I’m an atheist. So why can’t I shake God?

[Mr.wizard]

Would god violate a rapists free will if he waited until the rapist had made the decision to rape, stepping in after that moment but before the rape occurs to protect the victim?  Nope.  No more than a cop who sees an assault-in-progress and prevents it before serious harm is done has somehow violated the free will of the perpetrator.  

These free wills excuses are just horrid.

All I can provide is a story my aunt told me. After a high school dance her date took her out behind the school. After a while he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her. She resisted, but being a very petite female didn't stand much chance. She started praying to Jesus. Suddenly her date looked up and behind her with a startled face, and ran away. She had no idea why, but the next day talked with him who told her a very tall man glowing in light was standing behind her and scared him away.

This is a true story, and I have others. All it takes is a faith in God. I would recommend Jesus since there are many other stories I can share. All you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness. Jesus will save you. God is real.

Millions of children starve to death praying for something to eat and jesus shows up to stop one rape?

[Expired]

I wonder how many people are thinking- wow survivors pulled from the rubble after the Taiwan earthquake, how good is the lord.

[Brian37]

I wonder how many people are thinking- wow survivors pulled from the rubble after the Taiwan earthquake, how good is the lord.

To quote Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian " "Thanking god for surviving a natural disaster is like thanking a serial killer for stabbing the family next door"

[LadyForCamus]

All I can provide is a story my aunt told me. After a high school dance her date took her out behind the school. After a while he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her. She resisted, but being a very petite female didn't stand much chance. She started praying to Jesus. Suddenly her date looked up and behind her with a startled face, and ran away. She had no idea why, but the next day talked with him who told her a very tall man glowing in light was standing behind her and scared him away.

This is a true story, and I have others. All it takes is a faith in God. I would recommend Jesus since there are many other stories I can share. All you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness. Jesus will save you. God is real.

Nice to know your God and Jesus helped her, but not me, even though I was still a committed Christian back then, and could have really used his help.

Nor me. Considering the statistics of sexual assault against women (is it one in three these days?) it's likely that -many- of our female atheist members have been victims of some form of sexual violence in their lives, so I'm not sure why scooby thought this anecdotal story would carry any weight at all. Good for your aunt. What about the rest of us? Oh, wait. God has a PLAN! A rape-y plan! I forgot. [emoji848]

[drfuzzy]

All I can provide is a story my aunt told me. After a high school dance her date took her out behind the school. After a while he pushed her to the ground and tried to rape her. She resisted, but being a very petite female didn't stand much chance. She started praying to Jesus. Suddenly her date looked up and behind her with a startled face, and ran away. She had no idea why, but the next day talked with him who told her a very tall man glowing in light was standing behind her and scared him away.

This is a true story, and I have others. All it takes is a faith in God. I would recommend Jesus since there are many other stories I can share. All you have to do is invite Jesus into your heart, and ask for forgiveness. Jesus will save you. God is real.

Millions of children starve to death praying for something to eat and jesus shows up to stop one rape?

Yeah, Scooby has lots of stories.  God raked his yard and helped him lie to his father.  God saved his Aunt from rape.  But whenever we mention starving children, Scooby says "it's the circle of life" and "they'll learn from their suffering".

[drfuzzy]

Yeah, I've heard that one. It 'happened' to a pastor of one of my friends some fifteen years ago, almost exactly the same way, only there was more than one assailant. Same punchline though, almost word for word.

Yeah, there are so many debunked xtian stories circulating on Facebook you almost need hip-waders to log on.  But when I point out to my xtian friends that the story never happened (many of the details have been fact-checked), and show them the proof, they throw monumental temper tantrums.  One friend declared the story true because "the message was true" and I wasn't to give her any more FACTS.

[Cyberman]

If we throw out our brains with the bathwater for a moment and buy this obvious claptrap, isn't "God" supposed to value free will above all else? Isn't that why it chooses to remain silent and inactive, no matter what horrific things are happening down here? So what about this fictional rapist's free will?

Come on, scoob; a little consistency, please. Either you really are that dumb or you think we are. In any case, step up your game. You're going to get eaten alive.

[drfuzzy]

Nice to know your God and Jesus helped her, but not me, even though I was still a committed Christian back then, and could have really used his help.

Nor me.  Considering the statistics of sexual assault against women (is it one in three these days?) it's likely that -many- of our female atheist members have been victims of some form of sexual violence in their lives, so I'm not sure why scooby thought this anecdotal story would carry any weight at all.  Good for your aunt.  What about the rest of us?   Oh, wait.  God has a PLAN!   A rape-y plan!  I forgot.  [emoji848]

It's one out of every 4 women.  The RAINN website stats for 2015 said that an American was sexually assaulted every 107 seconds.  44% of the victims are under age 18.  This being America, at least half are also Christian.  But god never helps them.  Just Scooby's family, and whoever made up the original lie in the first place.  https://rainn.org/statistics

[Esquilax]

Haha, I know it sounds crazy. I wouldn't say God doesn't want to help everyone, but there is free will, which allows people to do bad things. Just because they happen doesn't mean God wills it to happen. He doesn't want it to happen at all, but earth is a place for learning, and through pain people learn lessons, which effect the universal consciousness of us all in hopes that we will learn to prevent those things to happen. Just like a parent doesn't want their child to get hurt, the child will experience life and through pain learn a lesson to avoid that in the future. It's part of life and learning. Do you get upset when a carnivore kills it's prey? It's the circle of life and nature.

So what lesson does my wife learn from being struck down from birth by a pair of as-yet-incurable diseases of the immune system? How is it okay for her free will to be violated by god allowing her to have those? Look man, clearly your god is a good god, because he took the time to help you rake leaves while ignoring the deathbed prayers of this devoutly christian woman who had foregone traditional medicine until her organs began to fail, such was her faith in the kindness of this god; I mean, her kidneys shut down and everything, but hey, you didn't have to do a chore, so it all worked out in the end, right?

[maestroanth]

I actually kinda feel the opposite. Before puberty I was Catholic because it was a psychological defense mechanism for a big scary world I don't understand yet. But once I was old enough to know for myself that it doesn't make sense how Santa could possibly being presents to the whole world, about three months later I had the chilling epiphany about God with similar logic. After that, I tried to force my belief for a little while, but it was so effed up and unnatural that I gave up and accepted reality around age 11 or so. (Along with the reality that I need to masturbate so I wouldn't sexual harass girls at school ;P )