GOD would surely let everyone into His house because that would be the right thing to do. That’s what someone told me this week.
Yes well that would be what I’d want too. But I’m not the one to decide.
The Christian view is that God gives us all freedom to choose whether to be with Him or not with Him after we leave this planet.
Everyone gets a chance to make that decision. Don’t ask me how that works. I just don’t know. But I believe it to be so
But as I said, I trust that God is just and loving. That’s my experience of God.
Who knows what happens to those who commit great evil acts? If I believe God is just, then His decisions will be just and loving.
Can we argue that any of us know better than God?
Bryan Patterson's Faithworks 
But of course! –> “Can we argue that any of us know better than God?”
…otherwise he wouldn’t be afraid of coming down here and joining the debate. 😉
LikeLike
ps…as has been stated:- being ‘just’ and ‘loving’ are mutually-exclusive concepts.
Love means never having to say you’re sorry, according to (?) Ali McGraw, was it?
’twas nearly the quote of the ‘love’ decade.
LikeLike
Well, I was gonna argue with you, but you quoted lyrics. My argument has been invalidated.
LikeLike
All I know is, most wars etc throughout history have been connected to religion in one way or another. I think religion is the root of all that is evil. Where do all the “Gods” from all the different religions live? Wake up people. The world has been conned and controlled for too long by this religion crap.
LikeLike
Yes. Religion is the root of all evil. Not the love of money, greed, selfishness, or a complete lack of empathy. All rapes can be traced to religion. All cartel violence and the thousands of brutal killings in central America — it’s not about drugs or power, it’s about religion. WWII, the deadliest event in the history of the world, was not about Nazism versus Communism and Democracy, not about control of vital fuel and raw resources — it was about religion.
Brilliant Historical deduction. Looks like we’ve got another brilliant analytical thinker among us.
LikeLike
er, I agree……. “( All rapes can be traced to religion.”)
……or are following primary religious examples. I don’t see mention anywhere of Eve being asked or even offered a drinks ‘to get her in the mood’. She was just told to get on with it ~ and “say you love me”.
Mary, too.
….and then there was the Muhammadan example of raping nine-year-olds, which is to this day a practice acceptable to moslems everywhere as religiously-conscientious,
….and of course the Kama Sutra is described as ‘The bible of sexual positions’.
Not to mention the plethora of gods who ufkced their victims in all sorts of less-sexual ways.
,,,,,,,and so on.
You were saying…..?
LikeLike
BTW….let’s not forget that ‘evil’ itself ~ as a concept or activity ~ is a religious invention. Plainly, it can be claimed that it is “rooted in religion”.
LikeLike
….and then there was the Muhammadan example of raping nine-year-olds, which is to this day a practice acceptable to moslems everywhere as religiously-conscientious,
You are probably referring to Mohammed’s marriage to a child. But how do you know they actually consumated the marriage? Both Judaism and Islam had a long practice of making marriage contracts with child brides but the consumation of the marrage (ie sex) took place years after the event (when the child reached maturity).
The Bible indicates that this was the case with Mary too. And if Joseph never had sexual intercourse with her after the birth of Jesus, this means that the Catholics might not be far off in their theory of Immaculate Conception.
LikeLike
Is there a stupidity-bug going around??
davinci, you’re not only a moron who apparently has never heard of Google ~ nor read the manuscripts of that authority on sharia law ayatollah khomeini (who declared sexual use of girls from 5yo was acceptable) ~ on the legitimacy of child-rape in islam, you have no credibility as a man while ever you allow your in-law to remain breathing freely and at large.
Read this and don’t bother me again.:-
http://www.religiousfreedomcoalition.org/2013/09/20/muslim-man-rapes-child-bride-until-she-dies/
There is no documentation extant about Mary’s age when she was delivered of Jesus, however theological estimates range from 10yo to 14 yo.
What consensus there is apparently opts for 12 yo.
Whatever age you choose, the point is she was a child rape-victim ~ with god named as the rapist according to ‘the angel’.
His siblings, as the bible describes their advent, followed in short order thereafter, which means Joseph (or god-only-knows-who) was using her fairly consistently before she became old enough to give legitimate consent. Since there’s no record of anyone suffering punishment for thus using her it can be assumed that such use was socially condoned.
….and of course there’s not much question about what happened to Eve.
If the bible is, as supposed, an accurate record she was being interfered-with when she was a day or two old.
….at the direction of the jewish god.
There’s no reason to suppose his example wasn’t adhered to be his Chosen People, is there?
LikeLike
….and furthermore —> Friedman claims, “arranging and contracting the marriage of a young girl were the undisputed prerogatives of her father in ancient Israel.” Most girls were married before the age of 15, often at the start of their puberty.[19]
Jewish scholars and rabbis discouraged marriages before the onset of puberty
Most religions, over history, influenced the marriageable age. For example, Christian ecclesiastical law forbade marriage of a girl before the age of puberty
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_marriage
LikeLike
oh davinci,
You are falling into the old old unlettered Protestant fallacy of believing that the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s virginity, (and/or the Virgin conception and birth of Christ.)
Nah, the meaning of the term is exclusively used to refer to the ‘revealed’ teaching within Catholicism, that at the time of HER OWN conception, she was ‘pre-redeemed’ from Original Sin.
Rian
LikeLike
The last religious wars in Europe were the 30 years wars. If what you are saying is correct, then how do you explain:
– The Napoleonic Wars
– The American War of Independence
– The US Civil War
– World War 1
– World War 2
– Korean War
– Vietname
LikeLike
Atheism has killed more people then all the above put together. Hundreds of millions killed, tortured and harrassed into believing atheism.
LikeLike
Not again, Alexie, please! Your droning mantra has been shown to be false time and again.
Do try finding a new one.
Since numbers seem to count to you, how about: “God drowned ALL the people in the world but a handful who were submissive little suck-ups.
…and has promised to destroy the entire world and everybody in it by fire next time.”
“atheism” has never killed anyone ~ and NO-one has ever been killed in the name of ‘atheism’.
…in stark contrast to christianity, which is actually based on the grotesque crucifiction of a son by his own father.
LikeLike
Evil a religious invention? Since you say there is no God you must then have some other way to explain evil. Or is there no evil at all but just relative “stuff” happens?
LikeLike
Of course ‘evil’ is a religious invention. It has no comfortable context in any other sphere.
Neither will you find a reference to it prior to religious rantings.
I was going to write a scholarly essay on the subject, but then decided to simply rely upon the authority-of-authorities:- God.
—–>>
American King James Version
I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.
American Standard Version
I form the light, and create darkness; I make peace, and create evil. I am Jehovah, that doeth all these things.
Douay-Rheims Bible
I form the light, and create darkness, I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord that do all these things.
Darby Bible Translation
forming the light and creating darkness, making peace and creating evil: I, Jehovah, do all these things.
………but you’re welcome to declare the bible is false and full of bullshit ~ and NOT the basis for ‘religion’ ~ if you like. 😉
As you say, as an atheist I don’t accept the existence of ‘god’ (in any of the aliases he uses), so lay the invention of the term at the feet of his propaganda/marketing authorities: generically: ‘religion’.
Either they, or ~ if I’m wrong ~ ‘god’, dunnit.
Take your pick.
as Bryan would say: QED
LikeLike
As they say, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing..Dabs, read this:
http://carm.org/does-god-create-evil
and this
http://www.comereason.org/phil_qstn/phi025.asp
and this
http://christianthinktank.com/iamwrong1.html
LikeLike
Evil, as in calamities and disasters, not the moral “evil.” Quit being stupid, Dabs. Nice try.
LikeLike
Quite right!…A little knowledge IS a Dangerous thing.
And if some devious mind wanted to avoid the danger they’d flood the field with so much (hypothetical) ‘knowledge’ that the Danger would get bogged down in the slush of Incomprehensibility.
But WHAT it means (according to any number of interpretations, misinterpretations or conjecturings) is irrelevant. No doubt there are even some who could make the argument that ‘Evil is a good thing’, because it feeds the hungry, relieves suffering and/or creates a consumer-driven need for ‘A Saviour’/Redemption…..and solely in that way is able to demonstrate his ‘Love’ for us . Whatever.
But WHATEVER it is or isn’t, the bottom line is ‘God Sez’, isn’t it?
It’s a confession (brag!) that would stand up in any court anywhere.
….and if god doesn’t exist then those who set up shop as his spokesmen ~ the religiosi and bible-scribes/apologists ~ are the ones responsible for inventing the word and its usages. (see:- Moses&Paul for a start.)
Moreover, the term has no practical use outside of a religious/quasi-religious context commenting in some way upon ‘morality’, another religion-borne invention. It’s a self-perpetuating industrial process incorporating both lateral and vertical growth and integration. As a business-model it puts Microsoft/Apple/Google, etc. to shame ….
The choices stand:- Accept that god, in his mysteriously-moving way deliberately ~ and pridefully! ~ created ‘Evil’, or write off the bible (and any ‘religion’ stemming from it) as an utterly unreliable would-be ‘authority’.
LikeLike
ps……Somebody had better duck around to Alexie’s house and resuscitate
(resurrect??) him, after the bald-faced assertion that ‘Evil’ has nothing to do with ‘Morality’ !!
Best copout I’ve ever heard, though. 😆
LikeLike
……….And the WORST copout I’ve ever heard is the attempt to ascribe ‘calamity’ and other natural events to the meaning of ‘Evil’.
‘God’ declares HE creates Evil, and nothing god ‘creates’ can be claimed to be a natural event/process.
Only an unnatural ‘miracle’ could have created Evil
…..from ‘Nothing’ pre-existing.
Don’t blame Ma Nature for Celestial Shenanigans. 😉
LikeLike
Being just and loving mutually exclusive concepts? Is it not because of your love for animals that you constantly protest at dogs being skinned alive? Is it not due to your sense of justice that you would punish those that engage in skinning animals alive? Surely you don’t believe your own b/s?
LikeLike
My detestation and hatred of the arseholes you describe (and of which you are apparently one) has nothing to do with ‘justice’, nor even ‘love’ for animals.
It has to do with rage that such mongrel-bred perverts and their hangers-on degrade the entire species to which I belong, and breathe the same air.
But for the enforcement of socio-legal/religious rules* such twisted deviates would be culled by genetically processes, as having no value to any natural order.
Nor do gutless hypocrites.
*like those rejected on any principle of anarchy ~ you really are a fool.
LikeLike
‘..genetically-programmed processes’ , of course.
LikeLike
Why worship scripture, with all its discrepancies, when we have a living God that we can experience? Scripture is useful, it shows the way various authors found their understanding of God, and we can follow what speaks to us personally.
If we are come into this world to learn the lessons of life, of course we must expect some to be hard. Hardship or ‘evil’ (one interpretation of hardship) must be built in. In these lessons we also need to learn to counteract the more common perception of evil, wrong-doing.
LikeLike
“The Christian view is that God gives us all freedom to choose whether to be with Him or not with Him after we leave this planet.”
That’s convenient.
LikeLike