Disclaimer:
Let me start off with a disclaimer: I don't disparage faith in any god's, so long as you don't hurt yourself or others. Now, 'hurt' has many definitions and connotations, but, suffice it to say, my robust communication with my friends and enemies will define what I consider to be 'hurt.' Additionally, faith doesn't have to be founded on a god at all, but can be faith in something else - like yourself or simply an idea.
Disclaimer follow-up:
In short, faith is a nebulous word and has no real meaning or value until you begin to define what you really mean by it. Then, and only then, can I begin to attempt to save you from yourself (or bad logic), or rather, enjoy the variety of life outlooks that we as humans love to espouse.
What I am writing about today, though, is faith in a god or gods. The question is simple:
What is the point of believing in a god or gods when not believing in them incurs no real consequences? No wrath from that god in this life. No tossing your living, fire-proof, yet fully able to feel burning sensations, corpse into a lake of fire. No consequences for not noticing this god's supremacy on all living things. No killing of your country-folk for poking him in the eye by focusing their accolades on someone or something else. No nothing.
A little background:
I left Christianity a few years ago, beginning my journey out in February, 2011. Oddly enough, that was the exact same month I began this blog. Since then, I moved from believing strongly that the god of the Bible was a paradox. He was both good and evil. He cared that none would perish, but built hell to cause them to perish. He knew all things but couldn't thwart naughty happenings, though he did so on many occasions in the Bible. He could control every single word and action that came out of everyone's mouths and hands, in order to kill his own son, Jesus Christ, but, when it's time to show himself in modern times, he's really quite impotent, having no ability to change the course of history, rather it being up to the individual believers or a collective begging of his staying hand - which happens to have no ability to kill or maim only sinners, but falls upon the righteous with abandon.
Then I moved into unbelief when none of that made any logical sense. When his "I love you's" became lies right before my very eyes. When I realized that the whole idea of sin was his fault anyway and playing games with the lives of humanity, in order to play his little video game of life, became pointless and laughable to believe in, rendering the paradox to be nothing more than a fairy tale - and a really badly told fairy tale, at that.
Writing about the little background:
I wrote many words about my de-conversion. My stepping out of 'faith,' as I defined it. People read my words, listened to my thoughts, and realized that I had inarguable points. My logic was sound, unless super-spiritual types wanted to argue about transcendency and sovereignty, and shoulder shrugs at God's ability to be a total douche. But I wasn't interested in those arguments. My life didn't need to be based on a being that was a dick to people that I loved, nor did it need to be based on some pie-in-the-sky theory where the greatest of minds had trouble grasping, then expecting even the lowliest of human beings to accept it or die in hell. No, it wasn't and isn't for me.
But God is love, IC!!!:
But then, there is the "God is love" crowd. The people that tell me, over and over again, that my view of God, gotten directly from the foundational holy text of Christianity, is flawed. He's really not that interested in how I live my life, what I believe in, or anything. He just wants to be there when I need him, loving me through all the downturns in life, picking me up when I fall down, and propping me above those that I am competing with, should it fit his master plan. There is no hell for him to throw me into.
So I ask, "Why?"
Why, if there are no consequences for not believing in this god, why then, do I have to believe in him at all? It simply adds cruft to my life. Busy work. It's like telling me that I need to take a multi-vitamin to feel better, then admitting that I can live my life just fine without popping the pill. Why spend the money on the bottle?
And finally, the kids...:
And that is why I will never just add 'faith' to my life - because. Because I tell my kids:
Let me start off with a disclaimer: I don't disparage faith in any god's, so long as you don't hurt yourself or others. Now, 'hurt' has many definitions and connotations, but, suffice it to say, my robust communication with my friends and enemies will define what I consider to be 'hurt.' Additionally, faith doesn't have to be founded on a god at all, but can be faith in something else - like yourself or simply an idea.
Disclaimer follow-up:
In short, faith is a nebulous word and has no real meaning or value until you begin to define what you really mean by it. Then, and only then, can I begin to attempt to save you from yourself (or bad logic), or rather, enjoy the variety of life outlooks that we as humans love to espouse.
What I am writing about today, though, is faith in a god or gods. The question is simple:
What is the point of believing in a god or gods when not believing in them incurs no real consequences? No wrath from that god in this life. No tossing your living, fire-proof, yet fully able to feel burning sensations, corpse into a lake of fire. No consequences for not noticing this god's supremacy on all living things. No killing of your country-folk for poking him in the eye by focusing their accolades on someone or something else. No nothing.
A little background:
I left Christianity a few years ago, beginning my journey out in February, 2011. Oddly enough, that was the exact same month I began this blog. Since then, I moved from believing strongly that the god of the Bible was a paradox. He was both good and evil. He cared that none would perish, but built hell to cause them to perish. He knew all things but couldn't thwart naughty happenings, though he did so on many occasions in the Bible. He could control every single word and action that came out of everyone's mouths and hands, in order to kill his own son, Jesus Christ, but, when it's time to show himself in modern times, he's really quite impotent, having no ability to change the course of history, rather it being up to the individual believers or a collective begging of his staying hand - which happens to have no ability to kill or maim only sinners, but falls upon the righteous with abandon.
Then I moved into unbelief when none of that made any logical sense. When his "I love you's" became lies right before my very eyes. When I realized that the whole idea of sin was his fault anyway and playing games with the lives of humanity, in order to play his little video game of life, became pointless and laughable to believe in, rendering the paradox to be nothing more than a fairy tale - and a really badly told fairy tale, at that.
Writing about the little background:
I wrote many words about my de-conversion. My stepping out of 'faith,' as I defined it. People read my words, listened to my thoughts, and realized that I had inarguable points. My logic was sound, unless super-spiritual types wanted to argue about transcendency and sovereignty, and shoulder shrugs at God's ability to be a total douche. But I wasn't interested in those arguments. My life didn't need to be based on a being that was a dick to people that I loved, nor did it need to be based on some pie-in-the-sky theory where the greatest of minds had trouble grasping, then expecting even the lowliest of human beings to accept it or die in hell. No, it wasn't and isn't for me.
But God is love, IC!!!:
But then, there is the "God is love" crowd. The people that tell me, over and over again, that my view of God, gotten directly from the foundational holy text of Christianity, is flawed. He's really not that interested in how I live my life, what I believe in, or anything. He just wants to be there when I need him, loving me through all the downturns in life, picking me up when I fall down, and propping me above those that I am competing with, should it fit his master plan. There is no hell for him to throw me into.
So I ask, "Why?"
Why, if there are no consequences for not believing in this god, why then, do I have to believe in him at all? It simply adds cruft to my life. Busy work. It's like telling me that I need to take a multi-vitamin to feel better, then admitting that I can live my life just fine without popping the pill. Why spend the money on the bottle?
And finally, the kids...:
And that is why I will never just add 'faith' to my life - because. Because I tell my kids:
When I ask you a question, 'because' is not an answer.
That was really well said. A friend of mine asked me today that if there is no hell then what are we saved from?
ReplyDeleteI guess I really don't know.
If there is no hell, we're saved from the confines of partisanship. If the religious side has God and hell, and the irreligious side doesn't have God, then believing in God without hell defies both sides. And that way the think-tanks that fund them both can't control you.
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