Quote:
Originally Posted by JBKlyde
The quote I have always relied on is this "he is God I am man who am I to say anything". The GOD I believe in is All powerful, All knowing, and All loving. The things he dose are not necessarily up to me to completely understand. So why should I even try. Kind of like a Child and his father, "do as he say's if you love him and he will reward your faith."
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You're not a parent, are you?
The "because I'm the Daddy, that's why" is good, but only for a short time, and only early on. Only until the child grows and matures and develops their own independent ability to reason. I know the analogy is not completely apt, I'm not picking on you for that. A paternalistic God is a very very common illustration. But it does stand up for at least one more comparison.
Like human parents who raise human children, we strive to develop our children's ability to reason and think *so that when we're gone, they can live without our presence protecting them*. According to my religious study, we have been given intelligence, the ability to reason, indeed, free will. Our love and devotion to God is only valid if we've come to our choice on our own, not by coercion. That we've decided to "accept Him". And yet, we're called to suspend the very faculties that make such a gesture of free will even possible. This contradiction is unsurmountable for me. It is self contradictory.
Be my thinking, free willed child, He says; come to me by faith, He says. These two expressions negate each other. This is why I fail to follow those religious apologists. They don't make sense.