From: ednclark@kraken.itc.gu.edu.au (Jeffrey Clark)
Subject: Re: Why? (was Re: THE MIND OF THE BIBLE BELIEVER)
Organization: ITC, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
Distribution: world,public
Date:  8 Jan 93 04:53:13 GMT

mlee@post.RoyalRoads.ca (Malcolm Lee) writes:

                  [lot's of stuff deleted]

>Without free will, we are just robots.  God already has the angels to do His every whim.  God intended much more for us.  We were meant to be His companions for eternity.  Could you live an eternity with someone who didn't want to be with you?  He wanted us to choose to live an eternity with Him.  He gives us that choice.  He won't force it upon us.  The truth of the matter is is that if everybody knew that their souls were in the balance, I think most if not all people would become Christian.  Truth

If you do not know the mind of God as you say, how do you know if the
following is not true:

God does exist but he wanted to leave no evidence of this. He decided to
influence certain people in certain ways to write a book called the Bible
which had not the slightest bit of logic or truth in it. This way he could
spark a religion which only illogical, lazy (mentally) or just plain
dependant type people would fall for.  Therefore when we die those that fell
for one of the strands of that load of garbage are boring or stupid or
illogical people that God does not want for company. However those who
steadfastly held on to rationality, logic, knowledge and beleiflessness were
precisely what he was after. Those he kept with him for eternity for a darn
good chat (and possibly to solve that sticky question he has not been able
to solve yet: Where the hell did He come from?).



>ost people don't believe this.

>I don't think that it's so hard for people to believe that there is a God out
>there who is loving and willing to accept them into Heaven.  Truth is, I think people DON'T WANT to believe that there is a God.  The ramifications of the
>existence of an omniscient being are beyond what most people are willing to accept.  It is also contrary to what our modern society has ingrained upon us.  We have been programmed by society to be self-reliant and wealthy, if at all possible and at any cost.  One would have to set these things aside in order to become a faithful Christian.

I beleive people don't want to beleive there is no God! People find it hard
to accept that we are just these insignificant microbes crawling around on
an insignificant bit of cosmic dust circling an insignificant little star in
this wholly unremarkable galaxy in a gigantic pointless universe. People
can't accept this as it means their whole lives are a pointless joke,
everthing they have tried hard for makes not a scrap of real difference. If
there was a God watching over our immortal souls then we would have some
significance and security knowing that no matter how bad the world is know
there is a pot of gold at the end of the tunnell (did I get my metaphors
mixed there?). Therefore beleiving in God is the easy way (dare I say lazy
way), the ramifications of their not being one are too monstrous too
contemplate. It's also contrary too what we have been taught from birth,
everywhere we look it's God this and God that, God saves this and God-fearing
that. We are programmed by society to be dependant and law-abiding,
authority driven. The God myth provides a convenient vehicle for these
societally imbued drives. In order to cast aside the God myth we have to
embrace strict rational thought, militant information scrutiny and sensitive
propaganda detection, all of these things take much personal effort and
drive. Many people are not capable of these things.

>Anyone can be humble.  For a Christian, it is a prerequisite.

Anyone can think for themselves, for an atheist it's a prerequisite.

Jeff.


Newsgroups: alt.atheism