God is like a dictator

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I don't know all I can type right now but it frustrates me. I feel like God in the Bible reminds me of a dictator since he is about perfect obedience. I can't love both this world and him, only one or the other. We don't have freedom under our existence like we have grown to believe. We have been tricked. Saying we have free will ends up being pointless. Sadly it's not understandable to people who are deeply devoted to Christianity. I am just alienated.

He's a stern and somewhat abusive single father.

I tend to agree with you, but a lot of people find comfort in reading some of the nicer portions of the Bible, especially the Psalms and Gospels.

When I was a Christian, I found comfort in scriptures like Psalms 34:18:

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (NIV)

Last edited by TwilightPrincess on 08 Jun 2019, 1:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I'm somewhat of an omnist and believe that every religion contains some truth to it.

The two truths I have gathered from Christianity are:

1. Everyone sins (iow humans are inherintly selfish and do things to hurt others even if they are unaware of it)

2. Everyone deserves to be forgiven for their sins, but ONLY if they are truly sorry for what they did and actually seek forgiveness.

Those who are incapable of feeling guilt for hurting others (like abusive sociopaths) are undeserving of forgiveness and should be cast aside, but unfortunetly we live in a world that seems to idolize such as*holes.

I think you have picked up the wrong concepts of a dictator, Jesus Christ. and Christianity.

A dictator is a king or queen... Simply a ruler who rules without having come down a royal family line. A dictator can be good or bad according to the individual. They tend to have to have a stern rulership by nature because if they show weakness they can be killed and a new dictator takes over. This is the weakness of a dictatorship rule. In itself there is neither anything bad or good about a dictatorship. It is just a method of governing a country.

About the Christian message which I will try to simplify it.

Since Adam and Eve sinned, sin has been the age old problem which destroys our relationship with God our creator. Now in the early years God gave us His commandments. He kept them simple. However He knew we could not keep them. None of us can. Why did God give them? To expose sin. To show us what's sin is. OK. We sin. But how do we get rid of sin? In the Old Testament days, blood was required to take the place of our sin. An animal would be sacrificed.
Have you heard the term "Scape goat"? Well. Two goats were chosen without any fault. One would be killed. The blood of the killed goat would be placed onto the other goat and the other goat would be sent away into the wilderness. The idea being the sins of the person would be sent away far from the person. (It was very unlucky if ones goat returned!).

Now animal sacrifice was only a temporary measure. God came down to earth in the form of Jesus and He lived without sin. He became OUR sacrifice for US when He died on the cross. He took OUR place. Something else also happened. Because Jesus had no sin and the wages of sin is death, death could not hold Him so Jesus rose from the dead. He was seen by hundreds of witnesses after he rose again before He finally was taken into Heaven.
Now what did Jesus actually do for us. What does it all mean? First we know that we can't stop sinning. Even the best of us is a liar if we said we didn't sin. Sin brings a heavyness to us. How do we escape sin? What did Jesus say? "Whosoever believe in Me shall not perish but recieve eternal life". (John 3:15).

Many many false teachings have been said over the years which have brought confusion and mystery. One is" You must go to church to be a Christian". They quote "Do not neglect the fellowship of the saints" but fellowship is a two way conversation. It is simply two people talking to each other. One can attend a multitude of church services and not engage in any fellowship whatsoever! The statement that you must go to church simply is not true. It may help you if you want to know more, but it is not compulsory. The problem is that many are following Christianity as a religion and not a relationship with God.

The message of Christianity is a very simple one. Just repent and believe that Jesus Christ died for your sins. He took your place. That's it!. So when you sin, take your sins to Jesus.
God knows you sin. Jesus loves YOU even though you sin! He gave His life for YOU knowing you are a sinner! Just accept Jesus Christ as your Savior and your Lord. That's it. FREEDOM!

But...if they are “incapable” of feeling guilt, are they deserving of everlasting punishment?

Sociopathy is not a pleasant thing to think about. It’s easier to categorize someone as evil and just leave it at that. I think it’s a really important and interesting field of research, though.

I can't really tell if sociopaths truly are evil. Not every sociopath becomes a killer or theif, but the fact that they are so cold and unfeeling truly is frightening.

Part of me wants to rationalize that they are indeed the closest thing to true "evil" and that we are all better off avoiding them.

I know good and evil are pretty simplistic terms and that life and people are much more complex than that. But the bottom line is all sociopaths, narcissists, and psychopaths are dangerous to those around them and should never be trusted.

My mom was married to an abusive sociopath for 9 years.

They should definitely be avoided by nonprofessionals!

One person I knew who I believed to be on the sociopathic spectrum only felt emotion when she was doing something unpleasant like stealing or pestering animals - and this was when she was a preteen! She has spent most of her adulthood in jail so far.

If, at some point, in the distant future we could find brain and psychological abnormalities and fix them before adulthood, it would be great for our society as a whole.

Last edited by TwilightPrincess on 08 Jun 2019, 2:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I’m still married to one, but we’re separated.

I wouldn’t recommend it.

It’s hard to tell if one is a sociopath at first because they are so good at manipulation.

They really are and great at charming people.

To quote my favorite quote from Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow:

"Evil wears many masks, none greater than the mask of rightousness".

On the subject of "God" (or The Creator or whatever), can it be possible that he is both loving and cruel, beautiful and ugly, gentle and savage. You know, like NATURE?

God is an encapsulation of all human traits—even though He is supposed to be superior to all humans.

I feel that he is also the embodiment of nature.

He can be merciful and caring (freeing the slaves of Egypt, forgiving those who seek forgiveness, etc) but also downright cruel to those who offend him (bringing plagues onto Egypt, flooding the world, burning down Sodom and Grimora, etc).

Like a mother lion or wolf who cruely kills a lamb but then brings it back to feed their hungry family which they guard with tooth and claw.

That's one example of nature being both cruel and nurturing.

I believe both 'God' and Humans have these traits. Despite the bible claiming that humans are above nature we are more equal to nature than we want to admit. We fight in wars , punish criminals, and care for our families and show kindness to friends all at at the same time.

There are many animals who are more “moral” than us, all things considered.