Perhaps I'm being too generous in my impression of what Christians think their God is really like.

nm

schmendeler said:

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I don't know about god in general but the world we live in is a pretty clear refutation of a deity resembling the Christian god.

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Why?

Commander Gorn said:

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schmendeler said:

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I don't know about god in general but the world we live in is a pretty clear refutation of a deity resembling the Christian god.

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Why?

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the "problem of evil" is the simplest way to put it.

slightly longer version, there is too much cruelty and pain and ****tiness baked into the system to be created by a loving and caring deity.

if there is a god that is involved in this world, he's got a sadistic streak.

otherwise, you just have to pretend that he's got no control over the bad and choose to only associate good with him. but that's incompatible with a deity that purports to be all powerful and also all good.

or you just turn the meaning of "good" to have no resemblance to what humans call "good".

i don't buy the garden of eden story that humans are at fault for the bad in the world.

schmendeler said:

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Commander Gorn said:

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schmendeler said:

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I don't know about god in general but the world we live in is a pretty clear refutation of a deity resembling the Christian god.

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Why?

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the "problem of evil" is the simplest way to put it.

slightly longer version, there is too much cruelty and pain and ****tiness baked into the system to be created by a loving and caring deity.

if there is a god that is involved in this world, he's got a sadistic streak.

otherwise, you just have to pretend that he's got no control over the bad and choose to only associate good with him. but that's incompatible with a deity that purports to be all powerful and also all good.

or you just turn the meaning of "good" to have no resemblance to what humans call "good".

i don't buy the garden of eden story that humans are at fault for the bad in the world.

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Great way of putting it. I'd love to believe that there's an all powerful deity out there who loves us and is looking out for us, but it's an incredibly harsh, ruthless world out there. And the world truly gives zero ****s about you and me. I cant get on board with God being responsible for good things that happen but him being "mysterious" when utterly terrible things happen. I dont expect the world to be perfect but man, when we get outside of our privileged American bubble and look at the way the world is and the events of history, it's quite ugly.

I totally understand the appeal of religion. It's comforting and also provides a sense of community. I tried to believe and to a degree I'd still like to, but the Christian God makes very little sense to me. There may be some deity out there who created everything but I can't wrap my mind around him or her caring at all what we are up to on earth

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slightly longer version, there is too much cruelty and pain and ****tiness baked into the system to be created by a loving and caring deity.

if there is a god that is involved in this world, he's got a sadistic streak.

otherwise, you just have to pretend that he's got no control over the bad and choose to only associate good with him. but that's incompatible with a deity that purports to be all powerful and also all good.

or you just turn the meaning of "good" to have no resemblance to what humans call "good".

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I think both sides make the same mistake of defining good in a way that only supports their view - ie, they define it too narrowly.

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I cant get on board with God being responsible for good things that happen but him being "mysterious" when utterly terrible things happen.

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This is the mistake that Christians make.

You need a pretty absurdly broad definition of good to excuse some of the horrors in this world