Is God selfish? How come He demands constant praise and worship while not doing anything for us

[Cyrus' Wife]

And let little kids grow up in a situation where they are molested, neglected, and eventually die before they hit double digits

"God works in mysterious ways"




It's sad that in this day and age we still have grown ass adults that still fully believe in this stuff. Luckily younger people are becoming less and less religious and relying more on practicality and science

It depends on your perspective. My spiritual perspective is eternal and not earthly. This world is full of suffering. God Himself has suffered, but that doesn't mean there isn't a bigger picture at play. In my opinion, there is an afterlife beyond this one that is eternal and suffering-free. A few short earthly years in this one to get to eternity is a very small price to pay in the long run. I mean do you even remember what happened to you from ages 0 to 1? This is what our earthly life is like in the context of eternity. All the sufferings of this short present earthly life will be just a vague memory if we even remember it at all.

 

[Ziploc]

You can put a new concept into the universe and still not receive it.

Its along the same concept of when you’re thinking of something in your head and then somebody else says it out loud.

People will say G-d/the universe doesn’t answer their prayers when they didn’t meet the devotional criteria to receive it.

Putting a concept out into the universe is basically asking for a favor from the universe that is bound to Law itself. We are the concept,the fact that asking/begging for a miracle or just an improvement in your circumstances doesn't lead to the desired result has nothing to do with a lack of devotion,we just manifest a concept of God that might deem you unworthy so we can place the lack of result in the hands of an omniprescence that has human traits.We can interact with God/Law from that perspective but i find it pointless to say the least .I pray(concerted energy),meditate but more importantly i dont ask for anything I just acknowledge Law in all it's greatness and keep my interpretation within my own understanding, ie not to humanize my bond where i ask for things like a child would to his parents but just accept my concept and everything that comes with it.

 

[LiIZaneFan1978]

that's a ridiculous argument lol
You are equating a non-event and a divine event
That means you are saying absolutely nothing hapenning is the same as the highest event possible as it is divine.

So all the people that died this morning or know they only have a few days should be atheists?

Do you and your Indian family really believe that cows are your relatives?

 

[Fani Willis fan]

Putting a concept out into the universe is basically asking for a favor from the universe that is bound to Law itself. We are the concept,the fact that asking/begging for a miracle or just an improvement in your circumstances doesn't lead to the desired result has nothing to do with a lack of devotion,we just manifest a concept of God that might deem you unworthy so we can place the lack of result in the hands of an omniprescence that has human traits.We can interact with God/Law from that perspective but i find it pointless to say the least .I pray(concerted energy),meditate but more importantly i dont ask for anything I just acknowledge Law in all it's greatness and keep my interpretation within my own understanding, ie not to humanize my bond where i ask for things like a child would to his parents but just accept my concept and everything that comes with it.

In the King James Version of the Bible
text reads:
But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. ... In praying, don't use vain repetitions, as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard for their much speaking.
en.m.wikipedia.org › wiki › Matthe...
Matthew 6:7

 

[King_Sage]

Question though, why exactly is it that Jesus had to die in order for god to forgive our sins?

I mean if god wants to forgive someone's sins, can't he just forgive them without having to torture and kill someone else? That part seems kind of unnecessary and violent.

Read Revelations chapter 5, Jesus was the only one in Heaven and Earth that was worthy to open the book - because he overcame.

 

[King_Sage]

I just read every post in this thread. It's baffling to see evidence selected to use against God by focusing on the bad things that happen to the innocent.

What about the good things that happen also?

I truly believe that God has given us enough collectively to make it so no kid or poor person is neglected. So the battle becomes ours to look after one another and feed the poor.. but corruption and/or greed gets involved and it becomes a enteral conflict.

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

The thought of all of this being random and meaningless is a frightening idea to for the human psyche.

What is random?
that we exist? That we exist on earth?

Religious ppl say "Look at earth, if we were a little closer to the sun we would burn, a little further away we would freeze, how is that not divine intervention"
But truth is that's nothing, there 8 planets in our solar system, only one of them can support life. That's not randomness, that's us living in the lowest denominator.
And if you think that's divine intervention then you would be an atheist if you were in one of the other planets, some of which don't even have land/terrain.

What do you see as random?
Also think of time, it took billions of years for humans to finally exist, not all of a sudden at the snap of a finger.
It's not that random when you consider time does it?

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Another thing I think it's important to understand
all the believers in this thread are NOT reading god's book.
The first bible was not even the bible, it was the Codex Sinaiticus.

The Codex Sinaiticus was the first bible ever written, and it was written 300 years after Jesus died.
So imagine you were alive, then you died, and over 300 years later they wrote a book about you, how accurate would it be?
Secondly, after the Codex Sinaiticus there were several other books written.
King James was one of the many many many, so the book got re-written thousands of times over several centuries.
And.... King James had the book written right went England was the british empire only a 100yrs before and after england cut ties with the pope.
So the bible is a re-written book by several people all around the world with special interests.

And not only that, but the time when the book was written language was different, very different.
If I said that the OP is the type of guy that would travel a great distance just to feed people everyday, it did not need to be true. People then didn't talk based on facts but storytelling, so I wasn't telling you really what OP did, but rather the type of person he was.

Taking that all into consideration............. how could you allow the king james version, or any previous version, to dictate your life?

 

[Cyrus' Wife]

I just read every post in this thread. It's baffling to see evidence selected to use against God by focusing on the bad things that happen to the innocent.

What about the good things that happen also?

Exactly and the problem of evil in the world (aka the eternal defeat of Satan mentioned in Revelation 20:10) has been solved in the big picture of God's will.

What we see and what we go through here on earth is short. It's limited. If you think of a timeline on a huge poster stretching from one end of your wall to the far end of your wall, our earthly life takes up maybe an inch of space max. A small dot compared to that huge line across the wall that represents eternal life.

True spirituality involves seeking God in a personal relationship and viewing our lives in an eternal context, not just an earthly one.

If I told everyone they'd be poor and starving for all of tomorrow but every day after that for all eternity, you would be rich and healthy with no hunger or pain or sickness or grief ever...that is the comparison we need to make. Earthly life is temporary. Short. Quick. Time flies. We get older and look back and wonder where the time went.

View your earthly life in the context of eternity and you realize temporary suffering is nothing compared to eternal happiness.

 

[Cyrus' Wife]

Another thing I think it's important to understand
all the believers in this thread are NOT reading god's book.
The first bible was not even the bible, it was the Codex Sinaiticus.

The Codex Sinaiticus was the first bible ever written, and it was written 300 years after Jesus died.
So imagine you were alive, then you died, and over 300 years later they wrote a book about you, how accurate would it be?
Secondly, after the Codex Sinaiticus there were several other books written.
King James was one of the many many many, so the book got re-written thousands of times over several centuries.
And.... King James had the book written right went England was the british empire only a 100yrs before and after england cut ties with the pope.
So the bible is a re-written book by several people all around the world with special interests.

And not only that, but the time when the book was written language was different, very different.
If I said that the OP is the type of guy that would travel a great distance just to feed people everyday, it did not need to be true. People then didn't talk based on facts but storytelling, so I wasn't telling you really what OP did, but rather the type of person he was.

Taking that all into consideration............. how could you allow the king james version, or any previous version, to dictate your life?

Good point and (for me personally), I use parts of the Bible as a guide but the primary basis of my spirituality is a one-on-one relationship with God.

The Bible was interpreted by humans and humans are imperfect so I personally trust my relationship with God above all and that is why developing a relationship with God (not religion but relationship) is so key.

You can give me a book someone wrote about you to read, but if I REALLY want to know you, I am going to personally seek you and reach out to you and get to know you for myself and not rely totally on secondhand information.

This is why God steadily knocks at the door of our hearts. He is interested in relationships not religion.

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

View your earthly life in the context of eternity and you realize temporary suffering is nothing compared to eternal happiness.

But why be a Salesman of the afterlife, always trying to sell you something that is unlikely to exist.
Why would God sell humanity the belief of the afterlife knowing that so many other religions would co-exist, some with no afterlife?

bah

 

[Prince.Skeletor]

Good point and (for me personally), I use parts of the Bible as a guide but the primary basis of my spirituality is a one-on-one relationship with God.

The Bible was interpreted by humans and humans are imperfect so I personally trust my relationship with God above all and that is why developing a relationship with God (not religion but relationship) is so key.

You can give me a book someone wrote about you to read, but if I REALLY want to know you, I am going to personally seek you and reach out to you and get to know you for myself and not rely totally on secondhand information.

This is why God steadily knocks at the door of our hearts. He is interested in relationships not religion.

Based on this post I would say God is you. You are god.
You are just in a state of introspection when in prayer really.
You are talking to yourself.

A wise man once said, I used to pray every night until I realized I was praying to myself.

 

[Cyrus' Wife]

But why be a Salesman of the afterlife, always trying to sell you something that is unlikely to exist.


Why would God sell humanity the belief of the afterlife knowing that so many other religions would co-exist, some with no afterlife?

bah

Great questions.

To answer the first part, I have always deeply believed in an afterlife not only because of Christian leanings but also because I lost a lot of people close to me (mother, brother, grandparents, best friend) when I was young that I believe I will see again. I often have vivid dreams of these people existing in an afterlife as well. Can dreams be a sort of parallel dimension between this life and the afterlife in some cases? I think maybe so. I also think it's interesting that when some people who are still sane are dying, they see old relatives coming to them and even speak audibly to them. I think that is also proof of existence of an afterlife/possible parallel dimension or spiritual realm.

I have also for my job (I work in the film and tv industry) interviewed many people of all different faiths who have had near death experiences (many who have contributed to this www.nderf.org website) and 90% mention the afterlife. And that also factors into my believing as well. I also study quantum mechanics which further lends support to the existence of life after death and also the concepts of more complex dimensions of space and realms of time which parallel those mentioned in the Bible (like there being a parallel spiritual realm that exists...time being different/a thousand years is like a day etcetera...)


To answer the second part, this is where free will comes into play. God could have just created robots to worship Him but He wants relationship on a two way street, not one. So humans are free to choose to believe in Him or something else. I'm a woman and I want my man to love me (and he does!) but I didn't go looking for a potion or a spell to MAKE him love me. Why? Because most of us want people to freely choose to love us and care for us and not feel like they're being forced to. This is why God patiently knocks on the doors to our hearts instead of bumrushing in or giving us no other options lol!

 

[skeetsinternal]

This made me laugh more than "for all things give thanks"

 

[desjardins]

"God is love" yet he continually needs his ego stroked. to the point he supposedly made a bet with one of his former weed carriers that will cause billions of souls to perish when he could solve the whole thing in an instance if he wanted to
shyt makes zero sense
oh but that's only because god is so infinitely wise i will never understood this 5000+ yr narcissistic ass dikk measuring contest between him and satan