Why can't people accept that God is just a fantasy to comfort us?

[Anonymous]

Sure, it feels amazing to think that there is an all-powerful, all-knowing being who always has our backs, but people rarely think logically about the idea of God.

1) If God is perfect and infallible, praying is useless because you are then asking God to change His plans, meaning that He isn't infallible.

2) If God is all-knowing, then we cannot have freewill because freewill implies a future with no predestination.

3) If God is all-loving and benevolent, then He cannot be all-powerful, because if He were, He would design a world with no evil.

[sawno]

I don't believe in the character but there is definitely more to it than just fiction. So let me ask you this, what if God is not an individual, and "Angels" are really just souls like us but currently not occupying a body, living in whatever is beyond what our bodies can do. It would change the answers to your questions quite a lot.

1) Its not a single being, and the individuals involved would not be perfect either. They can only do so much without disrupting the experience for us, so they do their best according to their abilities but in the end they can only give small nudges or manipulate chance.

2) If you were not bound by physics, and could be everywhere at any time. You would be able to observe a lot of things. Or what if they aren't and its just as many as us involved if not more. Everyone would still be observed, and the soul judging your journey is yourself so in that sense the judger is always watching. Judging isn't really their goal, its not up to them to define if your life was a success or if your happy with yourself. That blessing or curse comes down to you once your done with it all. But would it remove free will? Of course not. They can surely help get things done, but everyone involved has to cooperate with that. If someone wants to harm you they may try to nudge things in your favor, but ultimately their will to harm you also counts heavily hence all the evil in the world still existing.,

3) What is the point of good if there was no evil? And did they design a world with evil in mind? Because lets say the world was 100% good, and i mean truly good. Would it be good if you had no option to be bad? Or would you need the free will to choose evil even if none exists? What would happen if one of us decided to inflict harm on someone else, just to see what that experience would be like and created evil in the process. I don't believe the literal adam and eve story, but it would make for an analogy that in a world where no evil exists and nobody knows what it would be like, it would only take one person to try and find out before it all goes down into what we have now.

There is more to this world than what conventional logic defines, one day you might find out for yourself if you start looking. Things like telepathy are real and perhaps one day you will experience it with someone you have a close bond with. Or maybe you get a sign thats beyond coincidence telling you exactly what you wished to know. Don't dismiss the possibilities out of hand, you debunked the fictional character with your logic, but there is much more to it than simplified analogies.

[NamerOfStars]

For the same reason you can't accept that God is real: a lack of evidence, even in matters of pure thought. Let's look at the points you bring up.

1. "Infallible" doesn't mean being incapable of change, just of being wrong. A plan for every given thing that will ever happen is going to have a LOT of wiggle room when it comes to incorrectness, be it factual or moral or some other kind; it's no more "wrong" to turn left at the end of the street than it is turn right, it will simply take you somewhere else where you'll see and experience different things.

2. If you flip a coin, which way will it come up? It will be heads, or tails, or land on its edge, or bounce off your hand when you miss the grab and roll away, or be snatched out of the air by a diving bird. Calculate all the forces and angles (and bird locations) involved, and you'll know what will happen if you make a tiny change in the way you flip it. Omniscience works the same way; for a given course of action, there will be a given set of results. "Free will" doesn't mean that NOTHING is set in stone, simply that you have the ability to choose the actions that you take.

3. Do you really think loving someone means ensuring that they never suffer, or have to struggle and grow? Why would an all-knowing being reason from such a limited perspective? Have you never asked yourself why a perfect being would create a universe at all, evil or no evil? Without struggle, there is no gain of strength. Without knowledge of evil, one can't appreciate good.

[Asker]

1. "Wiggle room when it comes to incorrectness." This is God we are talking about, a supposed all-powerful being. If He leaves "wiggle room," then that simply means He is not perfect nor is his "plan" perfect.

2) I don't think your definition of omniscience is correct. In relation to God, it means that He knows everything, including every action we will take. If He ONLY knows the possible outcomes, such as how a coin will land, and not PRECISELY how it will land, then He is not omniscient.

3) "Without knowledge of evil, one can't appreciate good." So you are saying that God created evil? If God created evil, then that means He is not all-loving, bottom line.

[NamerOfStars]

1. Why would a perfect plan have no margin of error? Perfection isn't calcified order, it's perfection. If everything was going to happen along a set pattern with no possibility of deviation, you wouldn't have a plan; you'd simply know it.

2. A person's no different from a coin, in that regard; know a person well enough, and you'll know what actions they'll take, given certain specific stimuli. If you then know the stimuli, you'll know what everyone's actions will be. You're trying to examine the whole of physical existence through a mortal lens. Think of researchers observing a colony of mice.

3. Nonsense. If there's no possibility of deviating from the rules, then following them means nothing. A parent who spanks their child is hurting them; that doesn't mean they don't love them. They may be parenting inefficiently or in a way you otherwise object to, but they still love their child. Defects in human perception don't alter the underlying reality.

[Asker]

1) " If everything was going to happen along a set pattern with no possibility of deviation, you wouldn't have a plan; you'd simply know it." Are you saying that, because God's plan DOES have margin of error, it means He isn't all-knowing?

2) "You'll know what everyone's actions will be." That's the thing, though. If God knows what everyone's actions will be, then the idea of freewill doesn't hold up, because the only choice for us is to do what God knows we will do.

3) "A parent who spanks their child is hurting them; that doesn't mean they don't love them." A parent is not all-loving, though. People don't use the term all-loving/omnibenevolent to refer to a human. They use it for a deity, which is God in this case. It means "perfect or unlimited goodness." If God created evil, as I previously stated, He does not have unlimited goodness, in the same way, that a parent, or any human, for that matter, does not have unlimited goodness.

[Daniela1982]

The Bible shows that God's mind/plans can be changed.
God cannot and will not change His character. He is who He is. But according to Scripture, He can and will change His mind!

Abraham knew this. In Genesis 18:16-33 we see the patriarch standing before the Lord, actually praying for Sodom and Gomorrah and pleading that the Lord would reconsider His plan to destroy the evil cities. Abraham began by asking the Lord not to wipe out the cities if he found fifty righteous people there. God agreed, but fifty righteous people couldn’t be found. So Abraham prayed again. Going back and forth in conversation with God, he gradually worked the number down to just ten.

But there weren’t even ten righteous people in either of those dark, unhappy cities, and God did move in judgment against them. But Abraham learned that he could reason with God in prayer — and make a difference.

God listens and cares.
Moses knew this as well. And it’s a good thing for the Jewish people that he did.

In Exodus 32:9-10, we read that God was on the knife edge of destroying the whole nation and starting over again with Moses. But Moses pleaded with God to turn aside from His intention of judgment and spare the people.

And what happened then? We read that

The Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people. — Exodus 32:14

[Anonymous]

We pray to god not for god. We pray to god because it’s is GOD that allows us to walk everyday, to breathe, to be above ground instead of other. We pray to give thanks that we are still here. A wise man once said the difference between angels and humans is we have free will. We have the ability to truly live, love and make decisions as we please. While angels work to serve the lord almighty and enjoy all the benefits that come with. God is almighty and all knowing because he knows your heart, your intentions, your goals, your thoughts, Pain wishes. It’s as if he is you. Where there is light there is darkness. There has to be a balance. At the end of the day this life is a test. A game. And it’s a matter of how you chose to play the game to make it to the finish line. Paradise heaven. God have everyone the benefit of the doubt of being true followers and following his word. But we humans have free will. God did not setthe devil free. Simply gave him more time for god love all his children. And misery lovers company. The devil chooses to use his remaining time to sway the true believers fr the non believers and bring them to darkness. Whether he knows it or not his doing Gods bidding separating the true believers from the non believers.

[MR52_User]

. According to Reformed theology, prayer is an ordained means by which God's plans happen. So yes everything is predestined, but prayer can be a predestined means by which God's decrees come to pass. I admit it does seem confusing, though.

2. Correct, man does not have "free will" according to the Bible. Man has a depraved will which is in bondage to sin until God regenerates His elect through the preaching of the gospel. We do have what would be called "free agency" whereby we act "freely", and not under any obvious coercion or compulsion. But everything we do is predestined whether by primary or secondary causes. It's the only way God can be logically said to be "in control".

3. The world prior to the Fall was free of corruption. Now, however, we are told "the creation groans under the curse" in Romans 8:22. Some theologians argue humanity was created with a "free will" prior to the Fall. After the Fall, mankind lost its free will and is now enslaved to sin.

[jshm2]

Why do small minded imbeciles like you want to gatekeep such issues so bad?

Is it that you cannot accept you'll never experience the love and affection of others, and want to try and steal attention instead?

1) Praying IS your way to stake your claim to what you want. Doesn't mean it's what you need.

2) Free will is a Christian, theological concept. Jews, Muslims, and others don't believe in it. You're also confused as to how it works as it encompasses, future and destiny. But you're ignorant of such and more.

3) Evil like shadows must exist if there is to be light. Doesn't mean it has no purpose. Billions of people died to produce much of the technology humans use. Even the iPhone uses child slave labour to make possible. It's your ignorance that assumes evil cannot produce.

[all_hayl]

1) Apparently you’re not familiar with the concept of a paradox. You might educate yourself. We’re surrounded by them, whether we realize it or not, or like it or not.
2) all of your objections are addressed in the Bible, either directly or indirectly. I suggest you have a read, though you might have to read it a few times to start to see it.
3) your objections are amongst the most common of those who haven’t read the Bible.

Happy hunting!

[PonPonPonPon]

It's a nice fantasy and I don't think we atheists are absent of fantasies. Sometimes you find more truth in the fantastical than your daily life. I always saw it in the realm of arts. I think it's a mistake to thrust it into the scientific realm.

[SamA_nold]

Because people struggle with the idea that life isn’t all rainbows and pixie dust. They need something to cling to, to explain the currently unexplained.

[Kaamraj]

The answer to your question is in your question itself. The notion of god brings many people comfort.

[historectomy]

in short people think differently and can simply not handle the fact that when we die that is it, they will cling on to anything that says they are special

[Leonharted]

I'm an atheist, and I don't know why you care what other people believe.

[all_hayl]

Some people are desperate to either convince themselves, or to find others who agree with them so that they feel even more convinced that they’re right (regardless of if they’re actually right).

[Anonymous]

There is definitely a power much more stronger than us and free will is there only so we can learn. The one we called God isn't stupid, he has a plan

[Anonymous]

Because for some people, faith is literally all they have. The world has failed them so terribly that they have nothing else to keep them going.

[AndrésC64]

Good question. Ignorance, fear, social pressures...