I've read a lot of stuff lately where someone does something good for someone else, and the common response is "That is an answer to prayer" or "isn't God great" or "that just proves God is real."
No, it doesn't. Listen, I am a good person and I do nice things for people. Just last weekend my babysitter was moving, and though I couldn't help with the move, when I stopped by I couldn't help but notice she had 4 children underfoot and in the way while they were trying to load a moving van. So I did what I COULD do, and that was round up the kids and bring them to my house to play with my own 3 kids. She later thanked me and told me what a huge help it was.
God didn't do that nice thing. I did. Lots of people give time, money, and effort out of the kindness of their hearts while "God" doesn't have to do a damn thing.
Give people some credit.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Less than flaming dog poo
So, hell. The big “You’re grounded!” from God. The burning lake of fire, the gnashing of teeth, the constant heat, pain and agony, if literal translations of the Bible are to be believed, should be enough to make people stay on the straight and narrow.
But, you see, it isn’t. People sin all the time. They turn away from God all the time. I’m sure a big part of it is that such a thing is so far beyond comprehension as to be a motivator, but the other part is, I think if people really look deep inside themselves, they know this: it’s just not fair.
One of the things I have loved about John Loftus’s book is he does compare God’s relationship to us to that between we adults and our children. If we would do thus and so for our children, and never do thus as so against our children, how could a loving God/father figure do or not do these things?
And isn’t hell a steep price to pay for the supposed offenses? When someone does the worst crimes imaginable here on earth, what happens? They are sent to prison. They might get the death penalty, depending on where they are. But never, ever are they tortured endlessly under the rule of law.
And yet, God is proposing this very thing to people who commit the horrible act of not believing in a being who has, in the view of many many people, millions if not billions, made it nigh unto impossible to believe in him. He certainly isn’t going around giving irrefutable, concrete proof, as he well could.
See, it’s not your sin that will send you to hell necessarily, according to the good book. That will be absolved “bah tha blood of JEEZUS!” if you’re a believer. The problem is if you don’t believe in Jesus. So what if you were raised in a wholly different religion, maybe in a lot of ways similar to Christianity, with rules like not putting flaming dog poo on your neighbor’s porch or drinking at your job at the local day care center, and you follow those rules? What if your greatest offense your while life was was going 65 mph in a 55 mph zone, or running over a stray cat? Do you really deserve hell for that?
When I was believer, I toed the party line, which was, “He’s God and he can do whatever he wants.” So hell just seemed like another thing on the list of “God’s God and I’m not, so who am I to judge.” But I have thought more about that, and you know what? If God exists, and created us, he also created our brains with the logic we have and use all the time. And if he’s all knowing, he’d know we’d eventually figure out these holes in “his story.” And that’s just yet another reason I can’t believe anymore.
But, you see, it isn’t. People sin all the time. They turn away from God all the time. I’m sure a big part of it is that such a thing is so far beyond comprehension as to be a motivator, but the other part is, I think if people really look deep inside themselves, they know this: it’s just not fair.
One of the things I have loved about John Loftus’s book is he does compare God’s relationship to us to that between we adults and our children. If we would do thus and so for our children, and never do thus as so against our children, how could a loving God/father figure do or not do these things?
And isn’t hell a steep price to pay for the supposed offenses? When someone does the worst crimes imaginable here on earth, what happens? They are sent to prison. They might get the death penalty, depending on where they are. But never, ever are they tortured endlessly under the rule of law.
And yet, God is proposing this very thing to people who commit the horrible act of not believing in a being who has, in the view of many many people, millions if not billions, made it nigh unto impossible to believe in him. He certainly isn’t going around giving irrefutable, concrete proof, as he well could.
See, it’s not your sin that will send you to hell necessarily, according to the good book. That will be absolved “bah tha blood of JEEZUS!” if you’re a believer. The problem is if you don’t believe in Jesus. So what if you were raised in a wholly different religion, maybe in a lot of ways similar to Christianity, with rules like not putting flaming dog poo on your neighbor’s porch or drinking at your job at the local day care center, and you follow those rules? What if your greatest offense your while life was was going 65 mph in a 55 mph zone, or running over a stray cat? Do you really deserve hell for that?
When I was believer, I toed the party line, which was, “He’s God and he can do whatever he wants.” So hell just seemed like another thing on the list of “God’s God and I’m not, so who am I to judge.” But I have thought more about that, and you know what? If God exists, and created us, he also created our brains with the logic we have and use all the time. And if he’s all knowing, he’d know we’d eventually figure out these holes in “his story.” And that’s just yet another reason I can’t believe anymore.
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