Wouldn't it be better if there was no God, no afterlife?

[TheDragon]

Ok, Im Christian, but I'm starting to feel kinda anti-religious. For starters, the age old problem of why God NEEDS us to be clean of sin or we go to Hell. He sets the rules and is all powerful so why would he NEED us to worship him. In another light that is just a form of forcefully gaining power (tyranny?). He doesn't even give us PROOF of his actual existence aside from the Bible, which documents 2000+ year old events. Why not make himself more obvious; less doubt, less confusion...

IF he doesn't exist and we knew it, great, we wouldn't have to uselessly dedicate time to prayer and church. When we die, it wouldn't even really be that bad as we would just no longer have consciousness.

[Kikey_Kikeowitz]

Because he's a dick.

He's got a serious ego problem and likes to fuck with us.

[malaria]

You ought to look into Gnosticism. I think Arms has some links, maybe some others. Check google for yourself.

quote:Originally posted by TheDragon:

Ok, Im Christian, but I'm starting to feel kinda anti-religious. For starters, the age old problem of why God NEEDS us to be clean of sin or we go to Hell. He sets the rules and is all powerful so why would he NEED us to worship him. In another light that is just a form of forcefully gaining power (tyranny?). He doesn't even give us PROOF of his actual existence aside from the Bible, which documents 2000+ year old events. Why not make himself more obvious; less doubt, less confusion...

IF he doesn't exist and we knew it, great, we wouldn't have to uselessly dedicate time to prayer and church. When we die, it wouldn't even really be that bad as we would just no longer have consciousness.

First off, who told you he NEEDS us, more like the bible says he LOVES us, would you rather have people hate you and deny your existence and ignore you without getting pissed or would you rather have people ask for your help and really appreciate you. He doesn't need us to be good, he more like Loves us and does not want us to burn in hell would you want a loved one to? Uhh, he does not show proof, though i agree less confusion and less annoyance and waste of time, but it helps him seperate who is good and who is bad I guess, the Faithful and the Unfaithful. I don't know but to lose your conscious is a pain in the ass, meaing you don't know whether you lived or died, you are nothing you don't know anything. SIGH

[Dark_Magneto]

I'd believe in a God that used understanding, enlightenment, and the logical method which it designed the human brain to operate under to reveal it's existence rather than a god that strikes people dead on a whim, intentionally keeps his subjects in the dark, and then sends them to eternal torture because they couldn't be convinced that it existed due to the gross lack of evidence of supernatural authority and the overabundance of natural and parsimonious explanations.

The christian doctrines are ones that are maintained not so well in the light as they are in the dark. The less people understand about the world and the way the universe works, the more sense their propaganda makes.

I used to be a Christian a long time ago before I actually started critically analyzing the religion and looking for alternate and logical explanations.

quote:

Topic: Wouldn't it be better if there was no God, no afterlife?

Actually, it would. That way good deeds become more than people being sycophants and sucking up to the god they believe in to get into heaven. If you do something for another, and you don't believe it will have some cosmic payoff, it is purely because you wanted to and not because you felt compelled to do it to gain favor from some supernatural sky-daddy.

If a god exists that is so insecure that it requires exclusive worship of itsself and damns those to hell that will not crumble under the weight of the iron fist, then fuck it. You can believe / suck up to / worship in such a being if you have no principles whatsoever, but I myself am a man of principles. I would never be subjugated by such a being, no matter how much it threatened to endlessly torture me if I didn't.

The god of the Bible is a construction of the church. It's a finely tuned social engineering technique for profitmongering. Anybody with any degree of unbiased independent thinking can see the man behind the curtain.

Now, as for the question of whether some kind of god exists or not:

To tell you the truth, I do not know if a god/gods/godesses exist or not, but it would be better for their reputations if they didn't.

[ArmsMerchant]

quote:Originally posted by malaria:

You ought to look into Gnosticism. I think Arms has some links, maybe some others. Check google for yourself.

Right on!

As I have said before, my god has no preference regarding your behavior, does not judge or punish, does not forgive because there is nothing to be forgiven for. Hell is a myth, and heaven is what you make it.

Christianity sucks. (Boy, how's that for a cogent theological argument?)

[Real_Illusion]

I'm a Christian, and maybe some of you have read my other posts. In regards to what most Christians think, I think is bullshit. I used to be really into athiesm a few years ago. Then I got into Buddhism and Taoism, and I eventually discovered Christianity and saw it in a whole new perspective. Most of the stuff you hear about Christianity is a total lie. The Bible is something you can study, although I'm sure it's had alot of modification by governments and stuff because most humans are selfish. Anyways, it would probably be better if there was no afterlife, because I mean, most people will go to hell (according to Christianity), and therefore it's better to have nothing than to suffer constantly. If there was no God? I disagree, since in the Bible it clearly says "God is Love" in the First Letter of John, and I mean it would suck if there was no love in the world, I mean the whole world would basically be a big ghetto with alot of pissed off people who hate each other (well, alot of the world is that way, but oh well). Anyways, people go to hell not because God doesn't love us or anything. God WANTS us to be in heaven......but it's our choice whether we go to heaven or hell. If we sin, we would normally go to hell. But, since Jesus Christ never sinned and was pure, Adam and Eve's wrongdoings were repaid and the gates were reopened, and people could get back into heaven as long as they had God in their heart. I'm still trying to be open minded, and I'm starting to ponder whether one even needs a concept of Jesus Christ to be forgiven.....but anyways, I'm going, good luck to you all. I'm not saying I'm definitely right, I mean, I could be totally wrong. Believe in God could make you go to hell. I honestly don't know. You may wonder if I think it sucks most people go to hell, why I believe it. Well, I personally don't WANT to believe it, and often wish it isn't true. But, I believe it's true. Oh yeah, heaven and hell may be places, although they are most certainly states of mind. And maybe I'm not right on all my theories on Christianity. But I didn't come here to prove my theories to be true, I came here to help myself and others grow as a person. I don't like debating or anything like that to convert people to my viewpoint, since that's not useful.....you should debate for your personal growth. Peace :-D

[Rust]

quote:Actually, it would. That way good deeds become more than people being sycophants and sucking up to the god they believe in to get into heaven. If you do something for another, and you don't believe it will have some cosmic payoff, it is purely because you wanted to and not because you felt compelled to do it to gain favor from some supernatural sky-daddy.

Actually, it would be better if there were a God and an Afterlife but the people didn't know about it. It would be everything you said, plus the added bonus of an afterlife.

quote: It's a finely tuned social engineering technique for profitmongering.

Who's the benefactor? Who is actually gaining all these "profits" ?

[Dark_Magneto]

You ever been to a busy church on a busy Sunday and see that collection plate stack up? The answer would be whoever has the final say on that fat wad of cash.

[Fuck]

The near death experience. Read up on it. I wouldn't mind having an afterlife rather than not existing. The christian afterlife however... I'd rather not exist than risk going to hell.

Good thing christianity is total misinterpretted bullshit though.