The Delusional Belief That God Is In Control

[cleanhippie]

God should be executed for crimes against humanity. – Bryan Emmanuel Gutierrez

Every time, without fail, when I read a news story about the untimely and senseless deaths of the innocent in some sort of horrible accident, the responses from the Christian community are ludicrous. What irks me to no end are those who believe that their god not only knew that these people were going to die these horrific deaths, but had actually planned it. They simply accept it as the will of God, not an accident, or an act of terrorism, or a murder, etc. There is absolutely nothing even remotely intelligent about this and you have to wonder how many times do you need to get your ass kicked before you realize that the person kicking your ass does not have your best interests in mind.

When I ask those who have been directly effected by these untimely deaths, it suddenly becomes all about them. I have been told countless times by believers that god uses these situations as a test of faith or as a way to bring them closer together with one another. Among the more ludicrous utterances I have come across comes from those who believe that the death and suffering of humanity somehow brings glory to their god. Just like the death of Cassie Bernall in Columbine, of those on September 11th, 2001, of King David’s “ten thousand,” and all the other war stories about the murder of hundreds of thousands of people in the bible. And don’t forget about the ridiculous myth of the biblical flood that caused the wholesale slaughter of the entire human race, save one family. All for the glory of god… What a peach…

--snip--

Religious people are forced to perform mental gymnastics to reconcile real life with their delusions. When Christianity, Islam and the rest of the world religions finally have gone the way of Zeus, they will leave behind a legacy of case studies for students of abnormal psychology. It still amazes me that in the twenty-first century there are so many people who base their reality upon ancient myths. It astounds me that someone can look upon the death, carnage and destruction of an entire planeload of twisted, burnt corpses and call a lone survivor a “miracle.” It perplexes me how a parent can lose a child to anything and believe that their god called them “home,” or that their kids were “on loan” to them from their god. It is not a fool who says there is no god, but a fool who denies what their own eyes are telling them.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/alstefanelli/2011/09/30/the-delusional-belief-that-god-is-in-control/

[Scuba]

1. If he is, he's doing a piss-poor job. n/t

[Atman]

2. God must be an un-reccer.

:) He clearly disapproves of this post.

[cleanhippie]

3. Well, I think we all know it's not god who disapproves of this post, its the believers...

:shrug:

[bengalherder]

4. Mark Twain wrote had simliar thoughts.

'Letters from the Earth' and 'The Mysterious Stranger' are instructive. I'm glad I read them in high school. They've come a long way from the day when they had to be published posthumously because their writer might have suffered for his viewpoint.

Thanks for the link.

[David Sky]

5. I'm sure 99% of theists would prefer NOT to read stuff like this,

or have one or two answers that have worked for them in the past, and don't want to look too deeply at this kind of thinking.

I have 3 people in my extended family who have pat answers for questions like this, I still love them, even tho - their answers leave me dumbfounded.

[Dragonbreathp9d]

6. People who believe god controls everything

Haven't read the Bible

[Hydra]

7. You mean they actually have to read the book?

Why would they do that when they can trust someone else to tell them what's in it and how they're supposed to interpret it?

That's the reason I left religion behind(other than the fact that I'm an agnostic). I realized I was the only one reading the book.

[cleanhippie]

8. There are many who have read it and would strongly disagree with you.

:shrug:

What do you say to them?

[socialshockwave]

9. If loving God is delusional

then I'm proud to be delusional.

Even when the militants come for me because I refuse to recant my faith...so be it.

[darkstar3]

10. You do love your hyperbole, don't you?

:eyes:

[notadmblnd]

12. I guess it's true, ignorance is bliss.

Because you are delusional if you think that militants are going to come for you for not recanting your faith.

What, do you think Obama is going to take away your guns too?

You may not realize this, but non-believers don't care about your religion as long as you are not bothering them with it.


I've never knocked on anyone's door and tried to convince them that there is no supreme being ruling our lives. Nor have I ever told someone to have a "blessed day" and I absolutely abhor someone telling me that. religion is not brought into my daily life unless it is done by some evangelical. In other words, I never bring the subject of religion up. However, if someone wants to talk to me about religion, they had better be prepared to hear what I have to say about it.

So your delusional statement that someone is going to come after you, is just that. Don't spread it around and no one will ever have to know what you believe. Keep your faith between you and your maker and you will never lose a nights sleep worrying about being carted off by militants for refusing to recant it. Or is your god so powerless that he needs you to do his work for him?

[skepticscott]

13. If any "militants" come for you

They won't be atheists. They'll be other believers who are absolutely certain that YOUR way of believing is delusional, but their isn't.

[David Sky]

14. Very good point! People who are atheists really don't want to

make religious people any more paranoid than those people already are.

Such a common theme in the history of religions, one religious group believes other religious groups are persecuting the first group, coming after them, etc. So they launch wars or Crusades or some other series of events, (to bare false witness about that other group's intention) as a way of coercing the other group into compliance, into an acceptance of the other's faith, or worse, leading to outright extinction of one group or another!

What is MOST interesting is that those religious folks project all that negative "militant" stuff right out onto those folks who refuse to believe in any religious dogma or mythology at all (the atheists) !!!

The other remarkable thing is that they are PROUD of their paranoid feelings about people not like themselves !

[notadmblnd]

11. What kills me are the people who claim to speak for god

Those that receive messages from god and are compelled to relay them to the rest of us. And the arrogance in thinking that any god would need any one of us to do his bidding.