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When do we blame God?
- Thread starter tomspug
- Start date
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
Are we talking about Christians?
BucephalusBB
ABACABB
In that case, never..
tomspug
Absorbant
?In that case, never..
You don't think that people in general blame 'God' for anything?
BucephalusBB
ABACABB
Was very much a personal note..In general though, I think it's very obvious, everything "we" see as injustice can throw the blame into the direction of God. And then specially the things we can't control or understand. If somebody dies of disease at a very young age for example. No control and why that young? Appareantly people want at least one to blame, but in this case there isn't any....except maybe one...The one..
Wandered Off
Sporadic Driveby Member
Wait... I thought the devil was the designated fall guy.
Sometimes people blame God initially and then when it is all over (whatever the trouble is) they apologize to God for doubting Him. At least that is what happens to me on occasion. It is easier to get mad at someone you can't see and won't answer back than to yell at someone who will either get angry or cry.
Smoke
Done here.
To blame god, you have to
If you believe there is someone who could easily help you in time of trouble with no loss or inconvenience to himself, and he chooses not to help you, it's only natural to blame him for it.
1) Believe in god, and
2) either
Some people blame god for allowing the Holocaust, for instance. There are, no doubt, also people who blame god for their height or their weight or the fact that they haven't won the lottery. It's the kind of thing that varies widely from one theist to another.2) either
a) believe he is doing something he shouldn't, or
b) (more likely) believe he is not doing something he should.
b) (more likely) believe he is not doing something he should.
If you believe there is someone who could easily help you in time of trouble with no loss or inconvenience to himself, and he chooses not to help you, it's only natural to blame him for it.
Smoke
Done here.
Reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from Greenlanders, by Jane Smiley:
[FONT=arial, helvetica, sans serif]Nevertheless, my intention is fixed, and soon Ragnhild will be thanking the mercy of the Lord, who moved my heart to send her these sheep. And so praise will rise up to Him who is fond of praise, but gives little in return for it.[/FONT]
This discussion reminds of a book I read about a year ago about a 19 year old woman was raped and became pregnant. She would not consider abortion as she was a Christian and pro-life. She felt God was punishing her. While I was reading that it occurred to me that if she thought God was really punishing her then God would have been responsible for the man raping her. If she had enough faith, she would have known that God would never cause a man to rape her.
Magic Man
Reaper of Conversation
But, by that logic, God wouldn't allow any evil things to happen. The idea that God gives us the ability to experience evil to show us the true good of goodness implies that he does evil to us.
Draka
Wonder Woman
Deity is us and we are Deity. If you have the view that the Divine runs through and is a part of us all then...when you blame "god" you blame yourself, and when you credit yourself you credit "god". It's all connected.
Though I can see how if you believe in a seperate entity as your god, and you have certain expectations of them, that you might perhaps find blame or fault when those expectations aren't met. Once you have had many disappointments when it comes to your expectations you may well find that you are the only one who will do any good for yourself, therefore if something good does happen you figure it must be you that did it since your god seems to have never helped before. It's the slow spiral of losing faith you could say.
Though I can see how if you believe in a seperate entity as your god, and you have certain expectations of them, that you might perhaps find blame or fault when those expectations aren't met. Once you have had many disappointments when it comes to your expectations you may well find that you are the only one who will do any good for yourself, therefore if something good does happen you figure it must be you that did it since your god seems to have never helped before. It's the slow spiral of losing faith you could say.
Smoke
Done here.
Apparently, god would never stop a man from raping her, either. If I told you my neighbor was raped on her front lawn and I did nothing to stop it, just sat on my porch eating Cheetos and watching, you would think I was a monster.
She believed god was punishing her because it was easier for her to blame herself than for her to blame god. For god to treat her so badly, he must have had a very good reason.
What I meant was that the man raped her not because God told him to but because he had some awful grudge against women enough to want to harm in the most intimate way possible (or some other reason).
tomspug
Absorbant
Or....
God must have had a good reason for letting the rapist rape the woman. Don't forget that God is the God of the rapist AND the victim. We tend to forget that.
Wandered Off
Sporadic Driveby Member
What would be an example of a "good reason" for letting someone be raped? By good, I mean one in which the same end could not be accomplished some other way by a presumably omnipotent or at least very powerful deity.