Disappointed in God

[Woodznutz]

I’ve got plenty of anger to go around regarding what happened to my father. God, my father, and a number of family members included.

I am thankful that it opened my eyes before I wasted any more time, energy or money on the fraud of organized religion.

I'm still angry at my deceased brother and sister. They killed themselves with alcohol and screwy thinking long before their time.

 

[Bonzi]

that's refreshing - not to chose or reject but to triumph in purity, good vs evil for admission through their judgement to the heavens - as their equal in spirit.

Therein lies the rub.... what people consider good and evil. Who gets to say?

 

[Meriweather]

Yes, Stuff does happen.,My problem was that I’d been taught for 27 years that my father’s God was supposed to be there to help him when the Stuff hits the fan. So far as I was concerned, that God abandoned my father as soon as the Stuff got real. I’m not wasting my time, money or energy in a supposedly loving and caring God who”s nowhere to be found when needed.

My spiritual search led me to the belief that The Deity doesn’t give a fuck about any of us and in fact puts as much Stuff as possible in our way to test our Souls.

My perspective is that we are spiritual beings having a physical existence. As such, we are going to experience so many aspects of the physical world--including physical and mental illnesses, handicaps, and death. I was still in elementary school when I realized God didn't work with physical problems--not even those as small as rashes and sore throats.

His domain was helping us with strength and guidance through all the hardships a physical existence entails. God loves us so much--He is love--and He cares about even the smallest problems we face in this world. His attention is not on the problems. At all. It is on us and guiding us through them.

 

[Meriweather]

I’ve got plenty of anger to go around regarding what happened to my father.

What about all the joy having your father in your life provided? When I pass, I do not want my children to experience anger because I passed, but joy in all the time we had together. It could be just my habit of taking responsibility for too much, but if my children are consumed with anger, I would blame myself for failing them.

Your father was a great gift. That, not anger, our reflection.

 

[Meriweather]

I'm still angry at my deceased brother and sister. They killed themselves with alcohol and screwy thinking long before their time.

I am truly sorry. In our family, it was a nephew.

 

[Woodznutz]

My perspective is that we are spiritual beings having a physical existence. As such, we are going to experience so many aspects of the physical world--including physical and mental illnesses, handicaps, and death. I was still in elementary school when I realized God didn't work with physical problems--not even those as small as rashes and sore throats.

His domain was helping us with strength and guidance through all the hardships a physical existence entails. God loves us so much--He is love--and He cares about even the smallest problems we face in this world. His attention is not on the problems. At all. It is on us and guiding us through them.

God designed our bodies with warning signals if we mistreated it. We need to heed those signals. Our health would vastly improve if we rested on the Sabbath day, and were moderate in our habits.

 

[BreezeWood]

Wow you are a genius. Who said they were you moron. Best you stick to the six word religion, it's about all your brain can handle.

what else were you posting - provide the requested tablets or define what you are posting - the prescribed religion of antiquity is what the 1st century events reflect ... not what is falsely written in the 4th century christian bible.

 

[Anathema]

His domain was helping us with strength and guidance through all the hardships a physical existence entails. God loves us so much--He is love

Sorry, that’s not the kind of deity I can worship. I need a meaningful and timely return on my investment of time, energy and money. The Abrahamic God my father believed in doesn’t offer that, so I walked away. Turns out no organized religion does. So I found a different path that net both my needs and my experiences.

 

[BreezeWood]

Therein lies the rub.... what people consider good and evil. Who gets to say?

if purity is attained that is what is judged by the heavens for their admission. which in triumph they accomplished.

you are correct though they do separately exist and is the lesson set for a&e to learn for their own self determination as they choose.

 

[Meriweather]

Sorry, that’s not the kind of deity I can worship. I need a meaningful and timely return on my investment of time, energy and money. The Abrahamic God my father believed in doesn’t offer that, so I walked away. Turns out no organized religion does. So I found a different path that net both my needs and my experiences.

And it's good you found a different path.

One of the first things I learned about God is that He is not our own personal genie. The second...His love almost beyond our comprehension.

 

[Anathema]

What about all the joy having your father in your life provided?

My father and I really never got along. We patched things up to some degree the weekend before he died, but just based on our attitudes and personalities we were never going to be best friends.

Your father was a great gift. That, not anger, our reflection.

He was a gift. A gift that I wasted for two and a half decades. It was really only after his death that I realized how much I wasted by my half of our feud.

 

[Anathema]

And it's good you found a different path.

Yes it is. A VERY different path.

One of the first things I learned about God is that He is not our own personal genie. The second...His love almost beyond our comprehension.

I don’t believe in love. I never have and likely never will. I also have no use for things, people, etc… that don’t perform as required when called upon to do so. That’s why the Abrahamic God is of no use to me.

 

[JoeBlow]

Labeling religion/scripture as "Fairy Tales" does not make it so--just as hurtful.

Unsubstantiated fiction. Is that better?

 

[Meriweather]

I don’t believe in love. I never have and likely never will. I also have no use for things, people, etc… that don’t perform as required when called upon to do so. That’s why the Abrahamic God is of no use to me.

Trying to find a common ground here. So I'll start with what may be our greatest difference. I don't think it terms of God being of no use to me. I think in terms of how I may be of service to God, and to others.

We are called upon to love others the same way we love ourselves. For example, you expect things and people to perform as required. Do you expect that of yourself, to perform as required? Are your standards as high as your expectations of others?

As for me, I would rather take care of the job myself than expect one iota of assistance from someone who is not happy to give it. It is why my husband has never had one of those "Honey, do" lists. Helping me makes him unhappy and I have no patience for grousing.

 

[Meriweather]

Unsubstantiated fiction. Is that better?

No, it is not. The Bible requires many years of hard study--as an adult. How old were you when you shrugged it off as not worth your time?

 

[Meriweather]

He was a gift. A gift that I wasted for two and a half decades. It was really only after his death that I realized how much I wasted by my half of our feud.

I am sorry. I teach teens. One day a class was complaining about parents. I happened to remark, "Not too many years from now, you will all be off to college. You will come home one day and be amazed at how much your parents learned."

All was quiet for a moment, then one student asked (seriously), "What takes them so long?"

No one understood why I burst out laughing.

It sounds as though you never had the time to come home and discover how much your father had learned while you were away?

 

[Meriweather]

Yes it is. A VERY different path.

Perhaps keep in mind that the Bible one studies as an adult is very different from what one studies as a child. We may not be as far apart or so very different. Possibly.

 

[Anathema]

Trying to find a common ground here. So I'll start with what may be our greatest difference. I don't think it terms of God being of no use to me. I think in terms of how I may be of service to God, and to others.

I do not believe I’m here to serve God or others. I believe we are here to prove we can live a proper life guided by morals and values, of which Personal Responsibility is one of the most important.

We are called upon to love others the same way we love ourselves. For example, you expect things and people to perform as required. Do you expect that of yourself, to perform as required? Are your standards as high as your expectations of others?

Yes, I do expect the same of myself. My responsibilities to myself, my community, family, employer, etc… are very important to me.

 

[Meriweather]

Yes, I do expect the same of myself. My responsibilities to myself, my community, family, employer, etc… are very important to me.

What I called 'service' you called 'responsibilities'. I think they may be one and the same.

 

[Anathema]

It sounds as though you never had the time to come home and discover how much your father had learned while you were away?

Not quite. I knew both he and my mother had great qualities to share. The problem was that my father and I had very different views on what was important and we were both too stubborn to open our eyes to each other’s way of viewing things.

He was very hands-on, mechanically oriented, and skilled in the doing of things. I am a very hands-off, pay others to do the mechanical stuff. My mentality is that I make enough money to ensure I don’t have to change the oil in my car or cut my grass. My free time is incredibly valuable and important to me. He could never understand that and it upset him. We are/we’re just very different people. While I was reading a book he wanted to be out doing something.