Good idea for a thread.
Now, if you have a personal issue with God.. if you have deep seated hostility or anger, i understand. It is hard to be objective with those emotions clouding your thinking processes. But perhaps you can relay what happened to you, personally, that resulted in your anger with God, & how that colored your perception of Him.
Oh, you wanna hear that? Sorry, you caught me on a particularly bad day.
Most of my life has been struggling to overcome my difficult childhood and most of my life has been suffering, not because I did anything wrong, not because I went against any of the teachings or laws of my religion. It was just the way it happened, it was my fate. No matter how hard I have struggled and still do I am not free of suffering, because my circumstances are so dire and my free will is so limited.
Meanwhile, many people do not struggle at all and their lives unfold perfectly, with only a few blips in the radar. They get married, have children, go to college, have a stable career wherein they advance, then they retire and enjoy their lives and their grandchildren. Sure, I know a lot of people have it worse than I do, I am not blind, but I also know that most people are happy in spite of their outward circumstances, as psychological studies show that.
Most of these 'happy people' do not care about the ‘other people’ who are suffering as long as they and their families are happy. That is understandable because humans are basically selfish unless they struggle against their lower nature, but God should care because God supposedly is All-Loving.
Why do you think there is such a discrepancy between individuals? What kind of a loving God leaves some people to suffer while others who do not even struggle have a relatively easy life and are happy most of the time? (I know all the religious apologetics for suffering and how it is ‘good for us’ so don’t bother with that. Even if that is true, and we reap the rewards after we die, we still have to live in this world until we die.)
My perception of God is that He does not really give a twit because it does not affect Him if people suffer. Now, this goes against what my religion teaches -- that God is All-Loving and Compassionate -- so it puts me at odds with all my fellow believers, including my husband. It also causes a huge inner conflict, because what I see and have experienced IS NOT what scriptures say about God. If God is a personal God this presents a problem for Him, only if God is a deist type God is He off the hook.
1. God is very mysterious.
Thousands of years of human history have not brought us to any consensus as to the nature or even existence of God. This is probably the central question of human philosophy, yet we don't really know much about Him.
I agree, and I have no problem with that at all. I like mysteries.
Moreover, I would not even want to know anymore about God than I already know.
2. God is distant. He has what seems to be a 'laissez faire' view of humanity. Things go on pretty much randomly, with no apparent goal or purpose. He does not seem to be involved in our social processes. He does not intervene if we are stupid or destructive, but lets us do whatever we want.
I agree, and I have no problem with that. I do not want God anywhere near me.
3. God is not moved by death. Humans are terrified of death. We agonize over it, pace around, wringing our hands over wrongful death, injustice, or suffering. But God seems unmoved by it. The whole system of life on earth revolves around death.
I agree, God does not care about death, but God should care that humans agonize over death, Imo. Apparently, God does not care because we see no evidence that God cares. All we have are scriptures of religions that are so vague as to be utterly worthless. Yet God expects us to sacrifice our lives for service to Him and our religions yet not a word about what really happens to us after death.
Then there are the animals, not a word about what happens to them either. So we can assume from scriptures that God just put animals here for humans and when they are dead they are dead. If they have to suffer in the interim, I see no evidence that God cares about that. This alone could make an atheist out of me, but I am stuck being a believer because there is so much evidence that my religion is true and thus God exists and I readily admit I am afraid what could happen to me after I die if I drop out and become an atheist.
That certainly is not the only reason I do not drop out, I don’t because I know it is not the ‘right thing’ to do, and I have always done what I think is right, all my adult life.
4. God has allowed or provided a beautiful world for us. Beauty & awe are all around us, & move us to powerful emotions. The natural world is both terrifying & beautiful. The variety is amazing, & the nature of the universe is beyond our understanding, even after thousands of years of collective knowledge. At least, He has instilled in us the capacity for Awe.
Give me a break. Sure there is much beauty in nature but there is also tragedy and ugliness and suffering. This world is a storehouse of suffering, more for some people and animals than for others.
5. God is orderly. Laws of nature are consistent, & dependable. Humans may be fickle, but God is not.
I will give Him that much.