Thread by @MichaelJGolub

Serious Thread (on #religion):

Organized religion teaches that #God is all-knowing (omniscience); all-powerful (omnipotent); has a plan (which suggests that there isn’t really free will). We’re also taught of God’s infinite love and compassion.

If God is omniscient, omnipotent, and *THIS is their plan why would ANYONE worship it/she/he?

*THIS meaning hatred, racism, rape, torture, inequality, Holocaust, war, injustice, abuse, child-sex-trade, human slavery, authoritarianism, starvation, suffering, pain, disease,

climate change, hypocrisy, exploitation of humans by other humans, vengeance, murder, discrimination, misogyny, self-loathing, etc.

If everything’s going along as planned by this theoretical entity, then either A and/or B must be true:

A: This entity doesn’t really love us individually. Or, B: This entity gets something perverse out of our suffering. That’s really astonishingly sick and, if it’s true, that entity is absolutely unworthy of worship by its own creations (us).

If things AREN’T going according to the plan, then this entity isn’t omnipotent/omniscient. It’s simply inconceivable that an entity of infinite love & compassion would create such suffering for their creations. Please don’t respond with “The Devil”. As the creator of EVERYTHING,

The implication is that this entity also created The Devil, and *knew* precisely what *that* entity was destined to do to God’s creations! I understand that good / evil exist just as light and dark do. But in a truly planned universe, why does evil constantly get the upper hand?

If God is neither omniscient nor omnipotent, what’s with all the worship dog & pony shows? We could use the resources gobbled up by organized religion to actually *do* the things Jesus and Muhammed preached: Feed the hungry; clothe the poor, heal the sick, educate the ignorant.

Literally trillions in wealth are accumulated by organized religions and while some of them do some genuine charity work, the bulk of their assets go for self-aggrandizement and self-perpetuation.

I have spent my life raised as a Jew and also baptized as a Mormon (complicated family), but have mostly identified as a questioning agnostic. I believe we’re spiritual beings, but the older I get, and the more I learn, the more convinced I become that ALL organized religions

describe God wrong.

Perhaps there *is* an entity that created the universe, and the spirit of that entity lives on in all living things but there’s no plan and it’s really up to us to make the world a better place than when we found it.

Perhaps the creation of the Universe came at the expense of that entity and it was destroyed in the Big Bang (giving its existence for the life of the universe), and it simply hoped that setting the stage for life would result in something positive.

Perhaps some sense of that sacrifice is why so many religions have a crucial sacrifice at the core of their mythology.

I honestly don’t know. What I absolutely DO know, is that much of the Suffering and Evil in the world today is the direct result of organized religions!

The mythologies of organized religions don’t withstand the scrutiny of simple logic, and anybody with basic critical thinking skills notices these illogical stories. I think church attendance is down because younger generations are savvy to the scam of organized religion.

I believe them to be very *spiritual* generations, but not *religious* generations. That’s good for human evolution, not so good for organized churches and we all know that any organism that feels an existential threat can be very, very dangerous!

Just thinking out loud here, but this thread is what I think after living on this beautiful, fragile blue marble for nearly six decades. I am interested in respectful dialogue, but not trolls, so comments on this thread are restricted to followers (which I’ve never before done).

As I have stated, I am not firm on a fixed belief about a Creator, so I *am* definitely interested in what others have to say!

Sorry about the 16 part length of this thread. I couldn’t shorten it much without losing key thoughts. 🤷🏽‍♂️

Be well and Namaste 🙏 (end 16/16)

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Thank You!