Why do you believe in God?

[Obdurate]

lol You people.

 

[Minor Axis]

If you think that your life on Earth is all there is, then maybe you have a reason to be pissed at God or not to believe in God at all.

Earth is like "The Sims", you're down here experiencing it, making choices, and maybe learning something about what is important, what is right, how to be a better person. If you're spiritual, you take these lessons with you for the next round whatever that may be.

If your an atheist and don't believe in reincarnation or a spiritual life, then honestly what's the point of any of this?? Maybe a good reason to be pissed.

 

[GraceAbounds]

I did look around, I saw needless pain and suffering. Children being tortured when any kind of god could have stopped it. I want nothing to do with a god that sits there and watches the children suffer.

God is not the one that needs to evolve. We do. If we were to follow His precepts there would be no torturing going on. But we don't.

Sounds familiar.

I remember my parents saying 'life would be much easier for you if you'd just follow the rules and do what you were suppose to do'. But did I listen? No. And life was hell. LOL!

Some things never change. Some folks never learn. And I'm one of them, though I keep trying.

Less of me and more of Him.

 

[COOL_BREEZE2]

God doesn't exixt. It's the truth. Everyone claims he is real, but they got no evidence. Get out of your church and come to your senses, kid. The world is a cruel place...no god would allow that.

Cajun, you are hopeless. One way ticket for you.

 

[Elle]

God is not the one that needs to evolve. We do. If we were to follow His precepts there would be no torturing going on. But we don't.

Sounds familiar.

I remember my parents saying 'life would be much easier for you if you'd just follow the rules and do what you were suppose to do'. But did I listen? No. And life was hell. LOL!

Some things never change. Some folks never learn. And I'm one of them, though I keep trying.

Less of me and more of Him.

This really is so true....

 

[GraceAbounds]

This really is so true....

No matter how hard I try, I just can't. What is up with that????!!! We know it is best and yet still go the other way.
:surrenderLOL!

 

[Elle]

Well, I am not oine to support our government, even though the Word says to. It's tough, because it's all so evil, and manipulative, so it seems.

 

[Minor Axis]

The world is a cruel place...no god would allow that.

That completely depends on what you think God's role is in our existence. God is not hands on in that manner. We make the Earth what it is, not God.

 

[GraceAbounds]

Well, I am not oine to support our government, even though the Word says to. It's tough, because it's all so evil, and manipulative, so it seems.

I hear you.
The practical application of God's Word on that is that we support order and authority, but that we understand that God's order and authority are superior. So if we have gov't laws that go against God's laws ... well you get the picture.

 

[pladecalvo]

God is not the one that needs to evolve. We do. If we were to follow His precepts there would be no torturing going on. But we don't.

What's your take on moral responsibility Grace?

 

[GraceAbounds]

What's your take on moral responsibility Grace?

This is a broad question, so I am not sure if this is what you are asking or if you are trying to lead into a free will/determinism discussion. So I'll just answer as I am perceiving your question. If I am wrong, just clarify and I'll more than likely be happy to give it another shot.

I believe that we are held accountable (consequences) for the moral decisions we make in this life and the next. I also believe that Christ's blood covers and forgives many of the wrongs committed by us, wrongs that this world will never forgive and never let us live down. God, in His grace and mercy, erases many of our wrong moral decisions as He knows our hearts ... just as a parent knows their child's heart.

 

[Obdurate]

I hear you.
The practical application of God's Word on that is that we support order and authority, but that we understand that God's order and authority are superior. So if we have gov't laws that go against God's laws ... well you get the picture.

See,I could be classified as a Christian-Anarchist. If anybody wants me to go more into my beliefs on that just ask... I feel like a broken record otherwise, but here are some good quotes about it:

Leo Tolstoy

All violence consists in some people forcing others, under threat of suffering or death, to do what they do not want to do.

​

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

​

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

​

In the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.

​

Petr Chelčický

The man who obeys God needs no other authority (over him).

​

Ammon Hennacy

An anarchist is anyone who doesn't need a cop to tell him what to do.

​

Oh, judge, your damn laws: the good people don't need them and the bad people don't follow them, so what good are they?

​

Being a pacifist between wars is as easy as being a vegetarian between meals.

​

Nicolas Berdyaev

There is absolute truth in anarchism and it is to be seen in its attitude to the sovereignty of the state and to every form of state absolutism. […] The religious truth of anarchism consists in this, that power over man is bound up with sin and evil, that a state of perfection is a state where there is no power of man over man, that is to say, anarchy. The Kingdom of God is freedom and the absence of such power … the Kingdom of God is anarchy. (Slavery and Freedom, 147–8)​

​

 

[GraceAbounds]

The man who obeys God needs no other authority (over him).

Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

And there in lies the Truth imo.

Obey God, change one's self, and the world will be changed.

I'd rep you ... but the board won't let me.

 

[Obdurate]

Ah it's okay, my ego is big enough as it is anyways (kidding, lol).

 

[Obdurate]

OK! Let's look around.
Earthquakes
Tornadoes
Hurricanes
Starvation
Thirst
Poverty
Injustice
Torture
24,000 people dying of hunger in Third World countries every day
6,000 children dying from diarrhoea every day
2,700 children dying every day from measles.
149 million malnourished children in underdeveloped countries.
1,100 million people without access to safe drinking water.
2,400 million people without access to adequate sanitation.
1,200 million people living on less than one dollar a day.
1.1 million children under 15 living with HIV.
100 million children without access to basic education.
875 million illiterate adults.



.....and this indicates to you the existence of a loving, compassionate god does it?

I guess I might as well give a serious comment about this.

The world is fucked, no doubt about it. I talk/rant about it, do what little I can to help - whether that's just saying thanks to a stranger like the bus driver or being nice to my gf, etc - everyday of my life. It's disgusting how fucked this world is. It's depressing.

But I'm also of the mind that if God exists, It didn't bring about all these problems, but I would question God (and isn't that what good people do? Question things?) about why It made us capable of such things.
Why do I think It did that? Free will. The greatest gift of all is freedom. I'm excluding natural disasters from this because I really have no idea why anybody would make those.

So we've brought a lot of these problems on ourselves, hopefully with what I said above I don't have to actually list them. Using our free will.

Summary: We suck, big time, fellas.

 

[GraceAbounds]

God is not the one that needs to evolve. We do. If we were to follow His precepts there would be no torturing going on. But we don't.

Sounds familiar.

I remember my parents saying 'life would be much easier for you if you'd just follow the rules and do what you were suppose to do'. But did I listen? No. And life was hell. LOL!

Some things never change. Some folks never learn. And I'm one of them, though I keep trying.

Less of me and more of Him.

Just to add to this ^^^

"In this world you will have trouble." John 16.33

The fact that God is good does not mean that he will insulate us from all suffering. Rather, it means that he will be with us in our suffering and accomplish good through it (Isa. 43:2-3)

​

We are in a world of sin and will be tried, tested, belaboured by troubles that threaten to crush us in order that we may glorify him by our patience under suffering, and in order that he may display the riches of his grace and call forth new praises from us as he constantly upholds and delivers us.
​

Imagine that as Jesus is ascending back to heaven as his disciples are looking on and he tells them, "I've got to go now. Hang in there, and best of luck." Sound ludicrous? It would be almost impossible to continue following someone who left you like that. Even those of us who have blood type D (duty) would eventually need a transfusion of something; something to give us hope in this broken world. If that had been the case, then Jesus would have truly left us behind. But that's not how the story goes.

He left us ahead; he told us what it was going to be like, no surprises (John, chapters 14-16: The world will hate you. They will persecute you. They will put you out of the synagogue. They will think that killing you is a service to God. And he told us right where he would be: I will be with you.

As we suffer conflicts, insults, and other hardships, we must remember that Christ is our Emmanuel (God with us). We press on through those valleys of the shadow of death, but we don't press on alone; no, we have the presence of the living Christ guiding, encouraging, refining, strengthening, and protecting us all along the way. And as our faith matures, God does more and more of what God loves to do ; display the riches of his grace and call forth new praises from us as he constantly upholds and delivers us.

 

[luc154]

Just to add to this ^^^

"In this world you will have trouble." John 16.33

The fact that God is good does not mean that he will insulate us from all suffering. Rather, it means that he will be with us in our suffering and accomplish good through it (Isa. 43:2-3)​

We are in a world of sin and will be tried, tested, belaboured by troubles that threaten to crush us in order that we may glorify him by our patience under suffering, and in order that he may display the riches of his grace and call forth new praises from us as he constantly upholds and delivers us.​

Imagine that as Jesus is ascending back to heaven as his disciples are looking on and he tells them, "I've got to go now. Hang in there, and best of luck." Sound ludicrous? It would be almost impossible to continue following someone who left you like that. Even those of us who have blood type D (duty) would eventually need a transfusion of something; something to give us hope in this broken world. If that had been the case, then Jesus would have truly left us behind. But that's not how the story goes.

He left us ahead; he told us what it was going to be like, no surprises (John, chapters 14-16: The world will hate you. They will persecute you. They will put you out of the synagogue. They will think that killing you is a service to God. And he told us right where he would be: I will be with you.

As we suffer conflicts, insults, and other hardships, we must remember that Christ is our Emmanuel (God with us). We press on through those valleys of the shadow of death, but we don't press on alone; no, we have the presence of the living Christ guiding, encouraging, refining, strengthening, and protecting us all along the way. And as our faith matures, God does more and more of what God loves to do ; display the riches of his grace and call forth new praises from us as he constantly upholds and delivers us.

Amen to this post.

 

[groundpounder]

Why what?

why the persistent threads with questions whose answers you have no interest in?

Seems a little disingenuous but maybe not, so I'm wondering what the motivation is...

 

[pladecalvo]

why the persistent threads with questions whose answers you have no interest in?

Seems a little disingenuous but maybe not, so I'm wondering what the motivation is...

Debate.

 

[groundpounder]

I know THAT. I was wondering what motivates you to debate this in particular. Why not Less Filling/Tastes Great? Or South versus North? Ford vesus Chevy?

[/seeking]