Why do you worship a god who seems to hate you so much? Why do you worship a god who wants to prevent you from doing things that bring you pleasure, who cuts you off from other gods, and who says you're wrong the way you are and that you have to change for him? Jesus sounds abusive. None of my gods would ever do something like that to me. The main goddess I worship is Hel and she's really nice to me, she gives me hugs, and encourages me to engage in my desires and follow my ambitions. There are better gods for you to worship, you don't have to hate yourself or harm yourself.
Why do you worship a god who seems to hate you so much?
And how do you know He hates me, exactly?
Why do you worship a god who wants to prevent you from doing things that bring you pleasure
In reality, so far in my life, the main factor who has insisted on barring me from things that bring me real pleasure and joy has been man, and not God. It is they, with their ever-changing standards, double-mindedness, and hypocrisy, which create more obstacles to my happiness than God or nature ever have.
Or does it so happen that, by "pleasure", you mean drunkenness, lasciviousness, arrogance, vanity, ambition, fornication, and the seeking of power? If so, I urge you to reconsider.
who cuts you off from other gods
Religion is comprised fundamentally of truth claims, and it is not merely some sort of "expansion pack" for life with a set of moral rules and aesthetics. If the Christian God is real, then the truth claims of Allah, Shiva, Zeus, and Amaterasu (to name but a few) are necessarily false, and to refrain from their worship is not something to be imposed upon me but rather a rational course of action.
and who says you're wrong the way you are and that you have to change for him?
This is an oversimplification on the Christian theology of sin (funny how, ever so conveniently, any mention of the Imago Dei and the purpose of man in Christianity is completely absent from your sermonette!), most importantly in that it views the Christian life as a practice of behavioural modification and rule-following, and misconstrues Christian ethics as being based upon deontology. In reality, the Christian faith is based upon virtue ethics, and this means (long story short) not that we "change [our behaviour] in order to be accepted by God", but rather that our adoption by God and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost enables us to be transformed fundamentally from the heart (Rom. 12:1-2), and any changes in behaviours, attitudes, thought patterns etc. are the natural result of this transformation.
By the way, it might be interesting for you to know that the concept of man being in some way wrong before the divine is part and parcel of practically every religion which exists, even those (like Buddhism) which do not posit any kind of personal deity. As far as I know, the only religious system which does not fit this description is the thoroughly postmodern American invention of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, which I (pardon me) consider a pathetic excuse for a religion, which cannot adequately aspire to greatness or virtue, much less humility.
Jesus sounds abusive. None of my gods would ever do something like that to me.
Citation needed, times two.
The main goddess I worship is Hel and she's really nice to me, she gives me hugs, and encourages me to engage in my desires and follow my ambitions.
As in, the sister of Fenrir and Jörmungandr? The most implacable goddess of the Norse pantheon? The living embodiment of Memento Mori? Well...forgive me for having some scepticism about what a soft and huggly pal she is -- your spiritual forefathers would most probably contradict you on this your claim. Methinks also that she would probably...NOT be very "inclusive" of belief systems like mine -- do ask her and her ancient worshippers how they feel about a God who created mankind in His own image, who became incarnate as a poor baby in a backwater district of an empire, as the lowliest of the low, who was subject to the most dishonourable death imaginable for the sake of poor ordinary people like you and me, who defeated death himself, who will one day raise all the dead, and who wants poor ordinary people like you and me to turn to Him so we can become His sons and daughters, and so He can one day reward poor ordinary people like you and me (not great warriors and heroes worthy of Valhalla, for the most part!) with the privilege of living with Him forever without sin in a Kingdom where we will inherit and govern the Earth.
But if what you say about her is true, things are no better for your argument. If you insist that (in effect) all she does for you is affirm you in everything that you do and to indulge and every desire and ambition that enters your heart, then either you are a sinless person with no evil or selfish desires whatsoever (teach us, o master!) or she is an untrustworthy and deceptive patron who sees evil in your heart and still knowingly encourages you to entertain it.
There are better gods for you to worship, you don't have to hate yourself or harm yourself.
It is no question of trying out different gods to see which is better -- "better" in what sense, for that matter? Gods are not clothes that you order from Temu and can swap or abandon as per necessity. YHVH, Yeshua His Christ, and the Holy Ghost, is my God because the Christian religion is true, not because He "serves me best" in some way or another. C. S. Lewis has put it way better than I ever could (this is from Mere Christianity, and I guarantee that you would find it a riveting book):
Of course, I quite agree that the Christian religion is, in the long run, a thing of unspeakable comfort. But it does not begin in comfort; it begins in the dismay I have been describing, and it is no use at all trying to go on to that comfort without first going through that dismay. In religion, as in war and everything else, comfort is the one thing you cannot get by looking for it. If you look for truth, you may find comfort in the end: if you look for comfort you will not get either comfort or truth— only soft soap and wishful thinking to begin with and, in the end, despair. Most of us have got over the prewar wishful thinking about international politics. It is time we did the same about religion.
Yes, I know that the Christian life is not easy; but I can assure you that it is good, and that the God of Abraham and Isaac and David and Peter and Paul and Mary and Chrysostom and Irenaeus and Hildegard and Cecelia and Benedict and Bernard and Bach and Wilberforce and Newton and Watts has not only convicted me and cleansed me of sin and unrighteousness, but also used my obedience to Him to bring me forth to places where I would never have imagined myself. I have seen Christ's love in practice in my life, even though I in my frailty sometimes forget His goodness, and project the evils of men upon His face. But there is no better proof of that love than that He really did vouchsafe to become incarnate, to live in strife, to die on Calvary, even for me (and for you BTW!), even when I was living in sin and wickedness (Rom. 5:8), and rise again on the third day, and intercede for me before the throne of Almighty God -- with apologies to Mrs. Hel, she surely cannot outbid that; neither can Allah, nor Shiva, nor Amaterasu, nor Zeus, nor Hestia, nor Baldur, nor Quetzalcoatl.
snowghoul
kaledo-art
theartofmadeline
prguitarman
janainaart
gummygunk
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
titsay
