if_theres_a_god_hes_got_to_be_an_asshole karl the weed what kind of god would make all his people suffer? wars and suicide and depression and diseases and murder, if hes responsible for all that, i dont care if its all "part of his master plan", thats terrible. 040211 ... whitechocolatewalrus If there's a god, I think he's just there to watch and maybe intervene if he feels like it. I don't think he really controlls all that much and I don't think he knows everything that is going to happen to us in the future. I don't think there is destiny or predestination. If there is, what's the point of life anyway? I think he loves us all and doesn't necessarily want us to be hurt, but he doesn't control everything. Like a war would be beyond his control. A crazed person that wants to go around killing people is probably beyond his control. I think God has been credited with too much power. It is expected that he can do anything and everything. But the fact is, If there is God, there is Devil. The devil can do things too, if anything, there powers are approximately equal. I mean seriously, if God did everything to make the world a perfect place, it'd be perfect and there would be no point in living? There would be No challenges. Everyone would be the same. But I don't think it's possible for God to make the world a perfect place, hence probably why it's not already. Devil is there to keep it from being perfect and I think this is probably a good thing. All this is considering that I do believe in God, which is questionable on some days. 040211 ... lobsterman what if god sets the initial conditions for the world, and then removes his power by inhabiting a single person in the world who doesn't know they are actually god. then he'd just be riding the world like a roller coaster untill the end of the "simulation" and he wouldn't know how it unfolds or have any control. weird huh? 040211 ... stork daddy indeed joan osborne...what IF god were one of us? 040211 ... depeche mode blasphemous_rumours 040211 ... p2 perhaps_perhaps_perhaps she's_just_a_little_misunderstood 040212 ... enlightened etiquette If there is a God who could create a universe, and life, then obviously (I would think) He could design any number of ways to control everything in it. The question is... Will you allow yourself to be controlled? Most people who walk in accordance with Godly principles find themselves blessed, happy and successful. It's those who refuse to align themselves to their destiny that get off track and lost, sometimes hurt. But in any case, since humans have free will, they choose that path, wether it be painful or prosperous. The funny part is, after they choose the path that leads to pain, they shake their fists at the sky and blame Him! Like it was His fault. 040212 ... karl the weed i dont beleive in god, at least not an all powerful one. i dont beleive that people suffer because of god. I think that bad things happen to people because that is the nature of the world, it sucks for some and for others its better to them. But when people who DO beleive that god's responsible for suffering etc, some religious people reply "its all part of gods master plan". THATS what this blathe is really about. if god exists and this is all "part of his master plan", then hes got to be a serious jackoff. 040212 ... walrie I was just saying, I don't think there is a master plan. 040212 ... knot meat or perhaps you don't see the subtlety of the plan. do you cry when novels have sad endings? what if...and this is just an if...what if novels really did create worlds in some alternative universe. imagine the responsibility that would befall any author. would i call shakespeare a jackass? i don't know. 040212 ... walrie i don't like to think that god is writing a book. if this were the case, there is no free will, no choices, no anything but what we think is real. and what we think is real is only a book that we can't read. i don't like to think this because i don't like not being able to be in control. 040212 ... walrus but! i like the idea that books create another world. in fact, i sometimes forget that the characters of the books are read aren't real. like, 'i wonder how charlie is doing today. did he get well after his tragic accident?' and then i realize that charlie is from a book and i pretend i didn't ever have the thought. 040212 ... walrie sometimes i click the blather button too fast and then i realize that i have used are instead of i and there is no time to change it. is this all a part of god's "master plan?" 040212 ... Hellel ben Sahar Enlightened etiquette. Your argument is as corrupt as a dunghill. "Those who align themselves with Godly principles find themselves successful and blessed" Explain the fates of the faithful up until the Edict of Constantine, then, genius. Explain to me the Godliness of the venal and the amoral who thrive even at the summet of earthly power and lay claim to being "blessed and successful" while the earnest and the faithful struggle and starve? ("Lord, how long shall the wicked tiumph on earth?" If we are to believe scripture, the faithful and the righteous shall not necessarily reap their rewards until they have gone on to stand before His judgement (Straight is the path and narrow the gate) I tell you now and from my own experience that many of those who would denounce Him are those who His capricious hand pressed too hard too often. When there is only one set of footprints in the sand, sometimes He is not carrying you... sometimes He is standing on your head. 040212 ... knot meat hey...we could be ideas that occur to god. our free will could be like the imaginative voice that says...the character should do this. in this way, we are a piece of god's consciousness. or perhaps god is reading the book since he sits outside of time. and as for god standing on people's heads...yeah that's why they threw that Job story in...so when the church taxed you, you chalked it up to earthly suffering and added up credit points for that paradise they sent you in the brochure for when you retire. is heaven as empty a promise as social security? on the next maury povich. either way, people need to stop thinking of any god as only being able to be the long bearded guy in the far side cartoons. suffering, bliss, both can be beautiful and ugly depending on someone's perspective. and according to all of you we have freedom of perspective. either way, suffering and beauty... they just are. 040212 what's it to you? who go blather from