07-09-2023, 10:39 PM
(07-09-2023, 09:49 PM)samhain Wrote: Idk if I have a disdain for god or not. I can't even fully say that I believe one exists. If I did have anything close to disdain for such an entity, it's a lot less about free will to do what I want and a lot more about never having asked to be born into the morality play in the first place.
If I had a choice to be erased from time and never have been born, I would seriously consider it.
But in my opinion, people only say this because they've never experienced what it's like to be truly "alive". We are all dying right now. The moment we are born we literally start the process of dying. I can't say for certain what it's like to truly be alive, and by "alive" I mean living within the eternal glory of God. But what I can say is I do want to find out. God is the greatest mystery of life, and to miss out on that experience is far scarier to me than anything else in this life. To be completely honest, I don't see the downside to experiencing eternity with God, until we actually do, we can only assume what it will be like. But it can be the greatest thing we've ever experienced. I know a lot of people would argue it won't be great, but that's not what I believe.
Quote:I'm just not sure what kind of. benevolent being gets gratification from watching the sorts of lives we live, as we fail endlessly to meet a perfect standard that we by definition will never achieve. That doesn't sound benevolent. That sounds like a parent or husband that beats his kids or spouse and tells them that the suffering can end if they just make the choice to do what he told them in the first place.
I read some crackpot online once who was trying to explain some other horseshit about this. His idea was that god is indeed the devil. He has laid the deception upon us that we must obey him while suffering in the world he created for us. Before that the universe existed in a state of oneness with the true "light" or god of all. It's a dangerous theory and anyone can say whatever, but it makes a solid point.
I think that's one of the great deceptions. That in order for God to be good we must not suffer, so he must in a sense serve our interests and not his own. If God were to do that, it would in effect make him not God. And what good is a god that simply bends to the will of man? I don't believe the allowance of suffering makes God evil because we are able to escape it through the salvation he has offered us.
Quote:As for people having disdain out of a desire for pure sense pleasure, I find this false. This is a young person's illusion. I've gotten material things and experiences that I never thought I would acquire. Not a single one of them was worth the work I put into getting them. Not a damn one. Not one material thing I own that is anything but essential for life is something I'd say I'd miss significantly if I lost it. All I ever want is to achieve a state of contentment.
Rich people should be happy as hell by the logic that we just want to screw off and do what we want in spite of god. They're not. Most of them are still miserable assholes with screwed up lives and desires they can never satiate. it's the human condition. All money and "freedom" do is amplify the desires to the point of silliness.
Exactly.
My point being that our efforts to make ourselves happy/content are futile, even if temporary. It would serve us much better to turn to God and take him up on his offer of salvation and experience what it's like to truly be "alive".
