Why don't you show yourself? You supposedly made us and want us to believe in you, right? Why the big mystery? You're also omnipresent, right? Why don't you show yourself to all of us at once and have a personal discussion with us? You can pick the date and time, we'll all stop what we are doing, I'm sure. Why do you let your followers murder and rape us? Why do you let your Catholic priests sodomize our precious children? I think it's safe to say that we really don't like this. Isn't your Catholic hierarchy hand chosen by you from the top down? Are you afraid to admit to making a mistake in your choices? Can you please admit the mistake and let our children grow up in a normal, ethical and safe environment? Did you really make Eve from one of Adam's ribs? Why didn't you make her from dust just like Adam? And, why do men and women have the same number of ribs if you stole one from Adam to make Eve? Why do you make your followers suffer so much? Why do they die at the hands of other religions? Can't you put a stop to this? You're omnipotent, right? Can you 'show us your stuff'? Why do you let all those Church buses crash? Why do you let all your religious followers die in plane crashes, terrorist attacks, car accidents, famines, floods, hurricanes, tornados, etc.? Is this part of 'Your Plan'? If you needed more Angels or something, why didn't you just create more Angels? Why do you cause so much pain down here? Are you sadistic? Why are their so many conflicting religions? Did you make man so screwed up that he cannot hear the 'true' word of God... yours? Every religion that exists today and every one that has existed throughout history has professed that THEIRS is the only true religion. Did you come to Earth as Zeus once? Did you make all these religions because you thought certain societies could only understand certain concepts? What about the Jews? The Muslims? The Baptists? The New Adventists? The Mormons, Hindus, Incas, Mayans, Protestants, Apaches, Buddhists, Methodists, Gideons, Greeks, Quakers? The Catholics (American, European, South American, etc.)? Were you just looking for some diversity or is it just a childish game to see who will follow the 'right' religion? Which is the 'right' religion? I'm sure many denominations would REALLY like to know that they're worshipping the 'wrong' God, don't you? Was physics different when Noah built the ark? I mean, seriously... how did he get all the animals from all over the world... and the dinosaurs, etc. on that boat? How did he get penguins to the Middle East? How did he get them back after the big flood? Why didn't the dinosaurs eat all the sheep? I know from reading that you are jealous and envious and want nothing more than for all of us to believe in you... wouldn't you like to let us in on your secret? Come on, how'd he do it? Who can hear you and communicate with you? Are the Catholics correct in saying that only their priests can communicate with you? Why is this? To ensure the hierarchy and security of the Catholic Church? Or, can anyone communicate with you as most of the other religions believe? Why is there war? How does it agree with "Thou Shalt Not Kill"? Why are there so many wars in Your Name? If you made Adam & Eve first, and they had three sons Cain, Abel & Seth, what happened next? There's 4 men and 1 woman, right? What happened next to propagate the species? Who did the children marry? Who did they procreate with? Isn't incest bad? Adam & Eve had other children, so brothers and sisters; or Eve's sons and Eve were having sex? God, why aren't we all retarded genetic mistakes? Why didn't the whole human race get physically deformed and mentally handicapped from mixing familial genes? Surely you knew about the gene problem, right? Or did it not exists back then? Did you just create it recently in one of your more spiteful moments? I've heard a lot of 'theories' on the whole fossil thing and evolution. Did you just put all this evidence here to confuse us? If so, why? Why did you make us such sinful creatures? You are all-powerful and all-knowing, right? Why did you give us the ability to do things you call sinful? Why, then, do you punish us for doing exactly what you created us to do? If you created the earth and mankind, why are you letting us wipe out your creations? Is it that 'free-will' thing? We're killing this planet. Why don't you save it? Why don't you save us from ourselves? I mean, we're just doing what you made us capable of doing, right? Should we stop modern medicine? Are we violating your will as so many seem to think? Is it bad to fix health problems ourselves for things that you didn't seem to consider? Did people just make up heaven as a place to go when you die because they were too afraid to tell the children that when you die... that's it? End of story... game over? Do you know how to use email? Surely you do, right? Why haven't you written us yet with all the answers? Would your email be ? Or, would it be ".org"? I guess it would be ".com" because you aren't a non-profit institution, right? How does 'immaculate conception' work? We really don't understand that one down here. Are you just covering for some out-of-wedlock behavior? Why do you just take the 'soul' up to heaven? Don't you have more room up there than that? Can't you just take the whole person? We're running out of room down here and graves that are supposed to have everlasting piece are constantly being disturbed and robbed. Why do you make us like things that aren't 'good' for us? Why alcohol, cigarettes and drugs? Why cheeseburgers and fries? Is it that 'free-will' thing again? Why did you give men a life-long desire for beautiful women? Is it just a test of our will and monogamy? Why do 20 year olds desire the same voluptuous women of child-bearing age as 30, 40, 50 and 100 year old men? Was it to ensure the propagation of the human race? But, doesn't this cause men to stray and covet thy neighbor's wife? Why do you want to destroy everyone that doesn't believe in you? Why make them burn in hell for eternity? Couldn't you have been a little kinder and just given all these people the capability to believe in you? Don't you take any pride of ownership in what you created? Why did you give your followers such a strong ability towards intolerance and hate? Aren't you a loving God? Why do we massacre those unlike ourselves or those that have a 'diversity' of religious belief? Is this part of your plan too? Do we just not understand? Are you ever going to answer our questions? Are you listening? Are we really supposed to believe the fable of Jonah and the whale? Wouldn't Jonah have drowned? Or, wouldn't he have been killed from lack of oxygen in the whales stomach? Or, wouldn't he have been digested by the acids in the whale stomach like everything else? Is this just a a mythological fable? If so, for what reason? Are we really supposed to believe that the Sun stood still? We've been watching it for a very long time and it just doesn't do that. There seems to be issues of physics (such as gravity and orbital mechanics) that just doesn't allow that to happen. Did you intervene and make is so? Did you really just do this so 'your' army could keep on killing? Doesn't that violate one of your Ten Commandments that "Thou shalt not kill"? If you flooded the Earth during Noah's boat ride, what did all the animals eat when you finally let them back on dry land again? Why did you let the Catholic Church burn and imprison scientists during the Inquisition? Do you not like us to discover the workings of our planet and the universe? Is that just 'your' secret? did you tell us in the Bible that the Earth, Sun, moon and the Heavens are fixed on pillars and cannot move? Why didn't all the animals die off after Noah's Ark? We know that one male and one female of each species are not enough for the species to survive and propagate. Studies of reproduction of many, many species indicate that it would simply not be possible. Did things work differently back then? Why do you say you created two lights in the sky: the Sun and the moon? We know the moon doesn't really generate any light. It's just a reflection from the other light, the Sun, right? Why did you tell us this? Isn't it a false statement? How are we to believe that we were created from dust? There's lots of evidence that we evolved from other creatures. Should we just ignore this? Should we be happy to have been created from dust rather than a fish? Why do many of your followers refuse medical treatment? What part of your 'Grand Plan' does this fulfill to have your followers die horrible, early deaths? The Bible appears to have an error with regards to how long Noah's flood lasted. Genesis says it was 40 days in one part and 150 days in another. Which is it? Why did you let this error exists in your Holy Word that we are supposed to believe is 100% accurate and true? What does the term 'day' mean to you? Is it different than our 24 hour day? Some of your followers seem to think so, saying that "God's days are not the same as our days." Some even claim that a single day of yours might have been billions of years and that accounts for fossils and all the geologic formations we see. Which is it? Did Adam really live to 930 years of age? Seth 912 years? Enos 905 years? How are we supposed to believe this, when over history, man is living longer and longer due to cleanliness and medicine? Were things cleaner back then? Had you not created all the illnesses and disease that you've given us now? Why do we find evidence of all the creatures that lived before us, yet most of them are not mentioned by you? And, why do we not find evidence of some of the species you mention in the Bible like fiery serpents or giants that towered over us like we were grasshoppers? Why did you let Hitler massacre so many people? Why was the Catholic Church silent on this genocide? What happened to "Thou shalt not kill"? Why didn't you stop him? Why did you let the Explorers of the New World murder so many natives? If we are all your children, why did you let them kill so many of your children? Is this some kind of experiment or game for you? If you made all the creatures on earth, why do you like us to kill animals for you in sacrifice? Why does this make you happy? Why do you punish babies for the wrong-doings of their parents? Why do you give us the capabilities for logic and reason, yet do not want us to apply these skills when it comes to you? Why did you create the forbidden fruit on the Tree of Knowledge? If you didn't want Eve to eat the fruit, why create it in the first place? And, why did you create the serpent who tempted Eve to eat the fruit? Were you afraid she wouldn't without being tempted by a serpent? Is this a game to you? Why did you give us "dominion" over the earth and all creatures on it? We're destroying your planet and the list of your creatures we made extinct is endless. Can you please do us a favor and take this power away from us? How old is the earth? The universe? You gave us plenty of evidence that they were not created 8-10 thousand years ago as your book says (and your followers try to force on us). You are omniscient, so we won't bore you with our findings because you already know, right? Are you planning a 2nd edition to the Bible to correct these blatant errors? Was the devil on your editorial staff? Why are all the translations of the Bible so different? Why are you allowing man to revise your word? Why is your son, Jesus, and his sacrifice for our sins, considered the ultimate gift? Was this not much of a sacrifice on the part of you or Jesus? Given that you have always existed (think on an infinite time-scale), Jesus’ sojourn on earth of thirty-some years amounts to a brief flicker of time. Consider then, that Jesus had to come among us mere mortals and ultimately suffered the pain of death upon the cross. How great was that sacrifice for Jesus, knowing that he would shortly be sitting once more at your right hand? Compare that to the rebellious son of a rich family, (let's make him atheist for the sake of argument) who enlists in the army at the start of WWII. He becomes a medic and is sent, along with his regiment, to capture a small island in the South Pacific. As the battle rages, he moves forward under a hail of gunfire to aid a fallen comrade. As he reaches the soldier and begins to dress the wound, a round from an enemy machine gun rips into his abdomen. He continues to apply pressure to his comrade's wound until another round strikes him in the right shoulder, knocking him backwards. He is unable to rise as the machine gun fire intensifies. He lies there as his platoon is driven back. Bleeding. Dying. Seeing nothing but darkness as he closes his eyes for the last time. Was this not the ultimate gift? Why must I be forgiven for my sins by you, who has committed sins far greater than those of which I am capable? I have not unleashed a flood, killing the entire planet's population save for a handful of people who worship me unquestioningly. I have not asked a man to sacrifice his son to prove his loyalty to me. I have not tormented another man, causing his family and property to be destroyed, solely so I could prove to someone that the man would remain devoted to me. I might have told my boss I was sick and went skiing instead. But how can mine be the greater sin requiring forgiveness? In a related question, why do people worship a God who would kill millions who do not follow him, with floods or fire rained down from above, but those same people will cry ‘Madman’ when a country's leader eliminates millions in a program. Why does your personality seem to depend upon the personality of your followers? People who have a kind, caring personality tend to believe you are a kind and caring God. Those people who are hard and angry tend to believe in an angry and vengeful God. Are we free to make our own choices? If we are, how can we say that you opened up an opportunity for us? Wasn't the opening of that opportunity the result of someone else's free choice? Since the only people who ask stupid questions, like the first fifty or so you just heard, are Atheists, then why don't you solve your problem of making sure everyone believes in you by vaporizing a few of the non-believers in plain sight. Make an example of the mothers.... that would settle the matter! You see god, we're confused about why Atheists are allowed to live fulfilling, decent and happy lives, and all the while you go around tormenting, torturing, killing and persecuting those who believe in you. Isn't that kind of sick and perverted god? If the whole point of living is to die and get to heaven, why are you letting the Atheists have such a good time on earth? Why do most of your believers get their butts kicked and spend all their time killing those whose flavor of belief in god is different from the other guy? Huh god? Can you answer that one god? If we are all Gods Children, Why is Jesus so special? I recently read the statement that because the universe was "created" it must have a creator so there must be a god. To be honest, I have a problem with this statement because if you "exist", you must exist SOMEWHERE. If you exist somewhere in the universe, then where were you hanging out before the universe was created? Were you in the parking lot? If so, who created the parking lot? If you created that as well, where were you hovering at the time you created the parking lot? Ultimately, God, for you to create the universe you must exist and for you to exist you must exist somewhere and you must have been created in that somewhere. So tell me God, who created you in that somewhere, and shouldn't we really be worshipping the god that created you instead of worshipping you? All you did was create our itty-bitty universe? Why does the bible have an "Old Testament" and a "New Testament"? Didn't you get it right the first time? If you are infallible, why did you need an update? If there are so many religions and each thinks their beliefs are the only right ones and that everyone else is wrong, then most people are wrong - and if one religion is right, most people on the planet consider that one wrong. So which religion is the one that is right?
Rebecca, I deal with your questions everyday and thank you for the opportunity to answer them. But there are so many of them. Anyway you could hone it down to a few at a time? Or later tonight, when I get home from work, I'll pick one or two and go from there. Okay? And thanks again for the questions. I love to answer questions like these because they give me time to be with my Father in Heaven, to ponder and worship Him. To thank Him for His Grace.
Becca, I would seriously put the Bible away in a nice safe place for a while. Spend some time praying and meditating (listening). Relax a little. Do something for someone or yourself. enjoy............ edit: I forgot to add though. those are all damn good questions.
Actually, these questions are from one of my favorite websites the ethical atheist http://www.ethicalatheist.com/docs/questions_for_god.html
I would ask him to tell me what are the 5 biggest mistakes we humans have made in developing our society and world?
The whole point of this life is to nurture the spark of the divine for ourselves, and without overwhelming evil, there can be no great triumph. Without a Hitler, there is no "greatest generation" that stands up to stop him against all odds. Without evil, there is nothing for good to triumph over. The whole point of why we are here WITHOUT knowing of God's plan in a logic sense, is SO we can sacrifice. If you knew 100% that god exists, then when you jump in front of a bullet for a friend, you're just making an investment, not sacrificing everything for an IDEAL. Ideology is everything. It's why destructive nazis bent on killing certain minorities, could only kill 12 million in wars and all total, but misleading communists killed just about everyone, at 120 million killed, with no wars. Ideology is everything. You're so odd to think that we are all creation. You place too much value on LIFE, and not on IDEALS. What's the point of living if you have no ideals? Just temporary gratifications? Evil is not an equal entity to Good. Evil is the ABSENCE of Good. Evil was born out of disconnection from God. You place far too much of the blame on God, and not on Man. We are disconnected from God, to an extent, and that is what causes evil, not God. You are basically asking why we were disconnected from God? Why there is conflict? This is a story, and a story without conflict is pretty damn boring.
As Southpark (the movie) had Satan sing: without evil, there can't be good; so it must be good to be evil sometimes!
OK I looked up one for you (I'm a bit open-minded and undecided myself): Dear God, hope you got the letter and I pray you can make it better down here I don't mean a big reduction in the price of beer But all the people that you made in your image See them starving on their feet 'Cause they don't get enough to eat from God I can't believe in you Dear God, sorry to disturb you but I feel that I should be heard loud and clear We all need a big reduction in amount of tears And all the people that you made in your image See them fighting in the street 'Cause they can't make opinions meet about God I can't believe in you Did you make disease and the diamond blue? Did you make mankind after we made you? And the devil too! Dear God don't know if you've noticed but Your name is on a lot of quotes in this book And us crazy humans wrote it, you should take a look And all the people that you made in your image Still believing this junk is true Well I know it ain't, and so do you, dear God I can't believe in I don't believe in I won't believe in heaven and hell No saints, no sinners, no devil as well No pearly gates, no thorny crown You're always letting us humans down The wars you bring, the babes you drown Those lost at sea and never found And it's the same the whole world 'round The hurt I see helps to compound That Father, Son and Holy Ghost Is just somebody's unholy hoax And if you're up there you'd perceive That my heart's here upon my sleeve If there's one thing I don't believe in It's you Dear God ******** Dear God by XTC from the LP "Skylarking" *** Glad I could help shorten it up a bit
Naw, Evil is not an equal entity to Good. So there CAN be a Good without Evil. Evil is just the absense of Good. This is a story and granted the story needs a villain, but that doesn't make the villain "good" it just makes him necessary for conflict which is necessary for triumph.
Rebecca, when I have some time, I will be returning to your thread, but wanted to say - keep going. I admire your search. Paul
Isn't it ironic that this person is writing letters to someone she doesn't believe in? I think alot of people are like that including myself. God somehow doesn't seem likely but somewhere deep down inside your thinking "maybe". I have learned about so many religions but yet I can't "feel" them in my heart. Sometimes I have wanted to, but you can't pretend or fake what you don't feel. My father was an atheist and I remember asking him what happens when you die. He said you are buried in the ground and your body nurtures the soil and feeds the insects. Later in life, I was very sick in the hospital. Somehow I knew I was on my way out and I looked down on my body and saw the doctor and nurses scrambling around. Then it was like I was pulled thru the ceiling and all of a sudden I was sitting in this green field with wildflowers. I never saw anyone else there, but I felt really happy and peaceful, it was a beautiful place. Then all of a sudden, I was back in my body and the nurse was smiling at me saying, "we almost lost you!" and my first thought was "Crap, what am I doing back here!" I know that sounds like a crazy story some will believe or not, but it is the reason I cannot be an atheist. I call my self agnostic because there is no religion that I totally believe in.
That's a great story, Rebecca, and wildly enough, I've had a similar experience. (A freak sucker punch to the gut when I was a kid, I bust a retroperitoneal bleed, and I stupidly continued to work out - emergency lavage and surgery, the whole 9 yards) - similar transcendent experience, and this was what originally set me on the path to evangelical Christianity (I spoke of this on one of the threads). Now, I am more awed by nature itself than anything else.
When you left your body where did you go? Were you sitting in green grass or what did it look like? Nature is beautiful. I guess that would be my heaven, green grass and wildflowers as far as the eye can see
Actually, that wasn't my intention. That is why I posted where they came from. Did you actually count all 3,022 of the words? are you sure it wasn't 3,021 or 3,023? Is that all you get out of this thread is just an opportunity to take a cheap shot?