# God and hindsight bias **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 7, 2010, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292 "2010-04-07T16:48:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/41 "2010-04-09T23:45:16Z")
> [@hotflungwok](#): > > But god caused the bad things too, not just the good things. Even if god did actually protect that guy from the tornado, god sent the tornado to kill all those other people. Those people died at god’s hands, he is responsible, he did it, etc. Praising god for the good things, and ignoring that fact that he also caused the bad things isn’t faith, it’s Stockholm syndrome. Yes yes yes. This is in essence why I cannot believe. I miss the beautiful comforting certainty of religion, but there is always a psychological price to pay. These mental contortions render belief impossible. I’m generally respectful of people’s religious beliefs and kind of think religion can be cool in certain contexts. But if we’re going to talk honestly about why I don’t personally believe the gloves are going to have to come off. Nietzsche called religion a ‘‘slow suicide.’’ That was exactly my experience. It kills everything authentic about you and yet you’re urged to praise God for the sublimation of self, to conform to His Will. And when you strive for that within the model of an authoritarian family system that squashes any sense of self-worth you might have left over, there is very real hell to pay. Obey thy father and mother my ass. It’s masochistic patriarchal bullshit. If there is a God, and my years of abuse and psychological torture were God’s Divine Will, then fuck God. Fuck what He did to Job and what He did to all of us. Fuck Him for SIDS and cancer and the Holocaust and natural disasters and this insidious disgusting suggestion that we’re supposed to just bend over and ask for more. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/42 "2010-04-09T23:51:25Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > What I’ve been told: think for yourself, question authority. I don’t think they meant you were supposed to arbitrarily reject everything that people tell you is true and deliberately make things up no other rational person (besides yourself) believes. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/43 "2010-04-09T23:56:34Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > I don’t think they meant you were supposed to arbitrarily reject everything that people tell you is true and deliberately make things up no other rational person (besides yourself) believes. What if reality is subjective? ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/44 "2010-04-10T00:07:34Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > What if reality is subjective? Then as far as I’m concerned, you don’t exist. Nobody else does - only my imaged impressions of them. This is, functionally, solipsism. Even if multiple people exist, if they are each in their own separate subjective world, then each person individually is a solipsist. The thing about solipsism, though, is that the people you _imagine_ you’re interacting with in your subjective world are for the most part in agreement about the way your virtual world works - so these imagined people form a sort of mini-objectivity amongst themselves and you, inside your little bubble. So as far as _you’re_ concerned, what you see and they’re talking about is all one consistent objective reality. Er, that is, if things work the same in your solipsistic bubble as they do in mine. Perhaps you perceive everyone around you as talking lemurs that randomly turn into typewriters, I dunno. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/45 "2010-04-10T00:32:24Z")
> [@begbert2](#): > > Then as far as I’m concerned, you don’t exist. Nobody else does - only my imaged impressions of them. > > This is, functionally, solipsism. Even if multiple people exist, if they are each in their own separate subjective world, then each person individually is a solipsist. > > The thing about solipsism, though, is that the people you _imagine_ you’re interacting with in your subjective world are for the most part in agreement about the way your virtual world works - so these imagined people form a sort of mini-objectivity amongst themselves and you, inside your little bubble. So as far as _you’re_ concerned, what you see and they’re talking about is all one consistent objective reality. > > Er, that is, if things work the same in your solipsistic bubble as they do in mine. Perhaps you perceive everyone around you as talking lemurs that randomly turn into typewriters, I dunno. Scriptures point to a form of subjective reality, or at least not a objectivity reality, possibly 4 interacting realities, the 4 kingdoms that Daniel spoke of, and the 4 gospels, one from each reality. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/46 "2010-04-10T02:44:17Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Scriptures point to a form of subjective reality, or at least not a objectivity reality, possibly 4 interacting realities, the 4 kingdoms that Daniel spoke of, and the 4 gospels, one from each reality. Congratulations, **kanicbird** -you have finally come up with a religious theory no sane person could ever argue with. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/47 "2010-04-10T13:30:24Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Congratulations, **kanicbird** -you have finally come up with a religious theory no sane person could ever argue with. It’s the God Cube theory of religion. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/48 "2010-04-10T21:01:37Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Congratulations, **kanicbird** -you have finally come up with a religious theory no sane person could ever argue with. I’ll take it. And I think it fits in line quite nicely with multi-universe theory, multi dimensional physics, string theory and m-theory. Not that I need that as confirmation, but it is good to see that science is on the right track on somethings. ---
**Author:** ![bearman217](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@bearman217](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bearman217)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/49 "2010-04-10T21:48:08Z")
The way I see it is that when something bad happens, it is not necessarily because something good will come of it, but possibly that something bad a person did is being acted on and that person is being punished. God doesn’t necessarily have to only work through works of kindness or charity. For instance take a look at the Great Flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, beliefs in karma, and beliefs in yin and yang. Punishing gods go throughout all religions in the world, even Christianity, and by saying that good comes out of everything bad that happens to people is just ignorant. ---
**Author:** ![Gustav](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/919ad9/32.png) [@Gustav](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gustav)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/50 "2010-04-10T22:02:18Z")
One wonders why god doesn’t just go ahead and punish the sinners directly then, instead of using things like earthquakes, tsunamis and diseases which are just obscenely wasteful and impractical, not to mention the collateral damage. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/51 "2010-04-10T22:03:58Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I love it when a natural disaster occurs, devastating a city, and the handful of survivors give God credit for sparing them. Who do they think caused the disaster in the first place? The Devil made Him do it. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/52 "2010-04-11T04:51:42Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > Thank you. Had a rough day, needed a laugh. Anytime. I’m rather proud of that one. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/53 "2010-04-11T06:56:22Z")
Anyone read Ted Chiang’s [“Hell is the Absence of God”](http://www.fictionwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book.htm&bookid=4145&id=8474)? Goes right with this thread… ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2010, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292/54 "2010-04-11T11:19:44Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > What I’ve been told: think for yourself, question authority. Why did you believe them when they told you that? > [@kanicbird](#): > > We don’t understand what death is, the prodigal son was dead, though he had a life. Adam and Eve certainly died that day, and certainly lived on in a much harsher world, much like the prodigal son. “Certainly”? You asserting something doesn’t make it certainly so; the fact that no-one else holds a comparable opinion makes it even more uncertain than your unsupported word. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-and-hindsight-bias/535292.md?page=2)