Posts: 24
Threads: 3
Joined: May 7, 2009
Reputation:
0
Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 7, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I wrote an article about the top 8 trivial reasons why god killed people. Trying to spread the word, go ahead and kick off any discussion of this article in this thread (and not on the site, unless you really want to haha).
Lemme know what you think, scholars. Also digg it if you like, to get the word out about it!
E.T. Ogre
Apologizing in advance for the stupidity of our species
Posts: 7388
Threads: 168
Joined: February 25, 2009
Reputation:
45
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 7, 2009 at 9:19 pm
That's just lovely,except for one niggly little problem.
YHWH (or"El") is the mythological deity of a bunch of bronze age goat herders,who used to him to explain what they didn't understand about the world, which was almost everything.As they got more civilised they used El to justify some really nasty stuff such as slavery and genocide.
Being mythological,El didn't actually kill anyone.That he was petulant,petty,vindictive, vicious and cruel,is simply a reflection of the people who invented him and the times in which they lived. There wasn't much very unusual about them or El at all. Well OK, compared with the gods of say Babylon,El was downright benign.
Not a lot seems to have changed in parts of the Middle East,where life remains nasty and brutish and short.(unless you're really rich or in charge and a man).
Posts: 24
Threads: 3
Joined: May 7, 2009
Reputation:
0
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 7, 2009 at 9:24 pm
Well obviously I believe that this "God" is the invention of Man. I think the discussion shouldn't fall upon the obvious (that it's not the real God), but rather on the ramifications of a narcissistic deity like that. It's a terrifying prospect to have a God with just utter disregard to the sanctity of human life, yet Christians welcome him with open arms!
I think it's important to note that when you confront Christians with this, they ALWAYS claim "Oh that's the old testament, the new one is where God changed his mind". Which if you think about it, is even more terrifying, because there's no telling what a willy-nilly deity is going to do just because he feels like it.
E.T. Ogre
Apologizing in advance for the stupidity of our species
Posts: 43162
Threads: 720
Joined: September 21, 2008
Reputation:
133
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 7, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Good point; I particularly like that last paragraph Etogre.
Oh, and - welcome to the forums.
Posts: 188
Threads: 11
Joined: August 28, 2008
Reputation:
11
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 8:35 am
Excellent,
Should worry those who claim a moral base in the bible, though they'd probably pass it off as a metaphor or analgous of something ...
Great Post ...
Sam
"We need not suppose more things to exist than are absolutely neccesary." William of Occam
"Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt" William Shakespeare (Measure for Measure: Act 1, Scene 4)
Posts: 24
Threads: 3
Joined: May 7, 2009
Reputation:
0
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 1:00 pm
I just thought of something else...
God is the creator of evil. Before God got all pissed off because Eve ate the fruit, there was no death or chaos in the world. Then he went around killing human beings. So since he is the axis of the moral basis, God is the root of all evil in the world today.
The more you read into the bible, you see that it was a bunch of fables written by man to shape the society of the time. Actually, it probably started as stories passed from generation to generation with the same principle. I'm still trying to figure out how come a lot of enlightened ideas found their way into the New Testament though. But since Jesus never renounced the Old Testament, which is obviously a bunch of fabrications, contradictions, and things that science has disproven, it basically nullifies the New one.
I believe it wasn't until the 1700's or so that we started finding fossils, whoever that scientist was who came along shortly before Darwin. So basically think back to the early days of man trying to cope with our origins, and that's how the stories sprung up.
Okay I'm rambling now
E.T. Ogre
Apologizing in advance for the stupidity of our species
Posts: 368
Threads: 39
Joined: April 16, 2009
Reputation:
0
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Hypothetically speaking: What if 'god' cared more for the planet as a whole than any one individual or group of individuals?
Posts: 43162
Threads: 720
Joined: September 21, 2008
Reputation:
133
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 2:17 pm
He's God - hypothetically speaking couldn't/shouldn't he do both?
Besides, humans have a central nervous system that is capable of experiencing a lot of suffering...important to care about those feelings, and that suffering...
Non-living things and living things that feel no pain (and arguably, LESS (or considerably less) pain) I would think would be less of a priority??
Wouldn't God care about ALL the suffering? (especially a lot of the really nasty stuff that isn't simply something that 'helps you grow') Couldn't he put a stop to it? IF he existed, shouldn't he?
EvF
Posts: 851
Threads: 8
Joined: April 23, 2009
Reputation:
4
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Hey guys,
Quote:Hypothetically speaking: What if 'god' cared more for the planet as a whole than any one individual or group of individuals?
I like this thought. It shows that the 'common good' or 'right thing to do' may be bigger than our wants and needs. Very interesting.
Quote:Wouldn't God care about ALL the suffering? (especially a lot of the really nasty stuff that isn't simply something that 'helps you grow') Couldn't he put a stop to it? IF he existed, shouldn't he?
Hey EvF, This is something we have bumped against on the other thread. God, hypothetically, is mature enough not to let the silly little pain (physical or emotional) of one or a few human creatures bother it. Being god is hard work, and you don't think every Tom, Dick and Harry doesn't want money for nothing and no more pain? It depends on what is 'right'. I don't think god could put a stop to it, since the suffering is part of the system, the machine of life. I don't think he should, since where would that leave us? As the Buddha said, the first noble truth is that 'life is suffering'. God can exist with all of the evil in the world, to me they are very separate. God may have made life. A big part of life is the battle between good and evil. To have that dichotomy we need a lot of pain and a lot of happiness. I just think it is silly to assume there is no god because of all of the suffering. I think you may be deeply misunderstanding the nature of gods relationship and responsibilities to us. But I may be wrong.
Thank you for sharing and listening. Take care.
-Pip
Posts: 43162
Threads: 720
Joined: September 21, 2008
Reputation:
133
RE: Top 8 Trivial Reasons God killed Man
May 8, 2009 at 9:29 pm
@ Pip: There are a lot of ways life could be better hypothetically speaking. If God was capable AND gived a crap (and also, IF he existed, lol) then he would certainly make a lot of it less fucked up.
Yes there is a lot of suffering that is worth it for growth, etc. But there is a lot of really horrible shit that goes on and is not worth it . And furthermore people who suffer and die before they've even had a chance, and still births etc. There's loads of really nasty shit that could be an awful lot better. Where it's no ones fault and no one's to blame, for example and - horrible shit 'just happened.'
About God not being able to because this is the way 'the machine works': - well, since I don't know of any evidence for "God" in the first place. I certainly know of no evidence for that either.
Why do you believe that if there is a God he would necessarily simply be incapable of making life better? How do you know he isn't simply stupid, careless or twisted?
Yes life is beautiful. Yes it can be. But life is also fucking horrifying. And yes it can be that way too (whether it has been experienced that way by us personally or not, and to what degree of 'horrifyingness' that is, etc.).
I don't see how you can give this "God" of yours (the one you believe in) credit for all the beauty and then separate him/her/it from all the horrible nasty stuff.
You have talked of free will - but if God can at least partly be given credit for the beauty - rather than humans for their 'free will'..then how come God cannot also be blamed for all the horror, rather than humans for their 'free will'?
How can you give God credit for the good but not the bad? If the 'Evil' is because of free will and 'not God's fault.' Then how come the same cannot be said for all the 'Good' too? How come God gets at least part credit for that? How can you say that comes for him and that's because of God, but not the 'Evil?'
EvF
|