The Real World > Religion
Anger at God
alphonse:
--- Quote ---Even those who didn't believe in God were sometimes angry at the deity
--- End quote ---
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I wonder if this is because many people have the gut feeling that there is some sort of external or Cosmic influence affecting their lives and that they have no other name for it but "God"
truth seeker:
This is along the lines of what some others have written. Perhaps people become angry at god because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for ones life? Maybe people also project their ideas of what it is to be a good person on the idea of god via their indoctrination? "If I were god, I would never do so and so!" If the idea of the devil is generally that "he" does harm so perhaps people excuse this to a large extent in their thinking because "he's" doing what we've been taught - "his" job so to speak.
This is not unlike what people do with situations concerning victims and victimizers in terms of placing blame, the only difference in this case, as I see it, being that the victim is the individual theirself as opposed to someone else. It would be interesting to see what others thoughts were about those who are angry at god. I wouldn't be surprised if those viewing these situations from the outside found themselves blaming those individuals.
So perhaps what we do is find whatever excuse we can to avoid facing responsibility as it doesn't mesh with our own thoughts of ourselves as "good" people. When it comes to the situations of others, that may depend on how well we know the persons involved or how their situation evolved when measured against what we deem as right or just (not to mention our own programs). One example of this might be is in the case where someone gets sick. I think if we have experienced the same illness, we might be more inclined to sympathize with them although even that would depend upon our own situation and how we viewed it. Someone else might not be so forgiving.
To further complicate this, god is seen as a parental figure - someone who takes care as well as punishes. People may quite often confuse their own feelings toward their parents/caregivers with god. If we are all narcissistically wounded, we may find that we have placed god in the position of being the perfect parent - the one we always wanted in a feeble attempt to right the wrongs of the past. We place ourselves in the position of the perfect child. With this setup, the wounded child maintains the illusion that nothing "bad" should ever happen. When something does as it eventually will, we feel betrayed because "we didn't do anything wrong". Placing the blame outside of us maintains the idea that we are "good" because the alternative is too painful to face so the "child" remains in its subjective world rather than face growing up to see the world more objectively.
So it would seem that the god program plays well into the hands of sts. We gladly give our control over to a savior in a childish attempt to avoid facing ourselves- as children often do.
anya:
I occasionally run into people who are angry with god and people who think god is angry with them. Sometimes they ask me for advice and I try to convince them that god is not sitting up on a cloud devising ways to make their lives difficult. Most of the problems we have are strictly manmade. Anger doesn't help solve problems and neither does guilt. Some think that they must still be making god mad if they still have problems. I help them sort through their problems and look for solutions.
There are angry people who are always looking for someone to blame.
Those who are angry with god and those who think god is angry with them are reacting to programs they have been indoctrinated with. To deviate from their programs would be blasphemy. It takes a great deal of study and soul searching to even begin to find another path. Most people look for quick and easy solutions. I have been through some difficult times and when my god program kicked in I felt really lost. Somehow I learned to look at my situations objectivity and worked my way through them. That is how I found sott.net.
I wish I was better at expressing what I have learned on this web site and by reading. I clearly need to spend more time on the forum.
Gertrudes:
--- Quote from: truth seeker ---Perhaps people become angry at god because it's easier than taking personal responsibility for ones life? Maybe people also project their ideas of what it is to be a good person on the idea of god via their indoctrination? "If I were god, I would never do so and so!" If the idea of the devil is generally that "he" does harm so perhaps people excuse this to a large extent in their thinking because "he's" doing what we've been taught - "his" job so to speak.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: truth seeker ---To further complicate this, god is seen as a parental figure - someone who takes care as well as punishes. People may quite often confuse their own feelings toward their parents/caregivers with god. If we are all narcissistically wounded, we may find that we have placed god in the position of being the perfect parent - the one we always wanted in a feeble attempt to right the wrongs of the past.
--- End quote ---
These are very good possibilities, I think.
I have, at times, felt angry at God, something that I have also mentioned here and there in other threads.
What happened in my case, was a sense of total confusion upon experiencing revolt and profound anger when witnessing or acknowledging very cruel acts.
Because witnessing such acts generated (and still does) in me very strong emotions, a certain "confusion" would reign, in that I wouldn't know how to deal with the intensity of the feelings evoked.
Not knowing how to explain things for oneself is, in general, much harder then explaining them even if in just a very poor way, so I found myself directing my strong feelings towards God, perhaps in an attempt to know whom to blame. This not only denotes an inability to acknowledge one's limitation in understanding what God is, but is also a sign of a complete lack of being able to understand one's own feelings, their roots, and their manifestations.
I'm not sure of this, but my working hypothesis is that my own unsolved past problems had created an open scar that reacted when witnessing certain things. The result of this was a misdirection of my own emotions due to my not being able to see their roots, hence the confusion, and finally anger at God.
So, I think that for some of us, unresolved pains can very well lead to the theme of this thread. Because we haven't been able to grow into a slightly more mature emotional state, we project past hurts.
For people who haven't learned how to direct their emotions to its proper source, anger at God might function as a perfect outlet.
go2:
I have heard it said.... if you are angry at God, 'You need a bigger God'. :)
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