Comments | dave_littler: Their Personal God

dave_littler

Their Personal God

Nov 10, 2010 21:19

For quite some time now, I've been saying that not only do cultures create their gods in their own images, so too do individual believers within these cultures invent their gods in their own individual images. Not too long ago, we got some medical data which seems to support this contention.

A year or so ago, I remember reading about some ( Read more... )

atheism, religion, science, culture, christianity

Comments 19

skittish_derby November 11 2010, 05:51:02 UTC

that is very interesting. thought provoking, thanks for sharing.

and, gah... about the noah's flood thing-- I was just complaining about how horrible that story is on my fb, and I got so much flack from so many of those terrifying people saying things like "it is a beautiful story of..." just... no.

dave_littler November 11 2010, 06:16:58 UTC

Yeah, a lot of the stories in the very early parts of the bible/torah are just so nakedly barbaric and bloodthirsty that they unflinchingly appeal to the very worst and lowest parts of the human character. To pretend otherwise is to show yourself to be a liar or a fool.

Have you read my take on the similarly-horrible story of Sodom and Gamorrah?

skittish_derby November 11 2010, 14:25:28 UTC

i don't think so. lol. do you have a link?

dave_littler November 11 2010, 14:40:49 UTC

Certainly. Here you go.

http://dave-littler.livejournal.com/118870.html

"I could write a better god with my ass tied behind my back"; November 26th, 2009.

Thread 6

(The comment has been removed)

dave_littler November 11 2010, 18:42:38 UTC

It seems to me that the researchers took this into consideration when conducting the study; they asked their subjects "what do you think the average American thinks of this topic"; this too is someone they have no first-hand knowledge of per se; they need to think about someone else, based upon stuff they've heard, stuff they've seen elsewhere, and make a subjective call about what's in "Average American"'s head, just as they're being asked to do so with respect to their god ( ... )

drhoz November 11 2010, 13:33:54 UTC

very clearly stated, if depressing

dave_littler November 11 2010, 14:41:19 UTC

The first I have power over. The second I do not. I do what I can with what I have available to me.

rayefrenzy November 11 2010, 17:07:43 UTC

Very interesting. I think some of the hostility might not because Christians feel they are personally being attacked but because the core of their faith is being questioned. I mean, what are the basics? God is love. Love God, Love your neighbor. And I'd like to think some Christians actually think about this. They see some of the situations where God isn't love. And no one is loving their neighbor. So, maybe they're hostile because they're questioning it too. Shit is hard. And no one likes to be told "Hey, everything you love and believe and adore is wrong/false/made up ( ... )

dave_littler November 11 2010, 18:35:52 UTC

But see, this is essentially what I'm talking about. The god you choose to say you're worshiping wouldn't order genocide, because, being a human being with a functioning moral core, you deem genocide to be "wrong". Therefore, your god could not condone it either. Therefore he didn't order it. Therefore you ignore that part of the bible, even though you otherwise consider that book of the bible to be a factual account of events. This is pretty much exactly what I'm talking about.

I'd be curious to know your thoughts on incidents in the bible where the christian god is described as being more directly responsible for horrible shit, like when he chose to murder every man, woman and child on earth aside from the eight people he liked in the flood.

Or this: http://dave-littler.livejournal.com/118870.html

Or this: http://dave-littler.livejournal.com/59678.html

rayefrenzy November 11 2010, 18:50:59 UTC

Honestly, I think most of the OT isn't a factual account of events at all. Hell, even a lot of the NT is screwy. But I like to take the 2 Thessalonians 5 approach: "Test everything. Hold onto what is good".

Maybe what I'm trying to get at is that, yes, I am most definitely one of the people this entry is about. But I'd like to think its less trying to align God to my morals, as much as trying to work out what the hell God's morals are to begin with. I went to Bible college and only came out with knowing 2 things; shit's fucked and what the fuck. And while I know shit is fucked, I still couldn't let go of the fact that Jesus had done some pretty fabulous things in my life and I didn't want to let that go. We're all groping around in a dimly lit room trying to figure things out. I guess that's what makes this life so fun.

dave_littler November 11 2010, 18:59:42 UTC

Well, alright, for the sake of clarity, since I know you can ask any two christians what they think of any bit of dogma and get three different answers: What do you think hell is, who deserves to go there, and how were the rules determining who goes there established?

And do you believe that Jesus was in fact the christian god, Yahweh, made flesh?

Thread 7

anonymous November 17 2010, 14:09:24 UTC

youre exactly correct.God is an extension of everyone no matter what religion or non-religion. Alot of the christian faith doesnt seem to understand that jesus was a man just like all of us but it was the fact that he understood fully his divination and through much disipline and determination was able to best,(more than any man before him)explain and put into practise the true nature of the creator. Wether they know it or not,when someone says you have to let jesus into your heart to enter into heaven what is meant is open your self to love so that you can be filled with love(your natural state)and you will then be in heaven. Have you ever heard people like the dali lama speak? There is someone who lives in thier natural state.