God is Mercy.

[Voltaire2]

Sitting in traffic on the way to work staring at a Christian bumper sticker.

What does this phrase even mean?

Certainly these Christian gods are not applying their mercy powers in the real world, or if they are they are doing so arbitrarily while allowing innocents to experience intolerable suffering. The phrase is entirely problematic in that case, bringing forth all the problems of good and loving gods with the power to act in the world.

So then these gods express their mercy in the realm of the dead? Is Christianity a death cult? Never mind injustice and cruelty and disasters, the gods will make it right after you croak.

More than likely the Christian proudly displaying his faith on his bumper just thinks it’s a lovely sentiment.

[DetlefK]

1. They way I understand it, "mercy" does not actually refer to mercy as we understand it.

Just as "our daily bread" in the Lord's Prayer does not refer to actual bread but to God's love and attention or whatever.

Maybe God's mercy is that he allows us to go to heaven?

[Voltaire2]

2. That is the death cult part.

[NeoGreen]

3. god is a lie (nt)

[guillaumeb]

4. And God is forgiveness.

And acceptance.

The Creator knows that humans are fallible, thus the Creator does not expect perfection.

My opinion.

[Voltaire2]

6. So you agree that your religion is a death cult.

Your gods certainly aren't providing this mercy forgiveness and acceptance in the real world, right?

[guillaumeb]

7. Hint:

Humans die. It is part of the deal.

And if one follows the path of the Creator, forgiveness and acceptance and mercy are what we should offer to all.

[uriel1972]

12. What deal?

I don't remember signing any pre-existance contract.
Also what path?... Which creator?... How do we decide?

Inquiring minds want to know.

[guillaumeb]

15. Being born is the deal.

As to the path, I am certain you will find what works best for you.

[uriel1972]

17. No-one asks to be born...

no-one enters a bargain to be born. We are born not owing anybody anything. There is no "deal".

[Act_of_Reparation]

5. Sat through a lecture on pediatric end of life care this morning.

Didn't see much mercy.

[guillaumeb]

8. What did you expect to see?

Did you see caregivers doing their best to provide palliative care?
Did you see caregivers treating their charges with dignity and love?

If so, you indeed saw mercy.

[Act_of_Reparation]

10. Spare me.

These kids are sick. They are in exquisite, unimaginable pain. Their parents are suffering. No merciful god would put them in this position to begin with.

What I see are human beings doing their best to help each other navigate an indifferent universe. There is no god. No divine love. No mercy. All we have is each other.

[guillaumeb]

11. So you do see mercy.

If you expect a Creator who protects you from everything, you are looking for a shield, not a Creator.

[uriel1972]

13. I can only say....

Put a sock in it! You uncaring thing.

[Bretton Garcia]

14. A god - and not a devil?

[trotsky]

21. I believe a caring creator would shield innocents from unnecessary suffering.

You evidently believe that the suffering of innocents is part of your god's plan.

That is why I will always oppose you.

[guillaumeb]

22. You believe in a divine shield.

One where free will has no function.

Interesting that, in the universe you describe, humans would be puppets.

[Bretton Garcia]

23. So now they inevitably err

[guillaumeb]

25. Imperfect humans do make mistakes.

I have even made one or two myself.

Or so my wife assures me.

[trotsky]

24. Nope, no one asked to be born into this world.

Let alone experience just a few years of painful suffering. For what?

There are more than the two extremes, you know. "Free will" and "puppets." Try seeing the world in shades other than black and white.

[Farmer-Rick]

29. So now we have no free will because we don't want infants to suffer?

That makes no sense.

Do you think these babies decided to suffer or did something so awful God is punishing them and their families?

You don't give up your free will just because you can imagine a world with an all loving god that doesn't force babies to suffer and die.

This god you have now is a cruel and evil creature.

[guillaumeb]

30. If you wish for perfection,

you can do so, but it is not realistic.

[Farmer-Rick]

32. Yeah there are no perfect gods.....In fact, this world responds as we would expect

if there are no gods.

[trotsky]

33. Are things perfect in heaven?

Or do we still suffer there?

[Cartoonist]

18. That's mercy

From the caregivers. God was busy creating new diseases and whipping up hurricanes.

[guillaumeb]

19. Yes it is mercy. We agree on this.

And the Creator allows the creation to evolve.

[Cartoonist]

20. Human mercy

God hasn't any.

[Major Nikon]

9. It's part and parcel to what Marx describes as the opium of the people

One must accept one’s shitty lot in life as the “creator” will make one whole some time later, which is conveniently unverifiable mind you. The sheep need a shepherd so to speak, lest they start to think the shepherd is really a wolf in disguise.

[Iggo]

16. God is Fiction.

[wasupaloopa]

26. It means if you blow it and become an ass hole like trump

and go to confession before you die god will be merciful and let you in heaven even if you fuck up again and confess.

I learned that in Catholic school.

[Thomas Hurt]

27. Near as I can tell it is a conceit that some Christians tell themselves.

The explanation being that we are all sinners and not worthy of mercy but for Christ, or to be more concise being born again.

So you have believe in the right flavor of Christianity of course.

It seems much more likely that the loving, all powerful, and all knowing God is in practice largely indifferent.

Instead of wiping us off the face of the earth as we truly deserve, you are here to live a life of "free will" so that you can choose God (read the right version of Christianity) and the ultimate prize being never ending life, in some form or another. The travails you suffer are tests or unfathomable plans of God for you. Again making you a better person or worse depending on the free will thing.

IMHO, no one knows God or God's plan. No Christian knows what God's plan is for you. If you believe in God, you might muddle your way to a better life and personhood by figuring out for yourself with the wisdom we can sift from our religious writings, philosophy and our experience as human beings.

[Karadeniz]

28. Here's the theology hidden in the parables. God is merciful only in the sense that there is

a system which allows a soul many opportunities to develop to the point when it can go home. That is eternal life. Death is having to reincarnate and die and die and die. At any given time, therefore, there will be people with souls at different levels of growth. Thus, there are always examplars of the best values alongside mustard seed souls who care only for themselves.

We must show mercy, but the system works on merit, not mercy. We should forgive, but the system does not. We must cultivate all the qualities which will remove ungodly qualities from Mind so that the soul can flourish. Nowhere in the parables does some outside savior come to save us. It is the soul within each self that is the savior.

All that said, it is a helpful principle to think that we must imitate God (true) and therefore helpful for people to think that God is love...mercy...forgiveness if it gets people to live with those qualities.

[Voltaire2]

31. The odd thing is that this alleged hidden

theology only became a thing during the fourth and fifth centuries as Christianity went through its second failure to deliver paradise on earth. The first being the return of Jesus within the lifetimes of his disciples, the second after the christianization of the empire also didn’t trigger his return. At that point new explanations were required, and Augustine by way of Origen stepped up to provide a mystery religion where everything in their holy books is obscured and subject to reinterpretation. Their gods don’t speak plainly, but instead in riddles that only experts can interpret.