The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday (page 253)

cofty

I didn't wish to discuss it

Yes you did. You said...

"I think Christian charity organizations have helped in these situations." - Ucantnome

And I replied ...

Why?

Your god decided to drown a quarter of a million men, women and children. He left hundreds of thousands more maimed and broken; millions without homes or jobs. He turned myraids into widows and orphans.

Your god did this!

Why do you defy him by trying to undo the pain he chose to inflict? Are you more righteous and compassionate than he is?

It is a discussion forum.

Ucantnome

I was responding to Simons post and I informed you I didn't wish to discuss it further I have a very good reason that you are unaware of and shall remain so.

cofty

I have a very good reason that you are unaware of and shall remain so.

Your bible instructs you not to engage in discussions with those who oppose the christian faith. How is that any different from the cult we left?

Have the courage to face up to the very best objections to your most deeply held beliefs. Anything less is cowardice.

Ucantnome

you are wrong cofty itd not cowardice because you dont know my reason and are therefore limited you assume cowardice.

cofty

It's blind obedience to a book that instructs you not to listen to any evidence contrary to the teachings of the book.

How is that not cowardice?

It is precisely the tactics that the GB uses to enslave millions of JWs.

You are still trying to derail the thread. Please stop it.

Ucantnome

I'm not derailing the thread this will be my last post but I felt i wanted to respond to your mentioning moral cowardice and me. Sleep well cofty

sunny23

Yes it is! Each one of those individual people had their own personal story, and I believe God knew each one personally.DD

Deputy Dog, When I said "This isn't about personal suffering. Most of us here were not personally affected by the tsunami." I meant to say "This isn't about OUR personal suffering." Sorry about the confusion. Of course this is about the suffering of those who were there, thats what the rest of my post said.

I have no problem reconciling it. I'm going to die on the day God chooses by the means He chooses. I'll be fine with that, no matter how or when.DD

So God choses to make infants die on particular days as well? WOW

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.DD

Deputy Dog read this please..

7. Answers that trivialise the reality of human suffering

For example..
Suffering will be unimportant compared to eternal rewards

Rational Response
This is ethically repugnant. Suffering is not reducible to arithmetic. This life really matters. Any philosophy that minimises the importance of physical human life is dangerous. It is the same mentality that leads to religious extremism and flies aeorplanes into tall buildings.

It is an extreme example of "the end justifies the means" defence, so beloved of tyrants.

Like other theodicies it is dehumanising by reducing humans to pawns in god's game.

Imagine that scientists developed a pill that would eradicate all unwelcome memories and create a feeling of bliss. How would you judge a scientist who imposed the most horrific suffering on millions of people, as unwilling subjects of his experiment, but who offered some of his victims one of the magic pills when it was over? (read this a few times over)

MissFit

Sunny : that was the point that really got me thinking. It is easy not to really value life if you think it is just a pit stop to something better. That philosophy starts coloring everything you do.

If god was so loving (and existed)and this is just a pit stop, why did he build in this need for us to fight to live? We should be able to just accept death because something better is around the corner.

It just does'nt make sense to me anymore.

cofty

Its significant that believers find that faith makes it easy to dismiss the deaths of others, but leaves them just as anxious to hold on to their own life.

I suspect they dont believe sd much as they pretend to. Those who do are the really dangerous ones.

kassad84

If we don't believe in life after death and the world to come, then I dont know what explanation we would be willing to accept. It is what it is. And we are all in this together in the suffering. Even God didn't exempt himself, and took our flesh and suffered with us. He will save you and me (regardless of what we think about him), and those who died in the tsunami and countless other tragedies. He will flood our hearts with His love so much that we will not be able to bear it, and then we will shut our mouths, and bow our knees, not by force, but because we have come to understood that He deserves it.

Of course one has to have faith to believe this, and by faith I mean, one needs to be a fool.

The Pastor of my Old Church Tried to Re-Convert Me Yesterday

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