|
one thing i don't understand bout god/christianity
|
 (October 31, 2013 at 1:09 pm)Esquilax Wrote: It relies on the audience having absolutely no knowledge or interest in the affairs of other countries, where the obvious falsehood of such an idea is easily spotted. That's why Americans eat it up.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
Americans think that Austria has kangaroos and people ride gondolas down the streets of Vienna.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
Well to be fair, every foreigner I've met casually always asked if I had boots, cowboy hat and/or horses/oil well simply because I was from Texas. Ignorance goes both ways, believe me. I'm an American but my family has had several generations of exposure living overseas. Namely Britain, Australia and Germany.
"He who so forgets history is doomed to repeat it." - Churchill
Like I've said before, most Americans don't know where a country is on a map until we start dropping bombs on it.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
  (October 30, 2013 at 7:07 pm)leodeo Wrote: i have mental illness and suffer from sever depression and im 24 and became christian at 16 and always was told god helps, heals, etc....Hi mate, your resident Anglican here. I have a good friend, who's family were members of our parish for many years. After they left the parish (for their own reasons), they were without a church for a number of years - I'd say about 8 or so, until I invited my friend to come with me to a different parish, and they then became members there. A bit about my friend - I've spoken about him here before, he suffers clinical depression, and his family (parents etc) does have other problems too. I can attest to the fact that while he was a member of our church, although many many years ago now (15 years plus), he and the other members of his family were very well supported and cared for by the parish. Speaking personally, there's one person who was a member of our parish (now she lives in a different city) who was especially caring and supportive of them. And in fact she still is to this day, even though she lives about 9 hours away she still supports them whenever she can. When they joined the other parish I was really happy, because they had a great deal of support there, and I could tell how much they were loved and cared for there, and when they moved out of Canberra, I saw at their "farewell party" at the church how much the parish loved them, and how much it had meant to them to have supportive and loving people around them. Any good Christian would realize it's their responsibility to care for others in need. Now with that said, my friend could be a huge downer. I could have a great week, see him, and then feel completely in the pits. So much so that there are a whole string of people I could name who turned their backs on him (none of them are members of my parish though). For instance, he was a member of a group called "Grow" which is based on the AA 12 steps. Because he refused to make any changes that the group demanded, he was excluded - kicked out. I can assure you that he would never be excluded or kicked out of church! I don't know your situation, and I'm sorry to hear that you've left Christianity.
For Religion & Health see:[/b][/size] Williams & Sternthal. (2007). Spirituality, religion and health: Evidence and research directions. Med. J. Aust., 186(10), S47-S50. -LINK
The WIN/Gallup End of Year Survey 2013 found the US was perceived to be the greatest threat to world peace by a huge margin, with 24% of respondents fearful of the US followed by: 8% for Pakistan, and 6% for China. This was followed by 5% each for: Afghanistan, Iran, Israel, North Korea. -LINK "That's disgusting. There were clean athletes out there that have had their whole careers ruined by people like Lance Armstrong who just bended thoughts to fit their circumstances. He didn't look up cheating because he wanted to stop, he wanted to justify what he was doing and to keep that continuing on." - Nicole Cooke  (October 30, 2013 at 7:07 pm)leodeo Wrote: i have mental illness and suffer from sever depression and im 24 and became christian at 16 and always was told god helps, heals, etc.... There is no pure and simple and simple answer to the problem of pain, not because there is no answer, but because pain is complex. I've seen a couple times on these boards the phrase "shit happens" which breaks the problem of suffering down to a meaningless occurrence, which it is not. Maybe consider a couple things: God does not wish for suffering to happen - The fact is, if you admit to there being a supreme being who is the source of good and you admit to there being free will then suffering is unavoidable. People are free to reject His and choose wrong, like you are free to turn off the lights and stumble around in the dark. This is why those who DO reject Him have only "shit happens" to respond to the problem of pain. Because they have no right to complain. If you reject comfort, there is only pain left. But what about those who do have a right to complain? The good people who still suffer? But if you accept a supreme being as the source of all good it should be understood that Man was not meant for this world. God made us to be with Him. The problem of pain again come to the problem of free will. Man is a proud animal, believing that he knows best, can figure it all out on his own, even so far as to believe that he, himself, is god-like. This prevents man, even the most pious amongst us, to completely accept God in his goodness. But only God knows what it is that we truly need, only God can create the perfect spot for us, and it is only after we have chosen to accept Him that we can enter that space. If you create an intelligent being that can choose for itself what it is to do (man) and you tell that being "This and only this is what you can do" what is to stop the being from rejecting you. But, if you create an intelligent being and allow it to live with its free-will, coming and going, stumbling over and over, and then show it "This and only this is what is good for you" would it be more likely to accept? Finally, something to think about - God, if you believe the Christ story, was not above pain and suffering. As a man He walked freely into it, both mental and physical, struggled with it, and came out the other side.
". . . let the atheists themselves choose a god. They will find only one divinity who ever uttered their isolation; only one religion in which God seemed for an instant to be an atheist." -G. K. Chesterton
(November 1, 2013 at 6:29 pm)GodsRevolt Wrote: God does not wish for suffering to happen No, he just doesn't seem to care that people are starving in areas of the world where food doesn't grow or that people get painful, incurable diseases.
Christian apologetics is the art of rolling a dog turd in sugar and selling it as a donut.
I HAVE DISCOVERED THE FINAL COP OUT BY CHAPLAINS!!!!
I have been stubborn for an answer, so I headed over to the pastor and shared some of y'alls comments and asked my question again: Me: "You say god doesn't intervene because of free will, then why does he intervene and hurt people to "teach us things?" Why does god use his power to kill the world, rather then feed the world?" *brace for ultimate cop out - if you are planning on becoming a clergy man someday, you may want to right this down  *Pastor: "Look, God works in mysterious ways, and he sees the bigger picture, so a lot of the things he does seem weird to us, but it's all for the best. Also, instead of wondering why god doesn't do anything for you, you should ask yourself what you can do for god. Now please excuse me, I have an appointment in 8 minutes." |
|
« Next Oldest | Next Newest »
|
