I am vehemently against all religion.
So are you an atheist, or do you believe thereās a god but donāt believe in religion?
God exists and religion was created for two reasons. To explain the unexplainable and to enable a few to have power over the rest.
I did a search trying to find out about this conference. Could not find a thing. It is also doubtful that any Jewish religious figure would have agreed. Take a look at that final phrase (child throwing temper tantrums). Do you actually think any group of scholars would use such a description about anyone or anything?
Neither do American soldiers who throw themselves on grenades, etc, giving up their lives to save their comrades.
1 Like
Lewis Black is a Jew. Not a scholar, admittedly, butā¦
Interesting. I agree God exists but I find religion useful. While I donāt fully subscribe to one particular view, I find my church very valuable. Coming together as a congregation, celebrating God and each other and helping each other through tough times is what I consider the purpose of religion. While some have distorted it to control, Iāve found most Churches are about caring for each other.
Too cynical! On par with children telling their parents the only reason parents have kids is for slave labor. 
Plus, the cynic can substitute pretty much any profession for āreligionā.
Conversely, do you believe people follow a religion because they want to be under the power of another human being?
The question worth pursuing is what does the average person of faith gain from practicing that faith?
Calls to mind Catholic school days when the nuns played George Carlin comedy routines for us. 
Not really. No I donāt.
Itās not relevant. If you have no belief in God, your opinion of him is of no value.
Maybe not. But it is our place to question the order of things that appear to be totally random. Why does he help some and turn his back on others? This is a totally legit question. Probably the number one reason people turn from God.
Jesus to his disciples: John 16:33 āI have said this to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.ā
When Jesus was on the Cross: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, āEli, Eli, laāma sabach-thaāni?ā that is, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"
Apostle Paul said: āI think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to men. We are fools for Christās sake.ā 1 Cor 4:9 Paul suffered. James was beheaded by Herod. The apostles faced lives of hardship with tragic deaths. Paul was beheaded. Peter Simon and Andrew were crucified. Bartholomew was flayed alive and then beheaded. Thomas was stoned and then pierced with a lance. Others were left to die in prison.
These men were heavenās ambassadors. They spoke with full authority from God. Does God love us more than he loved his Apostles? Does God pick and choose and make everything lovely in this life for some of His children today and ignore others?
1 Like
Well it IS totally random.
Sentence needs a couple of "apparently"s inserted in there. What we see gets interpreted by our own thought processes. We certainly will never see completely with the eyes and mind of God.
Let me ask something. How religious are you? Christian?
Christian. Who often struggles with the inconsistencies and randomness of what I see. My faith comes and goes. Tell someone (not me) whoās watching their five year old girl being eaten alive by cancer and prayer after prayer is ignored, to understand. They canāt. Itās random.
No, they likely canāt understand when they find themselves plunged into the foxhole. Especially so if they went into the episode without a strong understanding of God and a long term view of what Godās plan means.
But what was the very worst thing that has ever happened in the history of mankind? On this Good Friday, the answer is obvious. What resulted from that worst thing?
Godās plan? Read MT 1:1-17. Itās the genealogy of Joseph, the stepfather of Jesus. Itās not recorded simply for the sake of some family tree. The point is to show that it took a whole history of events to fulfill just that one point in time for that one man who would not have Mary stoned for infidelity. And in that genealogy are some nasty and sinful events that all were part of the dots that had to get connected for Joseph to be where he was when he was, and to be who he was.
Sometimes (often!) we donāt get to see what our lives mean in the larger picture of Godās plan. Something we do today ā and maybe something we suffer today ā could have a purpose generations later. St. Paul talks about all the people through the Old Testament who had faith and who often suffered trials, and they never saw the fulfillment of the Covenant Promises they had faith in. Read the Genesis story of Jacobās son, Joseph, and all the misery he suffered. But all the way at the end of the story (GN 50:20+) he tells his brothers that what they did to him was part of Godās plan. (Yes, in that example Joseph got to see the fruition of Godās plan ā for that part of the story.) All of those elements were dots that connected up to the birth of Jesus.
No, we do not live with the mind of God. Weāre human. We get immersed in our own reality. For each of us individually, what we do with our experiences in the long-game of our own souls is one long-term view. But even beyond that, my life today is a dot in a chain of dots that are all part of Godās plan. I firmly believe that God is not some Puppet Master pulling every string to make this-or-that happen. Life happens. History happens. And God uses what happens in life and history for the fulfillment of His Plan.
I know I can never understand the overall Plan. All I can do is pray to accept Godās will for me and be the dot that Iām supposed to be in that Grand Plan, whatever happens to me. Here and now, while i am in good health and not imperiled or at deathās door, I can strive to form my heart and prepare my will to be able to accept whatever comes as being a part of that Plan, and not to lose faith at some tragic moment down the line.
And the person who hasnāt been so prepared might be apt to lose faith when in the midst of the foxhole. I can only hope I am prepared enough if I find myself there some day.
