The Concept of God

RYME

My 2 Hands, I didn't ask anyone to be polite to me.  I thanked goldrush for the polite questions.  He or she asked me to answer a few questions.  Everything I said is in the Bible.  The bible isn't politically correct.
I understand your anger at me though.
I was going to continue about the 3 world ages.  But I think I'll hold off on that.  

rgambs

Personally, I wouldn't demand shows of fealty from my son, because I love him truly and unconditionally, like a REAL father does.  None of this "fawn over me or I will burn you forever" bulkshit.
Why allow Satan?? (Satin is a fabric, btw)

Would you send men to try to seduce your wife to test her loyalty?  No, because that's fucked up, psychotic behavior.  Would you hire someone to try to get your kids to turn on you so you could torture them?  No, because that's fucked up, psychotic behavior.

"Hell is not some place of eternal fiery torture where they fry like a piece of bacon as many would have you believe." 
Bullshit, that's exactly what the Bible says it is.

brianlux

rgambs said:

Personally, I wouldn't demand shows of fealty from my son, because I love him truly and unconditionally, like a REAL father does.  None of this "fawn over me or I will burn you forever" bulkshit.
Why allow Satan?? (Satin is a fabric, btw)

Would you send men to try to seduce your wife to test her loyalty?  No, because that's fucked up, psychotic behavior.  Would you hire someone to try to get your kids to turn on you so you could torture them?  No, because that's fucked up, psychotic behavior.

"Hell is not some place of eternal fiery torture where they fry like a piece of bacon as many would have you believe." 
Bullshit, that's exactly what the Bible says it is.

I think hell is life on earth... some of the time anyway, and more so for some than others.   To me, the trick to staying out of hell is to acknowledge when you're in it, get by as best you can while you are in it, and keep in mind that better days are ahead and that some of those days will be quite heavenly.  I sometimes wonder if we invented hell because we don't know how else to deal with people who are evil in nature.  We don't want to accept the idea that when Hitler or Caligula or Pol Pot died they just died and didn't suffer some kind of eternal retribution.  Yes, that is too bad but I suppose the retribution is infamy.  Besides, most people are benign, many are good, some are great.  What is their reward?  Probably just knowing they did the right thing as often as possible.

Thoughts_Arrive

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

brianlux said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

In the middle of reading a chapter of a book and it says 9/10 Americans believe in God.
Dear me. 

Our national motto is "In God we trust."  I can see why people like that thought- to be able to rely on an omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and benevolent power that has our best interest in mind.  But that fact of that matter is, this is at best wishful thinking.  There's no way we can verify such a being.  What we can verify, what is visible and tangible and consistent with the basic laws of physics and nature as we know them is what we often refer to as Mother Nature.  If we understand the basic concepts of how she works and live within those parameters, we would have something far more dependable on which to trust.

I think we need to change our motto to "In Mother Nature we trust" and then start living like we mean it.

I cringed when watching the celebrations to the recent Superbowl, too many "thanks/praise to god bla bla bla" by the players and coach.

A friend of mine who played professional football told me of 'The God Squad': religious guys from both teams who would meet on the field, join hands, and pray after games.

Thing is... The God Squad was rife with thugs- some of the worst human beings the league had to offer.

Typical of most religious people, biggest hypocrites. 

PJ_Soul

drakeheuer14 said:

Why waste so much time talking about something you don’t believe in? Especially if you have a closed mind on the subject. 

What an ironic question.

PJ_Soul

Thoughts_Arrive said:

In the middle of reading a chapter of a book and it says 9/10 Americans believe in God.
Dear me. 

Yeah, the USA is pretty darn religious compared to a lot of the developed world, but it still doesn't even rank in the top 50 most religious nations (i.e. the highest percentage of population that identifies as religious). In a lot of countries the number is up at 95 - 99%. I don't really see that as the most relevant stat though. What I think is much more relevant would be stats related to the level of fanaticism or evangelicalism of those religious people. I feel like the US might not rank super high there, but the problem is that those who are fanatics have a very disproportionate amount of power and influence in the USA compared to most other developed countries, because conservatives aren't together enough (or too fearful) to acknowledge the value of the separation of church and state, even if they aren't fanatics. If history is any indication, fanatical minorities often exert more power than seems reasonable, and I think it's because fanatics are willing to do shit that decent folks aren't filling to do. The terrible divisiveness in the USA keeps non-fanatic conservatives choosing religious influence in politics over less conservative governance. It's a real shame.

Thoughts_Arrive

PJ_Soul said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

In the middle of reading a chapter of a book and it says 9/10 Americans believe in God.
Dear me. 

Yeah, the USA is pretty darn religious compared to a lot of the developed world, but it still doesn't even rank in the top 50 most religious nations (i.e. the highest percentage of population that identifies as religious). In a lot of countries the number is up at 95 - 99%. I don't really see that as the most relevant stat though. What I think is much more relevant would be stats related to the level of fanaticism or evangelicalism of those religious people. I feel like the US might not rank super high there, but the problem is that those who are fanatics have a very disproportionate amount of power and influence in the USA compared to most other developed countries, because conservatives aren't together enough (or too fearful) to acknowledge the value of the separation of church and state, even if they aren't fanatics. If history is any indication, fanatical minorities often exert more power than seems reasonable, and I think it's because fanatics are willing to do shit that decent folks aren't filling to do. The terrible divisiveness in the USA keeps non-fanatic conservatives choosing religious influence in politics over less conservative governance. It's a real shame.

It sucks. Church and state are scary.

Gern Blansten

I don't see how anyone calling themselves a Christian could support tRump.  Makes absolutely no sense.

oftenreading

Gern Blansten said:

I don't see how anyone calling themselves a Christian could support tRump.  Makes absolutely no sense.

Yes. I could see if they were open about it being a "hold your nose and vote" sort of thing, in order to reach the holy grail of no abortion, but it isn't even that. Most seem downright enthusiastic, despite the fact that Trump is the antithesis of all that Christians are supposed to hold dear. Greedy, vain, insulting, and without a charitable bone is his body.

Gern Blansten

oftenreading said:

Gern Blansten said:

I don't see how anyone calling themselves a Christian could support tRump.  Makes absolutely no sense.

Yes. I could see if they were open about it being a "hold your nose and vote" sort of thing, in order to reach the holy grail of no abortion, but it isn't even that. Most seem downright enthusiastic, despite the fact that Trump is the antithesis of all that Christians are supposed to hold dear. Greedy, vain, insulting, and without a charitable bone is his body.

Doesn't go to church...cheats on his wife, hardly visits her in the fucking hospital, treats disabled and poor people like dogshit, etc.

PJ_Soul

Gern Blansten said:

I don't see how anyone calling themselves a Christian could support tRump.  Makes absolutely no sense.

Ditto. I think it's sick.

LongestRoad

my2hands said:

RYME said:

goldrush said:

RYME said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

If there is a god, why does he/she allow the horrors of this world to occur?

God is not at all happy about the horrors and wickedness that occur in this world.  Jesus came the first time with the purpose of being crucified.  He did it for you and I and all (yes all)  who will accept Him, and the price He paid on the cross, for our sins.  He paid our sin debt in full if we will just accept that, that's all He's asking.  It's very hard for a lot of people to comprehend that all he really wants from us is love.  He's having a hard time getting it from lot of folks.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus is coming back again.  I think it's going to be sooner rather than later.  And it will only take about 15 minutes, and all the horrible and wickedness of this world are going to be overturned in a big big way.  This is what Christians are looking forward to.  Justice will be done.  All the terrible people of the world are going to be put in their place and and it's going to be a great day. 
Jesus is not coming back again as a baby to be crucified again, that has been done already.  This time He's coming back to rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The wicked are going to feel the full weight of God's Wrath.
Those who love him will not have 1 hair on their head singed.  Nothing to fear.
Some people might scoff at this and that's fine with me, I have no problem with that.
But if there is even one or two out there who gain some comfort from this, that's what I hope for, the more the merrier.
This song by Johnny Cash sums it up pretty well.  When The Man Comes Around.

Setting aside whether or not people really believe this, logistically, how would this even be possible? There are over 7000 different languages spoken in the world today - could Jesus communicate with every one of them?
Not to mention that there are over 4000 recognised ‘religions’ (or belief systems, or faiths, whichever phrase you choose) - is everyone who has a religion going to just change their beliefs or suffer “the full weight of God’s Wrath”? If Christianity accounts for roughly 31% of all believers, what will happen to the rest of us?

Not trying to be facetious, or argumentative, just playing a little (for want if a better phrase) devil’s advocate with some of your assertions that I can’t get my head around.

If they still reject Jesus and still choose to follow Satan after all that, that's when it's over for them.  

So if you reject Jesus you follow satan?  that's total horseshit.... you look down on non-christians... you think you are somehow superior to non-christians... that's what your religion and its followers does...  it's the foundation of your beliefs... you are no better than a white supremacist or someone who believes males are superior to females... 

And you want me to be polite? Lol, get the fuck outta here... I'm more polite,  have more empathy,  and judge people far less than any Christian I know... maybe YOU guys need to mind YOUR manners

Your religion and its followers are judgemental fools... don't get your feelings hurt when I let you know... because us non-believers have been judged and looked down upon for far too long in this country... time to start calling out your bullshit

https://youtu.be/DhODYyZVL6Y

It sounds like you're looking down on yourself. It doesn't sound like what was said was to look down or to judge. God is love.

oftenreading

LongestRoad said:

my2hands said:

RYME said:

goldrush said:

RYME said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

If there is a god, why does he/she allow the horrors of this world to occur?

God is not at all happy about the horrors and wickedness that occur in this world.  Jesus came the first time with the purpose of being crucified.  He did it for you and I and all (yes all)  who will accept Him, and the price He paid on the cross, for our sins.  He paid our sin debt in full if we will just accept that, that's all He's asking.  It's very hard for a lot of people to comprehend that all he really wants from us is love.  He's having a hard time getting it from lot of folks.
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever, believeth in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Jesus is coming back again.  I think it's going to be sooner rather than later.  And it will only take about 15 minutes, and all the horrible and wickedness of this world are going to be overturned in a big big way.  This is what Christians are looking forward to.  Justice will be done.  All the terrible people of the world are going to be put in their place and and it's going to be a great day. 
Jesus is not coming back again as a baby to be crucified again, that has been done already.  This time He's coming back to rule as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  The wicked are going to feel the full weight of God's Wrath.
Those who love him will not have 1 hair on their head singed.  Nothing to fear.
Some people might scoff at this and that's fine with me, I have no problem with that.
But if there is even one or two out there who gain some comfort from this, that's what I hope for, the more the merrier.
This song by Johnny Cash sums it up pretty well.  When The Man Comes Around.

Setting aside whether or not people really believe this, logistically, how would this even be possible? There are over 7000 different languages spoken in the world today - could Jesus communicate with every one of them?
Not to mention that there are over 4000 recognised ‘religions’ (or belief systems, or faiths, whichever phrase you choose) - is everyone who has a religion going to just change their beliefs or suffer “the full weight of God’s Wrath”? If Christianity accounts for roughly 31% of all believers, what will happen to the rest of us?

Not trying to be facetious, or argumentative, just playing a little (for want if a better phrase) devil’s advocate with some of your assertions that I can’t get my head around.

If they still reject Jesus and still choose to follow Satan after all that, that's when it's over for them.  

So if you reject Jesus you follow satan?  that's total horseshit.... you look down on non-christians... you think you are somehow superior to non-christians... that's what your religion and its followers does...  it's the foundation of your beliefs... you are no better than a white supremacist or someone who believes males are superior to females... 

And you want me to be polite? Lol, get the fuck outta here... I'm more polite,  have more empathy,  and judge people far less than any Christian I know... maybe YOU guys need to mind YOUR manners

Your religion and its followers are judgemental fools... don't get your feelings hurt when I let you know... because us non-believers have been judged and looked down upon for far too long in this country... time to start calling out your bullshit

https://youtu.be/DhODYyZVL6Y

It sounds like you're looking down on yourself. It doesn't sound like what was said was to look down or to judge. God is love.

Love, and punishment. 

brianlux

I really don't mind the idea of "God is love" if it is taken at face value. 

If God is love, then Love is god.

And what's wrong with Love?  Not a damn thing. 

But the question is, Are there any religions that leave it at "God is love/ Love is god"?

And for that matter, does "God is love/ Love is god" need to be seen as a religion or can it just be?

rgambs

brianlux said:

I really don't mind the idea of "God is love" if it is taken at face value. 

If God is love, then Love is god.

And what's wrong with Love?  Not a damn thing. 

But the question is, Are there any religions that leave it at "God is love/ Love is god"?

And for that matter, does "God is love/ Love is god" need to be seen as a religion or can it just be?

Exxxxxxxxxaaaaaaaactly!
If "God is love" is the truth, then there isn't any need for the rest of the bullshit.
If God is love, then God shouldn't need us to obsess over It under penalty of eternal torture.

Thoughts_Arrive

If God is love and love is God then same-sex love is fine.

Smellyman

Good spot for the abridged version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZ8hefESt7c

jeffbr

God is violence. The Old Testament doesn't show much love coming from that mythological being. It was all about eye for an eye, pestilence, famine, wars, incest, rape, murder, threats. 

my2hands

RIP George Carlin 

brianlux

George Carlin is God!

Well, ok, a god anyway, lol!  Love all his stuff.