what will god punish you for?

[datasuspect]

what have you done to incur god's wrath?

me, i don't think i've been sufficiently penitential.

plus i'm not nearly as prayerful and obedient as i should be.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

1. sex. drugs. more sex.

[datasuspect]

2. if there is a hell

and it is stocked with people like you . . . SIGN ME UP!!!!!111

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. thats what i say. the fun people will be in hell anyway. and it will be warm

[sazemisery]

3. God is such a voyeur!

If he/she would quit spying into everybody's business, he/she wouldn't be so wrathful.

[datasuspect]

5. you better be careful!

god might smite thee.

[sazemisery]

6. God is such a pugilist.

"Can't we all just get along?"

[Cannikin]

7. Cause I'm a big ole' mo.

[MissMillie]

8. for having a short temper

probably

[Fire Walk With Me]

9. All suffering is the result of our total distance from God.

It is said that God chooses those who choose God. I've found a great deal of truth in the spiritual principles I've researched. We are responsible for our own actions. "Sin" means actions which take us further away from God and God's design for us. There is little wrath involved, merely a balancing of energies.

The Universe is an energy exchange system. Whatever energy you put out, you will receive in return. This may be transcended once you've tired of it.

I know that you weren't being serious in your OP but there it is.

[Deep13]

26. Well that and disease, torture, poverty, war, natural disasters...

...negligence, mechanical failure, accident, maliciousness and just plain stupidity.

I live my own life. I find the idea that we need to give up our own judgement and personal autonomy to a nonexistent celestial dictator to be personally offensive. If god were real, that would only be half of the theistic case. I would still need to know why god is worthy of worship or obedience.

The universe is a universe. It does not give a shit what we do.

[Fire Walk With Me]

34. Hey Deep13. I remember the last God topic we chatted upon.

(puts on the expected soapbox shoes)

Perception is reality. We create our own realities. We are creators by design, and we may create our own problems, and our own solutions. We may create nihilism, and we may create a loving God.

It's entirely our choice. We're given what we believe.

God is not a dictator. I'm hugely self-obsessed and willful, and found the system to be against me. I am NOT interested in doing what I'm told, especially if something is laid out for me.

This got me into alcoholism, where I HAD to let it go and find out about God. In this, I've found as others find, that being of benefit to others is the quickest way out of the disease, each day. This even works via prayer for the benefit of others (this is also part of at least two spiritual traditions that I'm aware of).

The thing is, that you haven't heard enough about it, shows how far we are from it.

The senses are self-fulfilling and desire noise. To give into the senses is what is called "temptation". Energy in the senses compounds, resulting in helplessness against them. This is part of alcoholism (along with the lack of intimacy and the millions of ways we twist around looking for its fulfillment). The senses reach out and forward from the spine.

When the senses are quieted (meditation and mindfulness exercises), you start to sense a vast openness from the center of the spine out behind it. I've only been to that huge, silent place once, but I now know that it exists.

I'm fairly clear on this process; it matches what the teachers have passed down for millennia.

That more don't know about it, and seek with with everything they're worth, shows where we are.

Regarding calamity and humanity: free will is a bitch, especially when you don't know the rules and functionality of the system. Knowledge, insight, perspective, and understanding are available if you wish to meditate, to the extent that it begins working for you.

In layman's terms, Richard Bach's "Illusions" holds truth, as well as the recent "The Secret", although The Secret appears to be based upon the concept of the wish-fulfilling gem: desire.

Trust me, we don't know what's best for us. We don't have the perspective. It appears that America is entering into a period of misery. When in misery, know that there are options you may not have yet taken.

[Deep13]

37. "...and we may create a loving God"

Then he's not god.

Well you've said your peace and I have said mine. I have nothing else to add.

[Fire Walk With Me]

38. Okay. I'm just saying that we're not large enough to fully quantify God.

[Courtesy Flush]

29. I just don't see how that's true

I'm guessing you posted that as a parody or something. I know many Christians who are totally miserable, and Atheists who are not. If anything, religion brings on more misery due to fretting over perceived sins, and other people's business.

Sorry, but I'm an Atheist, and I'm not suffering.

[Fire Walk With Me]

35. Then you should hold up your example to those who are suffering.

And then help if anyone asks after it.

I'm not posting in parody and I obviously don't care if I'm nudged into soapboxing on the subject.

"Sin", or actions creating knots and clumps of energy in ourselves, is a distance from being clear to the Source, as I mentioned in my response to Deep13. They are obscurations which culminate in ignorance. Americans aren't taught how to undo these things, except in 12-Step programs, etc. Christianity is full of advice on how to avoid getting into the problems, but not really how to fix them, except through God's grace. Buddhism teaches how to address these things.

Buddhism and Christianity both teach us to completely transcend the ego. Ego is the animal state of the body, which is selfish by nature. Republicans tend to embody ego and its selfish ambitions and "pack animal" tendencies.

Some traditions teach us to watch temptation and the noisy mind as one watches birds or clouds or traffic moving past; you don't run after them and try to grab them and control them. You're in trouble if you do. They are simply there, and are allowed to be there. Worrying about temptation is of course a trap. I'd like for people to be able to loosen up a bit and trust God a bit more; there is a prayer with the line "lead us not into temptation". The lesson is to note our limitations and to trust the Source a bit more. That's what it wants to be there for, to teach and to share what it's learned with us, and to learn from what we experience. It's sharing, not dictatorial, as Deep said. Our egos don't want to do what others tell us is best for us. Even if they're right, especially if they're right.

There are answers to miseries if we can change our perspective. Change the way you look at something, and you change what you're looking at.

[bertha katzenengel]

10. Judging, gossiping, and being a Republican until I was 25.

[Flaxbee]

24. you were raised in OC, you couldn't help yourself, so you'll be forgiven

and blessed for recognizing your error (about being a Repub, that is)!

Hi bertha -

[bertha katzenengel]

32. i hope god is as kind

good to see you

[DarkTirade]

11. Sex and rock and roll.

No drugs for me, thanks.

[ScreamingMeemie]

12. For losing the will to want to be here on earth.

Don't get me wrong, I'm here...I'm not going anywhere...I just don't want to be anymore. For feeling as if I have already lost my soul. There is nothing He could do to me that would make me feel like I already do.

[Arugula Latte]

14. MrsGrumpy ...

[Mad_Dem_X]

16. I'm sorry to hear that...

but I understand the feeling, believe me.

[InkAddict]

21. Hear, here ... the earthly abuse will continue until the fat lady sings n/t

No offense - I consume (less well lately); therefore I am (abused). No getting around it...and no dualist thinking allowed, i.e., black-white; it's all gray and good(?). So, how come at noon on a sunny day, they test the CD sirens?

[Deja Q]

30. I can empathize, wholly.

Glad to see you post.

At times I feel like I'm walking outside of myself; my soul looking down upon a shell.

As I look around, I see other people and try to fathom their facial expressions in ways other than the patterns I formed during my youth (I grew up at around age 33; a bit of a late bloomer and I still have a ways to go...) Misperception of others' reactions... But we continue to go on.

I can only hope, down the road, mutable, adaptable skills can supplant my lack of social instinct.

What are your skills? I am no expert on human nature, but I have found that concentrating on a task of interest helps rekindle my own sense of being. The soul reintegrated into my corporeal form. Pity changing one's body isn't the same as changing one's shirt right now, but it can be done. Find the things that encourage you and focus on them. Causality will unwind and you won't feel quite as lost.

[Arugula Latte]

13. I can't fucking stand religion.

Does that count?

[Deep13]

27. So if god were real...

...would he suck so bad that he should not be worshipped anyway?

Just wondering.

[Arugula Latte]

31. If there is some sort of deity pulling the strings ...

s/he/it is one sick, twisted bastard who gets off on death and suffering.

[Mad_Dem_X]

15. 1. Being judgemental

2. Reading and writing slash (gay porn).

[redqueen]

17. Oh there's a list he could choose from.

Worshiping other goddesses, taking his name in vain, not honoring my mother and father, being vain, being greedy, coveting other women's husbands, fornicating, stealing, lying... and if we can be punished for thoughts, well... while most of those old sins are old ones, he'll never run out of new reasons. Let's just leave it at that.

[Gen. Jack D. Ripper]

18. He's punishing me now with celibacy and sobriety

He is a vengeful God.

[SOteric]

19. God doesn't work like that.

In spite of what Jerry Falwell tried to tell you.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

20. Nothing.

I don't worry too much about being "punished" by an entity I don't believe in.

[InkAddict]

22. Not sure the Ultimate Control Freak needs a reason. n/t

[Javaman]

23. For not believing. LOL nt

[Deep13]

25. According to Job, god doesn't need a reason. n/t

[Guava Jelly]

28. Years of Masterb___ um nevermind TMI

[BarenakedLady]

33. Like I'd ever put it in print.

[NewWaveChick1981]

36. Making fun of Jesus ties.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

Among other things...

[momophile]

39. I'm a little ashamed so I won't say it all here but

there was that time with the holy water...