The purpose of god

[Baalzebutt]

I actually posted this in another thread as a reply but I think it deserves its own discussion:

If you really stop and think about it, the concept of god has but one purpose: To relieve us of the responsibility of our actions.

Without god, we have only ourselves to hold accountable for our actions. With god, he has placed the responsibility for our actions on himself (jesus) by proxy.

This is probably my fundamental problem with god and religion. If you look at our world today, you can take virtually any problem that exists and break it down to a basic lack of personal responsibility. We live in a world where everything is somebody else's fault. If people would simply be ACCOUNTABLE for their actions, our world would be much different.

So, to answer your question, no it is not strange that you want god to be real. It is human nature to not want to be responsible for our actions. Disbelief in god, by its very definition, places responsibility for our actions directly on our own shoulders.

The thought that we do "bad" things of our own accord is not a particularly comforting idea.

[fr0d0]

Well that's a twisted way of looking at it. But congratulations on the spin.

People are still fully responsible with God. If they're irresponsible, they loose salvation.

When you have the offer to come alongside the ruling authority, you have ultimate responsibility.

[My imaginary friend is GOD]

Actually, there are a lot of purposes for God. For example, making the masses comfortable with an all-encompassing authoritarian absent father figure. If you do what God says, you will probably also do what your government says. And obey your parents. It's all about making it comfortable for you to conform.

[fr0d0]

That's how religion is abused by power

[Baalzebutt]

Well that's a twisted way of looking at it. But congratulations on the spin.

People are still fully responsible with God. If they're irresponsible, they loose salvation.

When you have the offer to come alongside the ruling authority, you have ultimate responsibility.

I have brought up this argument before. Lets see if you have a better answer than O have gotten so far.

Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and consumed numerous victims. Before he was killed in prison, he converted to christianity. This means his sins were forgiven and he was allowed in to heaven.

Essentially, he was no longer responsible for his actions. His actions were, by proxy, placed on to jesus. He no longer carries ANY responsibility for these things as jesus suffered the death for Dahmers sins.

To me, that sounds an awful lot like lack of responsibility.

---

Actually, there are a lot of purposes for God. For example, making the masses comfortable with an all-encompassing authoritarian absent father figure. If you do what God says, you will probably also do what your government says. And obey your parents. It's all about making it comfortable for you to conform.

and conformation is SUCH a wonderful thing. I mean, look what it has done for Arab women!!

[Zone]

To relieve us of the responsibility of our actions.

That's what religious people think atheism is about. By removing God from the picture you can indulge in a life of sin, sin being the primary motivator for atheism you see.

[Question Mark]

Well that's a twisted way of looking at it. But congratulations on the spin.

People are still fully responsible with God.

Why?

[Baalzebutt]

To relieve us of the responsibility of our actions.

That's what religious people think atheism is about. By removing God from the picture you can indulge in a life of sin, sin being the primary motivator for atheism you see.

Right! Now I can live a life of debauchery without consequence.

That is most certainly the reason I became an atheist.

ATHEISM ROCKS!!!

[EGross]

For many cases, people want to be slaves. They want to release responsibility to a person or a mythology. If something good happens, then the good deity did it. In Orthodox Judaism, for example, the membership is fully reliant on the religious leader. Want to know if a new brand of Ice Cream is ok to buy? Ask the Rav. Want to know if you should marry someone specific? Ask the Rav. Want to know which electric shaver to buy? Ask the Rav. It ends up transferring all choice (we will leave the deterministic model out of this for now), to someone or something.

On the opposite, if something bad happens, then it's time for a long begging session. Or maybe you deserved it. Maybe you did something a long time ago that came to haunt you. It must be your fault, because your master is a good master and would not do anything to intentionally harm you.

To take control of your life and reject that you need to be a slave to a deity or a man is very freeing. But once you do that, the other slaves go "Hey, man. C'mon back. It's fine here. The Master gives us free Kool-Aid."

I'll pass!

[fr0d0]

Jeffrey Dahmer murdered and consumed numerous victims. Before he was killed in prison, he converted to christianity. This means his sins were forgiven and he was allowed in to heaven.

Essentially, he was no longer responsible for his actions. His actions were, by proxy, placed on to jesus. He no longer carries ANY responsibility for these things as jesus suffered the death for Dahmers sins.

To me, that sounds an awful lot like lack of responsibility.

1. We have no way of knowing if his sins were forgiven. But let's say for the same of argument, we know as much as God in this scenario.

2. Of course converting to Christianity doesn't also erase all of your sins. Those sins remain if you need to make right any wrongs. Prisoners will happily serve their sentences wanting to pay any debt owed. Being convicted of their guilt to a just God requires far more than is required from earthly justice. All of your private and personal life becomes open to scrutiny.

So, far from avoiding responsibility, we know that Dahmer subjected himself to more judgement that his fellow humans were aware of. He would have made right his debt to his fellow man, and to God. What objection can you have to his just judgement? Am I any better than him? Do I have more right than him to forgiveness? With my law abiding life all the time avoiding what would give me real freedom?