Choosing a faith

Of course you're not but that simple fact should tell you that evil of that kind at least is not a choice. So you need to ask yourself whether this simplistic religious view of choosing between good and evil is correct. The facts are that a very large number of people - mostly men - are paedophiles and a proportion of them are not only capable of raping babies but are sexually attracted to them - that's a form of pre-programming. But again why? You believe that god gave them that need, why?! So why has he given this incredible evil to to some of us? Why Phat?
Does it make any kind of sense to you, you know, loving god and all? It sure doesn't to me.

He likes to watch.

Well it was a pretty weal point anyway as God created people capable of inventing the internet which made internet porn possible.So I agree that it does nothing to refute your point. Let me ask you this. Do you think that if is child is molested is more likely to molest children as an adult that an adult who was never molested and even loved as a child.
I'm not saying that the cycle can't be broken and probably usually is, but I would contend the the molested are more likely to molest than those not molested.The point being is that I don't accept the idea that we are pre-programmed. However you did say that some are pre-programed. Are you then saying that they are forever incapable of overcoming this so called desire? I think we would both agree that we aren't just products of our DNA.The big question though is why does God allow this at all.I have to fall back on the old axiom that in order to choose that which is good we need to reject evil. Without evil goodness can't exist and God wanted us to have that freedom so that we can choose the good or loving answer to whatever arises in our lives.Incidentally I might suggest that rejecting God for that reason may well make you closer to the heart and mind of God than many Christians.

That's fine GDR, but there still are the victims in their anguish and pain. All to serve as a lesson on what YOU shouldn't do. Their lives gone or forever scared to serve as a lesson on "what's good". That is still bad evil. Not infinitely loving at all.

The question of whether molested children are more likely to molest themselves is secondary. The real question is why some men are sexually attracted to children at all - it seems that around 1% have real paedophilic tendencies and 5% of the general population have paedophilic fantasies.
​ It's complicated. At the moment paedophilia is thought to be neurodevelopmental, genetic and environmental. Paedophiles brains are different to non-paedophilic brains and they often have extensive histories of psychiatric disorders. But it's clear that their brains are different, often at or before birth.
​ It's not a question of allowing; according to religion, he made us this way. A percentage of the human population will either not be capable of stopping themselves raping children or find it very hard to do so.
​ And of course that's simply a primitive, pre-modern rationalisation that doesn't fit the facts as they are now known. God made us this way, but insists we behave differently. That makes absolutely no sense. (And that's quite apart from the completely wrong-headed idea that we need evil to know good, that's obvious nonsense clearly demonstrated by religion itself - heaven doesn't need evil.)
​ I don't reject god for that reason. I rejected Christianity first because it's clearly a totally manmade fiction, then god second and for all sorts of reasons not just this one.If you want to distress yourself
The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges - PMC

Tangle, you have become tangled-up in your thinking.God did not create pedophiles or homosexuals. He did
not create adulterers; thieves; or, liars.He gave each of us free will. We are responsible for our
actions, not God or anyone else.People are born with certain proclivities, and our
environment can enhance our thinking and reasoning.An individual is not born addicted to porn; however, one
through his own actions can become addicted to it.Being a Christian does nor make an individual immune to
temptations of the flesh, but having a close relationship
with God gives one the self-control and discipline to
overcome them.I have had major problems with alcohol and drugs in the
past. But, God's Holy Spirit dwelling inside of me gives
me the necessary discipline to defeat all enemies.Satan cannot temp anyone with things that an individual
does nor enjoy. But, he knows the things that each of us
have a propensity for.He and his demons are constantly whispering in our ears.
Satan puts the things that can control us in our path.I quit cigarettes twenty five years ago but it would not be
difficult for me to start again if I wavered in my resolve.There is no place in God's life for a double-minded person.Our flesh is weak, and we have needs. A spirit born son
of God will not be subject to these needs.If we can control ourselves while in the flesh, we will
have no problem with them as spirit beings.In any event, the internet itself is not evil; neither are guns,
knives, or baseball bats. Evil people with malicious intent
can and do use them to commit evil acts.I do not want to stand in front of God having caused
little kids to stumble.

Of course he didn't, he doesn't exist.
​ You believe god made us 6,000 years ago as we are today. Paedophiles and homosexuals exist, therefore your god must have made them. This is not choice, this is biology. Read the evidence in the link.The Neurobiology and Psychology of Pedophilia: Recent Advances and Challenges - PMC

Unspeakable evil exists, and it is people that do it but it is also the job of people to fight back against it in whatever way we can.I know that doesn't provide any kind of answer that you're looking for.

Not that I dispute them at all but I'm curious as to where and how accurate are your numbers. I guess if we knew why there are minds perverted in that fashion we could do something to prevent it. I certainly don't have an answer. I suppose that just as people are born with things like Down's Syndrome they can be born with brain defects. Maybe heaven is full of creatures that have already made the choice to reject evil and embrace good as in choosing a life based of the Golden Rule. It's above my pay grade.Yes I'm a Christian but I'm a Christian with more questions than answers.We have a line in our liturgy which describes the Christian faith as "so complex so simple, so clear so mysterious". I think that you are right to separate God from religion as religion is too often about what we can get God to do for us as opposed to what we can do for God.One thing that we can see in essentially all categories, religious or otherwise, which is that the Golden Rule is something that we should aspire to me, but we can also see that more often than not we are able, as individuals and as societies, to squash that down and get on with looking out for number 1. Assuming God exists then it seems to me reasonable on that basis to consider the Golden Rule to represent God's desire for our lives.From all that I have read, religious or otherwise it seems to me that our universe is part of a greater reality. With our 5 senses we perceive the world that we do, while not directly perceiving the greater reality that is out there, although it seems that science through it's effects on our physical universe have been able to learn something of it.Bottom line is when I say that God created the universe I don't know what part of it He created. Did He create all matter? Did He create all life that perceive the world the way we do? I don't know?The thing is that I can focus on the clear and simple part of that phrase and focus on rejecting my selfishness and live by the Golden Rule, and then out of interest I can explore the complex and mysterious aspects of where and how God fits into our existence, which is where religion comes in.It is the clear and simple part that is important.

The reason I gave you a link to the source of the numbers is so that you'd be able to verify them. But while the numbers are important to how we as a society deal with the problem, the issue for us here is why is there even one paedophile? Why did god think it necessary? I'm not asking you for an answer to paedophilia, I'm asking why your god made paedophilia a reality. Exactly. In the case of paedophilia the defect is not only harmful to the individual but also to society - so why?As for the rest of your reply, you'll find that living by the golden rule has nothing to do with gods, religions and beliefs. Remove them all and the rule still stands as the best way to organise our lives here and now.

Hi Candle 2It seems we wait in vain for an answer to why I should not accept the scientific evidence for long age, so a different question.
How does Satan know my weaknesses, and how does he whisper in my ear?
There are 8,000,000,000 people in the world so how much time can he spend on me?
Is there a text to say his fellow angels can do the work.I am genuinely interested in getting a reply to this.

Why does God ™ allow evil to exist and persist? Old question; simple answer.In WWII, inestimable millions of people, entire populations, suffered death, debilitating injury, loss of livelihood and family, dislocation, etc. Acts against humanity by Nazi and Fascist and Imperial Japanese are still considered to be absolute evil (except by present-day Republicans). That does not include the evils of Stalin.So where was Superman during all that? He could have stopped Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, and Stalin dead in their tracks and never get the spit curl on his forehead out of place. He never hesitated to save individuals from falling, wives from abusive husbands (in the earliest stories), or kittens stuck in trees (in the 1980 movie), but he wouldn't do a thing to stop the greatest and most devastating evil of the 20th Century? (outside of promoting scrap drives and selling war bonds, or at most saving individual soldiers or a ship or two)Where was Superman when we needed him most? Why didn't he stop that evil? You have to know that every single kid whose father or mother died in the war asked that very same question.Same reason why God doesn't: Superman doesn't actually exist.

Just for the record I was one of those kids, 1 week before my first birthday.I would say that God was there in the hearts of all those who hid their Jewish neighbours. He was in the hearts of those who lived or died defending their neighbours.I would add that ultimately the evil that was the nazis was defeated.I would also add that after the war peace was truly achieved with Germany and Japan becoming friends and allies. In my home town of Medicine Hat in southern Alberta there was a latge prisoner of war camp. During the war the townspeople and the prisoners intermingled and at the end of the war so many of the German prisoners settled in the town that largest ethnic group soon became German, and was as optional language to learn in high school.

Same old copout; god is responsible for the good, people for the bad.It's pretty daft. Christianity had to invent Satan to explain evil because otherwise it's not explicable. Modern Christianity has no answer to it, just a shrug and an “I believe that…”I'm traveling through 'old Europe’, Catholic churches and cathedrals everywhere. All that time and expense wasted on making a powerful elite extremely wealthy when it could have been used to improve lives. It's time we grew up and put the children's story books aside.

So you put the blame on God when people commit evil and then reject the idea that God could also be responsible when people commits acts of massive self sacrifice. I agree that Christianity and other religions invented Satan, but it is merely a tool to enable us to personify evil. Very much like explaining away the fact that people, in many cases make great sacrifices to the point of risking their lives, in order to help people they have never met and won't meet again in some country on the other side of the planet, and claim that it is some evolutionary force involving only natural material inputs. I agree except for the last sentence. The children's story book as you call it portray a different deity than what you see in those buildings. The biggest single reason that the Jewish elite crucified Jesus was that He heavily criticized the temple authorities up to calling it a den of thieves.
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