(April 24, 2013 at 7:04 am)Esquilax Wrote: I also sometimes get "it's all a part of god's plan!" in regards to certain elements of my past that are particularly painful. This one has always struck me as particularly heartless because all it really says is that the theist in question believes the universe was arranged by a creator god that they worship so that I could be hurt and almost blinded in my childhood. Yet they mean it as a platitude, as though just throwing the word god in there makes it a positive statement.
^ This one right there. I know I didn't exactly put it in there. But the whole "god's plan" thing really erks me.
Always has. Especially when it comes to suffering. The muslims here openly state things like "you or your parents, or someone may have sinned and therefore your suffering is a punishment to them, or you" or something equally damning.
It's so easy for some religious people to condemn people without realizing that they're even condemning others. It's like most of them don't even know what they're doing because they've been brainwashed to believe since birth that all suffering is one's own fault .. especially here in Pakistan.
I have tried arguing in the past and have made similar statements about how malevolent this is - and the the response especially amongst the hardline muslim circles is that "well, it's ok because god is not always supposed to be merciful" and then start quoting all forms of natural disasters etc as his doing for all forms of suffering. They go so far as saying that god's wrath is described in his many names just as he is merciful, he is wrathful etc etc.
I've realized that many of these people are so thoroughly brainwashed that it's almost impossible for them to accept that their suffering has no purpose, was not by design, or was not due to some sort of crime/sin that they committed. They need reasons - and apparently, god is their reason for it.
