I know this may seem counter-intuitive to you as a theist, but having no guarantee of tomorrow actually makes you appreciate and enjoy the present more. There are no do overs, no second chances. Our lives, and this very moment, are precious and valuable precisely because they are only here for a short time, and then gone.
That's OK for you, but what about those who need a 'do over'...those who suffer irreparable brain damage or severe physical disability in an accident? What about those who completely mess up their lives because of the bad influence of others and need a 'do over'....you think no one deserves that? That makes what God is offering preferable to what you expect to happen IMO.
Jehovah has the power to ensure they never get that disability or terminal illness in the first place. Yet he doesn't. Promising people an unprovable afterlife because they have a terrible life in this world is, frankly, an empty promise.
If that is what you think, then you have no idea why he doesn't interfere with this life until the end. There is a reason for all of it...a very important reason. He is God so he knows what he's doing.
He is able to judge people by the way they live this life without any interference from him....he observes those who seek his guidance and those who don't want it. Living this life without his interference is exactly how he determines who gets the reward and who doesn't. We tell God exactly who we are by the choices we make.
I depend on lots of people. And lots of people depend on me. We're in this life together. That's part of what makes humanity beautiful.
I see that you are fond of making these statement only from your own viewpoint.....what about others? Have you no thought for those who don't experience any 'beautiful humanity'? Ask the children of Syria if they would like a hope for a better life in the future? Or the children in the slums of India or Asia sold for sex slavery? How beautiful is humanity for them? Or perhaps the children starving in African nations....God is not responsible for any of that....humans are.
Empathy and desire for pleasure.
No, I prefer to call it "programming"....we are designed to live in beautiful surrounding with our families forever. Death is still a foreign element in our lives and we continue to grieve even over the death of a beloved pet. How are we not programmed to accept death since it has always happened? Isn't that what evolution is supposed to do....to make us adapt to things that we can't change? Why do we grieve....sometimes for decades?
My desire is for the truth, whether it feels good or makes all my dreams come true or not. There are countless threads on this forum alone alleging to show evidence for a Creator. I haven't seen it. If you have good evidence, I'm happy to see it.
My guess is that you probably never will. The evidence for God's existence is all around you but like many who have been blinded by science, you can't see it, or don't want to acknowledge it.The truth is...nothing comes from nothing.
If people don't want to know God, why would he want to know them? He gave us life...he owes us nothing more. He lets us make all our own choices and to create our own world.....look what we have done! Are you proud of humanity? We rejected his rulership in the beginning, but that doesn't mean that its gone forever....he has just given the human race, enough rope.....
The burden of proof is on you to demonstrate the claim. If you think a global flood happened let's see the evidence.
I gave you the evidence. The flood legend is found all over the world in very diverse cultures. Only a real event of monumental proportions could permeate human thinking to that extent.
Because floods happen all over the world.
In all cultures, this is a
global deluge with just a few saved in a vessel.....the detail may be a little different with cultural embellishment, but the bones of the story are the same.
Babies committed capital crimes?
Someone once asked me what I would do if I came across the web of a very venomous spider with an egg sac full of babies....they asked if I would kill the parents and spare the babies? What would they grow up to become?
Living in that pre-flood world we see that every human inclination was rotten to the core. (Genesis 6:5-8) There were no humans who had not been corrupted by their wicked lifestyle. Since God was going to execute their parents, did you want a whole generation of young children left as orphans? Who would take care of them? And if God is going to restore the lives of these people in the future, wouldn't you want the parents and children to come back together to start again? (John 5:28-29)
Oh give me a break. He murdered people for disobeying him.
Yes, because they were offending him with their licentious and violent lifestyle....and because he is God. If you look back at the scenario in Eden you will see that continued life was dependent upon obedience to God right from day one. It was the only thing that God asked of them. He murdered no one.
If any world leader did that today, we'd call them worse than a tyrant.
LOL....God is not a flawed human leader....he is the Creator of life and this universe which gives him sovereign rights to tell all of us what to do with the gift of life that he gave to us. If we don't want the gift, then he will take it back. It was always conditional anyway. So I think that's fair enough?
What kind of psychopathic leader makes disobedience a capital crime? And just because you create a life doesn't give you the right to destroy it.
Did you make that up? The Creator has every right to take life away from those who abuse his gift and make life a horrible experience for others. Too bad if people don't like it.....they hardly get a choice in that. If they qualify to keep living, God will grant them life...if they don't, by their own choice, they will forfeit what they had. Again, I see that as fair. He has given us every opportunity to prove who we are.
We have zero evidence for this.
The Bible is full of such evidence. You just don't believe it....or don't want to.
Again, no, that is completely repugnant. Is that how you want our society to work, right now? Everyone who breaks any of Jehovah's rules gets executed? You want me to be executed?
Well, that is not my call...I am not your judge. God's laws apply to all...we don't get to pick and choose. Could it be that people with some kind of privileged attitude that they have a right to life without any appreciation for its Maker or his rules, might just be repugnant to God?
He is our Landlord and we are his tenants.....if we break the tenancy agreement then eviction will follow.