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God's love is eternal and it is perfect, but it's not unconditional. That's fair. That makes more sense than God loving an axe-wielding rapist as much as Mothe

God's love is eternal and it is perfect, but it's not unconditional. That's fair. That makes more sense than God loving an axe-wielding rapist as much as Mother Theresa.

eps 14y ago
I can't make any sense out of what you said.
paul 14y ago
An axe-wielding rapist is mentally sick. I would still love my children, even if they had a horrible sickness. Love is not a reward.
- thoughtcriminal 14y ago
  All evil can't be blamed on mental illness Paul, but that kind of evil is certainly unfathomable by us. Riveting article btw. Incredible what you have been through. I was happy to read your daughter is well!
  - jlgreco 14y ago
    Can you make the decision to be evil, or is evilness an inherent property of someone? If evil is a decision, how could you make the decision to be evil? Deciding to be evil would itself be an evil act. It is an infinite regress. If evil is built in, how could you possibly respect a god that punishes what it creates for being as it created it?
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- Crake 14y ago
  >An axe-wielding rapist is mentally sick. As is the god found in the bible, if you've ever read it start to finish instead of (like most people) cherrypicking choice quotes from what you heard the pastor tell you some sunday morning.
thyrsus 14y ago
Omniscience and omnipotence (generally ascribed to God by mainstream Christianity) give concepts like "fair" the equivalent of a divide by zero. Ditto eternity. I love seeing serious discussion of the ideas, right up to but never at or past the point where the reasoning supposedly justifies doing actual harm to the participants (willing or not) - and, no, "saving their souls" is never a counterbalancing good.
- thoughtcriminal 14y ago
  If we had the time, I would. I would seriously love to. However, HN isn't the place for it and I would only want to discuss it with someone seriously educated in Christian theology and the scriptures.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- timinman 14y ago
  Most of the world didn't start believing in Zero as a number until after the 4th Century AD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number). It didn't seem rational. "How can something be nothing?" And there is the divide by problem you mentioned... Eventually people realized that it was their approach to the problem that was flawed. The world accepted Zero and moved forward as a result. I believe God is rational and therefore it is right for us to rationally evaluate the claims of gods and their proponents, however, we proceed with humility, because it follows that if God is God, then his ways are higher than ours. Belief in God (and Zero) makes the most sense to me, even with my unanswered questions.
littlegiantcap 14y ago
From my perspective God does love that axe wielding rapist as much as Mother Theresea. You can love someone while still being disappointed or even while punishing them. That's my perspective at least, although I don't even presume to begin to understand the complexity of God's love.
- Crake 14y ago
  I think I would be a little offended if my deity liked me as much as my axe wielding rapist counterpart. I feel like not being an axe wielding rapist ought to count for something, relatively speaking.
pjscott 14y ago
How do you know this? Or are you defining terms, rather then making a factual assertion? I'm always kind of puzzled by posts like this.
- thoughtcriminal 14y ago
  Here's an excellent article on it: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng
  - laureny 14y ago
    "excellent"? It's an article from the Mormon church (the one that believes god lives on a planet and that you will get one too when you die) and is 80% made of bible quotes. No thanks.
    - thoughtcriminal 14y ago
      Have you been getting your information from the National Enquirer?

God's love is eternal and it is perfect, but it's not unconditional. That's fair. That makes more sense than God loving an axe-wielding rapist as much as Mother Theresa.

eps 14y ago

I can't make any sense out of what you said.

paul 14y ago

An axe-wielding rapist is mentally sick. I would still love my children, even if they had a horrible sickness. Love is not a reward.

thoughtcriminal 14y ago
All evil can't be blamed on mental illness Paul, but that kind of evil is certainly unfathomable by us. Riveting article btw. Incredible what you have been through. I was happy to read your daughter is well!
- jlgreco 14y ago
  Can you make the decision to be evil, or is evilness an inherent property of someone? If evil is a decision, how could you make the decision to be evil? Deciding to be evil would itself be an evil act. It is an infinite regress. If evil is built in, how could you possibly respect a god that punishes what it creates for being as it created it?
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
Crake 14y ago
>An axe-wielding rapist is mentally sick. As is the god found in the bible, if you've ever read it start to finish instead of (like most people) cherrypicking choice quotes from what you heard the pastor tell you some sunday morning.

thyrsus 14y ago

Omniscience and omnipotence (generally ascribed to God by mainstream Christianity) give concepts like "fair" the equivalent of a divide by zero. Ditto eternity. I love seeing serious discussion of the ideas, right up to but never at or past the point where the reasoning supposedly justifies doing actual harm to the participants (willing or not) - and, no, "saving their souls" is never a counterbalancing good.

thoughtcriminal 14y ago
If we had the time, I would. I would seriously love to. However, HN isn't the place for it and I would only want to discuss it with someone seriously educated in Christian theology and the scriptures.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
timinman 14y ago
Most of the world didn't start believing in Zero as a number until after the 4th Century AD: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/0_(number). It didn't seem rational. "How can something be nothing?" And there is the divide by problem you mentioned... Eventually people realized that it was their approach to the problem that was flawed. The world accepted Zero and moved forward as a result. I believe God is rational and therefore it is right for us to rationally evaluate the claims of gods and their proponents, however, we proceed with humility, because it follows that if God is God, then his ways are higher than ours. Belief in God (and Zero) makes the most sense to me, even with my unanswered questions.

littlegiantcap 14y ago

From my perspective God does love that axe wielding rapist as much as Mother Theresea. You can love someone while still being disappointed or even while punishing them. That's my perspective at least, although I don't even presume to begin to understand the complexity of God's love.

Crake 14y ago
I think I would be a little offended if my deity liked me as much as my axe wielding rapist counterpart. I feel like not being an axe wielding rapist ought to count for something, relatively speaking.

pjscott 14y ago

How do you know this? Or are you defining terms, rather then making a factual assertion? I'm always kind of puzzled by posts like this.

thoughtcriminal 14y ago
Here's an excellent article on it: https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng https://www.lds.org/ensign/2003/02/divine-love?lang=eng
- laureny 14y ago
  "excellent"? It's an article from the Mormon church (the one that believes god lives on a planet and that you will get one too when you die) and is 80% made of bible quotes. No thanks.
  - thoughtcriminal 14y ago
    Have you been getting your information from the National Enquirer?