Board Thread:Bible Games/@comment-30611258-20161127030705

Theresa is attracted to Anthony. She asks Anthony out on a date. Anthony isn't interested, maybe he isn't attracted to her or he's married, for whatever reason, he declines. Was Theresa rejected? Yes. When someone is rejected, they're prone to feel despair and frustration, typically she'll feel resentment and anger toward Anthony. The rejection affected the dopamine and cortisol activity in her brain, which can actually cause physical pain some short term effects of this rejection are aggressiveness and antisocial behavior. This type of emotional reaction can also explain why atheists are one of the most hated groups of people. Theresa is a theist and a billboard reminded her that atheists exist, or perhaps Theresa discovered that her acquaintance Anthony is an atheist or Theresa in an argument with Anthony about the existence of God. Any one of these things can cause Theresa to feel despair and frustration. Typically she'll feel resentment and anger toward Anthony. Because of this she may even exhibit aggressiveness and antisocial behavior. As you can see there is a fascinating parallel between a typical reaction of someone who was romantically rejected and the typical reaction of a theist who encounters an atheist, but the parallel is practically shouted from the rooftops as the theist actually describes the atheists disbelief as rejection. The atheist rejects God they say. It is no coincidence that the theist chooses the word rejection, because there is a disconnect between the inaccurate use of the word rejection to describe the atheist position and the theists reaction which coincides with the exact same symptoms of rejection, thereby compelling them to use that word even though it's inaccurate. The inaccuracy can be easily seen from the romantic perspective the analogy would look like this. Theresa tries to set Anthony up on a blind date with Gloria. Anthony doesn't think that Theresa even knows Gloria or that she's acting as an agent on Gloria's behalf. Did Anthony actually reject Gloria? No. What if Anthony doesn't even believe that Gloria exists. Perhaps Theresa described her as being too attractive. Described her personality as too perfect to be believable. So if Anthony doesn't believe Gloria actually exists, did he reject her even if she does exist? No. All Gloria would need to do is show up and ask Anthony in person for him to accept. Or perhaps Theresa described Gloria inaccurately. Is Anthony rejecting the real Gloria or the inaccurate portrayal of Gloria which doesn't actually exist even though she does? In all accounts Anthony is not actually rejecting Gloria, and in all accounts Theresa would have no reason to feel rejected at all, so why then does the theist typically show the classic signs of rejection and even misuse the word rejection when encountering and atheist? Because Gloria is Theresa. The believer is God. Your relationship with God is actually a profound dynamic relationship with this self. With your ego. It is why God knows you so well. It is why his opinions are so often your opinions and why a different believer of the same God as yours can claim that he agrees with God's opinions but not yours it is why God can seem so real to you, because he is real. He is you. And believer, before you deny this, ask yourself, are you truly in a position to be able to deny it? This confusion of skepticism with rejection has caused the persistence of Christianity's fundamental flaw, a foundational flaw that is failing detrimental implications for the religion. The religion itself is based on a false dichotomy, the notion that you must either choose God or reject him, but belief is not a choice, it's a compulsion beyond the realm of choice, achieved through convincing arguments evidence and trust. I do not choose what I believe because I perceive it as the more attractive option. I'm compelled to believe what I think is true, whether I like it or not, because desirability is not a requisite of the truth, this takes honest introspection. To truly make a choice, I must clearly be given the option. If I can doubt whether the option even exists, then the option hasn't been clearly presented to me, thereby preventing me from being able to make that choice. An omniscient God would easily see this flaw in his system. But God isn't omniscient. He only seems that way, because some how, some way, he knows exactly how to answer your doubts, he knows exactly how you think, and if you were paying attention, then you'd know exactly why that is.  