There is no [compassionate] God.

[Riverwolf]

We are ignored by gods.

Only if we ignore each other.

 

[djewleu]

Only if we ignore each other.

True.

 

[logician]

I've seen it three times in recent years: There is no compassionate God.
Three of several of my friends have died in terribly agonizing circumstances;
in terrible pain and dishonour, with no human dignity.
Cancer is a very cruel disease, determined to kill you by intense suffering.
Is it all that necessary to die?
I repeat: there is no compassionate God!

I'll go one better, there is no god period. Life is a series of random events, which unfortunately include bad things that happen to us all. There is no puppetmaster pulling the strings.

 

[Riverwolf]

I'll go one better, there is no god period. Life is a series of random events, which unfortunately include bad things that happen to us all. There is no puppetmaster pulling the strings.

Since when was God a puppetmaster pulling the strings? If you ask me, that's a very inaccurate description of God.

 

[Charity]

I'll go one better, there is no god period. Life is a series of random events, which unfortunately include bad things that happen to us all. There is no puppetmaster pulling the strings.

......and fortunately good things happen to us all , could that be when the puppetmaster is pulling the strings?

 

[djewleu]

I'll go one better, there is no god period. Life is a series of random events, which unfortunately include bad things that happen to us all. There is no puppetmaster pulling the strings.

No God. Period.
But what if there is an Impersonal God somewhere fighting to become Personal to help us come out of this horrendous rut we're perpetually stuck in?
Maybe.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

We have to INVENT gods that succor us in times of affliction, that's all.
And in our pain, we do invent gods, and then go promote them to other people in the same suffering.

Has it ever occurred to you that some people believe in God, but stand independent from God? I believe in a higher power, however, I do not need this higher power for anything in life. I cope with my own sorrows, pain, and depression not with prayer, but by my own means. I don't pray to God to help me through college. I do it on my own knowledge and abilities. As far as I am concerned, "god" is just there, I'm better of not needing him/her/it, and praying and relying on God didn't get me too far in life. Actually, it put me behind on quite a few things.

 

[djewleu]

How high is that Higher Power?
Higher comparing with/to “What”?
Some say God is Great.
But why would a Great God make us so small?!…
Then that Great Weird God arrived in the human forum to tells us we could reject IT but with a nasty price: eternal condemnation!!!
What a fallacious and irresponsible deity, I tell you!
I want to have Free Will to CONDEMN this irritating “Higher Power”!
Do you know why?
Because there was a BETTER plan, but the “Thing” excused it!…

 

[cottage]

Again, that can only be if God is a separate being with only a single attribute. With this logic, if God is compassionate, he cannot be a Creator.

That God isn't all-compassionate. However, I believe in a multi-attribute God.

The classic definition of God is that he has a number of attributes: necessarily existent, eternal, immutable, immanent, benevolent, omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent etc. Now although we see suffering everywhere it cannot be denied that there is also compassion. So if ‘God exists’ is true then ‘God is sometimes compassionate’ must also be true. But, regardless of the number or quality of attributes, the logical and evidential truth remains that there is no necessarily compassionate deity. This isn’t an example of philosophical trickery but the conclusion found in our shared experience, believer and unbeliever alike.

Oh, IT is not. Our perception of it is. The world is not how we perceive it.

There is no distinction to be made between the contingent, material world and ‘us’. It is one and the same thing.

Nothing happens to the light; it remains white. However, to our eyes, it becomes many colors.

Sure, but what was the point?

 

[Shadow Wolf]

How high is that Higher Power?
Higher comparing with/to “What”?
Some say God is Great.
But why would a Great God make us so small?!…
Then that Great Weird God arrived in the human forum to tells us we could reject IT but with a nasty price: eternal condemnation!!!
What a fallacious and irresponsible deity, I tell you!
I want to have Free Will to CONDEMN this irritating “Higher Power”!
Do you know why?
Because there was a BETTER plan, but the “Thing” excused it!…

I believe that any form of eternal damnation is nothing more than a marketing strategy that was used to fill the pewes of the church, and the pockets of priests. If a being created us, and would damn us to hell forever for not playing by the rules over a relatively very short time of our lives, than this being is most definitely unfit for praise and worship, and has some very serious ego issues.

 

[cottage]

Thank you so much for your post Cottage and I am glad that we can talk about these emotions even though we are so diverse. That's the way it should always be people willing to help each other with understanding and thoughtfulness....Thank you again.

I absolutely agree. And as you say we are all much of a muchness under the skin, despite our very different ways of seeing things.

 

[blackout]

We have to INVENT gods that succor us in times of affliction, that's all.
And in our pain, we do invent gods, and then go promote them to other people in the same suffering.
It is human nature.
But as for a compassionate God out there, present with us in our hour of suffering, forget it.
If that compassionate God ever existed, IT would have, in the course of human history, been present in so many tragedies that would have turned IT into the most desensitized brutal deity!
Tell me about a compassionate God, and I will tell you about a God present in the very first case of human agony and suffering ignoring it.
Then came the second and the following millions and billions!
What an insensitivity!
We are ignored by gods.

We ignore our own godhood.

 

[djewleu]

I don't want to be a god!
What for?!!!...
Let me shout: WHAT FOR?!!!...

 

[Willamena]

I don't want to be a god!
What for?!!!...
Let me shout: WHAT FOR?!!!...

For the hell of it?

 

[Willamena]

But why would a Great God make us so small?!…

I don't know about you, but I'm about 100% bigger than I'd like to be.

 

[djewleu]

I don't know about you, but I'm about 100% bigger than I'd like to be.

Because you are a goddess!

 

[Storm]

cottage, did you miss post #11?

 

[cottage]

cottage, did you miss post #11?

Hi Storm. I saw it, but thought to hold back.

I'm afraid I have rather a lot to say on a particular subject that you identified, that suffering is beneficial and on the supposed necessity of evil. I will of course gladly offer my arguments on the matter, as long as you don't mind me running on and boring everyone to death?

 

[Storm]

Hi Storm. I saw it, but thought to hold back.

I'm afraid I have rather a lot to say on a particular subject that you identified, that suffering is beneficial and on the supposed necessity of evil. I will of course gladly offer my arguments on the matter, as long as you don't mind me running on and boring everyone to death?

LOL, well boring everyone to death generally isn't a good tactic. Perhaps a summary?

 

[Riverwolf]

I don't want to be a god!
What for?!!!...
Let me shout: WHAT FOR?!!!...

Peace. Not on earth, but for you.

A tranquil acceptance; there is no pain in loss, nor joy in gain. There is complete selflessness. Great wisdom is to be had, and you would teach it to others if you chose to.

So said the Sages.