Why Don't You Blame God?

GrayAngel said:

I don't blame God because I know that He doesn't allow anything to happen to me that He doesn't intend for good. Even when people intend to harm me, God is using them for my benefit.

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Ok so you completely ignore my sentiment because the Bible tells you differently. This is the definition of ignorance. May I suggest thinking with your brain, and not with the Bible?

Your outlook seems to be generally positive which is a great trait, but there are people much more unfortunate than you who chemically cannot think the way you do.

Question.Everything said:

lol, again this has nothing to do with my question. Are you saying mankind is perfect? That's beyond laughable.

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I'm saying we have the potential for perfection. And I think i did answer your question, its just not the answer you're looking for.

Question.Everything said:

Ok so you completely ignore my sentiment because the Bible tells you differently. This is the definition of ignorance. May I suggest thinking with your brain, and not with the Bible?

Your outlook seems to be generally positive which is a great trait, but there are people much more unfortunate than you who chemically cannot think the way you do.

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I'm not ignoring you. My response was not only Biblical, but also logical. And you asked why, so I told you why. I don't like your arrogant attitude.

1. God is all-powerful and all-knowing.

2. God is good, and His intentions for His children is for their benefit.

3. Therefore, anything from God is good.

This was the attitude of the first century Christians, who praised God for being "counted worthy" of being flogged and tortured.

craftingtable said:

So the faithful Christian who loses their entire family in a freak car accident and is subsequently quadriplegic shouldn't blame god, be angry, or be depressed, but rather, 'let' the situation make him/her a 'better person'? Perhaps also thank god for the 'miracle' of at least saving his life? Nah, if I believed in an omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent god that 'runs the show' I'd have to cease that belief right there.

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No, you shouldn't put on a "front" for God. If you are truly upset at Him for something, go head and tell him. He already knows before you say it how you feel. Might as well be honest about it. God doesn't want you to be perfectly happy with your life all the time.

Abiding in Christ doesn't mean being happy all the time for God's sake. Sometimes, given what this world throws at us, all we can do to abide, amidst the grief and frustration, is to put one foot in front of the other. Dare we mistakenly think that He's not with us then? Or, on the other extreme, dare we not even make the physical effort to abide in him, 'cuz we suddenly aren't "happy enough" to approach him? Yikes! The daily things I do in faith are not a means of working to save myself. No! I am saved by His Grace. Rather, I want to abide in that Grace (regardless of my attitude in any given moment); thus I engage in daily holiness.

Apathy is the farthest you can be from God. If youre upset at Him you might as well let him know, He knows it before you even tell Him.

But knowing God allows us to see... He isn't to blame. He isn't the author of pain. He's redeemer and healer. Look to him for that instead of the source to your problems. We live in a fallen world...


He is there to help

pinkputter said:

Apathy is the farthest you can be from God. If youre upset at Him you might as well let him know, He knows it before you even tell Him.

But knowing God allows us to see... He isn't to blame. He isn't the author of pain. He's redeemer and healer. Look to him for that instead of the source to your problems. We live in a fallen world...


He is there to help

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Sorry but you keep posting replies that have nothing to do with the topic.

Why did God not create us to be more chemically balanced (therefore loving) human beings?

Question.Everything said:

I'd certainly agree that even if God make us more chemically refined, we wouldn't be perfect. But we would be a lot better. We would kill much, much less. Basically we would be more like Jesus.

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And who says God does not 'chemically refine' us? I believe this to be the exact case in the matter of salvation, which consequently would effect how we are as a person on the whole. Sure not perfect as Christ but as you say more like Christ, or how I prefer to state "in the image of Christ."

Question.Everything said:

I'm not sure I follow...how exactly are we not pre-programmed now? We don't all have to have the exact same level of serotonin to be a better, more perfect species. Say that right now human serotonin levels can range from Level 0 to Level 10. Why not create us with serotonin levels of 5-15 instead? It's still not perfect, but it's much better than what we currently are required to deal with and would result in a lot less unpleasant things in the world.

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Well you said that you could have been made to never want to sin and that you would not be like a robot. If you think about it though that's exactly what you would be, nothing but a robot. In that case, God would have had to create man without the potential to disobey Him, which as a natural result implies that we would follow God out of necessity and not because we choose to. We would have to be "hard wired" to not sin, which is nothing but being a robot.

Question.Everything said:

Sorry but you keep posting replies that have nothing to do with the topic.

Why did God not create us to be more chemically balanced (therefore loving) human beings?

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Well my replies are in response to your title "Why Don't You Blame God?" which I could write an entire essay on...


But ok, specifically why God created humans susceptible to imbalances/infirmities?

I did indirectly answer this. We live in a fallen world. Death is a reality only because of sin.


But if youre gonna look at the miracle the human body just to see its defects... then I have to say... this is a classic case of half full/half empty glass. Take a look at these random facts of the human body, and tell me the body's not amazing~~~~

The heart beats about 3 billion times in the average person's lifetime.

A newborn baby has 350 bones, but a fully-grown adult has only 206.

Blood is a liquid organ.

Everyone is colorblind at birth.

Our lungs inhale over two million liters of air every day, without even thinking. The surface area of the lungs is approximately the same size as a tennis court.

Food will get to your stomach even if you're standing on your head.

Skin is the largest body organ.

The average adult is made up of 100 trillion cells.

There are more bacteria in your body than the number of cells in your body. There are an estimated 75 to 100 trillion cells in the human body.

Our brain is more complex than the most powerful computer and has over 100 billion nerve cells.

Capillaries are so small that red blood cells can only travel through them in single file.

The cornea, the outermost layer of the eye, is the only living tissue in the human body without blood vessels? It receives nutrients from tears and from the aqueous humor.

Each cell in your body has an estimated 6 to 8 feet of DNA.

Research has shown that guilt damages your immune system by lowering your immunoglobulin levels.

The total length of your circulatory system stretches an amazing 60,000 miles. That is more than twice the distance around the Earth.

In one square inch of skin there are four yards of nerve fibers, 600 pain sensors, 1300 nerve cells, 9000 nerve endings, 36 heat sensors, 75 pressure sensors, 100 sweat glands, 3 million cells, and 3 yards of blood vessels.

Except for your brain cells, 50,000,000 of the cells in your body will have died and been replaced with others, all while you have been reading this sentence.

Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 40,000,000 times a year. In one hour the heart works hard enough to produce enough energy to raise almost one ton of weight one yard from the ground.

The liver is often called the body's chemical factory. Scientists have counted over 500 liver functions.

The central nervous system is connected to every part of the body by 43 pairs of nerves. Twelve pairs go to and from the brain, with 31 pairs going from the spinal cord. There are nearly 45 miles of nerves running through our bodies.

Messages travel along the nerves as electrical impulses. They travel at speeds up to 248 mile per hour.

The central nervous system is the master system of all functions within your body and has a reciprocal Neurophysiologic relationship with the Acupressure Meridian and Chakra (Emotional Energy Centers) Systems of energetic function within your being. Subluxations in your spine, cranium and extremities, interfere with the flow of nerve impulse energy information and acupressure meridian energy within your body.

The aorta, the largest artery in the body, is almost the diameter of a garden hose. Capillaries, on the other hand, are so small that it takes ten of them to equal the thickness of a human hair.

Your body has about 5.6 liters (6 quarts) of blood. This 5.6 liters of blood circulates through the body three times every minute. In one day, the blood travels a total of 19,000 km (12,000 miles) - that's four times the distance across the US from coast to coast.

Our eyes can distinguish up to one million color surfaces and take in more information than the largest telescope known to man.

Our hearing is so sensitive it can distinguish between hundreds of thousands of different sounds.

Our sense of touch is more refined than any device ever created.

We give birth to 100 billion red blood cells every day and about two million red blood cells every second.

When we touch something, we send a message to our brain at 124 mph.

We have over 600 muscles.

We exercise at least 30 muscles when we smile.

We are about 70 percent water.

We make one liter of saliva a day.

Our nose is our personal air-conditioning system: it warms cold air, cools hot air and filters impurities.

We have copper, zinc, cobalt, calcium, manganese, phosphates, nickel and silicon in our bodies.

If you yelled for 8 years, 7 months and 6 days you would have produced enough sound energy to heat one cup of coffee.

During the first month of life, the number of connections or synapses, dramatically increases from 50 trillion to 1 quadrillion. If an infant's body grew at a comparable rate, his weight would increase from 8.5 pounds at birth to 170 pounds at one month old.

The average life of a taste bud is 10 days.

Our bodies contain enough water to fill a ten-gallon tank.

We have enough carbon to manufacture 900 pencils.

-I can list more if you'd like..


And you feel the human body isn't living up to standards? Whose standards? I'd say it's pretty remarkable.

Question.Everything said:

I'd certainly agree that even if God make us more chemically refined, we wouldn't be perfect. But we would be a lot better. We would kill much, much less. Basically we would be more like Jesus.

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Jesus has answered your quandry. You want to be more like Jesus? He says, "pick up your cross, and follow me"

My choices aren't always the result of my emotions. But my emotional state is always the result of my choices.

What I'm saying is that people could have been made the nicest, most loving people ever, but without free will, it is an empty existence. I am not saying I understand why so many bad things happen in this world; I sometimes I ask God why such things have to happen. I don't understand it. But I do not blame Him.

In things such as this, I do not lean on my own understanding. I rely on Him.

Question.Everything said:

How did God make the universe? How did God make the first human? How did God make the first life form?

The rest of your post is typical Christian rambling and does not answer my questions. Why did God not create us with better chemical balances that would make us all nicer, happier people? I don't mean to be crass, but I'm looking for answers to my questions, not Christian insight on our purpose here on earth.

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Look: the universe, man and life exist so either random actions made them or there was a creator. It takes a lot more faith to belief random actions could create intelligence then to belief in a God.

We have the absolute best chemical balance that can be created to fulfill our objective, but that does not mean we will fulfill our objective, since the objective requires at least one free will choice with likely alternatives (to not make it a forced decision).

Question.Everything said:

I'm not sure I follow...how exactly are we not pre-programmed now? We don't all have to have the exact same level of serotonin to be a better, more perfect species. Say that right now human serotonin levels can range from Level 0 to Level 10. Why not create us with serotonin levels of 5-15 instead? It's still not perfect, but it's much better than what we currently are required to deal with and would result in a lot less unpleasant things in the world.

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Interestingly enough, if we lived in such a universe you would be complaining about the exact same thing. If God had created us with a 5-15 scale instead, you would have no relative comparison so you would just label it as 0-10 and then complain as to why God didn't give us a 5-15 scale. Maybe God did create us with the 5-15 scale and you should be thankful he didn't give us the 0-10 scale that would cause the world to be an even less loving place.

You can't frame the question using scales. Your question isn't about scales. Your real question is why is there a scale at all? Why not just make it all 15?

At this point we get into the question of causation. I believe that neuro-chemicals influence our behavior but I don't believe that they are the primary cause. I believe you can be pre-disposed to have certain chemical imbalances based on your upbringing, your genetics, your experiences etc. These are the causes. I believe that behind every chemical imbalance is an attitude shift and a lifestyle change that can fix the imbalance. Depression is oft-quoted to be purely a chemical problem which can be solved by medication. I disagree. Medication just causes your body to forget how to produce certain chemicals and leads to a dependence on the medication. Depression can actually be solved by an attitude shift, lifestyle change, psychotherapy, etc. If you aren't happy, there's reasons you aren't happy and those reasons are in your control. Not happy with your job? Get a new one. Not happy with your spouse? Put more effort into the relationship! Carrying baggage about your past? Pull it out and wrestle with it instead of bottling it up!

This is a long-winded way of saying that I don't agree with your question because I don't think neuro-chemicals are the cause of our problems.

We shouldn't blame God because he gave us everything. You can blame him for the bad but this will ultimately lead to unhappiness and pessimism as you look at the glass half-empty. You can thank him for the good and this will lead to happiness and optimism as you look at the glass half-full. Yet another choice that God gives us such that we know what fulfillment is.

bling said:

Look: the universe, man and life exist so either random actions made them or there was a creator. It takes a lot more faith to belief random actions could create intelligence then to belief in a God.

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So you will take back your statement that God can't make something that isn't already made? Let's move on to what you just said. I do not know the source of matter's existence, but it is much more plausible that the Big Bang WAS just a natural "random" reaction that caused our universe to be here in the first place. Physics has been proposing some interesting theories lately that our universe could exist in the singularity of a rotating black hole (the physics checks out). We could be here because matter from either somewhere else in the universe or another universe altogether was crammed into the singularity of a black hole (single point) and exploded out the other end (bang). It makes a lot of sense actually.

Of course then we ask "well why is that other universe there, who made it?" and so on, but you should be able to see the silliness of this argument, as it provides no reason to believe in God. It does do the opposite though, it shows us that the universe is much more naturalistic than many think.

We have the absolute best chemical balance that can be created to fulfill our objective, but that does not mean we will fulfill our objective, since the objective requires at least one free will choice with likely alternatives (to not make it a forced decision).

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Again, creating humans with better chemistry does not affect free will in any way, shape, or form. It would ONLY make us a more compassionate species, which I think would be a good thing.

This is why it's plausible to think that we exist because we can. Life wasn't perfectly designed by a perfect designer, it simply happened because the conditions were right, and we are evolving.

leftrightleftrightleft said:

Interestingly enough, if we lived in such a universe you would be complaining about the exact same thing. If God had created us with a 5-15 scale instead, you would have no relative comparison so you would just label it as 0-10 and then complain as to why God didn't give us a 5-15 scale. Maybe God did create us with the 5-15 scale and you should be thankful he didn't give us the 0-10 scale that would cause the world to be an even less loving place.

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This point is irrelevant and moot. God would not create us more chemically balanced so that we don't question him (that would be petty), he would do it so we were a gentler, happier species that caused less harm to eachother.

You can't frame the question using scales. Your question isn't about scales. Your real question is why is there a scale at all? Why not just make it all 15?

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Well that's a question using a scale too lol. Good question though, why didn't he make us all like Jesus (minus the infinite knowledge and power thing)? How would that be worse than the current human race?

And again, I personally don't blame God for any of this , I acknowledge that we are imperfectly created because we are a product of evolution and not the product of perfection.

Question.Everything said:

Did God create everything? Did God create the biological and chemical reactions/balances that make us do and think the way we do? Could he have altered these balances/imbalances as to not cause us to have anger, greed, lust, etc?

I've always heard Christians argue atheists by saying "You're blaming God for something that is man's fault." Man is "broken" because of the chemistry of our brains. Certain people lack chemicals, while others have an abundance of them. This is what causes us to become angry, jealous, etc.

Why did he create us so imperfectly? I'd certainly blame him for this, and I find it ludicrous to apologize to God for sinning. God could have made me so that I never wanted to sin in the first place, and no that wouldn't make me a robot.

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So in other words, you're saying you refuse to take responsibility for anything wrong that you say, do, or think because of the chemicals in your body. Are you going to be consistent enough in this line of thinking to give all criminals a "get out of jail free" card? If not, why not?

Sketcher said:

So in other words, you're saying you refuse to take responsibility for anything wrong that you say, do, or think because of the chemicals in your body. Are you going to be consistent enough in this line of thinking to give all criminals a "get out of jail free" card? If not, why not?

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No, I personally take responsibility for everything I do. Unfortunately Christian doctrine and nature is completely opposite this. You are only granted heaven because Jesus bore your responsibilities (sins) to the cross. We are all given an eternal "get out of hell free" card, so I'm not sure why you seem to be opposed to this. That covers the doctrine.

This particular thread post deals with the nature of God, who is supposed to be perfect and love us. He IS responsible for creating us chemically imperfect, which often times leads people to commit hurtful actions (think of the millions of mentally insane people worldwide). God either didn't know what we would become, or he designed us to be imperfect (causing suffering to those he loves). I question his motives in either scenario, and that's why it makes perfect sense that he simply doesn't exist.

Question.Everything said:

No, I personally take responsibility for everything I do. Unfortunately Christian doctrine and nature is completely opposite this. You are only granted heaven because Jesus bore your responsibilities (sins) to the cross. We are all given an eternal "get out of hell free" card, so I'm not sure why you seem to be opposed to this. That covers the doctrine.

This particular thread post deals with the nature of God, who is supposed to be perfect and love us. He IS responsible for creating us chemically imperfect, which often times leads people to commit hurtful actions (think of the millions of mentally insane people worldwide). God either didn't know what we would become, or he designed us to be imperfect (causing suffering to those he loves). I question his motives in either scenario, and that's why it makes perfect sense that he simply doesn't exist.

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Then let me ask you a few things:

You say you take responsibility for your actions. If you do, then on what basis? Would you say that whatever your brain chemistry might be, that you are morally obligated to do the right thing?

If God were proven to exist, would this change your answer to the first question, and on what basis?

Beautiful Ignorance said:

Isn't it that you were asking in the OP why we do not blame the God of the physical laws that govern our brain chemistry?

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You are saying God defines and created gravity. In the same way, God defined and created human chemistry and anatomy. He could have done much better, which leads me to the conclusion that he's not perfect OR loving.

And God's will is absolute as God is unchanging.

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Gravity changes.

Gravity is the boss, not us.

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Tell that to airplanes and space ships.

My question to you is why would you want to worship a god whose will can be manipulated? If you could manipulate God's will, then others would be able to do likewise. How horrifying would it be to live in a universe where the laws of nature were not consistent and the will of god could be manipulated by anyone who knew the right prayers?

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This has nothing to do with manipulation of God's will. I'm simply questioning his motives behind his established will, since he is supposed to be loving yet we are created imperfectly and in many cases unloving.

But God's will unbending and changes not and can never be manipulated by man. The laws of nature are such because they are the laws of God for they are the very hand of God in motion and God's laws are unbreakable.

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I'm not sure why you think I aim to manipulate God's will.

The purpose is of worship is what it does for us. By reciting the prayers, I make a religious practice out of reminding myself not to fall for the false gods, to always look to the splendor of His Majesty's creation, to have compassion and love for my fellow man.

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That's nice, but it's just as easy to do all of that without praying or believing in a god.

What do you think God is?

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A figment of people's imagination. An unnecessary umbrella over existence.

I will tell you what God really is. God is the final truth or fact behind the experience that we call reality. We know that God exists because we are experiencing something.

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All of your arguments do not require a God to be present or exist. The theory of gravity exists perfectly without God. Experience exists freely and perfectly without God. Do you have any proof for the claim that God created gravity?

And God can be tested. Testing gravity is testing God for gravity is the hand of God and how gravity behaves is how God behaves.

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Remove God from your phrase and you're left with the exact same experiment and will always get the exact same results. Testing gravity is testing for gravity and how gravity behaves. This tests gravity, not God. I see no reason to believe why God created, controls, and is gravity.

And again, people defy and defeat gravity all the time. Use the muscles in your legs to jump up in the air, boom you've just successfully defeated gravity for a couple seconds. Step in an anti-gravity (anti-God?) machine and you can float around for hours.

If what we know to be true about the natural world conflicts with what we believe about God, it is our beliefs about God that is in error.

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Again I'm confused as to why you think God exists. All of your sentiments work perfectly without the concept of God ruling over all of it.

Example: I say that gravity does not require God to exist. You say "No, God created gravity and without God there is no gravity." That's where I say prove it. I can't prove a negative, but you should be able to prove a positive. I say that gravity exists without God right now, and that's true unless you have a logical and reasonable proof to explain otherwise. "We experience it" is not proof, as you experience it in the scenario with no God as well...nothing changes.

Kinda funny that you attack me for a position that your religion is entirely based on, and have no comment on the matter. Anyway...

Sketcher said:

Would you say that whatever your brain chemistry might be, that you are morally obligated to do the right thing?

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Yes. I happen to be intelligent enough to realize that no human should physically harm another human intentionally, and I do my best not to do that. I'm not perfect though and sometimes I do get angry very easily. Something in my brain just sets me off, even though I know I shouldn't be mad and even though I try to calm myself down, I can't help my mind from feeling anger (don't paint a picture of me with that though, I'm generally a very positive and happy person). Luckily enough, I'm intelligent enough to realize that this is a result of a chemical imbalance on my brain and I do a pretty good job of controlling it. Other people are not as fortunate or controlled as I am, and "snap" much more easily.

If God were proven to exist, would this change your answer to the first question, and on what basis?

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If God were proven to exist, my entire perception of reality would change (just like it did when I deconverted). It would go from not knowing the ultimate cause of our existence, to knowing not only the cause but the exact purpose as well. I'd probably refrain from ever getting drunk, having unmarried sex, or cursing, and I'd probably start going to church or a Bible study weekly. Basically my life would be a lot less enjoyable.

Question.Everything said:

This point is irrelevant and moot. God would not create us more chemically balanced so that we don't question him (that would be petty), he would do it so we were a gentler, happier species that caused less harm to eachother.

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I think you missed the point. I'm saying that the scale system is relative. 0 to 10 or 5 to 15 are equal in that you have no absolute reference point to go by.

Your argument by using a scale system is unfalsifiable.

Question.Everything said:

Well that's a question using a scale too lol. Good question though, why didn't he make us all like Jesus (minus the infinite knowledge and power thing)? How would that be worse than the current human race?

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Exactly. I'm glad you picked up on the fact that I was using a scale system to demonstrate the foolishness of your scale system. In order for something to have value it must have something to compare it to.

If you run a race and everyone receives first no matter what, then first place has no value. If everyone is perfect and humanity is uniform, then perfection has no value.

Question.Everything said:

And again, I personally don't blame God for any of this , I acknowledge that we are imperfectly created because we are a product of evolution and not the product of perfection.

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How did evolution tell you that humanity is imperfect?