If god asked you to...

[SLD]

Christians commonly say god speaks to them.

What if he asked you to kill your firstborn? What if asked you to go to North Korea and hand out bibles?

The only logical answer to both questions is yes. The existence of a god necessarily changes the entire dynamic of the way we act. We would be required to obey his edicts upon fear of eternal damnation. Sure, killing your first born would bring pain and suffering to those in this life, but then they would be released to a better world, and all eventually be reunited, so what’s the harm? Same with being killed in NK. You just get to go to a better place! What fun.

The real question is why don’t Christians actually follow the edicts of their god? And the answer is that for the most part they don’t really believe it. They just want to believe it.

SLD

 

[abaddon]

Christians commonly say god speaks to them.

What if he asked you to kill your firstborn? What if asked you to go to North Korea and hand out bibles?

The only logical answer to both questions is yes...

Your answer is not a logical answer. It's an answer based on your values.

Does God say "Mostly you obeyed me except there was this one time you said 'no' to me" and then boots one-time disobedient souls into hell? Can't you be granted grace anyway? If maybe that's so, then it's not clear that there should necessarily be a fear of eternal damnation in saying No. If you obey, it's because you value authority.

Reunited in heaven... is it guaranteed everyone's going to like having to see you again? Especially if you're the overly obeisant lunatic that killed them? Maybe they valued their lives on earth and would like to have lived them out?

Maybe the reason most Christians don't follow the edicts of their god because they value things differently than you do? Maybe they're moral enough to say "no" to evil commands?

 

[steve_bank]

Converted?
Conformed.

You say pa-tah-to I say po-tay-to.

 

[SLD]

Christians commonly say god speaks to them.

What if he asked you to kill your firstborn? What if asked you to go to North Korea and hand out bibles?

The only logical answer to both questions is yes...

Your answer is not a logical answer. It's an answer based on your values.

Does God say "Mostly you obeyed me except there was this one time you said 'no' to me" and then boots one-time disobedient souls into hell? Can't you be granted grace anyway? If maybe that's so, then it's not clear that there should necessarily be a fear of eternal damnation in saying No. If you obey, it's because you value authority.

Reunited in heaven... is it guaranteed everyone's going to like having to see you again? Especially if you're the overly obeisant lunatic that killed them? Maybe they valued their lives on earth and would like to have lived them out?

Maybe the reason most Christians don't follow the edicts of their god because they value things differently than you do? Maybe they're moral enough to say "no" to evil commands?

If there is a god, then it stands to reason that his values trump yours. Human values are meaningless compared to god's. You must obey him. You cannot even question his commands. He created the universe, including heaven and hell. You are nothing but an insignificant speck. Any god worth his salt would demand unquestioned loyalty and obedience. Any deviation is unacceptable and must be punished.

Christians who do not follow god’s laws due to their own moral views are demonstrating something far more basic. There is no god. It’s all a bunch of bullshit myth. And deep down inside they know it.

SLD

 

[skepticalbip]

^^^
Indeed... If there is a god and he appeared to a believer to command the believer to do something. Then that something is, by definition, god's will. Any personal ideas the believer has are, by definition, sinful if those ideas are contrary to the will of god.

The problem seems to be that believers assume that they perfectly know their god... that god being their beliefs or, in other words, they are the one that identifies god and his will not god himself or, basically, that they are god.

 

[ideologyhunter]

They still have to explain how a wily Satan who is always scheming (and clever enough to dupe Bertrand Russell, Kathy Griffin, George F. Will, Katharine Hepburn and all the other atheists), can't simply coo in the ears of believers and pose as God. Christians, you got a "Prove you are not a Robot or Satan" app?

 

[Politesse]

They still have to explain how a wily Satan who is always scheming (and clever enough to dupe Bertrand Russell, Kathy Griffin, George F. Will, Katharine Hepburn and all the other atheists), can't simply coo in the ears of believers and pose as God. Christians, you got a "Prove you are not a Robot or Satan" app?

That quality is called "discernment", and is the topic of much Christian discussion over the long centuries.

 

[Rhea]

That quality is called "discernment", and is the topic of much Christian discussion over the long centuries.

It's surprising that this requires discernment, and that Christians can't figure out that a god who CAN talk to humans, but doesn't in a way that provides discernment against the Satan that the god created knowing that it would torment the humans - that this god is not a very believable story.

 

[Politesse]

That quality is called "discernment", and is the topic of much Christian discussion over the long centuries.

It's surprising that this requires discernment, and that Christians can't figure out that a god who CAN talk to humans, but doesn't in a way that provides discernment against the Satan that the god created knowing that it would torment the humans - that this god is not a very believable story.

Why is it surprising? The mythos itself suggests the condition, as ideologyhunter rightly pointed out. And Christians do believe that God is the source of proper discernment, so I don't see that your criticism necessarily holds water, unless one already does not believe in the mythos itself.