To be irritated by religious views...

[Frume]

I know I'll get flamed here. Of course it goes without saying that you are entitled to believe whatever you believe. And I understand that sometimes people turn to 'God' because that's their last hope. But..

My example that prompted me to write this...

I was on Instagram and catching up with a poor girl that I follow. She is 19 and has battled cancer 3 times. The page is updated by her mum and she says things like:-

'In Him we trust to heal his child'

'This is all part of His plan'

'He knows what he is doing'

Something good happens & then it's, 'God is good' or 'Thank you to Our Father in Heaven for making our prayers come true and healing his child'

Ok. Sure, that was it.. or probably science

The general 'Thoughts and prayers' when there is any kind of disaster. Because obviously that's all that's needed in a time of crisis.

*“Thank you God for fixing the cataracts of Sam's mum!
I didn't realize that it was such a simple thing
I feel such a dingaling, what ignorant scum!
Now I understand how prayer can work:
A particular prayer in a particular church
In a particular style with a particular stuff
And for particular problems that aren't particularly tough,
And for particular people, preferably white
And for particular senses, preferably sight
A particular prayer in a particular spot
To a particular version of a particular god

And if you get that right, he just might
Take a break from giving babies malaria
And pop down to your local area
To fix the cataracts of your mum!”*

I lobe that Tim Minchin song ginger. It’s viciously accurate.

I also like the this part :
“Fuck me, Sam, what are the odds
That of history’s endless parade of gods
That the god you just happened to be taught to believe in
Is the actual one and he digs on healing?
But not the AIDS-ridden African nations
Not the victims of the plague, nor the fluid-addled Asians,
But healthy, privately-insured Australians
With common and curable corneal degeneration”

Let’s face it, if there is a god he ignores a lot of prayers and a lot of suffering, doesn’t he? How does he decide whose prayers to answer?

Very quickly:

1. He could also have mindless love slaves but chooses not too. He could force us to turn to Him but He doesn't. He wants us to choose from our free will to live Him.

1. Final judgement is not 'particular' judgment again for the dead. It is an understanding for everyone of the consequences of actions and the wider picture of their time on Earth. That is a merciful act.

1. No one said that it would be fine and dandy about being separated from God. That's why the salvation of souls is such an integral part of Christian theology. We want people to share in the beatific vision. However, if someone you loved but they hated you and really turned from you, would it be fair to make that person stay with you for eternity? Would it be an act of love?

*flood-addled! Sorry Tim.

He was spot on with his song about George Pell as well. Actually, that raises a good point. If there was a god, why wouldn’t he intervene to stop priests abusing churches, at the very least?

1. Repentance is a common theme in the Bible. Indeed, 'From then on Jesus began to preach, “Repent of your sins and turn to God, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near." '

God's forgiveness is always there but if you don't want forgiveness, how can you accept it?

At the end of the day, as mentioned, we simply don't know who is in Hell (except Satan) but I have utmost trust in God's understanding, love, mercy and justice.
Goodnight!

“Remember Richard Dawkins famous rant?
"The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully."

Yep.

Yanbu.

I respect people’s right to hold ridiculous beliefs but I have no respect for the belief itself.

I also fail to see why religious beliefs are held up as something you shouldn’t criticise or mock.

It seems to me faith is about having hope.

I also fail to see why religious beliefs are held up as something you shouldn’t criticise or mock.

Often the answer is connected with the fact that it's unkind to criticise or mock something from which many people derive comfort. I'm not convinced that the ones making that point would be so quick to defend spiritualism and mediums from the scorn which is quite rightly heaped upon them! And yet their clients are often delighted with their services and get great solace from them.

I couldn't give a shit what people believe, it is when they seek to impose their ways upon others it p's me off

@WhatisFreddoingnow

1. Firstly, I do know Jesus

OK, can you ask them for some actual facts, because the 'bible' which describes the so called 'facts' sic can never be challenged on them because they can't be taken as actual 'facts'?

1. Parable of Mustard seed... Which of course has been proven to be horse manure.

1. Wouldn't it be more tyrannical to force someone who doesn't want to be with God to be with Him for all eternity?...

So the choice is to be tortured in a tyranny or to be tortured in a greater tyranny? Sorry where is the free will?

1. If you don't repentant for a sin and don't want forgiveness - how could God forgive you?

Perfectly easily, I do this all the time for my children. I would call a tyrannical parent out for their behaviour just like I would a god. I certainly wouldn't 'worship' a god who was so malign to their children! But I guess I am more forgiving than the god you worship.

I hate any type of religion, however I think you are unreasonable. Let this family have hope in whatever they want to have hope in.

Science isn’t perfect either and often as inconsistent and corrupt as God/Allah.

The day my dad gave a Morman who had knocked at our door a piece of his mind was the last day I ever believed in God. The visitor had given my dad his opening speech to which my dad replied " You expect me to believe in someone who allowed my brother to be killed age 21 & my other brother to commit suicide, my parents were devout churchgoers who lived their life according to God's law, yet God allowed their family to be torn apart. Any true God would not have allowed this to happen" By this time the Mormans were backing away down the path as fast as they could. From that day onwards I have never believed, I was only probably 8 or 9 but it's something I have never forgotten, the more terrible things that happen in this world, the more I believe what my dad said.

Anyone who allows a child to suffer in their God's name is clearly unwell; rational human beings just don't do that regardless of their faith.

Otherwise rational human beings do it all the time.

Circumcision for non medical reasons.
Not vaccinating.
Telling children about Hell.
RC schools usually have a model of someone being tortured to death on the wall, sometimes in every classroom.
Not permitting your child to eat for prescribed time, and no I'm, not talking about Ramadan when children are not obliged to fast.
Forcing children to wear clothing prescribed by faith not the weather.
Refusing blood transfusions.

I could go on.

I'm a firm believer in that you can worship as you please as long as you don't hurt anyone or shove your beliefs down everyone else's throghts then its fine.
I am a non practicing catholic and I've only prayed to god twice in my life. Once to bring my brother back from war safely and to spare my child life when I was critically ill before his birth. There was nothing I could do in both situations so I was looking for hope and it helped.
You shouldn't judge other peoples coping mechanisms as long as they aren't hurting anyone

However, if someone you loved but they hated you and really turned from you, would it be fair to make that person stay with you for eternity? Would it be an act of love?

If you are a truly loving and forgiving person, you find a middle course, don't you? You don't fix a system whereby they're either with you for eternity or cast into hell or purgatory for eternity.

I don’t get the “hating God” thing. I don’t hate him. I am just as sure as it’s possible to be that he doesn’t exist.

But why would you want to 'worship' the Christian/Muslim/Jewish god? He is a deeply malevolent murderous diety. I wouldn't worship even if there was proof he existed. As for faith. Faith is the excuse people use for believing in things for which they have no evidence or justification.

I get where you're coming from. My mum prays for things for me all the time. The most recent example is my friend asked his landlord if me and my DP could move into his house after my friends moved out. When the landlord said yes, my Mum gave God all the praise and said it was all thanks to him as she'd been praying for thag outcome. I was like, yeah sure... Nothing to do with my friend and the landlord! Anyway. The landlord changed his mind the following day and said we couldn't move into the house anymore as he wanted to sell instead. Funny how my Mum didn't mention God again.

Well I'm going to wish you all a very Happy Easter regardless of your views because the sun is shining, church was lovely this morning, I've spent some time with some really lovely friendly supportive people there who make me feel good about myself and more confident in my own abilities (which are generally lacking!), and I discovered that God has answered 2 of my prayers so the people concerned are healthy after all. Life is good! And I feel remarkably blessed. So I hope that all of you, whether you believe in God or something/someone else or nothing at all, have a really lovely day.

Reading someone else's social media pages and getting irritated/angry because they believe in something you don't think they should believe in, seems overly-invested to me. Why do you care so much if it doesn't affect you? It's different if people are pushing their beliefs on you, I grant you, but that is not what is happening in the OP.

@intensiveeveline I agree, if the statement wasn’t aimed at you and no one was trying to force their beliefs into you then I think you probably need to respect their opinions.

Happy Easter to you too, Friartuck, and so glad you've had a good morning. I'm stuck at home in bed (long term disease playing up) and missing church, but the reality of my faith is that it holds me within this. I don't have to be at church to find God's presence. God is in the depths with me, and this is what I experience again and again, and this is what works in the life of so many millions. The spark to hope, the transformation of lives, the healing of wounds.

Happy Easter everyone.

Hope you make it back out of bed again soon Madhairday. And you're right, God is everywhere, and frequently when you least expect Him

Final judgement is not 'particular' judgment again for the dead. It is an understanding for everyone of the consequences of actions and the wider picture of their time on Earth. That is a merciful act.

Jesus was preaching to a very wide variety of people, many of whom had minimal education. Does anyone seriously believe that this is what he intended to convey, or indeed that it is what his audience got out of his teachings?

My sister went to meetings of an evangelical group for a time. Then she went to a session where they were talking about the power of prayer, and she got increasingly uneasy as people talked about praying not to be late for something and God sent the bus early, or God making their iffy ankle better in time for a football match, all accompanied by great applause and joy. She talked about praying for an ill relative to get better; it went down like a lead balloon when she revealed he'd become considerably more ill and died. The leader took her aside afterwards to suggest that really wasn't in the spirit, and she decided the whole thing was definitely not for her.