Without God then the bad people get away! (page 2)

Junction-Guy

Ok, now I get what you are saying, it makes sense now.

Wouldn't that be Altruism in its highest form? How many people are genuinely Altruistic?

Most people do what is best for them and for those they love, outside of that everyone else is a stranger or a potential friend, depending on how you look at it.

Without a belief in God, I do believe that I would still be kind to others and do good, probably not as much, but I would still do it.

On the same token, without a belief in God, it would basically be no hold barred for me, I would seek out a plan for revenge, carefully execute it. Belief in God has basically held me back from doing more destructive things. Put it this way, if I had no belief in God and I knew I had a short time left on this earth, I would get revenge believe you me I would.

PrimateDave

Fairness is a childish concept. It is, however, one of the strongest human cultural narratives in existence, right along side property and war.

Presumably, the Buddha said that "life is suffering." I don't think he meant to be a pessimist. He was simply drawing our attention to a fact of biological existence, that it doesn't matter if you are "good", "bad", young, old, "rich", or "poor", you will suffer any kind of fate common to humans in general. I think he could have just as well said "life isn't fair."

When you can mentally grasp that life isn't fair, then you may find some enlightenment, perhaps even happiness. After all, who can be happy by worrying about things beyond their control? Are not the actions of other people essentially beyond our control?

Those who commit mass murder can never balance a scale of human justice. It is not "fair" to the victims, but it is a fact of existence. In a million years (not really a long period of time compared to the age of the Earth or the existence of life on it) even the worst crimes of the 20th century will have long been forgotten. (No, I don't believe humans, as we know ourselves to be in the present, will exist in a million years because we will continue to evolve. We could just as well lose the intelligence we currently possess.)

Belief in a god won't change the unfair nature of existence.

Dave

Fadeout

Justice is a non-existent ideal, like Perfection, Omnipotence, or Heaven.

Long ago humans realized there is no way that we can "balance everything out." But an Omnipotent invisible man could set everything right. Why don't we see Him doing it? Because it all takes place after we die, in another realm we can't see called Heaven, that's why. So His Omnipotence makes everything Just and Perfect in Heaven.

And all is right in the universe.

Indo_Dude

It always annoyed me when active JWs would comment ad nauseum about how shitty of a person they would be if they weren't a JW. They'd "screw everything in sight", "steal", etc. Pretty much character flaws or seriously flawed people that would think that way.

JunctionGuy, you don't believe in karma?

hillary_step

Junction,

Since I believe in God, I realize that these unjustices will not go unresolved.

I assume that you mean resolved at the hands of God in some way?

Can you point to one injustice that has occured during the past say...one hundred years...that was resolved by God?

Have you not thought that relying on a God to deal out justice in a post cadaverous life actually serves to negate many injustices that might have been dealt with properly while the cadaver was still walking?

HS

VoidEater

In response to JunctionGuy:

On the same token, without a belief in God, it would basically be no hold barred for me, I would seek out a plan for revenge, carefully execute it. Belief in God has basically held me back from doing more destructive things. Put it this way, if I had no belief in God and I knew I had a short time left on this earth, I would get revenge believe you me I would.

Allow me, if I may, to be a little challenging. I wonder about your assertion that without a belief in God you would have no holds barred.

I suspect that you, like myself, are accountable to yourself for your actions and have a keenly developed sense of what is right that goes beyond religion. I suspect that when you contemplate the consequences of what you might wrought in this world, you choose to avoid being the cause of harm, that it would bother some part of you to see before you in the real world the result of some terrible act you performed.

Perhaps that is altruism, or conscience.

Is it possible that what you have gleaned from religion and chosen to make use of only masquerades as God? Might it be that there is something already within you that resonates with what you've been told about God, and choose to turn that into a power outside of yourself?

You know I have respect for you, this is not meant to be obnoxious...

Deputy Dog

easyreader1970

Without God, what are "bad people"?

IP_SEC

Without God, what are "bad people"?

Killers pretty much suck. and pedos... you know DD stuff like that. God or no God doesnt change that who is 'bad' and who is not.

Satanus

Junctionguy proves your point, easyreader.

'without a belief in God, it would basically be no hold barred for me, I would seek out a plan for revenge, carefully execute it. Belief in God has basically held me back from doing more destructive things.'

Belief in god is for vengeful people, not always, of course. The theist need not take revenge, cuz his god will take it for him. In the east, they have karma. As zensim pointed out, buddha did not teach karma. It was added.

The murderers, tyrants, rapists, thieves, etc are carry overs from our animal past. In the animal kingdome, you have the predators and the prey. The prey, harmless furry little animal, generally peacefully eats grass. The predator does nothing but wait for something to kill and eat. Is there karma or vengence awaiting the animal predators? Same for human predators.

S

LouBelle

But then again perhaps they need to go through the so called bad to experience the good, they need to walk that path to know what the are and then experience what they aren't. In that case there wouldn't be good or bad.

Anyway I don't think they get away with anything - what goes around comes around. How you treat others will dictate how others treat you.

Without God then the bad people get away!

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