# Believing In God While Hating Him **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [May 1, 2010, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942 "2010-05-01T03:44:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/121 "2010-05-22T03:37:37Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What’s the “God of traditional Christian theology”? Is it the omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient and benevolent one we’re supposed to believe in, or the mean, petty and curiously short-sighted one described in the Bible? Think John Calvin, Jonathon Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Puritans, the First and Second Great Awakenings (the more orthodox preachers of that time), Billy Graham, James Dobson. Of course there were vast differences between them but all of them had also a lot in common. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/122 "2010-05-22T04:05:28Z")
you didn’t really answer the question. Those guys don’t have much in common. Dobson isn’t even a theologian, just a political activist. He has no clerical training or credentials whatsoever. His academic background is in psychology. He has no formal religious or theological education at all, nor has he formulated any unique theological ideas. He’s just a lay evangelist with a big mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/123 "2010-05-22T04:17:01Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > you didn’t really answer the question. Those guys don’t have much in common. Dobson isn’t even a theologian, just a political activist. He has no clerical training or credentials whatsoever. His academic background is in psychology. He has no formal religious or theological education at all, nor has he formulated any unique theological ideas. He’s just a lay evangelist with a big mouth. Things like the five solas, salvation through faith, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/124 "2010-05-22T04:24:16Z")
Is it a truly ominmax God or one of the Biblical Gods? ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/125 "2010-05-22T04:40:40Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Is it a truly ominmax God or one of the Biblical Gods? Well consider the theology and decided for yourself! ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/126 "2010-05-22T05:09:02Z")
Which theology? “Salvation through faith” is not theology, it’s soteriology. To put it more simply, the question was whether you’re talking about a God that meets the omnimax characteristics of being omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/127 "2010-05-23T01:23:49Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > Which theology? “Salvation through faith” is not theology, it’s soteriology. > > To put it more simply, the question was whether you’re talking about a God that meets the omnimax characteristics of being omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/128 "2010-05-23T13:07:37Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > Yes. Why didn’t the omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent God you believe in do anything about the Rwandan genocide, committed by Christians and against other Christians? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_stamos_left_ear/32/3198_2.png) [@John\_Stamos\_Left\_Ear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Stamos_Left_Ear)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2010, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/129 "2010-05-23T13:51:12Z")
This is a long thread and it may have been said but I, personally, am a Deist because I look around and cannot believe that a just and caring and omnipotent God would allow a lot of the shit that goes on here. This doesn’t mean that I hate God, I don’t think. ANd my belief is not very strong so maybe I am not the demographic for this question… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![constance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@constance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constance)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/130 "2010-05-24T01:20:09Z")
> [@Curtis LeMay](#): > > I suspect that many people on this board such as _Der Trihs_ > would hate the God of traditional Christian theology even if His existence was proven. So supposing the God of traditional hellfire and brimstone theology existed how would you react to Him? God is a Great Spirit Of an inestimable love. You make your own decisions not HE/She ---
**Author:** ![constance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@constance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constance)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/131 "2010-05-24T01:22:27Z")
What is a Deist? ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/132 "2010-05-24T02:03:25Z")
> [@constance](#): > > What is a Deist? A way of believing in God while avoiding the mess that science makes of religion. Deists believe that a being created the universe and its natural laws, which in turn gave rise to us and everything around us. Very popular among the great thinkers of the 18th century. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/133 "2010-05-24T02:41:22Z")
> [@constance](#): > > God is a Great Spirit Of an inestimable love. You make your own decisions not HE/She Please explain what that first setence means. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2010, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942/134 "2010-05-24T05:38:57Z")
> [@constance](#): > > What is a Deist? Belief in a creator who makes the universe, gives it its laws and sets it in motion, but who does not then interact or intervene with it. The classic analogy is to winding a watch and then letting it run of its own accord. Deists generally believe that the universe proceeds according to natural laws (no miracles) and that God does not answer prayers or have anything to to do with the universe after it’s set in motion. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/believing-in-god-while-hating-him/537942.md?page=6)