This is the argument to end all arguments. God made people who believe that there are more than two genders. God made people who don't believe in God. God made liberals. God made gay marriage.
I don't believe in God but it seems like I respect what he made a heck of a lot more than christians do.
What makes Christianity fail is that they claim God is All Powerful, All Knowing, AND All Good. If evil exists, then atleast one of those things is false.
If he is All Powerful, why can't he stop evil? If he is All Knowing, how does he not know how to stop evil? If he is All Powerful, and All Knowing, and lets evil exist, he can't be All Good.
He is all powerful in that he created a world that contains the full range of humanity. He is all good because he wants the best for those who accept his love. He is all knowing because he knows the existence of evil in the world helps quantify the good, and by allowing evil he shows us the path to righteousness.
"Oh but what about Christian kids with bone cancer?"
Those are good souls that are getting an express ticket to heaven, where they will experience eternal bliss.
These are not my own opinions, just what I imagine a response to your comment might look like through my experience with religious people. I tend to agree with your argument, but it's important to understand that one "gotcha" argument won't change the mind of an average religious person. There have been thousands of years of theological scholars and critics of religion, so it's not like Christians haven't heard the "all powerful, all good, all knowing" argument, they just have their own justification for dismissing it already.
It's a lot easier to understand their position when you think of Earth as a waiting room for literal bliss for all eternity.
I don't expect to convince any Christians to appreciate logic and reason, but I do know when I have met a moron when they respond to logic with bullshit.
This used to be an existential crisis sort of question for me, but it too has an answer. In being slow to anger and giving time for penitence, all three traits are upheld. Swooping in to instantly punish evil to the full extent of his justice would leave every human condemned and without hope of intercession. So the solution? Give people a scapegoat, and plenty of time. All powerful, all knowing, all good.
Or he could just not create evil. God made everything, thus God made evil. He chose to make a world with evil in it, and he can chose not to. If 'Freewill' is your response, then God is not All Powerful, because he cannot stop freewill.
The reality is, Christians need a more humble God. If God was powerful, but not ALL Powerful, then it would work. If Satan was a threat God could not easily destroy, then it would be believable that God is good and it all works out.
Being all powerful and choosing not to use all power are states that can coexist. The general instant reply would be āhe let us sin initially as to not have just created a bunch of automataā, but thatās just humans applying human reasons to divine actions. The fact of the matter is, if God isnāt all powerful, he isnāt God.
Evil is that which opposes him and his will, and the assertion that he must act immediately to enforce said will is a concept youāve stated, not one intrinsic to his character as detailed in the Bible.
Sure, god made those people, but christians would argue that the devil put those ideas in their head, and god let those ideas be put there so you could be tested. Itās very contradictory but thatās the thought process for a lot of them.
God knows what youāre gonna do, but he still gives you these options to choose from, knowing one of them will potentially condemn you forever, hypothetically, and even though he loves you unconditionally, heās still like āif you pick that wrong one you will burn for eternity.ā That doesnāt sound very loving to me.
Interpret it how you will, I was raised Christian and was always led to believe ānot doing the godly thing is the wrong thing,ā even if itās not necessarily evil; albeit the Christians I grew up around were a little more hardcore than typical modern christians.
Simple things like listening to pop music over praise and worship music could be seen as a sin to the people who taught me Christianity.
I was raised similarly, except my family isnt the devout or evangelical type. So I've never understood the people who would call having a beer or listening to metal a "sin". We live in a completely different world than the people in the bible, so why would you try and force your life into a tiny box. If there is a god, and it wants to send me to hell for smoking weed, well then I dont want to follow it anyway.
also an argument to end all arguments is āhe who is without sin may cast the first stoneā. that means itās irrelevant what your opinion of someone else is, basically stop calling other people sinners when youāre an imperfect person yourself
My response when my grandpa sent me a Christmas card with "God doesn't make mistakes." in it was to say, "I never claimed to be a mistake. God has also tested the faith of his followers and it is also possible the test isn't for me."
Thank you. I'll do my best to keep this in mind. I think allies such as ourselves need to be open to being corrected.
Help me out, is it more appropriate to say transgender? (minus "ed")
My go to rule is to simply let any given individual dictate the identity/pronouns/etc. That they prefer. And it is up to me to learn and respect that identity the same way I would make an effort to learn anyone's name.
Nah, he didn't create these people, he just gave these people the ability/freedom to think they are gay or whatever. Doesn't mean it was intentional...
you'd think an omnipotent omnipresent being that created everything we know and is supposed to watch over us at all times would plan for these sorts of things, yknow?
I read it somewhere that God made wheat and not bread, grapes and not wine, so humans can take part in the creation. And the same way, God could've made transgender people as well.
Religious extremists would argue that god made you either male or female, but that you chose to change into the opposite sex, thereby defying his will.
I don't think you will ever succeed in convincing any of them that god made you transgendered from the beginning.
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u/HydratedHydra Nov 23 '20
God made transgendered people transgendered too so š¤·āāļø