes without saying, as according to the Bible all things that transpire do so according to God's will. However, God clearly judged Satan for his rebellion and continues to punish him.
God would certainly understand people having a hard time on Earth. However, said people should also consider how many good things have happened to them in their life. It's easy to simply dwell on the bad and forget the good.
Plus, God never said it would be easy, he only said it would be worth it.
I can understand this mentality. I used to have this mentality myself. I think the answer boils down to your perspective on God. Let me summarize since I have been in both camps.
Average Joe Perspective: My enjoyment of life is the most important thing. [variable a] is so important to me that I could consider giving up my life for it, but I probably wouldn't change my daily behaviour if it conflicted with my enjoyment of life. [variable b] makes my life better, so I choose to love [variable b]. I will continue to love [variable b] until it makes enjoying my life impossible, then I will sadly/gladly kick [variable b] to the curb.
Perspective God intends for Joe Christian: My love of God is the most important thing. God is so important to me that I will give up my life to serve Him and will change my daily behaviour as best I can to please Him. No matter how much worse my life on earth gets, I will still love and serve God, because He loved me enough to die for me and grant me eternal life. I will continue to love and serve God until my life ends.
Obviously most christians you meet will be somewhere in between these two perspectives, because perfection is not humanly possible. But to answer your question I think God would have the view that maybe you getting hit by lightning 7 times and living would amaze people, and that would give you the opportunity to tell a lot of people about how great God is. That in spite of your sufferings, you believe in Him and His promises. In God's perspective, you getting hit by lightning 49 times is worth it if one person could spend eternity in heaven because he was impacted by you. God is more concerned with eternal ramifications than temporary sufferings.
- Jun 24, 2003
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Mankind has created all sorts of things that imbody evil. Religion, drugs, etc. The belief in good and evil is not dependant on a belief in God.
And just so we're all clear, this was just hypothetical, it's not me. I've had an extremely fortunate, comparitively easy life. But I don't believe in God and I never will.
Vic
Elite Member
- Jun 12, 2001
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I didn't say that good and evil are dependent on a belief in God. I didn't even allude to that. What I did say is that good and evil are dependent on the actions and perceptions of conscious, living beings. A concept, like religion, is not capable of being good or evil by itself.
As it is, people are just as capable of evil without religion as they are with. Just ask the victims of Hitler, Stalin, and Mao. You're blaming the wrong thing for why people commit evil acts. You're scapegoating -- putting the fault on an inanimate intangible concept when the fault belongs on the evil people themselves.
You're also generalizing in a bigoted fashion. But that doesn't bother me, as any generalization is easily disproven by a single exception, and there are a very many good and tolerant religious people (after all, that is the core message of Christian teaching).
I must add -- if you are concerned with the bigotry that you yourself face, you should look into the bigotry that you yourself project upon others. Two wrongs never make a right, but just escalate the hostilities.
And perhaps you just answered your own hypothetical question. Perhaps if you have lived a more difficult life, you would have a deeper sense of spirituality. Perhaps at some point you would have had to draw upon some deep inner strength in order to survive, and there you might have found the inner peace and love and acceptance that some people call God.
Vic
Elite Member
- Jun 12, 2001
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That's my point. Religion cannot be evil. It's an inanimate intangible. If you want to rephrase that to, some religious people are bad, I would agree. So are some non-religious people. Really, it doesn't matter. There is nothing that evil people cannot twist to their own ends.
For example, drugs aren't evil either. Some of them are very medically beneficial in fact. Some people, however, do abuse drugs and evil may result from that abuse, but that doesn't make the drugs themselves evil. "Evil" requires force, power, and personification. Inanimate objects have none of those qualities.
Can you see my point? We waste our mental energies scapegoating things that cannot possibly be responsible in order to continue living in denial of the fact that our faults are our own.
Religion can't be evil, but many religions promote evil things/acts. Seems like that's what Nebor is saying.
sorta like how she moves, right?Originally posted by: JackBurton
The Lord works in mysterious ways...
Vic
Elite Member
- Jun 12, 2001
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You mean the leaders of their organizations promote evil. I'll admit that's true is a small minority of cases, mostly some extreme whacko fundie groups. That wasn't what he said though. He said:
As far as I'm concerned, the greatest evil to ever come over mankind is ignorance. It causes them to maim and kill each other in the name of imaginary fears, and it never ends.
You're saying that none of the mainstream religions promote through their holy texts immoral, indecent, or evil things?
With Christianity at the top of the list.
It's funny how people justify their actions as "acts for God"...screw that...god didn't tell you to bomb abortion clinics....god didn't tell you to ram a plane into a building....god doesn't SPEAK to any of us...if he did....we wouldn't be having this conversation since he would be a tangible object.
Yeah, Christianity is so evil. Especially when they donate millions of dollars to the poor, volunteer for the needy, and promote love and understanding. Ye of little faith.
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