God is evil, or likes it, or enjoys it whatever
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 4:50 pm
I'd suppose if there were a God as often defined by people of faith in our western world, he'd have to enjoy pain and suffering that we mortals go through. And I suppose as poorly defined as he often is--a description of nothing and yet everything all at once--he may also enjoy some of the joys some people get to experience as well. After all if we take the God who is worshipped by the many millions, the guy in the Bible, he's not only a God who forgives sin for at least some, he's also the one who commands and inspires war, including the murder and rape of many. He's the pissy guy who ignores many believers for being the type that "builds their house on sand" and yet he is also the guy who condemns those who think it good practice to steer clear of prostitutes and sinners. He's the kind one who wants to fix a few, but he's also the infinitely angry one whose always ready to condemn anyone who doesn't believe.
These days though, believers prefer the God who loves everyone and in discussing his possibility they ignore the teachings in the Bible or the traditional beliefs about him. As it turns out the best way to convince another of him is to get others to picture the best thing ever and imagine he's the only possible source of the good things in your mind. But this newer description of God makes me wonder what it is we must imagine. After all people still suffer. I suppose we must conclude if there is a great and magnificent one, better than all else, loving and kind to the nth degree, he doesn't care much if people suffer mortally. He may or may not bless them later. And to him, our little existence here must not mean much. It's a mere blip on the radar of our eternal existences. ANd yet, somehow we've convinced ourselves we must believe in him. We must do what he wants now, else he'll ruin us forever.
Doesn't an imagined God, assumed by most, suggest a level of selfishness or narcissism? I don't mean to be condemning per se, but it was the type of thought that sent me reeling on the matter. I don't see why the idea is a good one. I suppose if there is a God and he continues to go to extensive effort to hide himself from us, then it feels better to me to live in the mindset he's not really there. I suppose in a pascal wager type of way, as looney as that reasoning is, it may condemn us eternally. But if he's really good, isn't it better to work for good now, then to hope for a reward later? The latter feels like a selfish move, the former not so much.
These days though, believers prefer the God who loves everyone and in discussing his possibility they ignore the teachings in the Bible or the traditional beliefs about him. As it turns out the best way to convince another of him is to get others to picture the best thing ever and imagine he's the only possible source of the good things in your mind. But this newer description of God makes me wonder what it is we must imagine. After all people still suffer. I suppose we must conclude if there is a great and magnificent one, better than all else, loving and kind to the nth degree, he doesn't care much if people suffer mortally. He may or may not bless them later. And to him, our little existence here must not mean much. It's a mere blip on the radar of our eternal existences. ANd yet, somehow we've convinced ourselves we must believe in him. We must do what he wants now, else he'll ruin us forever.
Doesn't an imagined God, assumed by most, suggest a level of selfishness or narcissism? I don't mean to be condemning per se, but it was the type of thought that sent me reeling on the matter. I don't see why the idea is a good one. I suppose if there is a God and he continues to go to extensive effort to hide himself from us, then it feels better to me to live in the mindset he's not really there. I suppose in a pascal wager type of way, as looney as that reasoning is, it may condemn us eternally. But if he's really good, isn't it better to work for good now, then to hope for a reward later? The latter feels like a selfish move, the former not so much.