General Chat

I'm only surprised they drew attention to themselves in the first place by the embarrassing admission to the whole world that they still have such an offence in their legal framework.

They wouldn't be the first country to have outdated laws on their books now would they? Maybe they'll repeal that law one day soon.

No, they aren't, that's for sure. One day society will be free and secular....hahaha yeah, whatever.

:-)

I loved what SF said to a hyperthetical question put to him on the GB show. and sure a great great many more do.

blasphemy ,! its a joke.!

INfamy....................they've all got it In fer mee

:-D

Just caught up with this. SF has a brilliant mind and brain but I am not too keen on his personality.

Blasphemy is such an old-fashioned word nowadays and, possibly, many younger folk don't know what it actually means.

As a practising Christian, I come up against 'blasphemy' in different forms on an almost daily basis, through the media and when out and about. It causes me pain, but it also strengthens my resolve to Fight the Good Fight.

I also come up against huge ignorance and apathy and that strengthens my resolve to share my faith with others when the time is right.

Having been on these boards for over 12 years now, do I really seem like a person who believes in, and I quote SF,

'a capricious, mean-minded, stupid God who creates a world that is so full of injustice and pain'? He also quotes 'How dare you create a world to which there is such misery that is not our fault. It’s not right, it’s utterly, utterly evil'.


Mr Fry is entitled to his opinion, I will not castigate him, but he does not speak of my God.

I don't think he is describing this particular god's followers, he is describing this god's personality.

It's hard to dispute what he says. I mean, a god that willingly allows such things as child cancer, torture, rape, murder and all the other evil things that he could prevent if he wanted to but looks on with indifference, yet is concerned with what people do in the their bedrooms or with what they wear or eat......

I know, free will and all that. But that's just a cop out to explain the capriciousness of this particular deity. Or any of them, to be honest. They all require some sort of trascendent mysteriousness that requires their followers just to accept and never to question. Sort of 'you will never understand me, so just accept it and don't try to'. As Hitchens put it, the very essence of a slave/master relationship.

To try to stop people criticising something for which there is no evidence other than bronze age myths is ludicrous. Crazy!

Almost thirty years ago one of my older colleagues was a physicist turned cleric, a kind, straightforward man with a direct way of speaking which I prefer. I don't know how he managed to equate the two but he was a much-admired clergyman. He was a man of broad experience and wide-ranging interests, some which others ran from, though I never did. We rubbed along easily. I felt blessed and safe to have him as a colleague.

I never queried why he changed careers but I do know he was a firm believer and he once intimated that it was possible to be both a physicist and a Christian.

You may come across people like him, Eldrick, as you progress through life.

There are many books on the market selling as quick or quicker than Bibles.
All attempting to "prove" God doesn't exist.
Their readers have almost convinced themselves to buy the book.
Are the authors similarly blasphemous ?

Sweet reason has prevailed

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/stephen-fry-blasphemy-ireland-probe-investigation-dropped-police-gardai-not-enough-outrage-a7725116.html

It IS the personality of God of which I speak.

I reiterate, the God of whom SF speaks is not the God I know and have known for many years.

I have, however, known of some wicked, corrupt and evil people who have chosen that path of wickedness for themselves, mainly for their own gain and destroying others in the process :-(

Surely the diseases and destructions SF speaks of are men's creations ?
This planet they inhabit is his.

Wading in a bit :-)

" a god that willingly allows such things as child cancer, torture, rape, murder and all the other evil things that he could prevent if he wanted to but looks on with indifference, yet is concerned with what people do in the their bedrooms or with what they wear or eat......"

As do we ( as a species) !

Are we expecting God to step in and do what we, given the skills & compassion we possess, fail to do?

For example Eldrick, you mentioned child blindness caused by parasites... I recall being 14/15 and seeing a documentary/schools programme on that very topic. 45 years ago, we have put satellites in space, invented the internet, the mobile phone, flat screen tvs etc etc...and spent millions on destruction since then...and yet, we still as a species deny children clean parasite-free water

"God" as I see it is NOT concerned with what we eat or do in the bedroom...that is man's pigeonholing of something beyond his comprehension.

If I believe in God at all ( and I sometimes do) I don't believe in a God that expects us not to question, surely if that were the case we would be mere puppets without any capacity to reason or imagine for ourselves? In other words if God DID give us brains he expected us to do something with them, if he gave us imagination, skill, compassion, then ditto.

I can't answer SF or any aetheist as to 'Why' , but I am as open to the argument that because 'I' don't know something or can't explain something it makes it impossible.

Eldrick my friend, you sound quite the authority on the Almighty. "He willingly allows...." "He could prevent if he wanted to..." "He looks on with indifference...."

My oh my, this is quite exciting, please share with us when you last met Him and discussed these things - you obviously have some deep inside knowledge. I have so many questions.....

Did He offer to explain His purpose?

Does He get a kick out of watching people suffer?

Is He such a tease as to dither over whether he should prevent something bad happening or not? Or does He go 'eeny, meeny, miney, mo'?

Did He actually say why he wasn't interested in what is going on in the world and couldn't care less, or that He was quite happy for us all to go to pot?

Please, I am on tenterhooks.....don't keep it to yourself.......spill. ;)

Yes, it is good that people question, but they need to be open and willing to listen to two sides of a discussion, and then the choice is theirs.

Many people blame God for the atrocities going in this world of ours, but that is the cop-out, not the idea of freewill. Mankind has an awful lot to answer for. All of us have an awful lot to answer for. :(

Children die in pain from cancer and other dreadful diseases. Not mankind's fault. Not their fault.

That's where I have a problem with a merciful god.

Sorry, Cynthia. Your god is just one of many alleged or reputed gods, all with an equal claim to being the real one or the only one or whatever.

Its not my religion - I'm not the one making the claims of mercy, goodness, kindness and so on. Im just the one pointing out that the various creeds endow him with the qualities of mercy and goodness. But its strange how these qualities only appear once you are dead. That raises my sceptical level to overdrive.

I dont think he gets a kick out of watching people suffer, but I base that on my claim that he doesn't exist. It's not up to me to prove he doesn't exist - Im not making the claim that he does. I cant prove a negative, no one can. But if you tell me how you prove that Odin doesnt exist, I'll use the same method.

Yes, mankind has a huge amount to answer for. But one of the most horrible things it has done is to manufacture or create religions. That is truly monstrous.

And I include ALL creeds in that - the CoE has nothing to be proud of, the Catholic branch has blood on its hands in the name of your god - all the abrahamic ones are soaked in it. So tea on the lawn with the vicar is well and good, and nice and pleasant, but irrelevant when history and critical thinking is applied.

I do find the discussions stimulating though - but all I ask for is evidence. it's not much to ask, is it. Really, it's not.

SF is an intelligent educated man expressing an opinion, his choice.

Such a notable should be more careful when expressing his opinion.

Those watching that GB programme couldn't help be to some degree influenced.

Gay Byrne has been around a long time, I am sure that he knew very well the views that SF expressed would not be to everyone's liking and that's why he asked the questions lol.