Tinkerpeach
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Free will is just another term for choice
God
- Thread starter Tinkerpeach
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Free will is just another term for choice
BidenPresident
Verified User
So why does a powerful God want humans to be punished for making the wrong choice?
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
Agreed. God is all-merciful and all-knowing.
Agreed. Back to one of my questions: How would you know if you have free will or are mentally ill?
Tinkerpeach
New member
Why would God want to associate with people who hate Him?
BidenPresident
Verified User
Who hates God? You said God wants free will so they can be punished.
Tinkerpeach
New member
Tough one to answer
God will know however but as a human I don’t think we would always know that
Someone who suffers from depression may make bad decisions but are they still capable of making a better choice or is the depression forcing them into things they wouldn’t normally do
Tinkerpeach
New member
That is the choice they are making
God isn’t hiding the outcomes here
And if you reject God that is essentially hating Him, at least that is how He treats it
He doesn’t separate it into levels of dislike, it’s all or nothing
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
God is all-loving.
FWIW, people who are hateful are usually brain-damaged or sick in some way. God would know this to be true.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anxiety-fear-and-hate/201803/the-psychology-hate
We cannot be a strong and healthy nation if we consider hate an acceptable aspect of our daily life. Hatred has the destructive power to permanently damage the nation’s emotional psyche and core values.
History tells us how hate can be exploited to lead an entire nation to commit unspeakable crimes against a particular racial, religious, political, or ideological group....
...If hate is left unchecked, it intensifies from intolerance to a wish to annihilate the other. Hate strips us of our humanity. Hate eliminates the ability to show empathic concern for the injustice done to others. Hate numbs the guilt and shame that we should feel for our prejudiced behavior. Most importantly, it eliminates our ability to understand why we feel this hatred and how to eliminate it by addressing the real issues that gave rise to it.
It strikes at the core of our humanity.
People who hate tend to think, feel and behave from an “in-group” versus an “out-group” mentality. They have no hesitation to stereotype an entire “out-group” (Steward, T. L. et al., 2003). The “ins” use the “outs” as scapegoats for the social, economic, and political woes of the community (Brewer, M., 1999). The “ins” use this as a way to justify the treatment of the “outs” in a degrading manner and to ostracize the “outs” from the lives and the community of the “ins”.
BidenPresident
Verified User
I see. So anyone who disagrees with your conception of God must hate God.
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
Agreed God knows.
IMO, there's a major difference between people who want to hurt themselves, such as the chronically depressed, and people who spread hate, lies and/or seek violence against others.
The Ten Commandments covers lying about others and harming others.
Tinkerpeach
New member
Doesn’t matter if you hate Him or just slightly dislike Him, the result is the same
BidenPresident
Verified User
So, everyone who disagrees with your conception of God must hate God.
Seems arrogant.
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
What if the hateful person is mentally ill? Brain-damaged from drug or alcohol abuse?
Agreed. God is a petty, insecure, petulant child who whines and complains about everything but appears completely unable to control his creations.
Yep, a man in the sky is watching everything you do, all day long, every day. And he has specific rules for you to follow and beliefs you must hold. If you don't, he will send you to a place where you will burn in torment forever.
But he loves you.
BidenPresident
Verified User
What's the point of joining a religion if you cannot condemn everyone?!
Yeah, ask the Egyptians about that one. Most of them probably didn't do a thing to his buddy Moses, but that didn't spare them from God's wrath.
Passover is my favorite bible story, because nothing says 'let's party' like the slaughter of tens of thousands of innocent children. Seems like maybe God could have come up with a better plan, but maybe he isn't a think outside the box kind of guy.
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
If the story is to be believed. Pat Robertson said the devastation of Haiti was because they made a pact with the Devil. He, along with Falwell, also blamed 9/11 on gay, feminists and abortion. Who's to say that Moses wasn't the 1300 BCE version of Robertson or Falwell who blamed Egyptian calamities on the wrath of God?
God doesn't change, but mankind's perception of God does change with civilization. Trappist Monk Thomas Merton once wrote "Our idea of God tells us more about ourselves than about Him."
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/pat...troversy-discussion-countrys/story?id=9563274
Pat Robertson's Haiti Comments Spark Controversy, Discussion of Country's Religion
https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953778_1953776_1953796,00.html
Dutch Uncle
* Tertia Optio * Defend the Constitution
That's mankind's perception of God. People throughout history have written all kinds of weird things about Creation and the force behind existence.
Tinkerpeach
New member
First of all the pharaoh issued a command that every male born to Israelites were to be killed
Secondly, God warned the pharaoh what would happen if he didn’t let them go
Thirdly, although God did not take pleasure in this it was really the only option to deal with the harshness the Egyptians were inflicting on the Israelites
BidenPresident
Verified User
So, God is jewish.