How Do Christians Reconcile The Following Question Regarding Their Faith?

[Thana]

Oh. So now you're the omniscient one.

What? Um.. no.
Was there anything in my post that wasn't the absolute truth?

 

[Deeje]

God knows the difference between evil and mental illness? Well I sure hope so.
Does it judge the two separately? Can I just give in and have nothing to worry about?

God blesses effort...no effort, means no blessing. We can't make "excuses" for what we do, but God already knows the "reasons"...they are not the same.

Doing our best in our own circumstances, we don't have to tell God anything...he already knows our heart and what we would have become in different circumstances. I am no stranger to mental illness and can relate to all those who suffer to get through every day, even moment to moment, despite the best available medication.
I look forward to the time when all illnesses will be healed in the "new earth" just as Jesus demonstrated when he was on earth. It was a priority for him.

No one who came to hear him speak remained in any pain or distress.

 

[Deathbydefault]

God blesses effort...no effort, means no blessing. We can't make "excuses" for what we do, but God already knows the "reasons"...they are not the same.

Doing our best in our own circumstances, we don't have to tell God anything...he already knows our heart and what we would have become in different circumstances. I am no stranger to mental illness and can relate to all those who suffer to get through every day, even moment to moment, despite the best available medication.
I look forward to the time when all illnesses will be healed in the "new earth" just as Jesus demonstrated when he was on earth. It was a priority for him.

No one who came to hear him speak remained in any pain or distress.

I do take a few pills a day myself.

What mental illness have you suffered, if you don't mind my asking?

DID and APD are the most present in my daily life.
I am by no means limited to just that, I have several severe emotional malfunctions all in relation to my schizoid disorder

Do you have multiple people in one body? The same yet different?
Do you like the idea of others dying?
Have you suffered childhood trauma so intense that it killed who you were and created someone else?
Does human contact make you violent?
Lack a conscience?
Emotions are proportioned incorrectly, some non-existent?

 

[prometheus11]

That's reality.
That's why I have to be a Theist. Because I don't ignore reality.

You can accept reality and be an atheist. It's pretty easy, actually.

 

[sojourner]

If you do something wrong, you suffer the karma of your consequences. They sined. They had consequences.

They were punished for their sining. I dont understand what you mean? That seems simple.

"Taking your lumps" isn't "punishment"; it's "life." Punishment is punitive and retributive. Karma isn't either.

 

[sojourner]

Hell isn't what I'm afraid of, It's life. More specifically, A meaningless life. Because you can have nice feelings, and have kids, and live your life and then die but your life will have meant nothing. Your feelings would have meant nothing, and everything you suffered, everything you worked for, everything that mattered really didn't matter at all. And then you get to realize that any love you felt was just a biological impulse to procreate, and the love you have for your kids is programmed into you so you don't kill them as infants because they annoy you.

No, I don't believe in that world. You can have it, if it makes you happy, but I won't.

This is really what belief, religion, and faith are all about. Theology's main purpose is to help us make meaning.

 

[sojourner]

This or that doesnt need to be black and white. Not all good things come from opposites.

Not all things are opposite. Hate isn't the opposite of love. Love and hate are very closely related. That's where the subject of choice diverges. Choice has nothing to do with "opposites" or with "right/wrong." That's the trap most fundie Christians would have you fall into. We don't either choose God or choose the Devil. We choose our actions, our attitudes, our likes, our dislikes, our motives. We choose what moves us. And all of those choices are within the realm of God's created order -- within God, really. We are "in God" simply because we exist, because God is existence. Call it whatever you like -- call it "cosmology." Call it "existentialism," for all I care. Call it the "FlyingSpaghetti Monster." When you are "in life," you make free choices based upon and centered within that life. The problem comes when people think that God is some uber-powerful being who lovingly creates each individual person. God is omnipresent, because life and existence are everywhere. God is omnipotent because existence is power, itself. God is omnibenevolent because love is relationship and relationship between objects and substances and people is what keeps the universe together. When people choose to sunder some part of the universe -- that's sin. Our job, as the image of God, is to help keep the universe "together." We can't do that if we're murdering people. But we still use the means of existence and the powers of existence to do that.

 

[McBell]

What? Um.. no.
Was there anything in my post that wasn't the absolute truth?

Pretty much the whole damn thing.
But don't let reality get in the way of your "truth".

 

[Unveiled Artist]

"Taking your lumps" isn't "punishment"; it's "life." Punishment is punitive and retributive. Karma isn't either.

I dont understand that. If a child hits his brother, the mother may punish that child by letting him sit in the corner. Its a consequence of his actions. Those actions bring certain karma good or bad. It doesnt have to be godly. In this case, god sending adam and eve from the garden is like puting the child in the corner.

Both of them were told not to sin. They were not "taught" what that meant and why it is bad and even the meaning of that word.

Its karma one suffers or benefits from the karma we build from our actions. However, the guilty must know why he did wrong and about it to actually be punished from his view not just the mother and gods view.

 

[sojourner]

I dont understand that. If a child hits his brother, the mother may punish that child by letting him sit in the corner. Its a consequence of his actions. Those actions bring certain karma good or bad. It doesnt have to be godly. In this case, god sending adam and eve from the garden is like puting the chile ik the corner.

Both of them were told not to sin. They were nkt "taught" what that meant and why it is bad and even the meaning of that word.

Its karma one suffers or benefits from the kaema we buil from our actions. However, the guilty must know why he did wrong ane about it to actually be punished from his view not just the mother and gods view.

No, the "consequence" is that the assailant's hand hurts and that the victim's head hurts. A consequence is a direct outcome of an action. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The punishment of the mother is the mother's choice -- not a direct reaction of the action. The mother wasn't directly involved in the action. Ever hear the adage, "Ignorance is bliss?" When humanity grew out of its ignorance, being banished from bliss -- or the garden -- was a direct reaction of that action. We now know too much, we're now responsible for our actions and the ensuing reactions. Where God enters the picture is that "that's the way God (or life -- or existence) works: there's an equal reaction for every action." It's not punitive, because there's no "outside force" acting upon us. So it's not like "God putting us in the Naughty Chair." It's like, "You fall down; you scrape your knee."

 

[Hockeycowboy]

The whole faith is easy, it's literally just believing what you are told and memorizing what you are told.
You don't need evidence or at least some form of fact based proof, just do what you're told.
Believe in Christs' word and follow his teachings, that's all.

"Love your enemies". You can feel more than one emotion at once.
"Consider others superior to you". I have met maybe one Christian in my life who didn't have a superiority complex.
Not to mention all the mouthy ones on the internet and in debates.
John 15; compare James 4:4. is a command to love one another, something that I am mentally incapable of doing.
But people like me weren't really considered when men wrote the bible.

Yes, 'many say, but do not perform.'

"John 15; compare James 4:4. is a command to love one another, something that I am mentally incapable of doing.
But people like me weren't really considered when men wrote the bible."

If you are "genuinely incapable" of loving, and I know some are like that -- I was married to one, then just continue to do the best you can. The future for mankind on this Earth, as outlined in the Bible (Psalms 37:9-11; Psalms 37:29; Isaiah 11:6-9; Isaiah 33:24; Isaiah 35:5-6; Revelation 21:3-4; Compare Matthew 6:9-10, "Thy will be done on Earth"), is something mankind desperately needs, and you'll be a part of it. Whatever is the cause of your incapability, it will be gone. -- Isaiah 65:17; Revelation 21:5, notice, not "all new things"; "all things new"!

Take care.

 

[Hockeycowboy]

I take immediate issue with this quote.
Christianity is easy to fall into and believe, it's designed to be.
The ones that have a hard time accepting it are those who approach it logically and not emotionally.

I just wanted to comment on your signature below your post, i.e., your statement about death. Do you know, the Bible agrees with you? It states exactly that! The Bible does say it has a "sting", but that is for those living, who miss their dead loved ones.

Death is likened to a deep sleep (John 11:11-14; Acts of the Apostles 7:60; Ecclesiastes 9:5; et.al.).
Those who have died, though, are in God's memory, and will be resurrected! -- John 5:28-29; Acts of the Apostles 24:15. (Yes, even the unrighteous will be given another chance!)​

 

[Hockeycowboy]

Deuteronomy 32:4-5

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

I'm curious as to why faith is such an appealing position.
To me it's just making an assumption/assertion with absolutely no showable supporting evidence.

Even Jesus said to "judge a tree by its fruit." We can't just blindly assume we are right. We have to verify it.

Hell isn't what I'm afraid of, It's life. More specifically, A meaningless life. Because you can have nice feelings, and have kids, and live your life and then die but your life will have meant nothing. Your feelings would have meant nothing, and everything you suffered, everything you worked for, everything that mattered really didn't matter at all. And then you get to realize that any love you felt was just a biological impulse to procreate, and the love you have for your kids is programmed into you so you don't kill them as infants because they annoy you.

No, I don't believe in that world. You can have it, if it makes you happy, but I won't.

But to be fair, how does God supply that? What if you go to Heaven before God and ask about your purpose and He goes, "Uh ... oh yeah, I made humans awhile back. Forgot..."?

What? Um.. no.
Was there anything in my post that wasn't the absolute truth?

Implying that God's purpose for the universe is to make us happy...?

 

[Deathbydefault]

Even Jesus said to "judge a tree by its fruit." We can't just blindly assume we are right. We have to verify it.

Very true.

I don't like faith because it is a position that stands on no showable evidence.
Faith in the spiritual sense is believing something that defies the laws on nature, again without any showable evidence.
A position such as that is not respectable, nor is it presentable in any logical or evidence based argument.

Someone saying they "have faith" means I can ignore them and move on to the next person.
Not because I think they're wrong but because they don't have any evidence to prove they're right.

 

[Kelly of the Phoenix]

I have faith, but having been lied to, I also try to work out if my morals are indeed moral or were just mentioned by selfish people.

 

[Deathbydefault]

Was it Hitches who said "if you stop getting your morals from God will you go out and start banging in the streets?"
Perhaps defining what you find as moral is most important, conforming it to your faith should become secondary.

 

[Crypto2015]

I was a devoted Christian for a very long time, 25 years or more - a Trinity believing Protestant taught that our creator God is omniscient (all-knowing) omnipotent (all-powerful) and omnipresent (present everywhere at the same time). This creator designed and created men and women fully and completely all by 'himself'.

What I don't understand, is if this creator purposefully designed and unleashed upon the earth a creature capable of rape and murder, why isn't 'He' to blame for these atrocities? Why would you construct a being with the potential to do so much harm to his fellow humans? What was the motive?

If my son murdered a human and I supplied the gun knowing ahead of time he'd shoot someone, I'm held accountable for my part in the homicide. How much more so should God be held accountable for DESIGNING a creature that he KNOWS ahead of time (he's omniscient, remember) will murder a fellow human?

The Bible says that when God created man, man was perfect (Genesis 1:31). So, he didn't create sinners, but saints. You may argue that God knew that man would become a sinner. This is correct because God is omniscient. Also, God could have prevented man from sinning because God is omnipotent. However, God did not prevent man from becoming a sinner. Hence, we must conclude that sinners are useful to God in some way. The Bible tells us that "The LORD works out everything to its proper end; even the wicked for a day of disaster." (Proverbs 16:4) and when the Bible explains why God hardened Pharaoh's heart, it says: "For the Scripture tells Pharaoh: I raised you up for this reason so that I may display My power in you and that My name may be proclaimed in all the earth." (Romans 9:17). The Bible also says: "And what if God, desiring to display His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much patience objects of wrath ready for destruction?" (Romans 9:22).

Therefore, evil people act against the laws of God, but they nonetheless serve a purpose, since through these people God can show that he is powerful enough to punish the wicked and just enough to condemn evil. There is no evil in God, but he can allow evil to exist if it is for a good purpose. I think that God created us to reveal himself to us. So, think about this, does "black" makes any sense if black is the only color in the universe? The concept of "black" only makes sense because there are other colors around. In a similar way, does "justice" make any sense if there is no injustice? Does "good" make any sense if there is no evil? Adam and Eve sinned because they wanted to know the difference between good and evil. The whole history of the universe is just God teaching them what these things are.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

Hell isn't what I'm afraid of, It's life. More specifically, A meaningless life. Because you can have nice feelings, and have kids, and live your life and then die but your life will have meant nothing. Your feelings would have meant nothing, and everything you suffered, everything you worked for, everything that mattered really didn't matter at all. And then you get to realize that any love you felt was just a biological impulse to procreate, and the love you have for your kids is programmed into you so you don't kill them as infants because they annoy you.

No, I don't believe in that world. You can have it, if it makes you happy, but I won't.

That's reality.
That's why I have to be a Theist. Because I don't ignore reality.

So... you're seriously saying that, without God, your take on "reality" is that it is meaningless?

Now that is sad. This particular revelation has me contemplating ignoring all future content from you, honestly. I don't see that your viewpoint has anything to offer.

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

...and the love you have for your kids is programmed into you so you don't kill them as infants because they annoy you...

And does anyone actually feel like this? That your children are a mere annoyance? I mean seriously? And God alleviates this situation for you how? By commanding you not kill your children? You're saying that's the only thing keeping you from killing anything that ends up annoying you? Are you daft?