I believe there is something, but it might not be a personality trait, or at least not solely that. I think it has something to do with experiences, how your mind works, and your quality of life.
Why is (perceived?) religious inconsistency upsetting?
- Thread starter wynn
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I believe there is something, but it might not be a personality trait, or at least not solely that. I think it has something to do with experiences, how your mind works, and your quality of life.
It's easy to accuse someone of codepenence. But what is the alternative, especially in spiritual matters?
Probably realization. But realization isn't something that can be forced or arrived at by a mechanical practice.
God has free will. He can't be obligated to reciprocate, other than on His own terms.
One thing that really upsets me is that when many theists talk about the relationship with God and related topics, they portray God as if He were a mere order supplier. "You do this and that, and then God shows Himself to you, on your terms."
So what if you told her that? You do realize that in order to take your word for it, she would have to continue to be codependent (thereby effectively solving nothing)?
that's true. i don't want her to take my word for it.
i also don't think god is an order supplier necessarily, but in this regard, it's what worked for me. i sincerely wanted to know, regardless of the consequences, i asked him to show me, and he did. i refuse to think that i am in any way special or privileged in this regard, and that very scenario is depicted in scripture with what reads like a law...like it has to happen.
i know i've pissed people off before by insinuating that they're just not sincere enough, or demanding enough, or their intentions aren't in the right place, and i don't want to do that. i just can't find another way to reconcile it.
My own reason in response to the OP is that it affronts my sense of fairness and honesty. It essentially makes liars out of them. They know the inconsistencies in their stories. They're not all really that stupid. But they struggle to the point of absurdity to justify them in order to shore-up their "faith". This is just plain disingenuous. And it would make any honest rational persons blood boil at times.
Come on theists. Admit that you don't know a damned thing, objectively speaking, about gods or afterlives, and gain a bit of self respect.
Come on theists. Admit that you don't know a damned thing, objectively speaking, about gods or afterlives, and gain a bit of self respect.
I myself find it difficult, usually impossible, to try to look forward to being with a god who will torture the majority of his children in hell for all eternity because they didn't become convinced by something someone claimed to be the truth about God, and most of all, to call such torture "love".
This:
is the being I am supposed to look forward to spending eternity with?
This is the being I am supposed to build a "personal relationship" with?????
I do think you are privileged and special. You somehow already believe or have managed to convince yourself that it is love that God tortures the majority of His children in hell for all eternity with no chance of redepmtion.
i don't know that's true and neither do you. from a relative standpoint, i'd argue that we're all in hell right now. doesn't seem to bother some people one bit. :shrug:
I myself find it difficult, usually impossible, to try to look forward to being with a god who will torture the majority of his children in hell for all eternity because they didn't become convinced by something someone claimed to be the truth about God, and most of all, to call such torture "love".
This:
is the being I am supposed to look forward to spending eternity with?
This is the being I am supposed to build a "personal relationship" with?????
signal, we torture ourselves, and that's a picture. you're attempting to judge god based on heresay and your intellect. i just don't think it's possible to get an accurate and comprehensive knowledge of god that way.
from a personal standpoint, i could very well say that god has tortured me. but in reality, i know that i've tortured myself. from a global standpoint, we could say that we all are involved in some collective torture of each other and ourselves. does that mean that god doesn't exist or that god is evil? not in my opinion. but it does force some of us to take a good hard look in the mirror.
I agree. But what is the alternative?
To think that God is hiding somewhere behind a cloud from where He can see me and I can't see Him, and He is pining and yearning after me, "Oh Signal, please love me", and He is throwing daisies at me to attract my attention? Eh?
hm. i don't think daisies would cut it. didn't with me anyway. they aren't painful enough when they hit you.
Christianity as we usually know it stands and falls with the doctrine of eternal damnation.
Without this doctrine, Christianity loses its impetus. And other religious traditions become more appealing.
Be that as it may, but the idea of God wanting to have some kind of "personal relationship" with me is ... completely foreign to me.
Well, it's not that easy to let God off the hook. Those of us who have had enough to eat and not been raped by one of our parents may provide examples closer to the self-torture end of things, but many people are not in this position.
There are babies - apparently sent by God - in families where they are raped tortured and killed. They are children born to starve - in non-Christian familes - who never have a chance to come close to whatever God might ease their pain.