Stockholm Syndrome with God

It has been at least two years since I last visited Debate. org. This is especially true for the original question that I posted. "Is religious fanaticism actually Stockholm Syndrome with God as our captor? "Two years later, I still find myself fascinated with the nature of God and the psychology of Religion. Defining GodBased on Con's argument, we will assume a Christian God for the purposes of this debate. The most general and widely accepted definition consists of the three Omnis. Some definitions include Omnibenevolence, but I see this particular Omni as less important than the others. Omniscient - All Knowing Omnipresent - All Seeing Omnipotent - All Powerful . http://www.sermoncentral.com...http://cccnow.org...http://christianity.stackexchange.com...Stockholm SyndromeStockholm Syndrome, named after a bank robbery incident in Stockholm, Sweden, is the label used to describe a group of psychological symptoms that appear in some individuals who have been taken hostage or captive. Medical Dictionary at The Free Dictionary. com describes the Syndrome as. .. certain behaviors of survivors of World War II concentration camps; members of religious cults; battered wives; incest survivors; and physically or emotionally abused children as well as persons taken hostage by criminals or terrorists. Most experts, however, agree that Stockholm syndrome has three central characteristics: The hostages have negative feelings about the police or other authorities. The hostages have positive feelings toward their captor(s). The captors develop positive feelings toward the hostages. . http://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com...http://www.bbc.com...http://www.merriam-webster.com... ArgumentImagine that You and I are going on a journey. We’re going to stop by the bank to get some cash first, since we’ll need a lot of one dollar bills. .. for reasons. We are just about finished up at the Teller when suddenly, an All Powerful, All Seeing, and All Knowing being descends from the sky in a bright flash of light! He struts into the Bank, proclaiming “Nobody Move! I am God! ”. He then shoves an empty bag into our face and says “Hand over the stripper money, kid! ”. We are Prisoners and God is our CaptorAt first, we wonder how he knows how we were going to spend our stack of one dollar bills, but after realizing the gravity of the situation, we start frantically thinking of a way out of this mess. Unfortunately, we’re pretty much screwed. There’s definitely no way to escape an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent being. Even if the being had no intention of “capturing” you, He is by definition always going to know and see where we are, what we are doing, what we are thinking, and have the power to do anything He wants to us. We don’t have the choice of not being subjected to His powers at all times. It’s a fact of our existence. At this point we are feeling pretty trapped. Noticing our discomfort, God says “Look, guys, I’m going to make it REAL simple for You. Either You can choose to do everything I say, OR You can choose to disobey me. Of course, if You do choose to disobey me, You’ll have to bear the consequences of your actions. In other words, you’ll burn in Hell for all eternity, but just remember that You chose it, not me. No pressure”. Not wanting to die and suffer for all eternity, we quickly decide to hand over the cash. “Aw, what good boys. I’ll be nice and spare your lives… for now. Just remember, I’ll always be watching. You can leave now”, says God. “Well, so much for the strip club”, I whisper to You as we head for the doorway. “I heard that, you lecherous humans! ”, God yelled from deep inside of the now opened Bank Vault. How We Might Develop Stockholm SyndromeMost people don’t get Stockholm Syndrome just because they are taken captive. Some of the most classic examples of victims cite repeated abuse from their captors. This is a major factor in developing SS. It’s five months after the strip club bank holdup debacle, and we have committed ourselves to the teaching of Christianity as best we could. We take our families to church every Sunday, study the Bible, and do Christian people things. However, we soon find out that You have cancer and while I was driving You home from the Doctor’s office, a drunk driver crashes into us, leaving me paralyzed from the waist down. As we recovered in the shared hospital room, God, masquerading as a doctor, strolls in. “Hey God, what’s up? ”, I say. “Oh, just wanted to see your suffering up close. ”, He says. “God, if You’re All Powerful, why didn’t you create a world where we could all receive eternal salvation without having to suffer like this? ”, I ask. “Because I just didn’t”, remarks God. “But You could have? !”, You say. “Of course I could have, I’m freaking omnipotent. I can do anything because I’m God”, He says. “You’re so cooool God! ”, we both say in Unison. “You two aren’t so bad either. Just keep doing what I say and I might let you into Heaven after I let you die”, God remarks. “Wow, you’re the best! ”, You say. Recognizing the AfflictedIt’s two years later, Your cancer hasn’t gone into remission and I was given awesome new prosthetic limbs like Robo Cop. Sure, our wives left us, we lost our jobs, and our kids hate us, but we’re used to it by now. Sure, God created our wives with the ability to be major jerks and leave us when we get cancer and He created our bodies that can even get cancer in the first place. We’re not upset about that though. We are just so glad that we have God by our side. God loves us and we love Him for helping us through all the struggles that he manufactured. Summing It UpGod, an omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent being, is by definition impossible to escape from. God, being All Powerful, has the ability to create a world where Humans can receive eternal salvation without suffering. Despite this, he doesn’t create said world and instead chooses to create a world where Humans will suffer from lots of emotionally and physically painful things. God, who You can’t escape from and purposefully lets You suffer, says He loves You. You always tell people you love Him. Yeah, you’ve got Stockholm.