Capricious, mean-minded, stupid God!

[BoSoxGal]

[RayThom]

God is a concept by which we measure our pain.

I just believe in Secular Humanism...and that's reality.

These "Yay God / Nay God" threads are a real trip. And the great part about them is nobody's right if everybody's wrong. And in the end, the only difference -- headstone or no headstone.

[Lord Jim]

I have tremendous regard for Stephen Fry as a comedian, and a brilliantly quick witted raconteur...

But not as a Theologian...

His expertise in that area is pretty much the same as Taylor Swift's...

[Gob]

It's not whether he has "expertise" Jim, it's about his ability to make a coherent and philosophically sound argument.

"What sort of god gives little children bone cancer"?

[Crackpot]

A god made out of straw?

[Joe Guy]

"What sort of god gives little children bone cancer"?

The same sort of god that gave us you, Steven Fry. Now go to hell!....

[MajGenl.Meade]

Oh, if I needed to get an understanding of God from an overweight, homosexual, atheistic egotist I'd certainly pick Stephen Fry. He's a very witty and amusing man. But as CP said, he can build out of straw as well as the next person.

PS I'm neither homosexual nor atheistic.

[Gob]

Not a single attempt to refute his points so far then, Fry is on a winner.

[Lord Jim]

Not a single attempt to refute his points so far then, Fry is on a winner.

"What sort of god gives little children bone cancer"?

That sort of sophomoric, ultra simplistic non-reasoning is unworthy of a serious response...

It ranks up with "What if they gave a war and nobody came?" and "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" on the list of really deep and profoundly meaningful points...

[RayThom]

Try beating this for simplicity -- can god create a rock so big he cannot lift it? Heh... who's omnipotent now?

God is not dead—he is merely everywhere, stirring up mayhem and hate for non-christians.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Try beating this for simplicity -- can god create a rock so big he cannot lift it? Heh... who's omnipotent now?

Even more sophomoron. Even an atheist should be able to make mincemeat out of that stupid argument. Gob could, if he felt like it.

[RayThom]

... Even more sophomoron. Even an atheist should be able to make mincemeat out of that stupid argument. Gob could, if he felt like it.

Right over your head, right over it.

Nonetheless, that's that's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

[MajGenl.Meade]

That is all

[rubato]

Try beating this for simplicity -- can god create a rock so big he cannot lift it? Heh... who's omnipotent now?

... ".

I heard Alan Watts use that line in a recorded talk back in the early 70s. and I didn't think it was that clever when he said it.



Yrs,
Rubato

[TPFKA@W]

Today a coworkers son and his wife flipped their car over and were severely damaged. Ironically they were on their way home from church. What kind of God indeed. One who lost interest long ago, if at all.

[Joe Guy]

OMG!

[MajGenl.Meade]

Today a coworkers son and his wife flipped their car over and were severely damaged. Ironically they were on their way home from church. What kind of God indeed. One who lost interest long ago, if at all.

Ah I see. You think there should be special care for churchgoers? That can't be it.

No, I see a hint that a real god should take away all choices and "fix" everything so that people don't flip a car... or shoot a spouse... or break a leg... or swear... or commit adultery... or get a divorce... or tell a lie... or break a promise... or post derogatory comments about that god... or have any freedom to control their own lives. Well, the list could go on.

That's what a god should do, is it? Sounds like some kind of fascist dictator... I'm glad that the actual God isn't that god; we can agree on that much!

(And it's not irony. Irony is to say the opposite of what one means - such as "Stephen Fry - he's such an insightful expert on theology!")

[rubato]

And he lets little children get bone cancer, if they want to. Because its all about the freedom!


yrs,
rubato

[MajGenl.Meade]

OK so you'd like "Doctor god" who fixes some illnesses? All illnesses? But not intervening in anything else? No wait - avalanches! god should fix that too but that's all. No, wait. Trainwrecks... war... tsunamis... all those natural things we enjoy so much. But that's all. No, wait. Murders - all murders should be stopped. But that's definitely it. Kidnappings, yes those too but... oh OK and rape, GBH, torture but there is a limit. Just not there - we need drunk drivers to be prevented from getting in cars... better yet... prevent them from drinking! And heroin, cocaine, opium.. better get cannabis exterminated too, just in case it's a gateway. Finis. Almost... I was forgetting the haters.. god would eliminate them if he had any brain. Them and poverty. And greed... got to do something about that.

What else, rubato? What did I leave out of the list? Republicans! Goodbye to them! Foreign navies... cheerio! Ankle sprains. Migraines. Cliff diving. Tired fingers from typing endless lists of things god should be doing until finally we end up with no humans at all because they are all just a bloody nuisance. Let's have androids dreaming of electronic sheep - that sounds safe enough.

Don't worry - you enjoy the mental world that Stephen Fry and you inhabit. The one where bone cancer in children still exists - where people kill and hurt each other and cars flip over - and it's all utterly without meaning or any form of redemption and the only cure is death. Welcome to it, sir. You are welcome to it. It is soooo very much better than the alternative.

[RayThom]

... (And it's not irony. Irony is to say the opposite of what one means - such as "Stephen Fry - he's such an insightful expert on theology!")

You keep intimating that atheism is some kind of "theology", or a system of faith that one chooses to purposely dismiss, if only to be arbitrary to a majority mindset. A whim rather than a reason. You see us atheists as those who make a concerted effort to disbelieve and/or deny the existence of god. (ie. "anti-god" or "anti-religion.")

However, my atheist view -- and I'm most positive about this -- posits that no supreme nor omnipotent, metaphysical, energy force was ever present before or after the "Big Bang Theory." The term "god" to me is nothing more than some odd oral tradition or folklore. (Stories from primitive Marvel comics, if you will.) But, no, for me there is no strange force to be fearful of, nor reckoned with. (ie. NO god... no way, nohow... never. No disbelief, no denial. No "anti" anything.) In other words, there is no there there. This is what I know, not what you know.

Of course, my thoughts on this explosive subject is not going to stop you from overly professing your "rock solid" beliefs. Just know I read what you post on this subject much like I read what Stan Lee cranks out -- well written, and highly creative fantasy.