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Old 11-02-2018, 01:41 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
2,186 posts, read 1,179,368 times
Reputation: 1015

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Quote:
Originally Posted by That_One_Girl View Post
I guess by most people's definition it would be a god I believe exists. I don't really take these things as strictly as a lot of people seem to. It's my interpretation of the word "god".



I see this point brought up a lot, and I just don't understand it. The world is a scary, dark place. That has always been true. I don't think god exists to make life perfect. Without suffering, life would not be "life" anymore. It would be some sort of heaven world with nonstop euphoria. What would the point of that be? It might feel nice, but there'd be no challenges, no progress, no learning... it would just be meaningless.

If you believe that the purpose of god is to stop suffering, then I could see why you'd be annoyed at believers and at the concept of god. Those are not my beliefs though.



I can only speak for myself, but I was raised by two atheists who are still atheist to this day. I have no Christian family members or any other religion either. I found spirituality on my own as a child.
Either you believe in an indifferent deity, or you are just trying to disassociate with the biblical god or a similar god you believe interacts with humans. Surely, you can understand the different level of sufferance that occurs geographically. It does not make any sense to believe an involved god would treat humans different based on their race or geography.
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Old 11-02-2018, 01:45 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
2,186 posts, read 1,179,368 times
Reputation: 1015
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimmiej View Post
How do you explain suffering without a creator?
Really Jimmie? You dismiss the nature of survival due to our difficulty and competition for resources. You have it backwards. How could there be suffering if there were an all powerful creator?
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Old 11-02-2018, 04:53 PM
 
Location: TEXAS
3,844 posts, read 1,410,207 times
Reputation: 2034
Quote:
Originally Posted by maat55 View Post
Really Jimmie? You dismiss the nature of survival due to our difficulty and competition for resources. You have it backwards. How could there be suffering if there were an all powerful creator?

Because the Creator allows man free choice. Suffering, wars, etc are the result of man making bad choices. The Creator has always provided man with everything necessary for survival AND to make good choices.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:22 PM
 
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
11,126 posts, read 6,064,105 times
Reputation: 5756
Quote:
Originally Posted by badlander View Post
That is an easy question to answer. If we suffer without a creator there are environmental, genetic or other causes. If we suffer with a Creator it is through him being malicious. He didn't have to give us smallpox or TB or tornadoes or hurricanes. None of that are caused by us having free will or by humans being sinners.

So we suffer because of natural causes or we suffer because your creator thought it an excellent learning opportunity. With human caused suffering such as rape victims or children being abused, the sufferers did not use free will however the perpetrators only have to confess that they sinned, promise not to repeat and believe in Jesus and they can go on with their lives.
There is something very ironic about that but I just can't quite put my finder on it.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:24 PM
 
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
11,126 posts, read 6,064,105 times
Reputation: 5756
Quote:
Originally Posted by OzzyRules View Post
You think that, but in reality you have lost so many debates and arguments that your mind has created a delusionary defense mechanism which assures of the exact opposite. But you'll never if I'm joking or telling the truth.
I don't recall TRANSPONDER ever losing any argument.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:25 PM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
51,220 posts, read 24,691,490 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CCCyou View Post
Because the Creator allows man free choice. Suffering, wars, etc are the result of man making bad choices. The Creator has always provided man with everything necessary for survival AND to make good choices.
Nope. No conclusive evidence of any such thing.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:27 PM
 
Location: Sun City West, Arizona
51,220 posts, read 24,691,490 times
Reputation: 33227
Quote:
Originally Posted by 303Guy View Post
I don't recall TRANSPONDER ever losing any argument.
Ozzy uses a technique that is quite common on You Tube. Someone will post a video saying something like "Barack Obama is destroyed by conservative reporter". And yet, the very next day, there's Barack Obama. It's a form of self-congratulations that has no validity whatsoever.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:40 PM
 
28,432 posts, read 11,661,065 times
Reputation: 2070
lots of Christians, Buddhists, and Muslims.

most are just use self-justifying nonsense to make their worldview more real. And when there are observations that counter a statement of belief, just ignore them.
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Old 11-02-2018, 05:55 PM
 
Location: Auckland, New Zealand
11,126 posts, read 6,064,105 times
Reputation: 5756
Quote:
Originally Posted by That_One_Girl View Post
Yeah, that's true. I began having spiritual experiences at a young age. I then talked to others about those experiences, and eventually that lead to someone giving me a Bible, which I began to read.

I do recognize that I'm not a typical Christian. Some might consider me not a Christian at all, but I love Jesus, and saying I'm "not a Christian" just feels wrong to me. Plus, it's the easiest way to sum up my spiritual views in simple conversations where I don't want to spend hours explaining my crazy mix of spiritual ideas that are unique only to me.

Anyway, my only point in posting here was to say not every believer thinks the Bible is literal. But I guess I'm really too weird and off in my own category to count anyway, so yeah. Ignore my posts.
Ignore your posts? Hell no, you make more sense than most Christians I know.

I have several Christian friends and my whole damn family are religious. I was even married to a 'born again'.
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Old 11-02-2018, 06:08 PM
 
Location: Oklahoma
2,186 posts, read 1,179,368 times
Reputation: 1015
Quote:
Originally Posted by CCCyou View Post
Because the Creator allows man free choice. Suffering, wars, etc are the result of man making bad choices. The Creator has always provided man with everything necessary for survival AND to make good choices.
No proof for any of this. Your freewill argument is useless when considering that this mythical god knows the future and still chose to create humans knowing he would torture most for eternity. No red flag there?
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