This Made Me So Thankful I am No Longer A Christian

by cofty 126 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  botchtowersociety

  It is perfectly legitimate to consider the common Evangelical response to evil, in this case, cancer, to be deficient. But to the extent that the typical American Evangelical theology is somewhat unreflective of the much deeper tradition, it might not surprise us to find their response to this problem is also somewhat unreflective. Joel Osteen or Calvary Chapel are great when you are a rich American who would like to hear how being wonderful makes God happy and makes you even more wonderful. But let's not confuse ourselves, ok?

  The place to begin, from the Christian persepctive, is with the first thing that strikes you whenever you walk in to the first church: there going to be a large sculpture of a man who has been tortured to death, this man is claimed to be the Lord of all things. Suffering, like love, is a mystery and we are advised to tread carefully.
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  designs

  That's the Catholic answer?
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  james_woods

  Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin

  Yeah - it is pretty hard to sin when you are either dead or on life support for terminal cancer. Of course, you could say the same thing about heart disease or altzheimers...

  All blessings from God for us sinful humans.
• 

  tec

  From personal experience as an evangelical for 9 years I would say it is a very common view.

  Perhaps a very common view among evangelicals?

  Suffering is part of being a physical being. We get old, we get sick, we have accidents and get hurt, we die. Faith gives people the strength to endure, and sometimes the wisdom to know what to do in times of (mental or emotional or spiritual) suffering.

  Peace,

  Tammy
• 

  Knowsnothing

  Cofty, did you ever see that episode on Futurama about Bender being left out in deep space and becoming a god to a small population of microscopic smurf look-a-likes? And then Bender encountering a galaxy that is god? I'm not saying it's necessarily true or applicable, but it's another way to look at the problem of suffering.

  I would hope rational people wouldn't look at suffering as something to exhalt god. You, nor anybody got cancer because it was god's purpose. Like you said on another thread, shit happens. People get sick. It's the world we live in.
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  designs

  When you have Christians flagellating themselves what else can you expect.
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  steve2

  Not many Christians hold such an extreme view.

  Well, perhaps not as extreme, but it is fairly common in one form or another, particularly the outlook that has "god" involved in the smallest of human endeavours, on the one hand, and seemingly ignoring the plight of untold millions elsewhere on the globe.

  I'm never surprised when I read about a sports personality who is facing a big game and he or she says, "I've got faith that the Lord will secure me a victory" or, winning, attribute the win to the Lord.

  I've also known a Christian or two who fervently believed Christ would ensure they got a parking lot whenever they were runbing late.

  Let's get this strtaight: Is the Lord, Jesus, Jehovah or whatever his name is, so busy attending to the minutiae of his self-focused people's lives that he allows untold misery and tragedy to co-exist elsewhere. No wonder he doesn't step in to stop pre-schoolers being abused by caregivers - he's too busy securing sports victories or finding parking lots.

  This might sound far-fetched to those who do not know fairly ordinary Christians but sooner or later this type of narcissistic, the Lord-takes-care-of-me will surface. Stupid stupid stupid...
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  cofty

  Suffering, like love, is a mystery and we are advised to tread carefully - Sulla

  This is an example of what Daniel Dennet called a "deepity" - a statement that has (at least) two meanings; one that is true but trivial, and another that sounds profound, but is essentially false or meaningless and would be earth-shattering if true.

  On one level it is indeed a mystery why I got cancer maybe genetic tests will suggest an answer maybe not. I any case its a trivial thing to say; shit happens we don't always know why, so what?

  Of course the word mystery also has other connotations. It suggests a truth that can only be known by divine revelation; something profound to be in awe of and to lift our minds from the secular realm to the sacred.

  If this were true you would be telling us something amazing, something that would make suffering sound like a divine gift. Of course its nonsense. Whistling in the dark.

  a large sculpture of a man who has been tortured to death, this man is claimed to be the Lord of all things

  He died in a few short hours and according to you, in the full knowledge he would be raised to paradise in three days. Big deal!

  Lets not get sidetracked into a discussion of human blood sacrifice.

  Good points Rocky_Girl
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  ziddina

  The Book of Job was written for the same reason Satan was written in- to provide an alternative view.

  What is interesting is that the book, in its original language, does not use the word "satan" as a proper name. ..." BTS

  Ah, BTS, go back and read BOTH Steve2 and Transhuman's comments - Transhuman mentioned "satan", but not as part of the book of Job - he simply mentioned that "satan" was written into THE BIBLE to give some "reason" as to why bad things happen... As was the book of Job...

  Zid
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  steve2

  On one level it is indeed a mystery

  Richard Dawkins has famously said that a (so-called) mystery is simply a phenomena we do not (yet) understand. When we humans don't understand something (especially how it works) we easily slip into magical thinking, attributing it to mysterious or divine influences. This is more likely to happen to naive thinkers (or to put it unintentionally negatively, poorly educated people). Look at the way tribal peoples believed that missionaries arriving on aircraft were angels coming from the "gods". But, before we start thinking about how superior our mental faculties are compared with the uneducated, we do need reminding that magical or wishful thinking is endemic among humans. I might, for example, be good at concluding that aircraft are not on missions from "the gods" but I might still pcik up the newspaper and be affected by my horoscope or genuinely believe that physical processes, including illnesses, are caused and/or cured by powerful beings our culture has learned to call "God".