Is God the good guy?

[Oberon]

My own opinion is that there is no such thing as the Devil, but it is a need by humanity to blame everything that goes wrong on something. God? Well, something started the Big Bang off, probably the collapse of the universe before us, but then what started that one? Something sparked it all off somewhere, what? Well, I don't have the answer there. I do feel that there is a level of existence beyond which we can comprehend, that is to do with the soul of all creatures...the giant atom perhaps as George Carlin put it. We come from it, we walk this earth and then we go back to it, call it heaven, call it reincarnation, call it whatever you want...many will call it a load of rubbish but that's ok too.

Of course, there's always the chance I'm wrong, heck, there's the chance we're all wrong and as such we are all doomed to suffer in the hellfires of eternity...although to some of us on this planet, I suspect that the hellfires of eternity would be a welcome respite to the hell that already exists on this planet...because to be honest with you, we are far, far, far better at creating hell than Lucifer will ever be.

[Growler]

Originally Posted by Oberon

My own opinion is that there is no such thing as the Devil, but it is a need by humanity to blame everything that goes wrong on something. God? Well, something started the Big Bang off, probably the collapse of the universe before us, but then what started that one? Something sparked it all off somewhere, what? Well, I don't have the answer there. I do feel that there is a level of existence beyond which we can comprehend, that is to do with the soul of all creatures...the giant atom perhaps as George Carlin put it. We come from it, we walk this earth and then we go back to it, call it heaven, call it reincarnation, call it whatever you want...many will call it a load of rubbish but that's ok too.

Of course, there's always the chance I'm wrong, heck, there's the chance we're all wrong and as such we are all doomed to suffer in the hellfires of eternity...although to some of us on this planet, I suspect that the hellfires of eternity would be a welcome respite to the hell that already exists on this planet...because to be honest with you, we are far, far, far better at creating hell than Lucifer will ever be.

It's rare that we have to go very far before you'll post something insightful and eloquent; once more, you have proven that.

I know this much: I find the world - indeed, all of creation - so much more amazing now that I've outgrown the model of a Creator's "Intelligent Design". Notice that Heaven represented eternal reward, which would be yours for suffering the abuses of power, where Hell would be your reward for resisting them. Convenient, at least if you're the one with the power. This is the entire principle behind Manifest Destiny, and the Western World's largely done away with that concept. Why not the "religion" behind it? Because it still works to keep the sheep in line - I mean, seriously - Christianity even calls it's followers sheep, for pity's sake.

[Oberon]

Originally Posted by Growler

It's rare that we have to go very far before you'll post something insightful and eloquent; once more, you have proven that.

Thank you.

[Nicolas]

I'm a believer, yes he is the only true good guy...
Too much spins for such simple stuff.

[Task Force]

That makes 100% scene IMO... ive always thought something similar about god. another reason i cant believe in a god.

EX you tell a kid person A is good, they will not question it and will always believe it.

I mean if the book is true, the guy flooded the earth and gave every living animal that wasn't the lucky 2 a horrible death, drowning in a endless sea. Killed anyone/thing no matter what they did in life. I mean, in his own book he admitted to mass murder.

Mass Murder is a term Man created and uses as the proclaimer sees fit.
If I had a tank full of Seas Monkeys and dumped it because I was tired of them.
Does that make me a Mass Murderer?
When you get rid of an Ant Hill are you then a Mass Murderer?
I stomp on Spiders when I can.
Have my whole life.
Am I a Serial Killer?

[Task Force]

Yes, but a whole civilization of humans, some just living their life's, some being "sinner" killing them all, every innocent animal, every animal that lives on land. Killing them just because a group didn't believe?

A spider is just a dumb bug, a Sea monkey isn't alive, and a ant hill is full of stupid bugs. Not a planet full of sentient humans just living life. but anyway, you will think of god as you will, I will as i do.

[Growler]

Originally Posted by privateer

Mass Murder is a term Man created and uses as the proclaimer sees fit.
If I had a tank full of Seas Monkeys and dumped it because I was tired of them.
Does that make me a Mass Murderer?
When you get rid of an Ant Hill are you then a Mass Murderer?
I stomp on Spiders when I can.
Have my whole life.
Am I a Serial Killer?

Sure. What's a title, but a handle by which we hang moral judgement arbitrarily? Stalin was a mass-murderer at the same time Hitler was the savior of the Aryan race. Hirohito was the Son of Heaven at who's command perhaps millions of Chinese were killed, but Roosevelt was the Western Imperialist who sought to deprive Japan of her rightful place in the world by stifling the tools her people needed to survive.

It's all perspective and angle. History accepts that two of those were mass murderers, one a leader exploited by his military, and the last a great president.

Then your pretty much saying all Soldiers that eliminate Enemy Targets
are Mass Murderers or Serial Killers.

[Feuer Frei!]

Hahaha i found the video quiet funny really.
Questioning the bible is not for us to do.
If, and i say if you are a true believer, why would you find the need to question God's word?
It is only the non-believers that would do that, ofc.
Or, in the case of denominations, change the words of God to suit your own lifestyles and beliefs.
That's why you have different denominations. What gets me is that these so called believers believe in the word of God, they believe in him. Yet they change and modify his words to suit themselves.
I understand he is trying to question us Christians and make us question ourselves, and to be quiet honest i don't need to question the word of God, nor do i need to answer to all the non-believers out there whether God exists, or whether God is the lesser power and the Devil is the greater power.
He's basically saying that it's a book and how can we believe it.
And it's normal to fall into the old and tired arguement with the Natural Disasters thing, where many people are killed but a few survive.
The old arguement on why God didn't stop the disasters or why he didn't save people.
And on the point of him saying that God put us on this earth to endure suffering, oh dear. I've heard some interesting arguements against Christianity but this one i haven't heard before.
Yes the suffering is endless, it's only going to get worse in fact.
The Bible predicts this.
God didn't create this world to have us suffer, or to kill people in disasters, or to allow the suffering of pain and loss of life.
God created us equal, with a free mind to chose between right and wrong.

[AngusJS]

Originally Posted by Feuer Frei!

Hahaha i found the video quiet funny really.
Questioning the bible is not for us to do.

So your answer is to ignore the question? Wow, you won me over.

And you should try questioning the bible sometime - read it without the assumption that it's true.

God created us equal, with a free mind to chose between right and wrong.

Except when he's "hardening our hearts".

[Armistead]

Originally Posted by AngusJS

So your answer is to ignore the question? Wow, you won me over.

And you should try questioning the bible sometime - read it without the assumption that it's true.

Except when he's "hardening our hearts".

I agree, always questions, you learn nothing but what someone tells you if you don't question.

A free mind to choose right from wrong denies the human and cultural factors of man.

A child born in poverty in the ghetto without loving parents will usually be in a gang before puberty. Having no one to really teach him right from wrong, his mind will be set before puberty to know wrong. Unless he is one of the lucky few to escape, he'll probably move on to be a criminal.

The same with many prostitutes. They get trapped in it by childhood, rather forced into it often why children, then laced with dope non stop until life to them becomes worthless.

A child beaten and abused often beats and abuses when grown.

Right from wrong is something that is taught by culture. Like most things in culture we learn these things at a young age. It doesn't exist in our hearts, that is self preservation.

Compare that to those who are taught right from wrong, those that are loved at a young age, they will most often grow up different.

The bible says to train a child in it's youth, sort of proves the point.

So again a bias towards those brought up in poverty and unloved and not raised correctly.