A believer who thinks we have been duped.

[nicole99]

I was just thinking about God.

I was thinking as I was praying this morning, and feeling rather disheartened. I have come to the realisation that our divine father does not have our best interests at heart (even if he has a heart).

How can us believers in God support and uphold our institutions as good things? They soak up money to build pretty buildings. Most of our members pay lip service. We pick and choose what to follow based on our own beliefs.

I think our God is not good. He is using us like a lab experiment – giving us mixed and clouded messages to follow. Leaving us vulnerable and deluded. Over half of our followers hate us as trans people, they tell us it is a lifestyle choice, that we are sinful. We spend countless riches on churches and religious cultery. Look at how much suffering we have just on this forum at the hands of our fellow faithful.

Now clearly god is kind of confused, unless I am missing something. Why is the old testament so different from the new? Why did we have this wrathful and vengeful god who supports intolerance, and causes atrocities. But then we get his son Jesus who preaches love above all things (which is a beautiful message). And what does he do? He kills Jesus. That is freaking barbaric. Sacrificing your kid is not an act of love. He died for our sins, yet we still have sin in the world. What is up with that? What did he achieve? War, hate, intolerance. It does not make any sense. I'm starting to believe one of the old herasies that we have god and the devil mixed up.

When it comes down to it I am going to fight him with all my might.

He can keep his hell and his heaven, I'm going to go my own way.

This is not a question of faith. It is a question of right and wrong.

So this is what I propose. Imagine this, how about we sell every church in the world, every religious artefact, sacked all the priests and preachers. Instead of going to church, or bible study, we spent that time working on how to overcome world problems, get out hands dirty and build safe communities. We would be able to get rid of world hunger and homelessness and improve human rights. Let's do it people, who is with me? You can't deny this is a cool idea, an exciting idea. You can't tell me this is wrong. I believe it with a passion. I have faith it would work. What do you think?

[justmeinoz]

I am currently going through an Atheistic phase, but could well return to a faith.  It happens from time to time. 
It sounds like you are blaming God for the activities of human beings,  acting as part of organisations that are run by people who think they have a direct line to God.

I could never get my head around the whole sacrificial thing, as it doesn't make sense if God is omniscient.  It is a heretical notion.  I decided that Jesus didn't actually even have to be the "Son of God", but if he is accepted hypothetically as such,  then a God who can forgive even his son's murder can only be a God of love and compassion. 

I have discarded the God idea for the moment for other reasons, and am still living a good and happy life.  If you can find a set of beliefs that works for you, then it is all good.  If you believe in an omniscient God, then he knows what you are going through.

I'd suggest reading the books of  Bishop Shelby Spong, for a GLBTI embracing approach to the Church.

Karen.

[Kyyn]

Hi

I'm not Christian. I am Panthiest. We believe in a balance and unity of all things on this mother earth. Part of my belief is to respect all other religions so i've been talking to and researching a lot of them out of general curiousity

From what I gather of Christianity... it is very different from its Christians.
Even your bible was written by humans - not your God. If this is the faith you want to be, then don't let the acts of mere mortals sway you. And probably don't believe too much that's written in an old book by old men.

Belief is an important part of being human.. it's what gives us strength when we're down and direction when we're lost.
I know that i have often turned to the earth and spirits for guidance and they've yet to let me down.

I also agree, it would be nice to see a world united for the greater good... but i think we'd just then fight over what that "good" is   

[Annah]

OP:

I think you are struggling more concerning the injustices of humanity rather than the injustices of God.

Remember, for every person paying lip service to God or taking advantage of people in God's name, there are those who feed the sick, cloth the poor, and give shelter to the homeless. There are those who fight with their lives to defend LGBT people, who fight for social injustices of the world, who wants peace.

Don't discount those people who do extraordinary things in God's names.

[peky]

Enjoy !

[NotThereYet]

No matter what anybody can say, or what people might do, the Word of the Gospels is true.

Andi

[Amazon D]

I was just thinking about God.

I was thinking as I was praying this morning, and feeling rather disheartened. I have come to the realisation that our divine father does not have our best interests at heart (even if he has a heart).

How can us believers in God support and uphold our institutions as good things? They soak up money to build pretty buildings. Most of our members pay lip service. We pick and choose what to follow based on our own beliefs.

I think our God is not good. He is using us like a lab experiment – giving us mixed and clouded messages to follow. Leaving us vulnerable and deluded. Over half of our followers hate us as trans people, they tell us it is a lifestyle choice, that we are sinful. We spend countless riches on churches and religious cultery. Look at how much suffering we have just on this forum at the hands of our fellow faithful.

Now clearly god is kind of confused, unless I am missing something. Why is the old testament so different from the new? Why did we have this wrathful and vengeful god who supports intolerance, and causes atrocities. But then we get his son Jesus who preaches love above all things (which is a beautiful message). And what does he do? He kills Jesus. That is freaking barbaric. Sacrificing your kid is not an act of love. He died for our sins, yet we still have sin in the world. What is up with that? What did he achieve? War, hate, intolerance. It does not make any sense. I'm starting to believe one of the old herasies that we have god and the devil mixed up.

When it comes down to it I am going to fight him with all my might.

He can keep his hell and his heaven, I'm going to go my own way.

This is not a question of faith. It is a question of right and wrong.

So this is what I propose. Imagine this, how about we sell every church in the world, every religious artefact, sacked all the priests and preachers. Instead of going to church, or bible study, we spent that time working on how to overcome world problems, get out hands dirty and build safe communities. We would be able to get rid of world hunger and homelessness and improve human rights. Let's do it people, who is with me? You can't deny this is a cool idea, an exciting idea. You can't tell me this is wrong. I believe it with a passion. I have faith it would work. What do you think?

The issue your confusing is your basing everything about here on earth. Our time here is bt a drop in the bucket of our true existence. There is so much we do not know. Its about faith and well too many times things have happened to me because my mother prayed for me. I can't refute those things. She presently sits next to me and so many good things do happen that i may not deserve compared to many other people. I too once felt as you did. I was younger and wanted to figure it all out.. Time will explain more

[nicole99]

No, I don't think it is an issue of faith at all. Why worship something that is inherently evil? god is inherently evil. Everything it says is suspect.

And why not look at the real world in relation to religion? No my reasoning is sound. You don't actually need a church to believe in your god. So much wealth is tied up in institutions that don't work for us. They don't do much to further our basic compassion and humanity. We have this archaic religious text whose relevance today is very questionable. It causes more trouble that it helps. You can't whitewash it all by saying it is a matter of faith - people say we should take it on faith that we don't know gods plan. I say it is pretty obvious his plan is >-bleeped-<ed up.

It is all very well worrying about your spiritual salvation - but it is rubbish is you can't look after your own in the here and now, to live with compassion and tolerance. You can't look at this life as insignificant next to eternity. Otherwise what is the point? No what you do now matters.

I say down with religion.  If I ever meet god I will give him a hug and tell him he is a misguided idiot.  If the word of the gospel is true then god is mentally ill.

I don't discount people who do good in gods name. But for every one of those there are two who do good in the name of compassion and humanity - check out Buddah, now there was an amazing man. God is no requirement for a compassionate good life.

I fact I think god is a challenge to our humanity and compassion, I think he makes it harder to love, harder to be ourselves, harder to truly be free of misogynistic bull>-bleeped-<.

[Amazon D]

Your confusing religion with God..

Religion was created by mankind. God is just that which speaks to your heart.

also you seem to have some anger that your wanting to put out which doesn't help your post.

[Ms. OBrien CVT]

A witch here.  I worship both a god and a goddess.  All of nature is part of the life cycle.  No big gleaming buildings, or independent television networks.  Just the sky as my ceiling, the earth as my floor.

[nicole99]

Your confusing religion with God..

Religion was created by mankind. God is just that which speaks to your heart.

exactly, so why suffer churches to exist? Religion says god is good. My heart say he is an evil creation.

[peky]

My heart say he (GOD) is an evil creation.

Created by whom ? a bigger evil ? 

[peky]

God is beyond good and evil. God created the universe with all its glory and follies.

We can comprehend only a part of God. The thing that speaks on your hart is your intellect, your mind, your brain. It is your internal compass that dictates what you consider right or wrong, your moral and ethical code.

For most people this moral and ethical code is "colored" by their religious beliefs.

At the end of the day, all of this is very personal. I respect everybodies views alas even if I do not agree.

[bballshorty]

Non-religious/ex-Christian here. We can't prove whether there is a god (or more than one!), but you are right, all those churches, relics, priests and whatnot are a waste of money. If everyone were to spend the time they use worshipping God helping others, the world would be a much happier place today. People who only go to church and do nothing else are wasting their time, I'm sure their God would have liked it better if they spent that time helping his other "children."

[tekla]

Religion says god is good. My heart say he is an evil creation.

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

[Amazon D]

Religion says god is good. My heart say he is an evil creation.

Jeremiah 17:9

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

wow i am in awe

[tekla]

I've read it and studied it, I just don't believe the heart of the story.  I don't think Lord of the Rings happened either, doesn't change the fact that it's a good story, with good writing and good advice.

[Annah]

exactly, so why suffer churches to exist? Religion says god is good. My heart say he is an evil creation.

Churches exist so that other members of like faith can come together and worship as a community rather than in the privacy of their own homes.

Sorry you think God is evil. In my opinion, I disagree with you. Personally, I do not put the blame game on anyone or anything except for the person who did the offense.  For example, if someone does harm, I do not believe "the devil made them do it" or "God made them do it." They did it to themselves. 

I take religion for what it is. You can either wallow in a mud of despair and feel sorry for yourself because you think God put a monkey on your back or you go out their and do something edifying like feeding the homeless or clothing the naked.

I do not equate the creator of the universe by the ramblings of what certain people say of God such as Pat Robertson, etc, etc. I define God by looking out in nature and in space and truly coming to grips that the fact that God even knows I am here despite everything else in the world is truly extraordinary.

I am not here to "make you get your faith back." It is what it is. If you think God is evil then have fun with that. What I can say is, I certainly feel sorry for you if you think everything is bad or..evil. Or that God is evil.

If God was evil, the >-bleeped-< you are going through now will look like spilled slushie juice on the streets of Disney World compared to what could really happen if the creator of the universe was truly evil.

I don't let man define the nature of God to me. God is slightly more complicated than that.

[bballshorty]

I've read it and studied it, I just don't believe the heart of the story.  I don't think Lord of the Rings happened either, doesn't change the fact that it's a good story, with good writing and good advice.

haha, very true. Even for non-believers like us, there's some important lessons we can pick up along the way.

[Annah]

God is good.

(and basically ANY "God" is false; if it's in a church, it's a false image.)

That pretty much makes every single religion or following guilty