Sodom and Gomorrah

[JoeB131]

I have plenty of insight on "God".

He's all of our worst fears made manifest.

We fear death. We fear someone might be enjoying ourselves. So we create this imaginary sky friend who will reward us and punish the people we don't like... and it makes us feel better.

Even if it doesn't happen.

It might happen in an afterlife.

 

[Foxfyre]

I have plenty of insight on "God".

He's all of our worst fears made manifest.

We fear death. We fear someone might be enjoying ourselves. So we create this imaginary sky friend who will reward us and punish the people we don't like... and it makes us feel better.

Even if it doesn't happen.

It might happen in an afterlife.

Which makes one wonder what prompts the compulsion in the anti-religious to attempt to destroy the faith of people who draw comfort and encouragement from it? Most especially why it mostly those who work so hard at misinterpreting the Scriptures who do that. Is Atheism the natural path to disregard or lack of concern for others? Why is that do you think?

However, that would probably explain why it is so rarely the Atheists but is mostlly those 'delusional' religious people who are manning the thrift shops, running the soup kitchens, volunteering at homeless shelters, giving the most from their personal wealth to benefit others, and ministering to some of the world's most desperate and impoverished people.

 

[ABikerSailor]

I have plenty of insight on "God".

He's all of our worst fears made manifest.

We fear death. We fear someone might be enjoying ourselves. So we create this imaginary sky friend who will reward us and punish the people we don't like... and it makes us feel better.

Even if it doesn't happen.

It might happen in an afterlife.

You know Joe, I went through some of the worst times of my life from age 5 to 7 while going to Catholic school. My stepfather was the one that put me there, and he was highly abusive. Eventually, my mother sent me and my 1/2 sister up to live with my aunt and uncle while she got divorced.

She was in a car wreck on her way to pick me and my sister up and died. I was orphaned at 8.

Yeah.........I can understand why people would turn their backs on religion. I did it myself after I no longer had to go to church (age 16), because I thought I'd been delt a crappy hand of life and felt I was owed an expaination by whoever was in charge.

However...........later on in life, I'd quit listening to what others told me about God and I started to look for Him myself. I did that by comparing a couple of different theologies and belief systems, looked for where they were similar, and used those similarities to try to figure out what I believe.

Yes. There IS a God, and yes, He does care for us, but remember something.........if you don't ask Him about stuff, He can never teach you things.

And, fwiw...........you're doing the same thing to disprove Christianity that the Christians do to prove it. Cherry pick one or two events and hammer on those relentlessly.

 

[MarcATL]

JoeB is clearly a confused and very, very angry man.

I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is able to work on you and bring you to Truth.

Have a blessed day.

 

[Sky Dancer]

JoeB is clearly a confused and very, very angry man.

I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is able to work on you and bring you to Truth.

Have a blessed day.

JoeB asks great questions and is working something out. May he be able to do so without negative judgments from others who think they know it all.

Good luck with the pile on, Joe.

May you find that what you're seeking is already within you now.

 

[MarcATL]

JoeB is clearly a confused and very, very angry man.

I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is able to work on you and bring you to Truth.

Have a blessed day.

JoeB asks great questions and is working something out. May he be able to do so without negative judgments from others who think they know it all.

Good luck with the pile on, Joe.

May you find that what you're seeking is already within you now.

I'm sorry, but I don't think that one is sincerely "working something out" when one is blatantly, openly and pridefully rejecting and mocking God. That is to say that the "working out" is between the individual and God.

I believe JoeB has even mocked the existence of God.

I'm pretty sure he would concur with what I just said, so that is not judgement, it's merely giving an accurate account.

As to the "pile on" statement, keep in mind Joe started the thread, and note all the posters, including myself, that have attempted to give a sincere and true response to his initial questions.

Be blessed.

P.S.: JoeB, correct me if my understanding posted above is incorrect.

 

[Sky Dancer]

JoeB is clearly a confused and very, very angry man.

I hope and pray that the Holy Spirit is able to work on you and bring you to Truth.

Have a blessed day.

JoeB asks great questions and is working something out. May he be able to do so without negative judgments from others who think they know it all.

Good luck with the pile on, Joe.

May you find that what you're seeking is already within you now.

I'm sorry, but I don't think that one is sincerely "working something out" when one is blatantly, openly and pridefully rejecting and mocking God. That is to say that the "working out" is between the individual and God.

I believe JoeB has even mocked the existence of God.

I'm pretty sure he would concur with what I just said, so that is not judgement, it's merely giving an accurate account.

As to the "pile on" statement, keep in mind Joe started the thread, and note all the posters, including myself, that have attempted to give a sincere and true response to his initial questions.

Be blessed.

P.S.: JoeB, correct me if my understanding posted above is incorrect.

We are each entitled to our opinion. So what if Joe mocks even the existence of God? You do not. You have a liviing faith in God. He doesn't.

Let him be. His "pridefulness", is your judgment of him. That would be up to God and Joe to figure out.

JMO.

 

[JoeB131]

Which makes one wonder what prompts the compulsion in the anti-religious to attempt to destroy the faith of people who draw comfort and encouragement from it? Most especially why it mostly those who work so hard at misinterpreting the Scriptures who do that. Is Atheism the natural path to disregard or lack of concern for others? Why is that do you think?

However, that would probably explain why it is so rarely the Atheists but is mostlly those 'delusional' religious people who are manning the thrift shops, running the soup kitchens, volunteering at homeless shelters, giving the most from their personal wealth to benefit others, and ministering to some of the world's most desperate and impoverished people.

I know a lot of atheists who give their time to worthy causes, expecting nothing in return. I know I do. And they do it because it's the right thing to do, not because they expect an extra good seat in Heaven.

As to why I tear things down, it because so much evil in history has been justified by religion. Take this story in particular. It's the go-to story for Funditards who want to justify their homophobia. They even derived a word for it. "Sodomy". You don't want to be a "Sodomite" because we all saw what God did to them. They wanted to have butt sex with the angels, and God smote them.

Except most of the leave out the parts which don't show Lot in such a good light or make the story a bit more questionable. Sodomites...brimstone....salt.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Which makes one wonder what prompts the compulsion in the anti-religious to attempt to destroy the faith of people who draw comfort and encouragement from it? Most especially why it mostly those who work so hard at misinterpreting the Scriptures who do that. Is Atheism the natural path to disregard or lack of concern for others? Why is that do you think?

However, that would probably explain why it is so rarely the Atheists but is mostlly those 'delusional' religious people who are manning the thrift shops, running the soup kitchens, volunteering at homeless shelters, giving the most from their personal wealth to benefit others, and ministering to some of the world's most desperate and impoverished people.

I know a lot of atheists who give their time to worthy causes, expecting nothing in return. I know I do. And they do it because it's the right thing to do, not because they expect an extra good seat in Heaven.

As to why I tear things down, it because so much evil in history has been justified by religion. Take this story in particular. It's the go-to story for Funditards who want to justify their homophobia. They even derived a word for it. "Sodomy". You don't want to be a "Sodomite" because we all saw what God did to them. They wanted to have butt sex with the angels, and God smote them.

Except most of the leave out the parts which don't show Lot in such a good light or make the story a bit more questionable. Sodomites...brimstone....salt.

Religists think they are the only decent human beings on earth. They take your view and think it somehow destroys theirs. It's ridiculous.

 

[JoeB131]

You know Joe, I went through some of the worst times of my life from age 5 to 7 while going to Catholic school. My stepfather was the one that put me there, and he was highly abusive. Eventually, my mother sent me and my 1/2 sister up to live with my aunt and uncle while she got divorced.

She was in a car wreck on her way to pick me and my sister up and died. I was orphaned at 8.

Yeah.........I can understand why people would turn their backs on religion. I did it myself after I no longer had to go to church (age 16), because I thought I'd been delt a crappy hand of life and felt I was owed an expaination by whoever was in charge.

However...........later on in life, I'd quit listening to what others told me about God and I started to look for Him myself. I did that by comparing a couple of different theologies and belief systems, looked for where they were similar, and used those similarities to try to figure out what I believe.

Yes. There IS a God, and yes, He does care for us, but remember something.........if you don't ask Him about stuff, He can never teach you things.

And, fwiw...........you're doing the same thing to disprove Christianity that the Christians do to prove it. Cherry pick one or two events and hammer on those relentlessly.

I realized that it was all BS when I realized that the stories didn't make sense or were illogical. It isn't just one or two things. It was the whole book was full of these stories of God going nuts over petty slights.

And, yes, the fact that the Church tried to "Disneyfy" a lot of these stories to make them more palatable to people says an awful lot.

To me, the Bible is like the Greek Myths, and Yahweh is about as real as Zeus and not half as much fun. I too, studied other religions and just found a lot of cribbing off each others notes.

 

[Sky Dancer]

You know Joe, I went through some of the worst times of my life from age 5 to 7 while going to Catholic school. My stepfather was the one that put me there, and he was highly abusive. Eventually, my mother sent me and my 1/2 sister up to live with my aunt and uncle while she got divorced.

She was in a car wreck on her way to pick me and my sister up and died. I was orphaned at 8.

Yeah.........I can understand why people would turn their backs on religion. I did it myself after I no longer had to go to church (age 16), because I thought I'd been delt a crappy hand of life and felt I was owed an expaination by whoever was in charge.

However...........later on in life, I'd quit listening to what others told me about God and I started to look for Him myself. I did that by comparing a couple of different theologies and belief systems, looked for where they were similar, and used those similarities to try to figure out what I believe.

Yes. There IS a God, and yes, He does care for us, but remember something.........if you don't ask Him about stuff, He can never teach you things.

And, fwiw...........you're doing the same thing to disprove Christianity that the Christians do to prove it. Cherry pick one or two events and hammer on those relentlessly.

I realized that it was all BS when I realized that the stories didn't make sense or were illogical. It isn't just one or two things. It was the whole book was full of these stories of God going nuts over petty slights.

And, yes, the fact that the Church tried to "Disneyfy" a lot of these stories to make them more palatable to people says an awful lot.

To me, the Bible is like the Greek Myths, and Yahweh is about as real as Zeus and not half as much fun. I too, studied other religions and just found a lot of cribbing off each others notes.

What the religists sense in your posts and dislike, IMO, it the anger at religion. They expect to be respected.

We don't have to respect the religion to respect the people who love it.

 

[JoeB131]

I'm sorry, but I don't think that one is sincerely "working something out" when one is blatantly, openly and pridefully rejecting and mocking God. That is to say that the "working out" is between the individual and God.

I believe JoeB has even mocked the existence of God.

I'm pretty sure he would concur with what I just said, so that is not judgement, it's merely giving an accurate account.

As to the "pile on" statement, keep in mind Joe started the thread, and note all the posters, including myself, that have attempted to give a sincere and true response to his initial questions.

Be blessed.

P.S.: JoeB, correct me if my understanding posted above is incorrect.

I think the thing is, I don't see "Yahweh" as God any more than I see "Zeus" as God. Now, perhaps that's my own fault in not saying Yahweh and using "God" as shorthand.

God as defined by religionists is completely illogical. A being with a 14 billion year plan to create a universe would not concentrate on one individual or just torturing one luckless tribe that was dumb enough to start worshipping him. I find it improbable that an omnipotent, omniscient and eternal being is really up there worried about what church one goes to or what kind of sex one is having. That to me is laughable.

I mean, think about this. God..sorry, Yahweh... is only going to save those who believe in Jesus, right? Well that means of the 7 billion people on the planet, the 5 million non-Christians are going to hell, even if they are otherwise perfectly nice people.

That also means that of the 2 billion who are lucky enough to be Christians, only the ones who picked the right Church get in. Well, which one is the right Church? The Catholics? The Orthodox? The Lutherans... Heck, let's go all out crazy here and say the Mormons. Maybe God just has that bizarre a sense of humor.

That sounds awfully cruel. I mean, people made their best effort to pick the right church, right. I mean, they believed what their pastors told them and hated all the sins their pastors told them to hate. "Whoops, sorry, the right answer was 'Mormons'. Off to eternal perdition you go."

I wouldn't want to worship that kind of sadist, and I take great comfort in his non-existence.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Joe

Don't you think it's possible that God is bigger than the god of the bible?

 

[Gadawg73]

Good friend of mine, Nam Marine vet, 2 purple hearts and career military. Just retired from a very lucrative career as a trial lawyer. Hardest working man I know.
"one day 40 years from many of the religous folks are going to look back and see how utterly ridiculous their treatment and opinion of gay folk was."
And he is right. Believe me, when I was in college the group of guys I ran with was as big and bad anti "homos, queers, fags, butt plungers, fudge packers" there was.
Then about 20 years ago I realized how much of a dumb ass I was. Gay folks ARE BORN THAT WAY.
The just happen TO FALL IN LOVE with folks of the same sex. And that is always OK.

 

[Iridescence]

JoeB... God is not meant to be measured by the bible or by others' exprience(s) but merely meant to give reverance to Him, His indwelling presence among us... within us...

Your acceptance and experiences of Him has to be yours alone and understood by you for you. Perhaps what keeps you from believing in Him and His is that what you attempt to understand is through the reverancing of others and it is not of your own...

No one can likely say anything to change your mind... There are no magic words. You decide, ultimately. Some are meant to disbelieve... so you may, indeed, be fulfilling God's will by being a disbeliever. Unawares. That gives a whole new meaning to sheep, I understand...

My only suggestion is to not discredit or belittle others for their obvious difference of faith. It is a process for all of us, surely.

 

[JoeB131]

Joe

Don't you think it's possible that God is bigger than the god of the bible?

I think the question you are asking me, is that do I think that if a watch is evidence of a watchmaker, is the universe evidence of God?

And my short answer is---- I have no idea.

 

[JoeB131]

JoeB... God is not meant to be measured by the bible or by others' exprience(s) but merely meant to give reverance to Him, His indwelling presence among us... within us...

Your acceptance and experiences of Him has to be yours alone and understood by you for you. Perhaps what keeps you from believing in Him and His is that what you attempt to understand is through the reverancing of others and it is not of your own...

No one can likely say anything to change your mind... There are no magic words. You decide, ultimately. Some are meant to disbelieve... so you may, indeed, be fulfilling God's will by being a disbeliever. Unawares. That gives a whole new meaning to sheep, I understand...

My only suggestion is to not discredit or belittle others for their obvious difference of faith. It is a process for all of us, surely.

Your "faith" is based on superstition, fear of death and not wanting other peopple to enjoy themselves...

So, yeah, I manifestly reject that and belittle it at every oppurtunity.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Joe

Don't you think it's possible that God is bigger than the god of the bible?

I think the question you are asking me, is that do I think that if a watch is evidence of a watchmaker, is the universe evidence of God?

And my short answer is---- I have no idea.

I'm not asking you that at all. I'm suggesting that the God of the Bible is limited. It's too small a view. It makes God seem like a superhuman, not a state of being.

 

[Iridescence]

Define death JoeB and I will tell you if I fear it.

 

[Iridescence]

And... Within accordance to the lawof whichever land you dwell within, I suggest you have any and all the fun your psyche needs for adequate balance and control.... can I come, too?