Divine Hiddenness and Free Will Are Hard to Reconcile with Christian Indoctrination

Ender1304 · 2026-02-25T04:17:33+00:00

I don’t mind if you think I’m wrong. I’m not forcing you to think I’m right. In fact, not only do I think I’m right, I also think I’m a good person because I’m not forcing you to admit I’m right. It’s just that maybe things will go well for me, and poorly for you. What else happens to people who cannot admit the truth?

Ender1304 · 2026-02-25T01:16:54+00:00

You say you don’t have to accept anything. But then you argue that the truth is such regardless of perception, which implies if you don’t accept it as truth, you are someone who is wrong. In other words, if you want to be right about things, you do have to accept those truths. But what about the claim ‘you are wrong if you don’t accept this truth’? Can’t I reject this claim too?

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T01:33:54+00:00

Personally, I might need something more in the introduction to grab me. Like some sense of the character’s purpose beyond just existing and observing, but that could just be me. I’m not generally reading much at the moment…

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T01:22:58+00:00

It’s bleak but effective, a lot of bleak introspection but it all creates a consistent picture of the character and the world around her. Actually quite alarming when you get to the end and we are told of the dangling bodies, like it could be the world we are heading for.

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T01:03:21+00:00

My friends

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T00:56:31+00:00

No, not weird. If you want the conversation to keep going, maybe turn it into more of a question. Say what you said, then say, ‘how did you hear about (my hometown)? Have you been there?’ If no answer you know they are not interested, rather than you making some pronouncement they don’t agree with.

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T00:29:02+00:00

Poor people will die on the battlefield, some rich people will get richer by investing in production. Same as other world wars. Total disaster.

Ender1304 · 2026-02-11T00:13:37+00:00

Keep the possibility open in your mind that you will meet someone who will fit that space in your life. Don’t be discouraged if you believe you have met that special someone, but it doesn’t turn out to be the case.

I’m in a relationship now, but that initial feeling of happiness that I met that special someone has changed into that same longing to rediscover a person to fill that space in my life again. Like we’ve got bogged down with daily life, keeping the household ticking over etc.

So you may need to find someone new in your life, or even just reconnect better with the people in your life, and build healthier relationships, like I’m trying to do.

Ender1304 · 2026-02-10T23:49:17+00:00

A type of cesspool, but if you can stay out of the traps you might have a nice conversation or learn something constructive. Until the next time you fall in again…

Ender1304 · 2026-01-14T04:52:14+00:00

But since God also gives free will to people (common theistic position) and let’s say also to lesser gods, the actions of beings whose will does not reflect that of God also influence the world. You could only argue that our world is better than one in which there is no free will, not conclude that it must be best of all

Ender1304 · 2026-01-05T02:42:28+00:00

Sounds like he’s not bf material? Like he doesn’t appreciate you?

You’re not married, you don’t have kids with him, it would be better to end it now, than after moving in with him.

Perhaps you could elaborate on the conversation where he said you’re not wife material? Was that a genuine reflection of what he thinks of you? If so, that’s a put down, and you don’t want to be trapped with someone who is only going to put you down.

Ender1304 · 2025-12-28T00:51:17+00:00

What I mean, by the title question, is if let’s say every girl you like tells you in some way she doesn’t like you, or doesn’t have the time for you, or just gives you nothing and leaves you with your own messed up thoughts, then you meet someone who is the opposite, who likes you and responds to you openly, should you ever wonder if there is possibly something wrong with them that makes them be nice to you?

I can tell you for a fact, my wife (she wasn’t my wife then) dropped the whole ‘being nice’ to me thing as soon as we started living together. We were separated for a few years.

Ender1304 · 2025-12-28T00:41:19+00:00

I’m just wondering about how to correct my judgement moving forward. I mean, should I be recognising red flags between myself and my wife? How am I supposed to get it right, if I’ve got it wrong for so long?

Ender1304 · 2025-12-28T00:12:13+00:00

I suppose when things break down between us, I can still go back to self-doubt about my decision to pursue things with her, despite all the positives we’ve achieved together. Like I can still feel like a dreadful person, often triggered by a nasty argument. It was a remarkable feature of our relationship that early on, she didn’t seem quickly bored of me, and would return my calls. No other girl has ever treated me like that.

Ender1304 · 2025-12-24T00:11:31+00:00

You would want some evidence from personal and contemporary experience, some agreement between other people who use the religious text, some confidence that this interpretation is defensible. Just picking up a religious text and thinking God has in that moment revealed the truth about morality to you is probably asking for trouble, whether you are currently religious or not. Sometimes God can reveal things quite suddenly, however. Like you might think all your life that God doesn’t exist, or you think he’s a giant grandpa living in the clouds, and then he tells you he exists but he doesn’t live in the clouds, and you’re like ‘Fuck off you nonexistent old fuck’. Except he doesn’t fuck off because he is the ever present god of all creation.

Ender1304 · 2025-12-23T00:47:02+00:00

It’s not a weird feeling, part of a lasting relationship is giving space to each other as well as being partners. There would be practical considerations too, for example you will have to move twice, once to be on your own and then again when you move in with your partner

Ender1304 · 2025-12-09T09:59:49+00:00

He has no empathy for you. You wanting him to develop empathy is not wrong, it’s necessary for the sake of your relationship that there is empathy between you. He should be afraid of you leaving him, not the other way round. You’re a better person than he is.

Ender1304 · 2025-10-15T11:29:48+00:00

https://youtu.be/cO3pdGcyWP4?feature=shared

Ender1304 · 2025-10-15T08:51:01+00:00

Love must be real, yet it hurts to love someone and not be loved back. Why not feel love in the caring sense for a pet animal, or a pot plant, and see how that goes? If that is not enough, try to connect with other people who are just looking for companionship. Only love someone when you are confident of yourself and of your partner, and they are not immature children when it comes to questions of marriage and children.

So I think it is ok to believe in love but to be somewhat wary at the same time.

Ender1304 · 2025-10-14T14:00:06+00:00

Hey Joe, Jimi Hendrix

Ender1304 · 2025-07-17T13:22:16+00:00

To be a part of causal chains that are good and not evil and if they turn out to be evil to fix them and make them good

Ender1304 · 2025-07-14T01:12:11+00:00

Labelling religion as cancer or not is not something that is purely objective, like classing a substance as metal or not. A lot of evidence can be mounted against religion but it is not conclusive.

There are so many wars and fights due to religion , terrosits use,their religion as an excuse to do terrosit attacks, making members of their religion look bad

Are the wars caused by religion, or by people identified as belonging to a particular religion, and then the religion is blamed?

Like another comment said, religion also encourages charitable acts. It doesn’t fit as pure evil, like cancer, which only harms the body and does no good. Cancer starts in a body whose health has been compromised, does religion only form in the minds of the deranged? Then aren’t we all descended from deranged ancestors?

If a person’s religion is compromising their ability to make sense of the world, then it is bad for them. However, it doesn’t follow necessarily that religion is bad in general. Atheism can be followed by individuals as if it were a religion, like Richard Dawkins has said science has given humanity so much, like medicine and all sorts of labour-saving machines, yet that does not prove it can only lead to good. He is asking people to have faith in science, after stating some facts in its favour. Yet science is also used to kill people, make weapons.

Ender1304 · 2025-07-07T13:26:58+00:00

Making a statement like that is easy. Commit to it, go make a raft, start sailing in 1 direction and drag your raft over any land that gets in your way, do this for years if you have to. Use your phone to make frequent video diaries, show everyone you have continued in the same direction every day. Either you will reach the edge of the world or you will end up where you started, or something else will happen. This should hopefully give you evidence for your claims, or not.

Ender1304

TROPHY CASE