Why Does God Require Faith?

[joko]

why does he want people to have to have faith in him?
why does he want to test them?
he is clearly a megalomaniac to demand such utter devotion and smite people and send them to hell for eternity any who don't obey him.
his punishment shows he clearly cannot cope with not being totally adored

so why make it 'the way'?
if he is omnipotent and made everything, why make it that way?
why not show himself - prove he exists and get all the praise and adulation he wants.

if he showed himself there would be no more atheism, no more people disbelieving - everyone would have to accept him in their lives - and since thats what he wants and demands, why not just make it so?

i know people explain this away with him giving people free will - but why did he do that? why do something like that?
why do it then get upset because it doesn't work as well as you'd hoped?
its like a child who wants to control the game who storms off home when the other kids don't play 'right'.

any thoughts?

[jim360]

I think it's a good question.

[naomi24]

Religion is psychological manipulation of the worst kind at work. There is no evidence, and so all that's left is 'faith' - and if you don't have that, you're doomed. When 'free will' means you're between a rock and a hard place, there is no free will.

[Zacs-Master]

I think Rush summed it up quite well
There are those who think that life is nothing left to chance,
A host of holy horrors to direct our aimless dance.

A planet of playthings,
We dance on the strings
Of powers we cannot perceive.
"The stars aren't aligned
Or the gods are malign"-
Blame is better to give than receive.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.

There are those who think that they were dealt a losing hand,
The cards were stacked against them- they weren't born in lotus-land.

All preordained-
A prisoner in chains-
A victim of venomous fate.
Kicked in the face,
You can't pray for a place
In heaven's unearthly estate.

You can choose a ready guide in some celestial voice.
If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice.
You can choose from phantom fears and kindness that can kill;
I will choose a path that's clear-
I will choose Free Will.

Each of us-
A cell of awareness-
Imperfect and incomplete.
Genetic blends
With uncertain ends
On a fortune hunt that's far too fleet.

[jno]

faith is only a requirement if you want to go to heaven - and that's pretty obvious; if you don't believe in heaven you won't get there.

I don't think he's much fussed if you don't believe and go to wherever you think you'll go after you die, which for many people here may be eternity in Aldi or some other consumerist paradise. You have got free will, so you choose.

[birdie1971]

Jno - “... if you don't believe in heaven you won't get there...”

Correct me if I'm wrong but if He does exist then doesn't He forgive all our sins – including the 'sin' of disbelief?

[naomi24]

//You have got free will, so you choose.//

…. and your choice is do as he says …. or be doomed for eternity. Some free will!

[jim360]

The thing about free will is that that has to include free will to make the wrong choice. I don't see that it stops being free will if there is a wrong choice. The alternative is that there is no point in making a choice anyway, because no matter what you choose the outcome will be favourable.

The whole thing is a complete mess, and it would be nice if instead of relying on ancient and unreliable witnesses to spread His word, God actually showed up more often and proved that He existed. But of course He can't do that, can He?

[jno]

and yet you seem to be coping with this terrible choice okay, naomi?

[birdie1971]

Jno - “... I don't think he's much fussed if you don't believe...”

Once again, correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't He spend quite a bit of time in the Old Testament murdering or having murdered vast numbers of people who refuse to believe in Him specifically? Are you saying that He's mellowed out in the last 2 or 3 thousand years and now He's not really bothered one way or the other? If you are, how do you know this to be the case?

[waterbitch]

thats why I detest any religion,it's just a stick to beat naive people with .Start em young and you've got em terrified for life, I stopped believing when I was about 8 and could think for myself, if he was so wonderful why wasn't I given better Christmas presents? All religions I've observed thrive by being dictatorial and cruel.

[naomi24]

jno, //and yet you seem to be coping with this terrible choice okay, naomi?//

That's because I'm rational. ;o)

[jomifl]

If a god exists we don't know anything about it, since all the 'facts' are purely supposition originating in the minds of ignorant people whose intellect was suffocated by the amount of mental baggage they carried.

[baza]

I think God has a sense of humour, if he did not exist what would the atheists get wound up about?

[keenonhist]

In reply to birdie1971. The reply that you gave re: the old testament god and his works echos that of Islam,that wonderful democratic religion.That`s where they got it from.
keenonhist

[society]

"Why Does God Require Faith?"

To test ones trust and belief in him.

[Hypognosis]

@keenonhist

How on earth can Old Testament 'echo' Islam when it's Islam which came later?

Anyway, I thought monotheism was an idea nicked from Akhenaten?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monotheism#Origin_and_development

[joko]

society - well obviously - thats what i said...

the question is WHY does he need to test anything? whats the point?

[mibn2cweus]

Faith is essential to belief in anything not supported by reason.

The fundamental choice from which all subsequent choices proceed is the choice to think or not to think. Of all living entities, only humans are given the choice to default on that which defines them as a species, to choose not to be what they were born with the capacity to be, or to embrace their ability to reason and become wholly human.

[jomifl]

jno, it is gratifying to know that at least one of us knows the mind of god.