That’s the question, what are we going to do about Trump and the hatred that Trump exposed. Perhaps try harder to reach those closed communities in rural America (which millennia’s are doing, not for this reason specifically but they are buying into those areas. It shows how 3rd world we really are in things that matter. I thank you for considering that point as a a atheist.
I will answer that but in return I would like a honest answer to my question, who did you think I voted for and why. The answer is no I did not vote for Trump nor would I,I voted for (the electors for) Hillary, though perhaps 20+ years ago I most likely would have voted for Trump, I would have no reason to believe I wouldn’t back then.
Well, as an atheist I don’t have a phone line to God’s ear, but feel free to call him on my behalf and tell him we’ve got the point, so he can make Trump go away now.
Actually making him go away about a year ago would be even better. I don’t mind the timeline being rewritten, so go ahead.
Repent? To do that he’d have to admit to it.
Admit? To do that, he’d have to acknowledge awareness of it.
No, I just pray that Trump will soon be convicted and sentenced for his greed, treason, and crimes – whether or not he’s willing to acknowledge or admit his actions or behaviors.
As Satan draws up a contract offering the world to Jesus, the messiah points out the 53rd typographical error. Later, Jesus would go on to say, “And make sure you sign it this time.”
Not a snarky thought, but rather a quite serious thought.
While I don’t believe in any of that End Times crap, Trump has proved that if an Antichrist did show up, he’d have a devilishly easy time getting white evangelicals to folllow him.
My wife’s family is full of Christianist conservatives, who I’ve managed to avoid talking politics with over the past few years. But if one of them says something supportive about Trump in my presence, that’s going to be my response.
Looks like we have a live one here. Kanicbird, you evidently want to rerun the old theological dilemma of God being benevolent and yet allowing bad things to happen. If it is God’s will, then sometimes it sux, IMHO. Do we have any choice? Any way to change it? If he is there, is he even listening?
The old chestnut sums it up for me: “Prayers are always answered. The answer is always no.”
The proof?
I know you to be one of the more religious persons on this board. In my family (some on my Wifes side) the only people that voted for Trump are religious. A small sample set, I know.
Also, my experience with religious people is they often represent the more bigoted and racist groups. They are often not open to new ideas or change, and want to return back to a so called ‘simpler time’. Back when women, minorities and people of a different sexual orientation knew their place. i.e. MAGA.
I recognize that I, myself, am a bit bigoted against religious people. This didn’t happen by accident. I happened by observation.
I had to give that up, as there is a non-small number of religious people around here, and, most disturbingly, they look just like everyone else. You just cannot spot them so easily, and some of them are actually decent people. if you can stay off the topic, they seem like otherwise normal people.
My dad was a deeply religious man. I never declared atheism to him because there would have been no good to come from that, and while he might have suspected, he was able to respect my personal space in that regard.
I would point out that if God is in control of it all, his control is awfully loose, because he allows all sorts of bad shit to happen.
And my Bible, at least, doesn’t contain a sweeping ‘don’t worry’ message. The passage I assume you’re thinking about (Matt. 6:25-34, in the Sermon on the Mount) says not to worry about the material things we will need tomorrow.
Not that that’s exactly a small thing to give over to God to handle (I don’t know anyone who’s managed that trick), but it’s definitely off point. If we as Christians feel a license to sit back and let God deal with Trump in his good time, we’re doing it wrong: God’s expecting us to act on his behalf in this world.
Which is based on the assumption that god is a benevolent deity. We know this because some guy told us. But the evidence for the goodness of god is lacking. The evidence suggests that the all-powerful creator of everything is an antipathetic psychopath, like a toddler who plays with a toy and giggles when it breaks (which is a disturbing analog to the subject of this thread).
Perhaps the adversary is the force of good, battling the power-crazed child that amuses itself by making us suffer. And millions of people are praying to the wrong superbeing. Because, fake news.
Not arguing with you, but just saying that people who believe in and worship a deity believe in the goodness* of that deity, so I’m just working within their assumptions.
*For sometimes rather appalling values of ‘goodness’, but that’s another story.