I've pretty much decided if there is some grand deity that exists I'll live my life as normal. Yeah it's there, but I really don't care.

If they're happy and not being cunts I don't see an issue.

He's happy.

The end

I have a lot of trouble seeing how Christianity can make people happier. The idea of an unending, infinitely powerful dictator is terrifying to me.

Because us Christians don't see God as a dictator.

Quote from: challengerX on May 13, 2015, 01:56:10 PM

Quote from: Meta Cognition on May 13, 2015, 11:36:57 AM

lots of love from Uncle Jovi

YouTube

>tfw not even a single like

You guys should all kill yourselves

Well fuck you I found it funny >.>

*sips tea*

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:11:01 AM

Quote from: Rocketman287 on May 13, 2015, 11:46:37 PM

Quote from: King pesto on May 13, 2015, 12:28:18 PM

I have a lot of trouble seeing how Christianity can make people happier. The idea of an unending, infinitely powerful dictator is terrifying to me.

Because us Christians don't see God as a dictator.

I'd say claiming God is a dictator is as meaningless as saying the laws of physics are.

Yeah he's definitely not a dictator. That's why he didn't give you 10 rules you have to follow to the letter or he'd send you to evil sad time for eternity.

To Christians or really anyone that accepts objective morality, moral laws are analogous to other laws of nature. I don't shake my fist at the moon when a boat capsizes because of its tidal forces.

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:41:49 AM

Quote from: challengerX on May 14, 2015, 09:20:13 AM

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:11:01 AM

Quote from: Rocketman287 on May 13, 2015, 11:46:37 PM

Quote from: King pesto on May 13, 2015, 12:28:18 PM

I have a lot of trouble seeing how Christianity can make people happier. The idea of an unending, infinitely powerful dictator is terrifying to me.

Because us Christians don't see God as a dictator.

I'd say claiming God is a dictator is as meaningless as saying the laws of physics are.

Yeah he's definitely not a dictator. That's why he didn't give you 10 rules you have to follow to the letter or he'd send you to evil sad time for eternity.

To Christians or really anyone that accepts objective morality, moral laws are analogous to other laws of nature. I don't shake my fist at the moon when a boat capsizes because of its tidal forces.

Except your so called god can decide to sink a boat for the fuck of it, and from reading the bible, Che has done those things. He's a murderer.

There's no such example of wanton killing. It's all essentially cause and effect, with the difference being that the forces of nature don't have a capacity for grace.

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:54:50 AM

Quote from: challengerX on May 14, 2015, 09:45:46 AM

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:41:49 AM

Quote from: challengerX on May 14, 2015, 09:20:13 AM

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:11:01 AM

Quote from: Rocketman287 on May 13, 2015, 11:46:37 PM

Quote from: King pesto on May 13, 2015, 12:28:18 PM

I have a lot of trouble seeing how Christianity can make people happier. The idea of an unending, infinitely powerful dictator is terrifying to me.

Because us Christians don't see God as a dictator.

I'd say claiming God is a dictator is as meaningless as saying the laws of physics are.

Yeah he's definitely not a dictator. That's why he didn't give you 10 rules you have to follow to the letter or he'd send you to evil sad time for eternity.

To Christians or really anyone that accepts objective morality, moral laws are analogous to other laws of nature. I don't shake my fist at the moon when a boat capsizes because of its tidal forces.

Except your so called god can decide to sink a boat for the fuck of it, and from reading the bible, Che has done those things. He's a murderer.

There's no such example of wanton killing. It's all essentially cause and effect, with the difference being that the forces of nature don't have a capacity for grace.

Explain how flooding the earth isn't wanton killing.

Or better yet, explain cancer in children.

Wanton means unjustified, and there's a clear justification in the text. I consider the bulk of Noah's story to be myth, though.

ITT

Please explain why the sky wizard gives babies cancer.

Some would argue it's a result of a depravity introduced by mankind. I find that pretty wishy-washy. Suffering is a difficult topic because atheists are biased to reject the answers. That's not a bad thing, it's just hard to convey a response that you'll accept. C.S. Lewis covers it eloquently in his books "The Problem of Pain" and "A Grief Observed", with a short quote as an example:

“The problem of reconciling human suffering with the existence of a God who loves, is only insoluble so long as we attach a trivial meaning to the word "love", and look on things as if man were the centre of them. Man is not the centre. God does not exist for the sake of man. Man does not exist for his own sake. "Thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created." We were made not primarily that we may love God (though we were made for that too) but that God may love us, that we may become objects in which the divine love may rest "well pleased".”

, And my go-to source for apologetics, Ravi Zacharias, discusses it here. It's tough to convey the answer to someone with a humanistic viewpoint, because it's simply not conceivable to them that love might not actually mean just making everything happy and easy. 'Happy' and 'good' are not the same, and neither is 'suffering' the antithesis to 'goodness'. Saint John of the Cross wrote an incredible book on the purpose of suffering in personal growth in his book "The Dark Night of the Soul", though that's extremely advanced theology.

Quote from: HurtfulTurkey on May 14, 2015, 09:54:50 AM

There's no such example of wanton killing. It's all essentially cause and effect, with the difference being that the forces of nature don't have a capacity for grace.

What about Soddom and Gomorrah? I'm not asking facetiously, because I'm fairly sure you've accounted for that in the past and I'm interested in the answer.

But, then again, there is the example of God sending two bears to maul forty-two children for making fun of a bald prophet. . . And then God strengthening King Eglon of Moab to ally with the Ammonites and the Amalekites to annex Israel for 18 years until Ehud saved them. . .

Soddom and Gomorrah were claimed to have been entirely depraved and sinful, similar to the flood story. As for other examples of God keeping Israel down, there are many more examples and it's often a punishment for turning to false idols, or better put an attempt to realign them with his plan for them, which is to see David's lineage eventually culminating in Jesus.

How do you distinguish truth from myth?

I've studied the OT academically and done a lot of exegesis (study) on various stories, and while I don't mean to assert my views as fact or representative of the bulk of Christians, there are quite a few examples where I think the writer was speaking poetically and reverently to express an opinion or feeling, rather than literally describing events.

Is it an oversight? Probably

One which presumably shouldn't happen under the watch of an omnipotent God? I mean, in all his infinite power, could he not have given us a system of stellar energy which wouldn't give us skin cancer if we're exposed for too long?

Could you give an example and the reasoning behind it?