Agreed. I do believe evil exists, but I don’t think it has any kind of anthropomorphic qualities. Rather, it exists as ignorance, which manifests itself as hatred, greed, and malevolence. Still, even that is relevant solely to sentient beings. Rocks don’t care about good or evil. All change is merely transformative.
According to mainstream Christian doctrine, humanity exists in a fallen state. Therefore, evil things will happen. It’s in line with the biblical passage that says the rain falls on the just and unjust alike.
This always sounded like a dodge to me. Because ultimately, Christianity takes for granted that God is in control of absolutely everything. Like, why must it be that evil exists? Why must it be that we exist in a "fallen state"? Why must it be that some people go to Hell and some to Heaven? If God really wanted to, he could use his omnipotence to create circumstances such that all people live in peace and harmony and joy etc and so forth, without evil or good or whatever. But it doesn't. Instead, this supposedly all-compassionate, all-loving divine entity created a universe in which some people suffer immeasurably in this life, some people suffer immeasurably in the afterlife, and we all live in this weird, completely arbitrary back and forth of good deeds and evil deeds. For what? Like...all of existence is made up. God just made it all up. Why make it up this way if its primary quality is Love? It doesn't make sense.
That is horrendous. Again, we need to expand access to mental health services.
There are a number of reasons why I left the Christian faith. Inability to square that away with any satisfaction was one of them.
Honestly, I don’t know. Those are questions that lead me away from Christianity years ago. You’ll have to ask someone still vested in the faith.
He probably was but sin is a choice. He isn't supposed to create Utopia.
But why?
Because Satan is shit.
But why make Satan? Why not just make Satan go poof?
Also God lied to Adam and Eve in that story by saying they'd die if they ate that fruit. Satan told them the truth. Satan said they would gain knowledge that God had. Which is exactly what happened.
This. Questions are great, I'm glad we're talking about things, but pushing someone to explain every detail of a religion that has holes in it would put everyone in the crosshairs, and that's not fair to people who hold a particular faith. Asking is fine, but waiting for people to justify every jot and tittle isn't at all productive, and it makes people get on the defensive, which I certainly don't wish to see.In the spirit of this thread about what we believe is out there, I'm not going down the path of justifying mine and this being an anti-God debate
I can only speak from my experience, of course, so a quick "your mileage may vary" note of caution there. Yeah, it's all about being receptive. Sometimes I enter meditation by feeling. I feel the air move against my skin, and that opens up a meditative point where I can just slip right on in. At other times, a single note from a chime, or looking at a candle flame is enough to trigger it. I much prefer quiet solitude, but I have entered a meditative state in the middle of a noisy crowd before. It's all about stopping time long enough to focus. I'm a generally contemplative person, so it took little practice for me to learn how to engage in meditation. What's key is that anything is fine as long as it works for you.
