God Forgives...

[ChristineM]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

I tend to think when God forgives someone, it tends to right the wrongs between them and God, but not necessarily them and humanity.

 

[SalixIncendium]

God may forgive, but I don't think such forgiveness nullifies causality.

I can forgive someone for not paying back a loan, but I certainly won't loan them money again if they ask.

 

[Altfish]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

It has always been a great flaw in many religions.
You can be a murderer and a rapist but if you find Jesus in the last hours of your life and repent all your sins - you get into heaven.
BUT
If you are a well behaved, charitable atheist, then you can't get in.

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

It has always been a great flaw in many religions.
You can be a murderer and a rapist but if you find Jesus in the last hours of your life and repent all your sins - you get into heaven.
BUT
If you are a well behaved, charitable atheist, then you can't get in.

I've thought about this before too. It makes me wonder if the contract with Jesus is only with Christians, and atheists who live a good life may have some other form of heaven or bliss - just not necessarily given from Jesus.

 

[Altfish]

I've thought about this before too. It makes me wonder if the contract with Jesus is only with Christians, and atheists who live a good life may have some other form of heaven or bliss - just not necessarily given from Jesus.

Atheists aren't expecting an afterlife

 

[PoetPhilosopher]

Atheists aren't expecting an afterlife

Yeah. But I guess how they'd react if they get one anyway, would be a subject for another thread.

 

[ChristineM]

Atheists aren't expecting an afterlife

An after death is just fine. I know my component atoms will have a great time when I'm gone

 

[Augustus]

Forgiveness, within reason, is an important part of a healthy society.

If god didn't forgive, no doubt people would be criticising religion for that also.

 

[Gargovic Malkav]

Maybe the compulsion to resume to his bad habits was greater than his desire to better himself.

 

[Vinayaka]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

I think people without solid ethics will find almost any excuse for their poor behavior, and this is another in their long list. Blaming the victim is another common one. "She was dressed provocatively."
So rather than take responsibility for their action, they find an (invalid) reason for it. I also think that some religions have this 'slippery slope' built right into them, in the scripture.

I worked with a guy like this, who actually said, with each new incident ... "Oh I'm good, I have Jesus on my side."

I believe that in dharmic religions, there is less slippery slope, because of karma. If you truly believe in karma, you suffer the consequences, whether you want to or not.

 

[Secret Chief]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

I thought this was why the mafia were big into Catholicism. Death bed repentance.

 

[chinu]

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

"God forgives" who taught you this misconception ?

For example: A did something wrong with B.
Its B who can forgive A, NOT God.

And, also don't forget that -- GOD reside within everybody.

Its bit tricky to understand

 

[Revoltingest]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

I recall one such guy I knew decades ago.
He told me that he did bad things when he went out.
He was always careful to safely make it home afterwards,
lest he die before gaining salvation thru prayer.

 

[stvdv]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives"

God (in Hinduism) is beyond duality, hence "to forgive or not to forgive" is a non-issue. So, no surprise to me here.

 

[stvdv]

Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me

That is another issue, as there is the Law of Karma (Newton's Law, action/reaction), you "don't get away with it", but still God is neutral on the issue

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

At least he got 1 thing right

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

This falls under "bad habits die hard"

 

[stvdv]

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

You better ask him, but it's a healthier approach then Hell and Doom for him

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

Did he tell you "I assume it is ok for me to repeat my crime"?

I know that junks have a similar habit, they just can't "not do it"
(I think I wrote that right, I mean "bad habits die hard")

 

[Unveiled Artist]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

Believers (I don't talk to any in person) apply god's forgiveness for good things but with bad things, they say it was the guys fault not god. I don't know if a god actually forgave him rather than, from that tone, using that excuse as a guilt to keep stealing the company's bandwidith. There's a lot of god of the gaps and god-causes to believers thought pattern. The thing is, why do non-believers think christians are actually communicating with an invisible being (like a fantasy being). A lot of it stems from the christians themselves not an outside source. At least when I think of it myself more than taking christians for their word/language usage.

 

[Martin]

I've never really understood the forgiveness thing. If you've done something bad, then surely the resolve not to do it again is more productive?

 

[Stevicus]

As a non believer in god or gods it surprises me how many times i hear the phrase "god forgives". It seems to me to be a cop out from morality. Essentially saying i can get away with whatever i want and god will forgive me...

An example...

On the previous (now defunct) forum i frequented there was a guy. Those members here who frequented that old place will know who i mean, I'm not mentioning any names...

He was a manager or supervisor at the place he worked, it seems his job gave him huge amounts of time to chat online, he was one if the most prolific posters. Then suddenly he disappeared, his posting stopped. Approximately 6 weeks later he was back to copious posting.

I asked where he had been, the story he gave was.

I lost my job for stealing internet bandwidth. I know it was wrong and i prayed to god to forgive my crime. God forgave me.

He got a new job, and guess what. He began immediately stealing the company's bandwidth.

My question is why?

Why would he assume his god forgives theft?

Why would he assume it is ok for him to repeat his crime because his god forgave him?

I would have thought he might have been fired for goofing off on company time. But stealing internet bandwidth may be considered just as bad, although it might be comparable to using a company phone to make personal calls. Or someone bringing in a radio to listen to at work - if they plug it in the wall, it could be seen as stealing the company's electricity.