why does the god want us to worship it before we die?

not looking for sunday school platitudes, of the "because he LOVES US SO, and wants us to dwell in heaven with him FOREVER" variety. looking for the deeper reasoning. not asking our theists to explain god's deeper reasoning (since none of you know), I'm asking how you explain it to yourselves. since you're grown ups, and most of you seem intelligent, I have to assume you've thought beyond the sunday school platitudes. why do we have to repent before we die, if the god can do or forgive anything?. why can't we repent right after we die, when we realise that that funny little middle eastern death cult is 'true'? or two centuries after we die? surely an omnipotent god would hear us repenting in hell, and send a car?

and why - given there's zero difference between the lives (and quality of lives) lived between atheists and theists, should it make any difference to a god if we do or don't do it while still alive? it doesn't enhance lives in any detectable way, which would surely be known by an omnipotent being, so it serves no earthly purpose. is it, after all, about obedience? if so, you have to wonder why an omnipotent being would require such a thing (knowing, as it does, that such obedience makes no difference for the better, and can make a huge difference in a negative sense - terrorism, etc). it does, in light of this, start to look as though it might be about ego and power - two very human 'failings'.

the idea of something as petty and pointless as obedience and worship, when there are no tangible benefits from either, doesn't fit an all powerful creator being, at ALL. Happy to stand corrected!

I look forward to hearing from our theists

 

I know you are looking for responses from theists, but I'd love to expand on this, if you don't mind. After we die, do we have free will? If so, what happens if the saved sin or the damned repent? If we have free will after death, but the saved never sin--due to X explanation--then why didn't God just create us in that scenario to begin with? If we can have free will without sinning--as most Christians believe that the saved will after death--then the typical "evil exists because free will" excuse that theists offer no longer works.

 

very good! you've point out one of the terminal fail loops they get caught in so very often.

I'd add that all the talk about this life being but a momentary blip, and not a very important one at that, with the REAL life happening after --- also makes a nonsense of the free will protestations. for the very reason you point out - if eternity can be spent sin free AND with free will, why does this little mortal blip need to be otherwise? what possible purpose would it serve, other than as some sort of cruel test? then consider that in god sized terms, it's laughably absurd to think such a being would apply its Very Important Test to the picosecond a soul spent on a teensy planet in the middle of nowhere, in the middle of no-when. we are talking ETERNITY, after all.

you would think the god regards mortal life as far more important than eternal life in heaven .... almost as though he valued it as much as a mortal does .....

 

The God character in the Bible was simply the series of Babylonian and Assyrian Emperors who ruled the Middle East for centuries. That's why the dialog makes him come across as a fruit cake. The invisible celestial and desert mountain dwelling deities don't get much screen time. The God character bit the dust when the last Babylonian Emperor died with the collapse of his empire. He hasn't been seen or heard from since and he's not coming back.

 

Sorry, no theist here and I doubt they will bother with this thread (other than the really crazy ones).

God for most religious people though is a companion who knows them inside and out. They do lots of things for it because the demands of god make god more real to them.

As an opposite example I would give "justice" which everyone believes in (theist and non's) but which we do every imaginable thing to avoid personally. I do not want justice when I hide the donuts, I want the donuts! God taps them on the shoulder and says "hey! Share the donuts or you are sinning!" and they listen where simple belief in an idea like justice or fairness is really easy to ignore. If they eat the donuts anyway god says "Repent sinner!" and they feel bad and ask god for forgiveness, at which point they are either absolved or god says "True repentance is proven through action!" So they admit they eat all the donuts to everyone and offer to buy more.

Its a relationship that worship gives weight to.

 

cause the God is supposed to be a jealous God with a big ego that needs constant feeding

 

God is the biggest narcissist. Worship me or you go to hell. And Jesus. Jesus is the guy whom martyrs himself so that he can throw it in our faces.

And people wonder why I am an atheist.

 

Curious question here. If the martyrdom of Jesus left him dead, then how is it possible that "he can throw it in our faces."?

 

Through Christianity. Jesus tells them to remind the non believers.

 

God's don't dye, they can pretend to die if they want to act fakey I suppose, do things like pretend to be stuch in a dead body for 3 days, those kinds things

and of course if a God can lie to you about those things, what makes any other of Gods words ring true?

.

 

Jesus died so I could sit here and write disparaging things about him on the internet. And so did apparently my country's military.

 

Where did Jesus claim to be 'God' or a 'god'?

 

He's more like an Elf in my opinion.

 

Nope! Perhaps through the Disciples Christianity instructs Christians to remind non believers. Remember, there are no written words given in any text by Jesus. If we are going to deal with what is reported to be historical documents, then keep the record straight. It is purported that Jesus gave instructions to the Disciples, but there is no actual accounting in the pen hand of Jesus.

 

Any theists want to weigh in on why the god needs humans to repent BEFORE they die?

 

Thus relaying his message.

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God jerks off to it?

 

Such are opinions.. everyone has one and everyone is entitled to make expression of those opinions.

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That amounts to hearsay. Too easily refuted on that basis.

 

We're talking about a GOD & Jesus. Or do you not see the irony in your posts?

Two things you cannot prove exist.

 

That would have to be one of the possibilities, yes. He gets his jollies from watching gullibles scramble to dot the I's and cross the T's before they shuffle off. If he can reverse the polarities on their moral compasses as well, so much the better. Or, triple X.

 

If I was a God I'd play games with the puny insignificant humans too. It must get boring up there.

 

Equally true that you cannot prove that they don't exist. you can only speculate and make conjecture.

 

I once told a Christian that I believed Thor was a real God. He was like "you can't be serious" and I was like "yea I'm not serious but that look on your face is me when you talk about God" and then I said BOOYAH and walked away.

 

It isn't up to me to prove that god does not exists. I live on Earth and on Earth we don't believe in things that you cannot scientifically support. Unless it's religion. Why? Because brain washing people iis power. It is money. And fame.

Religious people are weak because they have been taken over by psychos.

 

so your a non-believer, don't believe Jesus is a God?

 

Hearsay? or Heresy?

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