This weighing of temporary suffering against eternal bliss is just another example of what a lousy game God is playing. He could have come up with something else - but he didn’t. That makes him, in any case, a huge masochistic asshole.
And even if all of that were actually true, the question arises as to why anyone would ever regard such a being as the measure of all things, let alone worship it.
This weighing of temporary suffering against eternal bliss is just another example of what a lousy game God is playing. He could have come up with something else - but he didn’t.
Wait, why is an asshole move? He figured out a way to figure out who ought to be rewarded for all eternity after a moment’s existence, that’s pretty amazing. Think how much of art etc is grappling with the concept of death or non-existence. God instead figured out, “hey, here’s a way to sift through a bunch of people with free will and temptation and reward the good ones for all eternity.” I’d be impressed!
a huge masochistic asshole.
I mean, I agree but only because I think you’re not using the word you mean. (Masochist enjoys harming themselves, you probably mean sociopath or somesuch.) And yeah, I think you’d have to be a masochist to create this potential for infinite reward and then have ungrateful snots running around bitching about a temporary inconvenience.
Of course I meant sadistic, you’re right. I guess my coffee was bad.
As for the rest of your answer, I don’t understand why you show understanding toward a being that had every opportunity, and it explicitly chose to play a cosmic game that seems to serve no purpose other than its own amusement.
But George Carlin said it best:
Religion has actually convinced people that there’s an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever ’til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money!
Why would God create a system to “figure out who ought to be rewarded” when he already knows that information? He’s omniscient, he knew that information since the beginning of time, no system required.
If he needs to create this system, he is not omniscient.
If he chooses to create this system anyway, including creation of childhood cancer and starving puppies, then he is evil.
This weighing of temporary suffering against eternal bliss is just another example of what a lousy game God is playing. He could have come up with something else - but he didn’t. That makes him, in any case, a huge masochistic asshole.
And even if all of that were actually true, the question arises as to why anyone would ever regard such a being as the measure of all things, let alone worship it.
Wait, why is an asshole move? He figured out a way to figure out who ought to be rewarded for all eternity after a moment’s existence, that’s pretty amazing. Think how much of art etc is grappling with the concept of death or non-existence. God instead figured out, “hey, here’s a way to sift through a bunch of people with free will and temptation and reward the good ones for all eternity.” I’d be impressed!
I mean, I agree but only because I think you’re not using the word you mean. (Masochist enjoys harming themselves, you probably mean sociopath or somesuch.) And yeah, I think you’d have to be a masochist to create this potential for infinite reward and then have ungrateful snots running around bitching about a temporary inconvenience.
Of course I meant sadistic, you’re right. I guess my coffee was bad.
As for the rest of your answer, I don’t understand why you show understanding toward a being that had every opportunity, and it explicitly chose to play a cosmic game that seems to serve no purpose other than its own amusement.
But George Carlin said it best:
Why would God create a system to “figure out who ought to be rewarded” when he already knows that information? He’s omniscient, he knew that information since the beginning of time, no system required.
If he needs to create this system, he is not omniscient.
If he chooses to create this system anyway, including creation of childhood cancer and starving puppies, then he is evil.