To the editor:
Jesus addresses tragedies similar to those in Boston, Texas and Bangladesh in Luke 13:1-5. The issue with the people seemed to be whether those who survived were less sinners than those who perished. Jesus’ response looked beyond this: “Unless you repent you will likewise perish.” Seems pretty harsh given the circumstances, yet that is exactly what he meant and means today.
We can choose to go our own way and perish eternally, or we can repent and do it God’s way with the promise of everlasting life. Why is this so? John explains the results of our choosing in John 3:16-19: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”
In other words, God gave his Son, and us free will, so that we have a choice to accept his plan for dealing with sin in our life. Jesus says we can interpret the weather (Luke 12:56); but, we can’t interpret the times. Don’t let your fig tree be cut down (Luke 13:9)!
Comments
bballwizard 10 months, 1 week ago
My question is why did God let this happen? Someone so powerful can't stop evil against innocent children?
funkdog1 10 months, 1 week ago
God doesn't bring sickness into the world? How does that even make sense? Man didn't invent sickness. Sickness is part of nature. Which according to Christians, is part of God.
jayhawxrok 10 months, 1 week ago
I so tire of Bible thumpers trying to shove their beliefs on the rest if us.
jhawkinsf 10 months, 1 week ago
I wonder, do you tire of the left shoving their beliefs on you? Do you tire of the right shoving their beliefs on you? How about the pro-lifers? Pro-choice? Gun control? Gun rights? Civil libertarians? States rights? Gay rights? Balanced budgets?
There are many who shove their beliefs upon us. Or at least they try. Why single out the Bible thumpers? They are just one more on a very long line. And in the end, you always have the right to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear.
mom_of_three 10 months, 1 week ago
"The issue with the people seemed to be whether those who survived were less sinners than those who perished. Jesus’ response looked beyond this: “Unless you repent you will likewise perish.” Seems pretty harsh given the circumstances, yet that is exactly what he meant and means today."
No, he is just suggesting that an 8 year old boy died because he didn't repent. Yes, I am tired of this, too.
jhawkinsf 10 months, 1 week ago
Terms commonly attributed to people with certain beliefs. I can assure you, I didn't make those terms up.
jonas_opines 10 months, 1 week ago
All he's done here is write a letter. A rather congenial letter by Carl Burkhead standards. At least he's not suggesting here that Newtown was a result of the abandonment of school prayer.
grammaddy 10 months, 1 week ago
If "God" needed an invitation to intervene on behalf of those children, he doesn't deserve the title.
rtwngr 10 months, 1 week ago
That's the same way I feel about secular relativists.
Liberty275 10 months, 1 week ago
You don't have to believe in it, but you should appreciate their freedom to believe and express what they will, not be tired of it.
verity 10 months, 1 week ago
And therein lies the problem. It has happened before and we all know how well that worked out.
Lynn731 10 months, 1 week ago
HE gave all of us free will, that includes evil doers. Though what they do is sad, they will pay for their sins eternally. I am no minister, or bible historian, but that is the way I see it. HE also says we must help ourselves, which means protecting our and our families lives. Law enforcement often arrives too late, takes reports, and processes crime scenes. There aren't enough to always be nearby to do the job for us.
bad_dog 10 months, 1 week ago
Nice segue from religion to gun rights.
ThePilgrim 10 months, 1 week ago
Carl, did you even read the verses you quoted? Verses 3 and 5 start with "No" in answer to "did they sin more than the others to deserve this?" Then he makes a global statement about repentence. Likewise in John when the disciples asked whether the man blind from birth sinned, or did his parents sin to deserve this? Jesus answered "no" again. The first century world had the view that if bad things happened to you then you deserved it. If good things happened to you or you were rich, then you deserved it. Does this sound familiar? This is the way most people believe today. And especially our governnor, who believes that the poor obviously did something to deserve it.
msezdsit 10 months, 1 week ago
Theres those two words again. No need to read anymore. Guess that is what headlines are for.
koman 10 months, 1 week ago
Christians continually play the bias card - how they are so condemned for simply believing. Can you imagine what the outcry would be if the Muslims in this country attempted to insinuate their faith and beliefs into the institutions of our country the way the christians do? The wailing and gnashing of teeth from the right would be deafening! The bible may be "the truth" to you, it's science fiction to many. Your "god" may not be my "god". When men begin to define God and the intentions of that deity, that's where things go terribly wrong. This may be a revelation to many of you, but you don't have to be a right-wing, fauxnews watching kochhead in order to be patriotic and spiritual. Maybe stepping outside of the confining environment of your megachurch will help you see that.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
There's an odd thing about this free will discussion.
If God gave us free will, but then imposed draconian punishments for choosing differently from what he wanted us to do, is that really a free choice?
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Your example isn't a good one.
If the consequences are natural ones, as you mention, it would be a different story. But, according to many, God imposes punishment for making certain choices.
So, do as you like, but if you don't do as I command, I'll punish you for eternity.
Hmm.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Again, it's not a free choice if one of the choices involves eternal punishment.
It's like a guy who says "Give me your money or I'll kill you" - you have the ability to say no, but the consequences are so drastic that it's not a very free choice.
But, you're free to believe as you wish - I just don't share your belief that God is in the extortion racket. I believe God is loving, not punitive.
Liberty275 10 months, 1 week ago
I think it works. If you don't believe in god, you won't believe in the punishment anyway, therefore it won't affect your belief. Of course, gods don't give us free will, we have as much as we are able to muster by nature of being intelligent.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
God has already condemned sin in the flesh. He has said that man's righteousness is as filthy rags at best. God has concluded that all men and women are sinful. Since God knows that this is the condition of man, he has had mercy on man and provided the sacrifice of his own Son, who knew no sin, but died for sin in the flesh. So who ever believes on Jesus sacrifice for sins on the cross, and also believes that Jesus was raised from the dead, will inherit Jesus' record of a sin free righteous life, and is acceptable to God and will live with God for eternity and will inherit the earth, when God brings heaven down to the earth. Or you can die in your sins and be believe the lie of the devil, depending on your own goodness, and come short of the glory of God, being condemned already, because of the sin nature you inherited from Adam in the beginning. It's a no brainer choice. Choose the narrow path, rather than the wide path. For narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. For wide is the way that leads to destruction.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
A quick note about Adam. Adam was the first creation of man. He had the authority that God gave him, and Adam had an acceptable nature within him in the beginning. When Eve, (Adam's wife), listened to the lie of the devil and sinned against God in the garden of Eden; she then convinced Adam to willingly sin, by disobeying Gods one law. This law was don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam listened and was persuaded by his wife to violate God's law, sinning against God. What this did was corrupted the sin free nature that resided in Adam, to a nature of sin. Since Adam was the first creation of man, all men that were born after Adam, inherit that corrupt sin nature within themselves from that time until today. When a child is born today, the sin nature will eventually take hold in a person. That is why God said that there is none that are righteous, no not one. All have come short of the glory (perfect standard) of God. So from the time of Adam, God worked to repair the damage that was done in the Garden of Eden by Satan, the devil. It cost God the life of his own Son, to repair the damage that Adam caused in the Garden of Eden. So don't miss your opportunity to receive from God, a perfect nature, born after God's own Son. Don't miss all that God has for those that choose Him. God has an inheritance to give his children. He will give them all he has. God owns it all.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
In short, it is not God sending people to hell, but rather people send themselves there by not believing the account that God gave about His Son and by people not believing the very sinful condition of man. God has made available the nature of His Son, so people can replace the old fallen nature of sin which is inside of them (which was inherited from birth), with a new reborn spirit that does not have a sin nature, but a nature that is accountable to God and acceptable to God.
voevoda 10 months, 1 week ago
I think, LarryNative, that jafs was raising a different question: why should God set as the single factor to determine whether people can attain Heaven and avoid Hell consists of a particular set of arcane beliefs about the person of Jesus? In Mr. Burkhead's theological system, this is the case, and it doesn't bother him because he starts from the assumption that all people deserve to go to Hell. But maybe jafs doesn't start from the assumption that human beings in general deserve eternal damnation. Maybe jafs doesn't embrace the same concept of God as you, LarryNative, and Mr. Burkhead do. Maybe he sees God in your characterization as unjust and unloving: a deity who imposes "draconian punishments" on people who are merely behaving in accordance with the nature God gave them, and who grants eternal reward to people who merely happen to have stumbled upon the "correct" formulation of the nature of God himself. Many Christians (and non-Christians) dissent from this conception of God. Believe it if you like, LarryNative, but don't make jafs out to be stupid for raising the question.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Thanks for the assist.
I also have those questions as well, but even in their absence, I think the notion of free will falls apart if God is imposing eternal punishment on any who don't do what he wants them to do.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
I didn't ask about your beliefs, actually.
I asked a philosophical question about free will.
You're free to believe as you like, but I don't believe God is an extortionist.
voevoda 10 months, 1 week ago
LarryNative, you wrote to jafs "Is asking us to love one anther and treat each other with respect such a tall order?" That choice of wording--"tall order"--really is treating his inquiry dismissively.
Also, that statement conflicts with the theology you enunciated, most recently in your posting immediately above. Your theology doesn't require people to treat each other with love and respect; it requires people to subscribe to a very specific theological conception: belief in Jesus to be the Son of God and the single source of salvation, or suffer eternal damnation. I think that jafs would have much less trouble with your theology if it held that God determined individuals' worthiness for salvation based on how they treat other people, not whether they subscribe to an arcane set of ideas about the Godhead.
You seem to think, LarryNative, that your conception of God is the only one, and people who disagree with you don't believe in God at all. But you should consider, LarryNative, that maybe they do believe in God, but they conceive of God and "His rules" in different terms. They embrace God, they worship God, and they anticipate being with God after they die. They love their fellow human beings and do their best to help them. Why are you so insistent, LarryNative, that these people will be going to Hell? Even if you don't mean to sound judgmental and dismissive of them, you do.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Hey.
Yes, it would make more sense to me if one believes God will judge us for him to do so based on our lives, not our beliefs.
But, it still begs the question of why one would create an imperfect creature, and then punish it for it's imperfection, or why one would create free will only to demand it be used in certain ways.
Interestingly, the concept of hell is originally an Egyptian one.
voevoda 10 months, 1 week ago
Unfortunately, LarryNative, I have seen all too many people who espouse the same theological position as you do treat other people very unforgivingly, unlovingly, and disrespectfully. In fact, you yourself, sad to say, often project an unforgiving, unloving, and disrespectful attitude towards others. So it is hard to see how advocating the truth of a particular theological construct must "automatically" result in the kind of lifestyle you describe.
And, of course, many people read the Bible differently from you. They choose other passages as the definitive ones for the purpose of understanding salvation and damnation. So, for example, instead of using John 3:16-19, you can invoke Luke 10:25-28.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
That's also a very good question.
As a friend said "He knew exactly what would happen, so why set it up like this?"
ebyrdstarr 10 months, 1 week ago
What I can't get past, and never will, is how anyone can be satisfied with that response, "Unknown" enough to still love and worship this being.
ebyrdstarr 10 months, 1 week ago
"God made man for one reason, to worship Him." Wow, quite the ego on that one. What is worthy of worship about a being that creates billions of creatures just so we will worship him? From that description of why your god created human life, I think I'm ok with not ending up with him when I die.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
"God made man for one reason, to worship Him" Well it goes well beyond that. God wants you to come to know Him in His fullness. God is so deep, it will take all of eternity to learn and experience all that He is. You will naturally want to worship Him, because of his complete loving nature, how he came to the rescue of man, through Jesus, to redeem you from the sin fallen angel Satan. Just think what God has created (the universe), he has the power to fold it up like a book and put it away. Then can recreate it brand new with new physics. He controls time. He is an incredible being that is like no other, and you have the opportunity to know Him, through His Son Jesus. What an opportunity! God is Love, and light, and in Him is no darkness at all. Without God is darkness, no love, everything that is opposite of God. You don't want to be there. Run to God. Seek Him with your whole heart. God is love, infinite power, and He is totally good and God goes beyond knowledge. He is wisdom intelligence, and deeply cares for the creation of man and angels. He is also the judge that is totally just and much much more. Why would anyone want to not know God, and cleave to a fallen angel like Satan that is destined for the lake of fire for his deeds, because you will be the child of one or the other and will be with one or the other. Make the right choice, choose God.
ebyrdstarr 10 months, 1 week ago
I'm sorry, but can you not see how silly that all sounds? And it's illogical to say that he has a complete loving nature but will allow many of us to spend eternity in a lake of fire. That he controls time and the very universe, but still lets his beloved creations suffer in all sorts of unimaginable ways. If he is totally good, why isn't he Superman-like stopping buildings from collapsing and turning the earth back in time to prevent earthquakes?
No one has yet come up with any description or explanation of any god that has made the concept seem at all worth following. I choose reason.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
If you go to the lake of fire, you go of your own choice. God loves you and is telling you ahead of time what your free choice is. God never intended for the lake of fire to be the place for mankind. He made if for the devil and his angels who rebelled against God. Because of Adam's sin, mankind has a corrupted spirit that has the nature of sin, like is found in Satan. God is the Judge, and has the power of judgment. Judgment has punishment associated with it and also has reward associated with it. Believers in Jesus Christ will stand at his judgment seat for rewards.
"If he is totally good, why isn't he Superman-like stopping buildings from collapsing and turning the earth back in time to prevent earthquakes?" Because at this time, Satan (a fallen angel, the devil) is the God of this world. But his time is nearly over, and God will be forcing him out of the earth when his time is done, which is very soon. Many bad things will happen in the earth during this time, because Satan's wrath is great, because he knows his time is short. God is not the author of evil but of good. Satan went away from God, who is good, all that is left is for Satan is to be evil. Satan is a liar and a thief and a murderer, and the author of it. If you look to blame something for all the evil in the world, you need to look somewhere other than God. Satan, an angel who tried to exalt himself to be higher than God has been defeated by Jesus Christ, when He went to the cross. God has already won. The best is yet to come for those who choose God. The future is bright for God's church.
ebyrdstarr 10 months, 1 week ago
If god has already won, then how is satan still running things? And if satan really is to blame for all the bad stuff, then satan is, in fact, stronger than god. That or god is intentionally not intervening where he could, thus allowing satan to bring all this suffering to god's beloved creatures. So either god's not all-powerful, all-knowing, etc. Or he's not as all-loving as you'd like to believe. Or, and here's what I think, this is all made up by humans and none of it is real.
There is nothing you can write that will make any of this sound the least bit logical.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
All good questions, but wrong assumptions. God has defeated Satan. God is much more powerful than Satan. But God is also just and honors the law and agreements. Satan, when he caused Adam to sin in the Garden of Eden, was given the authority that Adam was given by God in the lease that God made with Adam. So in effect, Satan has a lease on the earth and is the "god of this world system" until the lease of Adam runs out. It is just about over. Then God is going to personally force Satan out of the earth and Jesus will be the God of this world and things are going to look much better. You can read about this in the Bible.
"There is nothing you can write that will make any of this sound the least bit logical." That may be true if the "god of this world" has blinded your eyes, but I hope you will consider otherwise for your sake.
ebyrdstarr 10 months, 1 week ago
For your sake, I hope you can liberate yourself from the hold this fantastical, contradictory book written by very fallible humans has over you so you can one day enjoy and appreciate this life for what it is, instead of living for the promise of some future that doesn't exist.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 Therefore seeing we have received mercy, we faint not;
But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost (perishing): In whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Liberty275 10 months, 1 week ago
Very nice Jafs.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Thanks :-)
verity 10 months, 1 week ago
There is a difference between arguments based on facts, even if we dispute exactly what the facts are or how to interpret them, and arguments based solely on faith and the assumption that what one believes is fact with no evidence whatsoever.
bad_dog 10 months, 1 week ago
Hmm, let me nake sure I understand your proposal: Swear fealty or suffer eternally.
Whatever to do?
That proposal is so "Inquisitional" of you. Where's the torture rack when we need it?
jack22 10 months, 1 week ago
How can Jesus teach us love? The guy didn't even have a girlfriend. Zeus, on the other hand, is someone we should all be praising. All this cold weather is a direct result of our having forsaken him. Praise Zeus, he'll make our crops grow and give us nice weather on the weekends.
Leslie Swearingen 10 months, 1 week ago
Jesus was never trying to teach about inter-gender relationships but a universal love that influences how we treat each other day to day.
God created everyone on this planet not just Christians and all are equal in the eyes of God. Asking why bad things happen to good people just does not make sense because there are so many variable involved. Everyone is making a decision right now that may or may not impact upon me. The decisions I make today are going to have an impact on both myself and those around me.
Joseph Wambaugh's book, "The Onion Field", traces the paths that two police officers and two killers took that led them to that field on that night. Once you have all this information you can better understand what happened and why.
We, on the other hand, cannot possible have all the information that we would need to fully understand why because we cannot do the immense amount of research needed and by the time we need everything would have changed. The world would have gone around one more time while we were pondering.
MarcoPogo 10 months, 1 week ago
Does anybody else hear Geddy Lee singing in their heads right now?
rtwngr 10 months, 1 week ago
No, but I do have an image of Tammy Faye Baker crying, burned into my memory. shudder
bad_dog 10 months, 1 week ago
Ahh yes. Tammy Faye (RIP) and her silver makeup trowel...
Alceste 10 months, 1 week ago
Is God any busier now than He has been in the past?
hedshrinker 10 months, 1 week ago
Christians cloak themselves in self-righteous piety; that is the "card" they consciously or unconsciously use to trump other lines of argument; in KS, in much of the South, etc. all you have to do to win the argument is mention your Christian beliefs (practice is not required) and you have moved to the head of the line. For a country that espouses independence of thought and diversity, I find this bias highly objectionable; don't prattle to me about how you Christians are persecuted and how you're sick of others foisting their belief systems on you (ie jhawkins earlier comment about being sick of left-wingers, gun control, pro-choice proponents forcing their ideas on others).
Liberty275 10 months, 1 week ago
" Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already"
That is such a flawed strategy. If I don't believe in god, then since I'm condemned anyway I might as well be evil. If your god was thinking, he would have said "be a just and fair person and you will get some heavenly reward". That way even people like me that wouldn't believe in gof if you stood him in front of me and made him do magic tricks would still be "just and fair".
God needs to concern himself with what people do and not what they think.
And seriously, do you need a god to tell you to not be evil?
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
It might be better understood to say it this way: The human race has a sin problem, caused by Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden. The sin nature in your human spirit is flawed and not up to God's perfect standard. If you hang on to the old nature, you will die. There is a mandatory replacement of your sinful human spirit, which is now obsolete and is destined to the destruction pile known as hell. The new replacement spirit that replaces the the old sinful nature is found by believing on the sacrifice that Jesus, the Son of God made at the cross, taking Adam's and your sin to the cross and nailing it to the cross. God the Father raised Jesus from the dead on the 3rd day and lives forever more. Because He lives, you will live by believing that Jesus was raised from the dead and confessing it with your mouth. As you speak this belief from your heart, your faith causes your human spirit to be reborn after the new nature provided by Jesus, the Son of God. You now will have a new reborn spirit after the likeness of God, that has the flaw of the nature of sin removed. You also have eternal life now. Spread the Good News of what God has done for you, to those that haven't heard yet.
Liberty275 10 months, 1 week ago
"As you speak this belief from your heart"
That's the problem, if I "speak this belief", I will be lying. If I am to be punished for not lying, I suppose I deserve it.
In_God_we_trust 10 months ago
How can you be lying to say what God told you to say?
Liberty275 10 months ago
No god has ever told me what to say.
webmocker 10 months, 1 week ago
Darwin Loves You
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
"I do believe my conception of God is the only one"
This statement, although short, encapsulates so much of what is wrong with religious believers that it's startling.
It takes God and cuts him down to human size, narrowing the scope tremendously.
It sets the stage for religious wars and intolerance.
It suggests that although God created the entire universe, and myriad different people and cultures, that one particular culture has the only truth about him.
Then the further conflation of God with Jesus does even more of the same.
Having been a religious studies major, and seriously considered ministry several times, I'm not anti-religious by any means, but I do find this sort of thing troubling. Any God worth the name is bigger than our understanding, and not capable of being confined to one time and place, or one book, etc.
Churches and other traditions can serve as a pathway to the divine, but people shouldn't mistake the pathway for the goal.
In_God_we_trust 10 months, 1 week ago
"This statement, although short, encapsulates so much of what is wrong with religious believers that it's startling." "But without faith it is impossible to please Him (God): for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him". "See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more will not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaks from Heaven: whose voice then shook the earth..."
"Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken to you the Word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever."
verity 10 months, 1 week ago
Well said, jafs.
jafs 10 months, 1 week ago
Thanks.
yourworstnightmare 10 months, 1 week ago
The good thing about freedom is speech is that anyone can express an opinion, no matter how idiotic, childish, insipid, and wrong.
The other great thing about freedom of speech is that if they choose to express such an opinion, others can criticize that opinion as being idiotic, childish, insipid, and wrong.
The act of expressing an opinion does not make it correct. Mr. Burkhead is one of the religiously-insane, invoking magical religious thinking and ideology to "argue" a point.
In other words, idiotic, childish, insipid, and wrong.
verity 10 months, 1 week ago
Isn't that called circular reasoning?
Alceste 10 months, 1 week ago
"God is a Concept by which we measure our pain.....": John Lennon
GOD JOHN LENNON LYRICS by 2012dec
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d5YJ4NTM5zU by Alceste
yourworstnightmare 10 months, 1 week ago
"And no religion, too..."
-John Lennon
yourworstnightmare 10 months, 1 week ago
It is the burden of the religious to argue their points using facts and reasoning that can convince all, religious and non-religious alike, that their point is valid.
This is difficult, as religion is ideology, belief in something in the absence of or despite facts and evidence.
This is why the religious usually resort to invoking their ideology and beliefs as fact and evidence and proof in defense of their views.
Such arguments do not and should not hold any water in any moderate and sensible democracy.
JohnBrown 10 months, 1 week ago
My invisible friend is more powerful than your invisible friend.
JohnBrown
Leslie Swearingen 10 months, 1 week ago
No, no. I consider myself to be a very religious person and I have never tried to force any of my beliefs on anyone. I can value all the beliefs and all the faiths in the world and still yet hold onto my own with passion. I know that others will find this to be contradictory, but I find it quite easy.
I value Ganesha as a symbol of wisdom and the removal of obstacles. I read in the WsPo that a study shows that if you clench your right hand while you are memorizing something, and then you clench your left hand while trying to recall it will be easier. Is that study any different that using icons and symbols to focus your thinking?
verity 10 months, 1 week ago
I was raised as a Christian and I was taught that people should know, by the way you lived, that you were a Christian and that your life should be such that they would want to be like you.
The sermons preached here by the absolutists send me in the opposite direction.
That is all.
Kirk Larson 10 months, 1 week ago
All this talk of free will implies that god does not know what we will do next. But isn't god all knowing and knows what the future holds (otherwise, what use has prophecy)?
Stepping out of this morass, I don't consider myself an atheist, I just think all religions were created by men.
JohnBrown 10 months ago
Humans crave certainty. But the universe is an uncertain place.
In the absence of facts, understanding and knowledge, humans can quite easily "explain away" the unknown by invoking unseen deities.
This creates several problems.
First, such "invoking" tends to keep us ignorant. Second, those who do the "invoking"...if they do it right, can increase their money, power or prestige. Third, the early teachings, no matter how benevolent, tend to be moved aside and replaced with "teachings" that tend to reinforce the holding of/increasing of such monies, powers, or prestige.
In Christianity, we've gone from the Sermon on the Mount to the Crusades and the Inquisition, to the current Catholic Church protecting evil-doers who molest children. This protection was given to conserve the money, power and prestige of those in power.
There are lots of good words that have been spoken about the intent of this or that god, but the actions taken by the people who claim to "believe' in those words are reprehensible.
The Kansas Taliban say that all life is sacred. They believe this so much they are willing to kill for it.
The Don't Tread on Me Crowd say they believe in freedom, but they are not willing to let women make up their own minds about abortion.
It's all hypocrisy based on gaining, or preserving,money, power or prestige.
JohnBrown
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