by jam 61 Replies latest social humour
What did it for me, granted in retrospect after I left Jehovah's Witnesses, was the 2004 tsunami. All those thousands (maybe more than 100 thousand) children swept away, some out of parents arms, was enough for me to see.
It may not prove to all that there is no God, but I hope they can see that he isn't omnibenevolent.
The only "omni" quality I would assign to the God of the Bible is omni-hypocrisy.
I believe God exists even with such horrible things going on. Even so I was quite depressed today as I went about the duties of work. James Foley looked like such an outgoing handsome guy in his prime of life. I listened on talk radio as I went about my business as they spoke to people about this murder. I couldn’t even get my head around how people wanted to watch the video on YouTube, let alone do such a thing. In the end I had to put some music on, less my mood turn to depression. It did make me depressed none the less, despite remembering I do believe. In some ways belief in God is the final resistance to the notion that humans and animals are worth nothing, as evidenced by the universes propensity to inflict pain and death on all sooner or later. Is it perhaps loves last champion before the universes light go out forever, to think God might be real as a child hopes against hope for magic to return a beloved pet from oblivion? I won’t say I know God exists, as some say they know he doesn’t but I will say fantasy as a comfort, in the face of such cruelty, is not to be condemned. Love is stronger than hate isn’t it? Or perhaps feelings can be better than cold ruthless logic. What’s the truth? Except that is it probably beyond human logic and reason in the ultimate foundation of reality thank God!
My hypothesis is that there is a God, but he does not interfere in human life and if you worship him, he is apathetical about it.
Neither ISIS nor anything else proves the basic God or atheist definitions.
Bad things in the world only proves the stipulation they wouldn't happen isn't
a credible one to add.
Since the basic God idea (let alone with added names and interventions) is a
possibility, not a proven, you might hope for or not, there's an ethical reason
to not have harm: it would be arbitrary hurting and killing--sadism and murder.
The only points ISIS makes to me aren't about the basic definitions but that
you shouldn't be 'centric or intolerant about things that aren't character de-
terminants, and the basic definitions don't have them. By this view, Stalin's
atheism didn't hurt anyone--his 'centric intolerance about it did. Likewise
the Inquisitors--their 'centric intolerance about God belief hurt people.
I think of how this country has come a long way in the last generation or so
about LGBT people. It would be a lot quieter around here if we just killed all
the bigots about that back then. I think the spread of such information
described above caused the change, yet look at all the racism and conservative
misinformation still going on here (giving Jon Stewart a lot of material) let
alone bigotry over there.
There's a lot of conservatism let alone extremism over there. If police or
even army are needed at times, the bigger change would come about there as
mentioned as happening here.
Millions of children under the age of 10 have died for various reasons , lack of hygiene , poor diet . starvation ,no medical treatment , third world countrys ,drought ,flood , etc. etc.
And that is from the time of Adam up until the 20th century .
Is their any difference in this 21st century ? I think not.
The same problems exist with the exception of modern warfare which kills, maims, displaces, people on an unprecedented scale , with the victims being children .
2000 years ago God /Jehovah gave his only begotten son as a sacrifice to save humans ,with the blood of his son as a sacrifice. Obviously Jehovahs Witnesses dont think thats enough , wanting JW`s including children to offer themselves as martyrs shedding their blood on the alter of jehovah.
Awake May 1994
For any deity who claims to be the ALMIGHTY GOD and sits back and does nothing these past 6000 years and does nothing about these sufferings of humans , I say you are NO GOD of mine .
And please dont use the excuse "Salvation / Armageddon is just around the corner "
smiddy
That can certainly be a choice but it criticizes an all beneficent stipula-
tion one may require for it, not the basic definition. The Bible God comes with
various names and stipulations beyond the basic definition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
PS: as you can believe in life, with its good and bad, apart from any God
idea, you could believe in a God somehow behind it all. You could add a nice
afterlife as sweetner on the deal. Whether or not that's your choice doesn't
make for an important reason to choose which basic definition.
" At one time what ISIS did would have been thought of by many people as an acceptable way to wage war. "
The ISIS beheading wasn't an act to wage war, it was done out of a type of ransom to put a stop to the current war but more specifically the mass killings of innocent iraqi bystandards to US launched missles. The entire topic spoken by Foley and his captor was political and I don't remember hearing anything about God or religion. I would rather not re-watch it to verify so correct me if I'm wrong.
Consider, "Perhaps the single most important factor in ISIS' recent resurgence is the conflict between Iraqi Shias and Iraqi Sunnis. ISIS fighters themselves are Sunnis, and the tension between the two groups is a powerful recruiting tool for ISIS.
The difference between the two largest Muslim groups originated with a controversy over who got to take power after the Prophet Muhammed's death. But Iraq's sectarian problems aren't about relitigating 7th-century disputes; they're about modern political power and grievances."- http://www.vox.com/cards/things-about-isis-you-need-to-know/sunni-shia-conflict-ISIS
"it was done out of a type of ransom to put a stop to the current war but
more specifically the mass killings of innocent iraqi bystandars to US launched
missles."
"...ISIS posted a video to YouTube depicting Foley reading a prepared state-
ment urging Americans to stop their support for the U.S. government for its
bombing campaign against ISIS targets. The video then shows his beheading as
well as revealing that ISIS is holding another American journalist named Steven
Joel Sotloff and will kill him unless U.S. President Barack Obama halts air-
strikes against ISIS."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Wright_Foley
God and religion:
"ISIS is known for its extreme interpretation of the Islamic faith and sharia
law and its brutal violence, which is directed at Shia Muslims, indigenous As-
syrian, Chaldean, Syriac and Armenian Christians, Yazidis, Druze, Shabaks and
Mandeans in particular. It has at least 4,000 fighters in its ranks in Iraq
who, in addition to attacks on government and military targets, have claimed
responsibility for attacks that have killed thousands of civilians. ISIS had
close links with al-Qaeda until 2014, but in February of that year, after an
eight-month power struggle, al-Qaeda cut all ties with the group, reportedly
for its brutality and 'notorious intractability.'
"ISIS’s original aim was to establish a caliphate in the Sunni-majority re-
gions of Iraq. Following its involvement in the Syrian Civil War, this expand-
ed to include controlling Sunni-majority areas of Syria. A caliphate was pro-
claimed on 29 June 2014, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi—now known as Amir al-Mu'minin
Caliph Ibrahim—was named as its caliph, and the group was renamed the Islamic
State."
See the article below for much more:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant
"Islamists believe that Islam fuses religion and politics, with normative
political values determined by the divine texts. It is argued that this has
historically been the case and the secularist/modernist efforts at secularizing
politics are little more than jahiliyyah (ignorance), kafir (unbelief), irtidad
(apostasy) and atheism. 'Those who participated in secular politics were
raising the flag of revolt against Allah and his messenger.'"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_secularism
ISIS posted a video to YouTube depicting Foley reading a prepared state-ment urging Americans to stop their support for the U.S. government for itsbombing campaign against ISIS targets""
Nice Wikipedia regurgitation. Have you watched the video? Jim's eyes were closed for most of it. He addressed his immediate family and he let his words flow passionately on the spot. Who memorizes a "prepared and read statement like that Mr. Wikipedia?!
I'm not siding with anyone and the actions of all Muslim group extremists like this have been morally unacceptable. Im also not saying that religion plays no part in the conflicts with ISIS and the likes, it does. I was referring to the message sent to America specfically in that video. In fact, as a side note, unless Foleys body is recovered then it's still speculation that he's dead. The video shows no blood and cuts away before anything harmful happens.
