is atheism better than believing in a god who doesnt care?

by theinfamousone 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  theinfamousone

  so here's a sincere question... and instead of pressing my frustrations and blaming god and bla bla bla... i decided that instead of writing letters to an inactive god, i would ask your opinion!!!!!

  here's the question, looking at the world around you, seeing all the pain and frustration, the death and disease, the war and hypocricy, the starvation and disgust; generally seeing that our world is falling apart... if someone were able to irrevocably prove that there was a god, an intelligent creator is you will, would you want to worship him? would you even want to believe in him?

  if he was there and created all of this just to watch it all implode, would you be able to respect that? or would you rather just imagine him being dead or non-existant?

  the infamous one
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  AlmostAtheist

  If there's a creature out there with the power to stop suffering without losing anything himself, and yet does nothing, I don't want to meet him.

  If he only had enough power to create things, but not enough to maintain it -- like an experiment gone awry -- then I'd like to communicate with him.

  If he created the physical universe in some fashion, but isn't even aware of our existence, then that's kinda neat.

  I don't know that atheism is "better" than anything, it's just a conclusion that some people come to. Personally, the idea that the universe is just there with no one at the wheel makes so much sense and at least doesn't leave me with all sorts of "yeah, but" sort of questions. Maybe not comforting as such, but at least logical and in keeping with my interpretation of the world around me.

  Dave
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  robhic

  If there's a creature out there with the power to stop suffering without losing anything himself, and yet does nothing, I don't want to meet him.

  Oh no. I do want to meet him! In fact, my foot has got a message for his ass.
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  Warlock

  Here is what I would say, oh sincere one, and I mean that.

  I have posted this idea here before, somewhere: If God exists, we can all agree we cannot see Him, because he is a spirit. Being that we cannot see him, obviously we cannot hear Him speak. Neither do we have any idea of any conversations he might have, nor any conversations between any spirit creatures at all.

  Because we are not privy to His conversations, neither now, nor in the past, MY OWN OPINION IS, that our judgement of Him, is based on incomplete information. We only see the surface, and on the surface, things don't look too good.

  If we accept the conversations between spirit creatures, including God, in the Bible, we still have a few details and that's it.

  I do believe that God does exist, but since I have never seen him, how can I REALLY say he does. To be honest, there is always the possibility that he does not.

  If he does, does he care? At this moment in time, I think the more important question is: Do WE care.................about each other?

  If God doesn't care, then it seems like we are doing a good job of imitating Him. No?

  I hope I didn't get too far off topic. Just to the edge.

  Warlock
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  Narkissos

  The book of Job (I mean the poetic parts, not the prosaic prologue and happy ending) is about a similar topic I guess: an itinerary from the question about the justice or injustice of God to the encounter of a God who is neither just nor unjust; who does care, but not particularly about man... whether God exists or not, it's an important lesson in unlearning anthropocentrism, I guess. And, in view of the ambiguity of Job's final response and the added epilogue, may be a lesson we'll never learn.
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  theinfamousone

  hey i definitely appreciate your honest opinion here...

  like i said before my intent here is purely sincere... i want to learn what people think and believe and appreciate that! also i would love a little friendly debate... and as warlock stated, unfortunately, we go into this debate with little evidence, nothing but opinion really! i like that! theist or not, we need to realize that it all comes down to opinions...

  personally, i would rather not believe in someone who would create all this and then let it go to shits like it has... but of course, we have pushed in that direction ourselves... so if there is a caring being out there, i guess his best argument is that we did this to ourselves.. my argument back would be, but you can fix it and dont... you let children die of painful diseaeses and starvation... that hurts me...

  the infamous one
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  JamesThomas

  Are you suggesting there is a wiser choice than reducing the Source of an INFINITELY glorious universe down to the murderously vile tribal deity found within the pages of the Bible?

  Atheism, certainly seems -- by fare -- the most honorable of the two. IMO.

  j
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  PrimateDave

  Like Dave said above, atheism isn't better than anything, it's just the conclusion I'm left with, a default condition based upon practical considerations. I don't question whether god cares, I question its very nature.
  
  The Biblical god evolved from a patriarchal-tribal nature deity into an idealized abstract entity, yet somehow still intent on extracting time and wealth from its followers for its earthly representatives. These representatives invented a disease called "sin" in order to sell their prescription of "sacrifice".
  
  This formula has endured in various forms and flavors to this day. Jehovah's Witnesses demand lots of time (and money) for their god. I'm a lazy person, so I couldn't put up with any more demands on my time from their god, or anyone else's deity. Show me a god who "cares" and I'll show you an organization with its hand out asking for something.
  
  I guess there's no real harm in just believing in a god who doesn't demand anything, just as there's no harm in believing in a god who doesn't do anything.
  
  Dave (99.4% chimpanzee)
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  Warlock

  The Biblical god evolved from a patriarchal-tribal nature deity into an idealized abstract entity, yet somehow still intent on extracting time and wealth from its followers for its earthly representatives. These representatives invented a disease called "sin" in order to sell their prescription of "sacrifice".
  
  This formula has endured in various forms and flavors to this day. Jehovah's Witnesses demand lots of time (and money) for their god. I'm a lazy person, so I couldn't put up with any more demands on my time from their god, or anyone else's deity. Show me a god who "cares" and I'll show you an organization with its hand out asking for something.

  PD,

  If I may take your comment a little further. I highlighted above, because everything we know about God is communicated by other humans, whether by written word, or spoken word. What if those who do claim the be his "earthly representitives" have it completely wrong? They heard it wrong, they wrote it wrong, etc. What if the context of our questions about God,( i.e., Does He really care? Does He exist?) is wrong, because those who claim to speak for him have misled us, most without knowing it?

  Warlock
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  Marcel

  if god really exists and has the power to change thinks i dont think we should judge him.
  the JW has a possibly answer why he does not interfer in our times. could be this way in my opinion.
  if he REALLY exists we cant judge him. its like an dog judges an human. the dog just doesnt have the picture, why humans do some things. like why we take them to the doctor, when the doctor only does "bad" things to them. for a dog it does not make any sense and if he could philosphy about it he might think thats humans act very unrighteous... if not evil.
  
  and lets face it: if he has created us and hes the most powerful being of all time... he has the right to do whatever he wants. he created everything, even the laws which define what we're thinking. he has the right to dump us into the sun. like you've the right to burn the picture you painted.
  
  thats just my opinion. im very much agnostic.