You have to admit this is a good question...

It all reminds me of a very abusive relationship. It all makes sense too...







How come God gave Satan equal power instead of just destroying him?

He by NO way has equal power.

Guess Seventh Day Adventist really are bat s*** crazy, my family taught me that God gave him equal power to make him challenging (apparently God liked playing games). Forgive me for my misinformed input.

I think I'm getting an idea of why you have/had such contempt for religous folks.
But yeah, that is bat s*** crazy.

..If they indeed were equal in power, then the Almighty wouldn't be the Almighty; and the devil certainly wouldn't be confined to hell.

I OWE you a kudo Dave!

Of all religions to raise me in, it had to be Seventh Day Adventist. LOLz

You think that's bad..?? You should try being brought up a Catholic...!!!


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I had a lot of Catholic friends but don't know the nature of the religion, how bad is it?

Hell, you know what? I say we all convert our souls to the FSM.

Righteousness and extreme justice ARE evil.

link [en.wikipedia.org]

There are other ways to deal with things but most people are not and never will be clever enough to know how to work with others in a compassionate, empathetic and loving manner.

You shouldn't inflict it on your children.

I could talk about all the well known ills of the church, such as the way it has distorted scripture for its own ends... the corruption.... the political manoeuvering... the brutality and violent excesses of history and the exploitation of the people. I could talk about the hypocrisy of the papacy and all those things would be bad enough in themselves, but the bottom line of why I left the church... indeed, left religion completely, was personal.

The Roman Catholic Church is a controlling organisation. It controls its people and attempts to manipulate their every move in life. You MUST do this... you MUST do that.

It instils a sense of guilt, not only over original sin, but in everything you say, do and are. The Church wants you to feel guilty about being who you are so that you are drawn to them for forgiveness and can then be manipulated. It wants you to have low self esteem, feelings of unworthiness and to lack confidence in yourself and your life.

There is litte or no joy in being a Roman Catholic, save for that which the church tells you it is alright to have. Which isn't very much.

They have a saying: Give the church a child for the first ten years, and you will have a Catholic for life. Sadly, for many, particularly in the under-developed world, this is true.

I had the strength of character to walk away. I looked at both views of life.... the religious and the scientific. I studied both objectively and decided that the scientific had the more credible explanation. I don't deny the possible existence of God, but I must say that the evidence for religion, as we have it at this time, is not as convincing or plausible as the evidence for science.

And so I walked away. I suppose that, technically at least, I'm still a Catholic. I've not been excommunicated and haven't formally renounced the faith. I've simply walked away from it. I guess I could go back at any time but to do that would require me to confess all my "sins", and beg forgiveness. It would also require me to leave my wife, not as an act of penance, but as a form of submission to church doctrine. That is something I'm simply not prepared to do.

So there is your answer, Vix. Catholocism has many, many failings, but for me, it is the fact that it is an all encompassing controlling force that I'm not prepared to accept.


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It's not so much he punishes the bad... He tortures them because he gets enjoyment from it, that is why he is evil. God is the one that punishes people by sending them to "live" with the devil.

In fact, the "evil" punish themselves, in the very same sense that "virtue is its own reward".

You do realise that God and Satan are merely personified metaphors for extreme attitudes, right?