Today, I played God.

[retrorich]

Funny you should ask that, I have a slightly dizzy ghost of an insect here complaining that he has been abused by a human............

Funny, Michel.

 

[michel]

Funny, Michel.

he doesnt think it funny................:biglaugh:

 

[Linus]

Why is that?

Luke 12: 6Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

I think the same can be said about flies.

 

[Sunstone]

Would an infinitely compassionate God be infinitely compassionate about an insect?

 

[Yerda]

Did you finish the coffee?

 

[retrorich]

Did you finish the coffee?

I was waiting for someone to ask that. Yes, I did. Waste not, want not.

 

[retrorich]

Luke 12: 6Are not five sparrows sold for two cents? Yet not one of them is forgotten before God. 7Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear; you are more valuable than many sparrows.

I think the same can be said about flies.

In other words...

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." ????

 

[MdmSzdWhtGuy]

You weren't really playing God tho. You did not tell the bug to worship you for fear of everlasting damnation, now, did you? You saw the bug, and he saw you, again, very far removed from the God of the Bible.

And to your point re: God and his compassion or lack thereof, if God exists and has the power over us, that you had over the bug, then I find Him not to be a very compassionate entity at all. Look around at all the suffering and abuse in the world. Retro would not have allowed other bugs to harm his coffee-bug, and he is merely of human levels of compassion. Yet every day every hour, people are doing horrendous things to one another with no intervention at all from any God or gods.

All said, I think I would rather my fate be in the hands of Retrorich, than the God who is supposed to be wiping out entire groups of people in the old testament, and tho softening up a bit, is still condemning souls to everlasting damnation in the new testament. Doesn't sound like someone I want in charge of me.

B.

 

[Halcyon]

Would an infinitely compassionate God be infinitely compassionate about an insect?

If the compassion is infinite then it must extend to all things, otherwise it is not infinite.

I hate that insect thing. I always fish them out of cups or pools and they squirm around and I just don't know if I really saved them or prolonged their suffering. If they don't take off after a while I squish them. :/ It's not out of malice- just concern- so I hope G-d doesn't think me a murderer.

Insects will dry out and be just fine, i might take a long while though.

Also, a drowned insect can be brought back to life (yes, all the God wannabies out there can perform their own mini resurrections ) by drying it out, for rapid effects use salt.

This is because insects "breathe" through their skin and won't die if starved of oxygen for a reasonably long time. Soon as their "air holes" are dried out they spring back to life, if a bit salty and dazed.

 

[retrorich]

You weren't really playing God tho. You did not tell the bug to worship you for fear of everlasting damnation, now, did you? You saw the bug, and he saw you, again, very far removed from the God of the Bible.

And to your point re: God and his compassion or lack thereof, if God exists and has the power over us, that you had over the bug, then I find Him not to be a very compassionate entity at all. Look around at all the suffering and abuse in the world. Retro would not have allowed other bugs to harm his coffee-bug, and he is merely of human levels of compassion. Yet every day every hour, people are doing horrendous things to one another with no intervention at all from any God or gods.

All said, I think I would rather my fate be in the hands of Retrorich, than the God who is supposed to be wiping out entire groups of people in the old testament, and tho softening up a bit, is still condemning souls to everlasting damnation in the new testament. Doesn't sound like someone I want in charge of me.

B.

Excellent post. I agree 100% Frubals to you.

 

[Linus]

In other words...

"His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me." ????

Sort of? I don't know what exactly you are trying to get at with this.

I interpret it this way: Jesus is saying, "look, you can get a five sparrows for about two cents. That isn't very much. They aren't very valuable creatures. But not a single one goes unnotice by God. He cares for all of them enough to know everything that happens to every one of them. How much more will he watch over you? You are far more valuable than a bunch of sparrows.

Does that clarify?

 

[Scuba Pete]

Truly Linus... I agree with your sentiments.

Everything on this earth has a purpose and is happiest when fulfilling it. Sometimes it's hard for us, or a creature to understand or accept that our existense is NOT the most important thing on this world. Other creatures must live and so we must die. Our suffering then, has a purpose: to give others a chance to experience life just as we have.

Retro is a nice guy, I am sure. However, I would not trust my life to anyone with such a limited understanding of my reason for being in this universe. God does, and completely understands when I need to suffer ultimately when I should die. I am OK with that.

 

[Buttons*]

I think that if God made it, it is important to him no matter what it is. Why should one treasure be more valued than another, especailly when people can screw up? I find it easier to love a cat than a screaming, tantrum throwing "gimme gimme" child... *shrugs* that again is just me.

 

[Linus]

I think that if God made it, it is important to him no matter what it is. Why should one treasure be more valued than another, especailly when people can screw up? I find it easier to love a cat than a screaming, tantrum throwing "gimme gimme" child... *shrugs* that again is just me.

And animals never get you on your nerves a little?

I find it easier to love a sweet, innocent, laughing little child than a hissing, clawing, biting cat.

To each his own I guess.

 

[Buttons*]

in some people's definitions animals dont know right from wrong, so how could they screw up? Just because they arent submissive doesnt make them screwups. Back on the original subject though, I do think everything is equal. We all live, we all die, and maybe one day we'll all find a balance...

 

[jamaesi]

Insects will dry out and be just fine, i might take a long while though.

Also, a drowned insect can be brought back to life (yes, all the God wannabies out there can perform their own mini resurrections ) by drying it out, for rapid effects use salt.

This is because insects "breathe" through their skin and won't die if starved of oxygen for a reasonably long time. Soon as their "air holes" are dried out they spring back to life, if a bit salty and dazed.

Well, that makes me feel better. : D


Brasilian houses are open, so I'm endlessly carrying out bugs and lizards and lost birds and bats that would otherwise get killed.

 

[Scuba Pete]

Uh,

insects do not breathe through their "skin": they are covered in chitin, some of it being heavily sclerosed. They have tiny little holes in a line on their abdomen called spiracles (I think) that exchange air and CO2. As for salt... ewwwww! That's gotta smart!

Cool fact: the ground shell of the lac beetle was the main constituent in "shellac", which was used to make things water proof. Today, many shellacs are entirely made from oil derivitives. Thought you should know!

 

[robtex]

God let us have this 'playground' on which to be tested (as I a theist sees it), and yet we have to kill to survive. There is one massively long chain of killing of living beings that ends with man; whether we like it or not, by proxy or directly, we have to kill (be it a cow, a cabbage or a tree (to build a house)). One cannot, of course know how God feels about this, but I would expect him to know that it is nature, a 'must be' in the equation of the whole world.

You are on the right track but not exactly on the mark. The act of carnivorous consumption is frighting and incredibly painful to the recipient or victim. In an atheistic world it is non-guided and natural....a componet of varied species in evolution but in a theistic guided world how could it be seen as anything but punishment considering the nature and process of dying by being killed as food for another animal? The notion of a all-loving God who creates animals who need to kill not one, but hundreds and hundreds of animals each in order to survive creates quite a difficult question to navigate.

What I have learned from DD and some of the other Pagans as they say God as more neutral and in that paradigm it makes sense though a cruel-twisted sense, but in the notion of the God of the Jews, Christians, Muslims and Bahai the notion of "eating meat to survive" creates a tough philosophical question.

Rich in response to your initial post my understanding is that small insects do not have the nevous system that we or other mammals do and thus I don't think he would be in pain making cleaning him off a better choice. However, the new obstacle becomes how to clean him off without injuring him by accident. Sometimes in trying to clean something so delicate it is easy to rip a wing off or break a leg making it a victim for a slow death unable to aquire food or being caught by a spider and consumed which could bring us back to the notion Michel addressed.

 

[Bea Ond]

….and crawling on the planet’s face
some insects, called the “human race”
lost in time
and lost in space

and meaning.

.....

 

[Valjean]

Just out of curiosity, what are these carnal nutrients that are missing in plants?