Do you think that when we say "God is all-loving", that means that God doesn't punish us for that which we deserve?
Does a good and loving father not punish his child?
Ever heard of 'tough love'?
Sometimes it hurts when God corrects us.
2007-02-07 07:45:25 · 32 answers · asked by Doug 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Ok,
does a good judge let the murderers go untouched for thier atrocities?
2007-02-07 07:49:11 · update #1
(When that child DISOBEYS the father, sorry)
2007-02-07 07:50:11 · update #2
All loving, and punishment are compatible (as with you father-child example). God loves everyone, but wrong deeds are punishable.
Omnibenevolence and the existence of an eternal form of suffering (hell) are not compatible. A god that is entirely benevolent, and all loving, would not allow eternal suffering for a finite crime.
Hell and God are mutually exclusive if god is claimed to be just and benevolent.
2007-02-07 07:51:10 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 3⤋
Most Christians define God with three 'All's.
All Loving
All Merciful
All Just.
They then posit that if I do not believe, I will burn in hell for all eternity.
I am a finite being. I have a finite number of seconds to live. Let us say I am the most evil human alive and further that Catholics are right to distinguish venial and mortal sins (accept it for the discussion, the reason will be clear in a moment). Further assume that I am capable of committing one of these mortal sins every single second, and do so from the moment I am conceived until the moment of my death.
I have lived a finite number of seconds. I have commited a finite number of crimes, with a finite number of consequences.
Yet my punishment is to be infinitely long and (presumably) infinitely intense.
Infinite punishment for finite error is not Loving, Merciful, or Just. It is in fact, Hateful, Cruel, and Sadistic.
If Christians believed that Hell was temporary and the suffering only for a little while, it might be believable.
Of course, Christianity has many other major flaws but this answers your immediate question.
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Ah, so you are invoking God as the great balancer of Justice.
Tell me... why must the universe and/or life be Just?
"You know, um… I used to think that it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them? So, now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe. " -- Marcus Cole, Ranger, Babylon 5 [Fictional setting created by JMS, quoted from http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Marcus_Cole ]
2007-02-07 07:52:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 1⤋
No, I think when you say that your God is all loving that you've got a screw loose.
An all-loving God would never roast people in an eternal BBQ pit just for not worshiping him, in fact, a truly loving God would have never demanded worship in the first place. Your Hell does not serve as a place of punishment, because punishment is for correction...torturing someone forever is not simply a punishment, it's pure unadulterated sadism. I don't think you realize the ridiculous nature of your claim. "My God loves you so much that if you don't bow down he's going to deep fry you in the lake of fire if you don't love him back!"
You can keep your God and I'll keep mine.
2007-02-07 09:20:38 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
God personifies 100 percent of everything about us. We only participate as humans in the perfections of God. In anycase, who is to question God as he has set the options before us through freewill to choose what we would like to do bearing in mind also, the repercussions of each of our actions.
So, the all loving nature of God does not mean that He supports any one that goes against His commandments. Like it is in the Bible, the prayer of the sinner is an abomination on to God. Hence the punishment of God can only be determined by him as He has said that he will have mercy one whom he will choose to have mercy. As such, it is better to be in the good books of the Lord as you can not tell if you will attract His mercy to avoid been punished for any wrong doing.
2007-02-07 08:03:33 · answer #4 · answered by jude g 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I interpret "all-loving" as meaning love for all His creations, even those who choose not to believe in God in any of His manifestations...( Allah, Yahweh, etc.) and those who do not follow the teachings of Jesus, either. I don't think of it as blind love without punishment. Neither do I think of God as a being capable of nothing but good and perfection, relegating evil to the Devil, playing the bad cop to God's good cop. That's too simplistic and naive, and if you're going to believe in God, take Him as-is with all the good and evil rolled-up in one.
2007-02-07 08:09:12 · answer #5 · answered by sacredvanity 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't know doug, what would you think when I ask if Santa likes green toilet paper or red? I know that sounds flippant, but look at the question this way:
Do you think that when we say "[non-existent entity] is all-loving", that means that [non-existent entity] doesn't punish us for that which we deserve?
See, in terms of atheism, it doesn't really fly as a question.
2007-02-08 08:36:28 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Why would you ask non-believers about the nature of god. Non-beleivers don't disagree with god, they don't believe. Hypothetically speaking god seems like a poor representation of almighty done by a bunch of bronze aged know no betters
2007-02-07 07:49:57 · answer #7 · answered by hot carl sagan: ninja for hire 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
So atrocities are God's ways of tough love?
So was the hurricane down south that brought so much ruin a sign of love from your God?
Who are you to say that those who have misfortunes have displeased your God and therefore deserve it? Many good people have bad things happen to them, many bad people have the best things happening to them, it makes no difference whether or not they deserve it
2007-02-07 07:54:48 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
If God is all loving, then he is completely 100 percent filled with love, which means that he can have no hate in him whatsoever.
So no jealous God, no angry God, no vengeful God, etc.
So yes, you heard the saying, to err is human, to forgive is divine.
2007-02-07 07:51:17 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes, these are all valid points. However, I've never heard of a father that would cast his child out into a place of brimstone and punishment just because his child didn't believe in him. In today's society, that's called child-abuse, neglect and abandonment. Only a dead-beat dad would do something like that.
A true, all-loving and all-forgiving father will welcome their child into his home at anytime, no matter how bad that child has been.
How do you answer that one?
2007-02-07 07:53:20 · answer #10 · answered by Joa5 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋