Does God purposefully set humans up for failure? (Buddhist, Islam, bible)
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For those of you who still believe in God, do you think that God keeps on increasing the severity of the so called 'trials' if you haven't failed the previous ones - kind of like a video game where each new level gets more difficult than the last one.
I have seen so many examples around me, where people have braved their misfortunes with unbelievable patience and faith, only to be faced with something even harder than what they previously encountered so much so that at some point they just break down and falter, so to say, which makes you wonder if God set them up for failure?
No. God has demonstrated by His complete inaction and disinterest in this world and its people that He is a deist God. He seeded the planet with life, He set up natural laws of evolution, physics, math (which includes actuaries--odds, in other words) and everything else to govern things down here. Then He went AWOL.
Anything that happens to you, like cancer for instance, is the result of bad genes, bad lifestyle, or sheer dumb bad luck. God had nothing to do with it. That's why prayer doesn't work--never has.
Christians would love you to think God has a hand in all this because then their leaders can dictate to you what kind of life they believe you should live and how much money you should give them so that you can keep God from getting really pissed off at you and killing you or doing something harmful to you. It's all about power and wealth when it comes to the Christian enterprise. Very little of it has to do with concern for your soul. But God is not going to do ANYTHING to you, good or bad. In much of this you make your own odds of success by your grit and determination to succeed. Or you have really bad luck in life and fail in one thing after another. It's all about odds and chance.
Last edited by thrillobyte; 07-15-2019 at 08:28 AM..
No... to the op ques....shhh, I happen to know the Key to the Kingdom of Heaven....
I will say it in a low voice...
It is purity.
We are brought situations until they are nothing to us, (Christians call that 'overcoming').
When we see what is really happening and can laugh, forgive, move on, be detached like a Buddhist...
soon we reach
an Awakening into Purity....ahh, glorious....it's where all of us are headed...just as if we put an inner
tube in the creek....we are all merrily going to the same place.
No muss, no fuss...just flow with things as any actor on a stage.
1. it is said in the Bible - Thou who I love, thou do I punish. OP, you look at it from a bit mundane perspective. Human life is nothing as compared to the existence of reality. Not even blink of an eye. Less than that. From that perspective, one that believes, knows that with a passingly short suffering, he gains eternity of happiness. It's those that are weak of the spirit that fail.
2. what is suffering? Personal opinion. Personal preference. Personal choice. How about this guy:
Is he suffering? Or, is he living a life more rich than many able bodied?
3. do not judge as you have no measure. Things that appear to be punishment may be blessing in disguise. Real life story. Mom's friend was supposed ot fly to Moscow middle of the winter. Night before the departure, her deceased mother showed in her dream, saying - beware of the 6, beware of the six! Next day, she was walking towards the airplane, which was pretty much covered in snow, with only digit 6 showing on the rudder. That caught her attention so much, that she slid, fell, and broke the leg. Taken to hospital. Plane crashed somewhere in Moscow suburbs.
So, on one hand, she "suffered" from fractured bone. On the other hand - you get it.
For those of you who still believe in God, do you think that God keeps on increasing the severity of the so called 'trials' if you haven't failed the previous ones - kind of like a video game where each new level gets more difficult than the last one.
I have seen so many examples around me, where people have braved their misfortunes with unbelievable patience and faith, only to be faced with something even harder than what they previously encountered so much so that at some point they just break down and falter, so to say, which makes you wonder if God set them up for failure?
I used to have this good friend many years ago, that would always claim that if you find your life is fairly easy-going, convenient, without too many hurdles or stresses, AND you are christian...chances are, you are NOT right with God.
I think the idea was, if you were already firmly on the wrong path, there wouldnt be a need to expend any additional effort on you(by causing various hardships and struggles in your life)....because you were already on the wrong path!
Not the true living God would set up people for failure as victory in Christ is Gods plan , BUT the fallen angels lower gods of this world would do just that , as many follow the lower gods of this world even by default of unbelief in their deception
I used to have this good friend many years ago, that would always claim that if you find your life is fairly easy-going, convenient, without too many hurdles or stresses, AND you are christian...chances are, you are NOT right with God.
I think the idea was, if you were already firmly on the wrong path, there wouldnt be a need to expend any additional effort on you(by causing various hardships and struggles in your life)....because you were already on the wrong path!
Why would anyone want to be 'right with God' if it entails hurdles, stress, pain, misery? And I am not too sure if we can say that the so called evil-doers are cruising through life without any pain or struggle.
No. God has demonstrated by His complete inaction and disinterest in this world and its people that He is a deist God. He seeded the planet with life, He set up natural laws of evolution, physics, math (which includes actuaries--odds, in other words) and everything else to govern things down here. Then He went AWOL.
LOL @ actuaries.
I am also beginning to think that God is an immovable mover - He has done His thing (for God knows what reason!) and has washed His hands off of the ensuing drama, other than of course increasing the difficulty level of the video-game....err...life.
All of this goes contrary to what I have been brought up to believe in although in Islam, there is a verse that says "Do people think that they will be left to say, 'we believe' and they will not be tried?"
But it still doesn't help answer as to why He would keep on testing until believers either give up believing entirely or they just start questioning the veracity of God's love - in other words you fail the 'test'. I know some would say you don't know if you have failed because of these two outcomes but what's the point if the zealot has lost his zeal post-trials.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Hepburn
No... to the op ques....shhh, I happen to know the Key to the Kingdom of Heaven....
I will say it in a low voice...
It is purity.
We are brought situations until they are nothing to us, (Christians call that 'overcoming').
When we see what is really happening and can laugh, forgive, move on, be detached like a Buddhist...
soon we reach
an Awakening into Purity....ahh, glorious....it's where all of us are headed...just as if we put an inner
tube in the creek....we are all merrily going to the same place.
No muss, no fuss...just flow with things as any actor on a stage.
So basically a type of detachment towards this world?! Then why put certain "wants" in us in the first place?
I am also beginning to think that God is an immovable mover - He has done His thing (for God knows what reason!) and has washed His hands off of the ensuing drama, other than of course increasing the difficulty level of the video-game....err...life.
All of this goes contrary to what I have been brought up to believe in although in Islam, there is a verse that says "Do people think that they will be left to say, 'we believe' and they will not be tried?"
But it still doesn't help answer as to why He would keep on testing until believers either give up believing entirely or they just start questioning the veracity of God's love - in other words you fail the 'test'. I know some would say you don't know if you have failed because of these two outcomes but what's the point if the zealot has lost his zeal post-trials.
So basically a type of detachment towards this world?! Then why put certain "wants" in us in the first place?
In keeping with deism I would say God set the natural laws of evolution to gradually program these "wants" into our subconscious and conscious as part of the evolutionary growth. For example in the beginning the only wants we had were to stay warm, stay alive and procreate. Now we "want" money and lots of it. Civilizations could not have developed into what they are today if the extreme desire for money and empire building hadn't become part of our psychological makeup.
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