• FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Yup.

    The teachings of Christianity don’t make any fucking sense. (Unless you’re willing to gaslight yourself for a lifetime.)

    • callouscomic@lemm.ee
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      17 days ago

      Now now, don’t discount free reign to also gaslight others for a lifetime as well. And judge and shame others too. It’s great for complete assholes.

  • Doctor_Satan@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    If you read the Bible with a purely objective mind and come away thinking God is the good guy in the story, I have some serious questions about your morality and ethics.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      16 days ago

      You could replace “God” with “Parents” to the same effect.

      But arguing that a parent is evil because they see a child committing an error, know it is an error, and decline to intercede doesn’t rationally follow. If you helicopter over your kids and intercede every time they make mistakes, they never develop into independent and mature adults. You also induce a lot of anxiety, as you’re constantly interposing yourself between the child’s desires and actions without the ability to convey the wisdom of your decisions. So the kid sees you as the harmful force, rather than the thing you’re seeking to avert.

      So what’s a Parent/God to do? Do you puppet your child, never letting them stray farther than the length of a string? Do you lock your child in a padded ceil and hand-feed them every day? Do you hardwire their programming, so they can’t deviate from your design, acting exclusively on a divine instinct?

      Is that really what we consider “Goodness”?

      There is also the Calculation Problem to consider. A God-like intelligence might be able to observe far more than a human without being perfectly omniscient. Similarly, they might be able to calculate probabilities more quickly and accurately without being perfectly prescient. If a Parent/God knows most of the things but is not omniscient, does that mean they are unworthy of your attention or the reception of wisdom? At the same time, is it the duty of a Parent/God to restrict the actions of the others in their domain to the things they can calculate in advance? This brings us back to the idea of the Child Prisoner or Brainwashed Child. You’re safe at the expense of any kind of growth or personal liberty. God treats you like a farmer treats a veal calf - perfectly unspoiled through inaction.

      And finally, there is the problem of Entropy. A God who can foresee everything and recognizes that Evil is inevitable. Is such a God responsible for this Evil simply because it can perceive it? Is such a God responsible for this Evil simply because it cannot prevent it? Is this flaw in God’s power a reason to reject it as a source of virtue?

      Consider Odin hanging from Yggdrasil, his eye plucked out in pursuit of a way to prevent Ragnorak. He is not all-powerful. He is not-all knowing. He is routinely makes mistakes and even acts out of anger, lust, or petty vengeance. He is fundamentally flawed as dieties come. And yet his primary goal and function - to prevent the end of the world - seems noble enough to justifiably cultivate a religious following.

      • bufalo1973@lemm.ee
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        16 days ago

        Parents aren’t all powerful. But the Abrahamic god is (according to their faith) all powerful. So it could stop any war, any disease, any pain, … but does not. Either it’s not all powerful or not good. Choose. Or, as I think, doesn’t exist.

  • PattyMcB@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    If God were all-powerful, he could create another all-powerful God who could destroy him against his will, thus making him less than all-powerful.

    The mere idea of an all-powerful God contains a ton of paradoxes.

  • Sterile_Technique@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Did god not have the power to give us free will without also giving us evil?

    • Had the power but opted not to: god is himself some part evil

    • Didn’t have the power, did the best he could with the tools he had: god is not omnipotent.

    Pick one.

    • samus12345@lemm.ee
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      17 days ago

      Going by the Bible, it’s both. He acted with malice and proved himself to not be omnipotent many times.

      • Agent641@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Jod introduced the idea of freewill to the board.

        Lucifer said “That’s a bad idea, chief. Free will would ruin them.”

        Jod cast him out.

        Humans fucked everything up.

        Jod sent his CTO, Jesus to try and fix it. It went poorly.

        Lucifer said " I told you so"

        • samus12345@lemm.ee
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          16 days ago

          “What if you gave them free will AND ALSO gave them the knowledge of the true nature of existence, rather than relying on them figuring everything out via very obviously man-made religions?”

          “Naw.”