The limitations of God (punishments, Commandments, pray, believer)
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Believers don't have any real arguments against rational objections to their faith. In response, they often try to convince themselves that people who don't believe do so because of some character defect.
I just don't understand why the responsibility of not believing in God does not rest on the atheist? Why blame something else such as desiring earthly possessions?
If believing in God prohibits a person from desiring earthly possessions, then does it go that all Christians do not desire earthly possessions?
Then does it go that all people who decide to stop believing in God turn to material possessions? If so, shouldn't that be the character flaw, the fact that who that person was has changed like night and day?
I don't think desiring earthly possessions is a character flaw. Did not God make this world? It certainly is a desirable world.
I personally believe that the Father of Jesus Christ and His Son manifest all the characteristics of true holiness, and that they judge the world with perfect mercy and justice.
Is holding one individual responsible for the "sins" of another just? Also, mercy and justice are antonyms. When one shows mercy, they are not making the offender responsible for his/her actions. Justice requires that all are held responsible for their actions and either punished or rewarded accordingly. Therefore, these attributes of your God are disproved. If you continue to hold that your God contains these attributes, then your God is disproved.
Is holding one individual responsible for the "sins" of another just? Also, mercy and justice are antonyms. When one shows mercy, they are not making the offender responsible for his/her actions. Justice requires that all are held responsible for their actions and either punished or rewarded accordingly. Therefore, these attributes of your God are disproved. If you continue to hold that your God contains these attributes, then your God is disproved.
So, in your world, there's only one form of justice - the max sentence on the books?
Not necessarily. Justice is receiving a sentence which is deserved. For example, being mauled to death by bears for making fun of someone's bald head is NOT justice. Having your first born killed by an angel of death because the Head of your country won't release his slaves is NOT justice.
Not necessarily. Justice is receiving a sentence which is deserved. For example, being mauled to death by bears for making fun of someone's bald head is NOT justice. Having your first born killed by an angel of death because the Head of your country won't release his slaves is NOT justice.
But forgiving a single mother for stealing a loaf of bread and giving her information about food banks instead of sending her to jail is also justice - albeit tempered with mercy.
But forgiving a single mother for stealing a loaf of bread and giving her information about food banks instead of sending her to jail is also justice - albeit tempered with mercy.
I just don't understand why the responsibility of not believing in God does not rest on the atheist? Why blame something else such as desiring earthly possessions?
If believing in God prohibits a person from desiring earthly possessions, then does it go that all Christians do not desire earthly possessions?
Then does it go that all people who decide to stop believing in God turn to material possessions? If so, shouldn't that be the character flaw, the fact that who that person was has changed like night and day?
I don't think desiring earthly possessions is a character flaw. Did not God make this world? It certainly is a desirable world.
No it does not follow that all theists become ascetics or that all atheists become self-absorbed materialists.
In my personal experience, the transition from theism to atheism had virtually no impact on my ethics or morality or my desire for consumer goods. I guess that eventually a strong influence on one's philosophical positions on these things, changes in backstory, etc. are inevitable; but what Christians generally don't seem to understand that the values they hold come from within themselves and from their family and culture and upbringing, not god. Those values therefore are present regardless of what they believe about god.
To address another common misconception: all atheists do not become nihilists. This is one possible (and generally maladaptive) response to the loss of the Christian backstory -- one of many. Once again, Christians and non-Christians alike live in an indifferent universe with no one at the controls (and no control panel anyway), it is not like unbelief actually changes anything other than you quit kidding yourself about certain things.
Yet another misconception: unbelievers don't all become fornicating drug addicts and general profligates. It is possible that someone who was predisposed to that and theism was keeping a lid on it, might go off the rails if they leave the strictures of their belief-system; but if they are addictive personalities as theists, they will be addictive personalities as atheists.
Believers flatter their god by claiming that whatever morality, self-control, and emotional stability the possess come from divine sources. Then they let their god off the hook by claiming that their peccadilloes come from Satan or themselves. It ALL comes from themselves. Gods are bolt-on accessories upon which people project their hopes, dreams, aspirations, fears, pain, etc. When you are used to doing this it seems necessary, even crucial, to do so; but the truth is, it actually is seldom a net benefit.
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