Hyde_is_my_anti-drug said:
On the one hand God claims to be all forgiving and loving, kind and just a good guy but then he will turn around a smite down whole cities because they were "evil" but if he's forgiving shouldn't our level of "evilness" or "goodness" be a mute point? So it makes me wonder, which is it? Does he forgive indiscriminately or will he send all us sinners to Hell unless we prostrate ourselves before him and lick his @$$ and help inflate his already monstrous ego? Truly I want to know which it is. But even "God" himself doesn't seem to know and whenever I pin one of my uber-religious relatives in a corner and ask them they either blatantly refuse to answer or contradict themselves so many times it's laughable.
God seems to have multiple personalities or something, how else can someone be so extremely bipolar? Or maybe it's because human beings wrote the Bible and human beings make mistakes, twist things to say what they want, put words in others' mouths to make their own point. Perhaps that is why the Bible contradicts itself so many times; human error.
You might want to reconsider your wording when you say, "God claims..." I don't think "God" has ever claimed anything (at least not blatantly for the whole populous to take note); there's only what people say he has claimed. It's your choice whether you want to believe them or not.
In the beginning of your rant, you almost speak as if you had an intimate relationship with him that went sour; like you went through a messy break-up and now all that you feel towards him is this irate, caustic bitterness. I, for one, have never been graced by the divine presence of His Holiness, let alone claim to be his former mate/pal/friend/GF/what have you, so I can't speak with the same authority as you about who he is... if he
is at all... or what he claims to be. It might not have been your intention to give off such an impression, so I'll just lay it on sloppy wording.
The level of credence people put in The Bible is laughable; to take everything so literally only tickles me more. On that point, I think we can both agree. (I also wouldn't judge "God" by the people (or institutions) who supposedly "represent" him.)
The thing that gets me, though, is how people can have the audacity to claim that because there are bad people in the world and because bad things happen, there is. No. God. Unless you're friggin' six feet under and meal for worms, you're (not a personal attack; just saying) no legit authority on the subject. Through personal experience, I've come to realize that there's this novel thing we humans possess called "free will": a freedom to do whatever the hell we please; when we please; because we please and because,
dammit, we're not robots; we're not pre-programmed to do anything for anybody... This "Hell on Earth" we witness is none of "God"'s doing, but our own. We create our own Hell; we reap what we sow. "God" isn't responsible for our actions, we are. If "God" controlled what we did, what would be the point of living? Our lives are made up of the choices we make. Were I in "God"'s position, and my only companion was Nothing (pre-everything), I wouldn't want to engender a world and populate it with more Nothings (will-less capsules of flesh); I would want some form of
willful interaction coming from the other end, not controlled, because when you receive emotion that is raw and unfettered, that's when it's most beautiful (yes; gag-inducing, but true nonetheless). When you love someone so much and to know that that love is reciprocated, sans omnipotent machinations, wouldn't that bring you an utter sense of peace; of happiness? I feel that if "God" does exist, he doesn't allow himself to intervene in our affairs because if he did, the whole
point of our creation would be lost. Maybe if he did interfere (but who's to say he hasn't?) the depravity of humanity would manifest itself less... but then, so would the beauty...
Our fates are in our own hands, and we're just f*cking up. Big time. We need to change ourselves, not God. We're not so powerless (utterly stupid sometimes, maybe) and, I'll employ a cliche here, where there's a will there's a way. So start owning up people and stop moanin' and b*tchin' and complaining. "WAH, this world SUX! God is an illusion for the MEEK." *slitwrists* / "I can do whatever I want, because in the end, God will forgive meh! Whoo-wee!" *sodomizes little Bunny Fuu Fuu*
Well, if we're f*cking up so much, why doesn't he just wipe us out; start over? Yeh... kill your own babies and smash a couple of kittens for thrills while you're at it, Joe.... I'm sure that's what you feel like doing sometimes. *shrugs* Now I'm just rambling.... *readies for bed*