Lilith Posted February 22, 2006 Share Posted February 22, 2006 Guess I'll jump in here. You know... after reading all of your posts (great answers by the way) it's occurred to me that one of the other dangers of seeing God as "supernatural" is that one sets oneself up for great amounts of pain and disapointment. I mean .... making god into a super daddy in the sky has its downsides. What happens when super daddy doesn't reach down and take your pain away? Or when super daddy let's bad things happen in your life? Or... how do you feel when someone else's super daddy "wins" and your super daddy "looses"? I mean - correct me if I'm wrong here - again I've never been involved in this type of thinking - but what do people think when they see others at peace who are not of their particular belief system. Or when they see that people from other belief systems can have happy, well adjusted, economically fruitful lives? Doesn't that mean that the neighbor's super daddy is giving the neighbor something that my super daddy may not be giving me? Play this out on a larger scale ... and it's little wonder that the literalists of the world prefer to go off in their own little "set apart" world. This way they don't have to notice that super daddy may not be all they've set him up to be. If someone from another belief system is adjusted and happy, they are actually deceived and not really happy. There happiness is a false happiness that only comes from things of this world that will dry up and blow away. And "we" have the really, truly-true happiness because "we" have the eternal life. And if only they could have that eternal life too, they would be that much happier (don't 'cha know). As far as "his super daddy gave him better toys than my super daddy gave me" thing....that is something that is pushed to the back of the brain. "We" don't get the nice things because our daddy is testing us, and wanting us to grow. And if we do get nice things, then daddy has looked upon us favorably and yippie-skippie for us. Interesting thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Open_Minded Posted February 22, 2006 Author Share Posted February 22, 2006 If someone from another belief system is adjusted and happy, they are actually deceived and not really happy. There happiness is a false happiness that only comes from things of this world that will dry up and blow away. And "we" have the really, truly-true happiness because "we" have the eternal life. And if only they could have that eternal life too, they would be that much happier (don't 'cha know). As far as "his super daddy gave him better toys than my super daddy gave me" thing....that is something that is pushed to the back of the brain. "We" don't get the nice things because our daddy is testing us, and wanting us to grow. And if we do get nice things, then daddy has looked upon us favorably and yippie-skippie for us. Interesting thread. Thanks Lilith.... Your answer took me right back to where I first ran into this danger. It was the first real converstation I got into here at Ex-C - the Silly Putty thread to be exact. At the end of the thread I was asking people about the fear that is experienced in literalist Christianity and All God's Fail responded with the following: http://www.ex-christian.net/index.php?s=&s...ndpost&p=110036 Hey Open_Minded! Careful there - you're perilously close to the abyss! Keep up this line of questioning and you might find your faith has been replaced by logic... Anyway, it's hard to paint all fundies with the same brush when it comes to what they feel about Jesus/biblegod. I think some of them do feel joy in their hearts at times, but I think always there's a sense of dread and fear. After all, their own god is trying to save them from Himself. It's a real mind-fuck. Imagine if you had a dad that constantly threatened to kill you if you didn't love him. If you did love and obey him, he'd take you to Disneyworld - if not, he'd burn you alive. You'd probably feel great relief if you felt you got on his good side. But you'd always be waiting for the other shoe to drop. A real mind-fuck is putting it mildly, when describing the dangers of understanding God as "supernatural". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts