Posted by schleprock on February 5, 2013, at 16:09:28
In reply to Lou's response-esohes, posted by Lou Pilder on February 5, 2013, at 15:37:33
> > Why would God even create a Tree of Life and a Tree of Knowledge if He didn't want Adam and Eve eating their fruits? Was He, simply, testing their loyalty? That sounds more like a human impulse than a divine impulse. Because it's vain. Didn't He also tell Abraham to kill his son as a sacrifice to Him? Didn't He also destroy Job's life to prove to Lucifer that Job's devotion to Him was unshakeable? Did He not also send His own son to be tortured and killed because of the actions of others? Does this not sound like utter madness to you? How shaky would your self esteem have to be in order to demand such extreme measures to prove one's loyalty to you? The only other possibility is simple arrogance, which is a more realistic explanation. If I were God I'd probably be arrogant, too. At least as arrogant as the folks who strap bomb belts onto themselves and then detonate at the appointed target because they believe that's what God wants them to do, or the American politicians and businessmen who stole land from the Native Americans because they believed that's what God wanted them to do. It's an arrogance that I also see in you. You repeatedly say you have the ultimate secret to happiness and freedom from illness, but Dr. Hsiung won't allow you to share it. How convenient. This "prohibition" absolves you of the responsibility to provide any proof for your claims. Honestly, if I had information that could bring relief to anyone who read, and heeded, my message, the threat of a week's suspension from the board would not be enough of a threat to keep me from sharing it. Why should anyone take your claims more seriously than they would of a Shiite Muslim who explains why infidels are to be killed? If God is as all-knowing and all-powerful as He is promoted to be, why are we still arguing (and dying) over who He is? We've made a lot of discoveries about life and the universe in the time since those books were written, discoveries that, sometimes, threaten those early beliefs. Religious teachings serve a human purpose. Why else would God embody such human characteristics as vanity, anger and jealousy? The larger problem is that people use God as a justification for their own prejudices. You, yourself, interpret opposition to your ideas as Anti-Semitism because you happen to be Jewish. You hide behind it, the same way you hide behind supposed prohibitions from Dr. Hsiung to your revealing the non-pharmaceutical path out of depression and addiction. My main objection to religion (aside from the abuses committed in its name) is that it desperately seeks to subdue the intellect. But, if we are God's creations (and, indeed, created in His image), is not the intellect also created by God? What's weird is my intellect says there is no God, so why would God give us something that made it less likely that we would believe in Him? Or is He just screwing with us, the way He screwed with Abraham, Job and Jesus? Speaking of being all-powerful, it could be argued that God at least allows mental illness to exist. And murder to exist. And cancer to exist. And every other source of pain or sorrow to exist. Why? I was taught that God loves us, so what's up with all the suffering? To be fair, suffering can actually enrich one's life, provided that the suffering ends at some point. But what of suffering that continues, unchecked? Where's the lesson? What possible purpose could there be for such suffering? Is God trying to trick us into to thinking He's a jerk as a test to see how many of us remain faithful to Him?
> > What may be even harder to accept is the idea that we're actually out here, on our own. From the perspective of the universe, we are nothing more than temporary expressions of energy.
> >
> >
> Friends,
> It is written above.
> I am requesting that readers consider the aspects presented and weigh the benifits verses the risks of you posting a response here from your perspective. Also, I am requestin that you view the following video.
> Lou
> To see this video:
> A. Pull up Gogle
> B. Type in:
> [youtube, mLdaj8n_zto]
> It is usually at the top and there is a picWhy does the advertising council have a feather and a sword in their logo?
poster:schleprock
thread:1036632
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/faith/20101230/msgs/1037420.html