My Issue With Religion

[rupert333]

No .. babies are totally innocent at birth.
It is their parents/environment that might cause them to go astray.


As above.
When we get to the "age of consent" i.e. adult, we are held resonsible for our actions

Temptation to do wrong is always present, but we are expected to control ourselves.
Most people would think that reasonable.
i.e. that most people are able to control themselves .. hence free-will

I've been arguing there is no free will. Check out my responses on this thread. Sorry, I do not get long on the web and cannot respond to everyone.

 

[rocala]

yet most good people tend to be reasonably well educated and working and of a certain nature.

I must take issue with this. I was raised by my grandparents. Beyond basic literacy, they had no education. Yet they were as good as any two people I have ever met. As for working, is a rise in unemployment followed by an equivalent rise in bad behaviour?

 

[EricPH]

Surely God should be punished if we do evil.

Jesus loves us as he loves himself, he died for us.

Could there be one purpose so great, that possibly even God could not do anything greater?

Could God create anything greater than children in his own image, likeness and nature?
Could God love all his children as he loves himself?

Could the creation of the universe and life hang and depend on the greatest commandments? Could there be any other single greater purpose for God to create the universe and life?

We cannot love God as we love ourselves, as that would bring God down to our level. God gave us the two greatest commandments.

Matthew 22:36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[c] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[d] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

The freedom to love also gives us the freedom to do evil.

When Jesus spent his time on Earth, he would have lived by the greatest commandments. But how did Jesus love all his neighbours as he loves himself? How did Jesus hold out his hands on the cross, and love the man with the hammer and nails?

We know Jesus prayed on the cross; forgave them Father. To forgive is a great thing to do; but loving your enemy as you love yourself seems so far above just forgiving. Could the ‘Forgiveness of Sins Hang on the Greatest Commandments?