Do you wish God was real?

[Longhorn]

A God that talks to us, gives us whatever we ask/want, and immediately paralizes anyone who is about to do something hurtful, sounds good in theory, but I think it would open up a whole can of worms.

Yeah, you're right. Without those little children slowly dying of cancer and other horrible diseases, we'd all become so spoiled. Good thing God doesn't heal them.

That is your position. Do you realize how callous it is? Allow me to skip over the phase where I'm condescending, I feel like going straight to disgusted.

Oh Alex, now you're just being mean and rude -_-

But you know, telling you god has mercy for you is totally fine. Not condescending in the least.

[Longhorn]

Yeah, you're right. Without those little children slowly dying of cancer and other horrible diseases, we'd all become so spoiled. Good thing God doesn't heal them.

That is your position. Do you realize how callous it is? Allow me to skip over the phase where I'm condescending, I feel like going straight to disgusted.

I respect your opinion.

You don't have to. But you could address the point he's making.

[Alex K]

Yeah, you're right. Without those little children slowly dying of cancer and other horrible diseases, we'd all become so spoiled. Good thing God doesn't heal them.

That is your position. Do you realize how callous it is? Allow me to skip over the phase where I'm condescending, I feel like going straight to disgusted.

I respect your opinion.

I don't respect yours. I think you are it is morally defective.

[Pyrrho]

So if you had the choice would you wish for one of the alternative gods being proposed by members here or stick with your current god of the bible?

Hey I appreciate it. Thank you. :-)

I would keep the Christian God.

I believe God gave us free will and allows nature to take it's coarse.

A God that talks to us, gives us whatever we ask/want, and immediately paralizes anyone who is about to do something hurtful, sounds good in theory, but I think it would open up a whole can of worms.

First of all, I can see people getting terribly spoiled, always asking for more and more, never being satisfied, and deeply resenting God when they did not get what they want.

If what you say is true, isn't that God's fault for making people that way?  Any imperfection in a creation is the fault of its creator.  If the creator were perfect, it could create perfect things.  That it does not means that either it does not want to create perfect things, or it is unable to create perfect things.  If the former, then God is evil, because he prefers making bad things to good things, and if the latter, then God is not omnipotent.

Second, I think physically stopping people from doing anything that He does not approve of would cause more harm than good. We would just be like children, always confined to daddy's rules and never being able to grow and learn from our mistakes, etc.

If God gave us wisdom, we would not need to learn anything.  If we need to learn anything, it is God's fault in making us imperfect.  See above.

Third, having free will means the world is what we make it to a certain extent. A lot of the human suffering is due to corruption of man and we have no one to blame for that but ourselves.

First of all, much of what is wrong with the world has nothing to do with humans having free will.  Think of all of the diseases, earthquakes, etc.  So free will does not explain away evil.

Second, it is not entirely clear that we have free will, nor is it entirely clear that having free will is a good thing.  I will set this aside for the moment, but it needs to be established for it to be reasonable to believe your story.  (That would involve explaining what, exactly, "free will" is.)

Third, is there free will in heaven?  If so, does that mean that evil will exist in heaven?  If so, how is heaven different from life now?  And if there is free will in heaven, without evil, then having free will does not explain the existence of evil here and now.  And if there is no free will in heaven, then it must be better to not have free will, since heaven is better than here.  Isn't it?

Fourth, imagine that you and I are having a picnic together in a large park.  We are conversing agreeably, having some wine and good food.  In the distance, we observe a group of people attacking another person, raping and beating the person.  You say, "hey, we should do something" like call the police on your cell phone, go get help, go and directly help the person, whatever.  I say, "no, we can't do that!  We can't interfere with their free will!"  Now, if that really happened, what would you say of me?  Would you regard me as moral or immoral?  Well, I would be doing what God does.  So are you saying it is right to not help others?  Furthermore, we can see that this does not work anyway as an excuse, because us interfering would not affect whether they have free will or not.  We would only be affecting the outcome, not their ability to make choices.  Likewise, God interfering with outcomes would not affect anyone's free will at all.  They could still will to rape and beat and kill, without succeeding.  So this "free will" excuse really excuses nothing whatsoever.

[Catholic_Lady]

But you know, telling you god has mercy for you is totally fine. Not condescending in the least.

I agree that it is condescending to say that to annon believer. As you can see, I have said no such thing anywhere on this forum. :-)

---

I respect your opinion.

I don't respect yours. I think you are it is morally defective.

That's fine. I respect your views.

[tonechaser77]

Hey I appreciate it. Thank you. :-) 

I would keep the Christian God. 

I believe God gave us free will and allows nature to take it's coarse. 

A God that talks to us, gives us whatever we ask/want, and immediately paralizes anyone who is about to do something hurtful, sounds good in theory, but I think it would open up a whole can of worms. 

First of all, I can see people getting terribly spoiled, always asking for more and more, never being satisfied, and deeply resenting God when they did not get what they want. Second, I think physically stopping people from doing anything that He does not approve of would cause more harm than good. We would just be like children, always confined to daddy's rules and never being able to grow and learn from our mistakes, etc. Third, having free will means the world is what we make it to a certain extent. A lot of the human suffering is due to corruption of man and we have no one to blame for that but ourselves.

Catholic_Lady, In regards to your response above about free will I would invite you to watch this video. In the very least it will make you think.

[Catholic_Lady]

Hey I appreciate it. Thank you. :-) 

I would keep the Christian God. 

I believe God gave us free will and allows nature to take it's coarse. 

A God that talks to us, gives us whatever we ask/want, and immediately paralizes anyone who is about to do something hurtful, sounds good in theory, but I think it would open up a whole can of worms. 

First of all, I can see people getting terribly spoiled, always asking for more and more, never being satisfied, and deeply resenting God when they did not get what they want. Second, I think physically stopping people from doing anything that He does not approve of would cause more harm than good. We would just be like children, always confined to daddy's rules and never being able to grow and learn from our mistakes, etc. Third, having free will means the world is what we make it to a certain extent. A lot of the human suffering is due to corruption of man and we have no one to blame for that but ourselves.

Catholic_Lady, In regards to your response above about free will I would invite you to watch this video. In the very least it will make you think.

Will do!

[tonechaser77]

Catholic_Lady, In regards to your response above about free will I would invite you to watch this video. In the very least it will make you think.

Will do!

And if you have time...this: 

[Napoléon]

Please explain why or why not.

I answered no, because if he created us for a purpose then he did so without my consent. I was made to be a slave to his will. That makes him a cunt.

If he made us with no purpose, then why is he necessary at all? In this instance positing that a god exists raises more questions than it answers.

[Longhorn]

But you know, telling you god has mercy for you is totally fine. Not condescending in the least.

I agree that it is condescending to say that to annon believer. As you can see, I have said no such thing anywhere on this forum. :-)

It's a condescending thing to say to anyone.

And don't fucking lie.

I feel greatly for people who are gay, and I do believe God has great mercy for them.