Answer to suffering?

[dan]

Originally Posted by Tez

So you are saying that God can do whatever he wants but if we do whatever we want then we are bad and should be "sent to hell, for eternal suffering". That doesn’t seem like an all knowing, all loving god, that sounds more like an arrogant, hypocritical god.

Well, we agreed to live by his rules. Plus, hell is a different story altogether. I never said anything about hell. Lastly, people usually tend to project their own attributes onto God, especially when they don't believe in him. The God they imagine is the God they would be had they the power.

Originally Posted by Tez

Exactly! Million and millions of people base there religious believes on this three thousand year old text, and you are saying that anyone can get it to mean whatever they want it to. So people following this text are not actually following the "word of god", but the word of whoever is interpreting the text at that time.

That's why a prophet is essential.

Originally Posted by Tez

If this is true, then i'm 100% positive that its not the only word in the bible to have a different meaning today. So what if there are other things in the bible that are well known and are a huge part of it, that originally started as saying the complete opposite. Then again in that case no one is following the "True word of God".

Which is exactly why we need a prophet.

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by Victor

Thanks Gracie that was a good read.


Open up my possibilites to molding my own God?
No thanks.....been there.

~Victor

Everybody moulds their own god. We just don't realise it

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by Tez

Back to Genesis again: "By the seventh day God finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work."
Being omnipotent, god cannot get tired. If He has access to an infinite supply of energy (as we are led to believe), He could create a billion galaxies without so much as breaking into a sweat. It looks like He was just slobbing around...

- Tez

These are are only allegories. Most religions of those days started with this sort of creation myth

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by Tez

"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God..."
- Tez

I never understood this. God realises he is the only one, so how can He be jealous of nothing?

[michel]

Originally Posted by gracie

Victor-

i really am not sure what to say... the issue of suffering, why we suffer and what purpose (as many do not want to think of their suffering as for nothing) pain leads to have bothered me for years. i just haven't found many answers.

i remember a quote from a book i especially love that said "what a man has suffered, no force on earth can take from him". what we have suffered, endured, lived through can be looked back upon with something like accomplishment, though it can take a long time, coming to that stage.

i still feel angry, guilty, depressed, and hurt. but i try not to push those feelings away, really. they are with me too, and they will always be with me. my scars, memories, everything. i try to take all of it in my arms now. i use my experiences to reach out to and communicate with others who can similarly relate.

from suffering can come community, growth, and creativity. i don't know what the big answers to suffering may be. but i do know how i and others have found little answers. and those have made all the difference.

Unfortunately (for Victor) I agree with much of what you say.

I too have found that I have become a much 'fuller' person as a result of suffering - which will continue until I die. Sure, I can put it in it's 'place' and I can say that it doesn't totally rule my life - but, looking at the positives, it has taught me a lot about human nature. For one it has taught me how to help others. It is a Process of learning; like anything in life, there is both good and bad in anything.

If I knew 'then' what I do today, would I go through it all again, for the benefit of what I have learned ? -I am a coward, so I'll say 'no'.

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Merlin

Everybody moulds their own god. We just don't realise it

Absolutely, but I have tools to help mold him properly. Big difference.

~Victor

[Merlin]

Originally Posted by Victor

Absolutely, but I have tools to help mold him properly. Big difference.

~Victor

What are they? And how would they differ from the tools that (for example) the Presbyterians would have?

[scitsofreaky]

Originally Posted by Victor

Absolutely, but I have tools to help mold him properly. Big difference.

~Victor

How do you know what "properly" is?

[Victor]

Originally Posted by scitsofreaky

How do you know what "properly" is?

Reason and logic. But then again, this is where we may disagree. Not fully though.

~Victor

[Victor]

Originally Posted by Merlin

What are they? And how would they differ from the tools that (for example) the Presbyterians would have?

This is getting off topic but in short:

Catholic formula
Believer + Scriptures + Holy Tradition + Church = Truth

Presbyterians formula
Believer + Scriptures = Truth