According to Christianity, God made everything. That means EVERYTHING. He made everything with great purpose. That is to say that nothing he made was a mistake or an accident. Everything, and every characteristic/nature of said things, he made, was done so purposefully.
So let me get this straight. The following is what Christians ACTUALY believe:
2006-09-01 17:41:59 · 17 answers · asked by atheistradio 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
God purposefully made the Human brain in such a way that the majority of Humanity would commit acts or posses thoughts resulting in their eternal torture and suffering. He made angels in such a way that some would rebel, resulting in beings whose sole purpose is to torture Humanity. He also made a place called Hell(directly or indirectly), for which the majority of Humans would be tortured for eternity by the demons that he purposefully created(directly or indirectly). He loves all of his human creation, but if they do not love him back, he has it set up so that they will be tortured for all of time(directly or indirectly). He also purposefully set up the Earth and universe in such a way(directly or indirectly) that his very existence is tremendously ambiguous (to the human minds that he purposefully created).
2006-09-01 17:42:31 · update #1
Whether or not God made any given thing directly, or as an indirect result of any one of his actions or creations, i.e. indirectly, is thoroughly irrelevant. He DID, in fact, make it and he did so PURPOSEFULLY. (If it were, instead, the result of a mistake or accident, he would be proven fallible)
2006-09-01 17:43:06 · update #2
If God is as depicted by the Christian Bible, then he is an insecure, irrational (probably borderline psychotic), sadistic bully. Though most Christians claim that God is not “making” anyone believe in him, the connotation of the term that they are using is irrelevant. Just because God does not force a person’s hand into belief, does not mean that he is not “making” them do it. Instead, he is using the threat of severe physical harm to bully and scare people into believing in him. If I hold a gun to someone’s head and tell them to do or think something whilst informing them than non-compliance will result in my pulling of the trigger, I am not “making” them do anything. (In the context of which Christians defend God’s actions, that is) However, for all intents and proposes, I am truly “making ” them obey me. Any rational, sane person on any given jury would find this obvious, thus insuring a quick verdict of guilty.
2006-09-01 17:44:23 · update #3
“Properly read, the Bible is the most potent force for atheism ever conceived.” -- Isaac Asimov
2006-09-01 17:44:41 · update #4
One of the most powerful advantages of holding religious belief is that it provides you with a way to avoid dying, at least in concept. However, this guaranteed solution to the problem of your own death only obtains if you really and truly believe (you can decieve yourself, but you can't convincingly lie to yourself). Thus, the powerful force present in every believer's mind, pushing them to turn away from even the slightest thought of ever letting the smallest scintilla of doubt ever enter their minds. Any doubt at all, shatters their belief and the resulting illusion of immortality, and the full force of their impending doom floods into their minds, causing the worst kind of despair and agony. Under this threat of certain death, it takes a powerful commitment to the reality of your senses and reasoning mind to avoid surrendering your very soul to the narcotic comfort of belief without evidence, and even belief in contradiction to evidence.
What, as a rational person, can you offer a believer, in exchange for the realization that they are sure to die? Do you think that the truth of our situation as mortals can ever compete against the soothing assurances of immortality provided by religion?
2006-09-01 18:08:16 · answer #1 · answered by Mark V 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Wow, that's a lot. Is God a bully? Would a bully have created His creation with the ability to make a choice? Yes, I read your whole question, that you make the argument that we really do not have a choice. But we do; we can choose, which you perhaps have, to believe that God does not exist and thus His 'threats' are not valid to you. A true bully would have created us with the undeniable acknowledgment of His existence, and then given us a choice to follow Him or not. God is not illogical; what He did makes sense. He wanted love, through choice. The only way to get that was to create man (and angels) with the ability to make that choice. He is not insecure; if He were insecure He would create each person in such a way that said person would, without fail, worship Him. He does not; He allows each person to make a choice. Vindictive? Yes, maybe, in that God punishes wrongs. I already addressed the idea of God being a bully.
2006-09-02 00:52:39 · answer #2 · answered by hisnamesaves 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Two part answer
(1) reality is so frightening that many people feel the need to imagine a giant ally against it.
(2) People, find it difficult to imagine anything truely different from themselves. As such they create God in their own image, i.e. borderline psycotic, overwhelmingly selfish, and inherantly flawed.
Doesn't mean their isn't a divine creator mind you, it just seems a frightening thought that he's the guy in the bible.
Perhaps even more unsettling, there is nothing to imply that even if there is a god, he cares about people. Face it, the universe is scaled not for people, or planets, or stars. Not even Galaxies. Galaxy clusters might be the smallest portion that matters, but it might be even larger still.
2006-09-02 00:49:46 · answer #3 · answered by PtolemyJones 3 · 2⤊ 1⤋
God gave us free will. If he were 'making' us believe in Him, than everyone in the world would be christians. I don't go to church every Sunday because I have to, I go because I believe what the bible teachs and I love Him. I don't believe that people become christians because they are scared. I believe that God puts it on there hearts, reveals the truth to them and as they learn about Him, then that is when the fear comes in. Do I fear God? Of course. But before I knew better, than I didn't. Fear is not a bad thing. Do you fear being hit by a car? You most likely would try to move out of its path if you do. That is smart. Point being-it is smart to fear God. Any kind of fear you have it is for a reason. Fearing being hit by a car makes sense because it would probably hurt or could kill you.
I can't remember what else you posted so I guess I will stop now. May God bless you.
2006-09-02 01:01:13 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Believing in God means you acknowledge that He is the source of all life, that everything that was created in heaven and on earth first flowed through Him. Therefore, if He is the source of all life, then turning away from Him (life) means choosing death. Make sense?
Everything that He created was an act of love. Remember God didn't NEED to create anything. His is perfection itself, which is totally and perfectly complete, lacking nothing. Therefore, anything that He created was, well, voluntary, for want of a better description. He didn't have to do it. When He created the angels and us, it was an act of love. However, He didn't want robots; He wanted us (humans and angels) to love Him in return. Therefore, we have free will. He did not create us for the purpose of watching us burn in eternal fire; He created us for heaven. But, there are those (angels and humans) that choose otherwise. They choose the opposite of life - death and damnation.
God is not holding a gun to our heads. Once you understand that everything He did was an act of love, then it means that He is only wanting you to love Him back. If He were using hell as a "gun", then choosing or not choosing Him would be an act of force, not love. God doesn't force anything. You have free will. You make your own decisions. The only way to get to heaven anyway IS by love. There is no other way. It is not a game of survival so that you don't your brains blown out. It is a choice between loving Him Who first loved you, or not.
God bless.
2006-09-02 01:00:48 · answer #5 · answered by Danny H 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Ok. The same people that say "Why won't God stop all the evil." will call him a Bully when he finally does stop all the evil.
It seems like he's in a position so that no matter what he does he's wrong. If he controls everything that goes on, then we are all brainwashed Christian robots. If he lets us choose free will God is evil because he "permits" this to happen. God does not permit evil to happen. He will punish all evil acts, and reward all good acts accordingly. There is nothing that makes sense in that logic. It's backwards. Satan is the one that is causing all the evil. Satan at one time was Lucifer, but he is a fallen angel. God didn't plan to have Satan be evil. He intended Lucifer to be a wonderful creature that lived a wonderful life, but Lucifer chose to accuse God of the very same things you are accusing God of. Don't you know that Satan means "accuser of the brethren"?
Don't blaspheme God's name by blaming him for things that his enemies do. Don't ridicule Christians for choosing to obey god, by calling them brainwashed robots. And stop putting words into Christians mouths, saying that we believe things that we don't really believe. You are twisting and distorting the truth.
2006-09-02 00:50:20 · answer #6 · answered by The Bible (gives Hope) 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A lot of Christians do believe somewhat as you say. One I know left a church because they didn't believe a place called Hell!
God created everything perfect. That is a fact.
God gave man free will.
God told man not to eat of the tree of the knowelege of good and evil.
Man ate from it.
From that point on MAN started creating.
God threw man out of the perfect world and into a world where man was free to be as they wanted to be.
Everything else has been up to man.
Now, get in YOUR car, dump GREEHOUSE gases into the air, support ARAB terrorists with YOUR income, support BIG business with YOUR income and put more pollutants into eveyrone air than ALL the smokers of the world could never do, even if they chained smoked all day and all night.
That is YOUR choice. Free will.
YOU and other like you have decided to make the Earth a living hell.
One day we may reach the point of no return.
The day the rain forrests are so few, the day the plankton in the sea is so little and the day with the O2 in our air gets gobbled up by cars.
Did you know there are 50 million vehicles registered in the state of California Alone!
Car smoke causes emphesima. It is started to be suspected of causing cancer,. Lung cancer.
The raw fuel IS a carcinogen!
All the affluent people are doing this to the world. AGnostics, Atheists, Christians some Islamics, most Jews, some Hindus maybe a few Buddists.
That's something we all share in common, making the sky gray and brown so it burns your eyes and makes you cough with shortness of breath.
Go drink some water, laced with Acid Rain and PCBs.
The entire water table is containmanted.
YOu want pure water yo pay 40 cents a bottle for it.
One day if you want pure air you'll pay for bottle air, too!
God is not responsible for this hell
God didn't invet the auto, the the power generator, the manufacturing plants.
None of that was in Gods world.
That's man at work!
God left man to man's own devices and one day it will rain fire, there will be next to no pure air, no water, no decent food, the ground will be parched and there will be rivers and lakes of fire.
God is supposed to come on that day, and pick the best of the human species to save. Those whose names are in the book of life.
No one knows the exact critera. God may choose to even save Atheists!
God may leave an abundace of Christians behind!
All Jesus promised them was ever lasting life. Jesus never promisted it WOULD DEFINATELY be in HEaven!
God has the final say on that. JEsus gives you some perks and options.
IT's that simple.
And Atheists are just as responsible for all of this as are Christains.
Don't think the bathroom smells like wild flowers after your visit!
2006-09-02 01:41:02 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
Are you talking about God or your dad? Is he pushing you to get a job again and stop playing video games?
Since your rather hysterical question is not one that conforms to the reality of the Deity there is no answer.
Regarding Asimov's commentray on the Bible, it is decades out of date with its archeological knowledge and textual criticism.
2006-09-02 01:43:46 · answer #8 · answered by wehwalt 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, He created everything. No, He did not. Yes, He knows all. No, He does not. Yes, He created hell. No, He did not. Hmmm. The right answer seems dependent on the question. You've asked a complicated question (it has many words), so the answer must be.... ? ... ... ... ... pondering ....?... .... .... ... oh yes, I know, I know, the right answer must be (drum roll) ... it's... free will!
Oh dam, I forgot about the second coming. Yes, that's the answer, all will be revealed then. It's about to happen. Soon. In another second. Always...
2006-09-02 00:52:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
You are trying to hard to convince yourself. I can tell by the length of your question. Lets see...
Your way... We die and that is all..
God's way... We die and have a chance to spend an eternity (if saved) in the presence of God...
I will take my chances with God... at least I have something to look forward to... Good luck...
As far as what Christians actually believe... How would you truly know what we believe unless you are one yourself...
2006-09-02 00:49:18 · answer #10 · answered by faithfulbibleman 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋