Why do people blame god or the devil?

An old Native American story goes like this:

One day an old man was followed home by a horse. The village people said, "look how lucky you are." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The horse left the next day. The people said "you aren't very lucky" the man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The following day the horse returned with 3 mares. The village people said "You are so very lucky, look what the god has brought you." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The mans son decided to break the horse in and in the process broke his leg. The people said, "you are so unlucky." The man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

A waring tribe was seen coming towards them and the village men rode the horses along with their own horses and all the men died. The people remaining came to the old man and said "How lucky you are that your son broke his leg so that he couldn't fight." The man answered " Yes, I am."

Of course this story could go on and on, but the point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

Please rename the thread to "Why do Christians blame God or The Devil"

Originally posted by Emperor Ashtar
Please rename the thread to "Why do Christians blame God or The Devil"

She can't and I won't.

Originally posted by debbiejo
Why do people blame god or the devil?

If you believe in "God" or the "Devil", why not blame them? They did do it after all.

Originally posted by debbiejo
An old Native American story goes like this:

One day an old man was followed home by a horse. The village people said, "look how lucky you are." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The horse left the next day. The people said "you aren't very lucky" the man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The following day the horse returned with 3 mares. The village people said "You are so very lucky, look what the god has brought you." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The mans son decided to break the horse in and in the process broke his leg. The people said, "you are so unlucky." The man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

A waring tribe was seen coming towards them and the village men rode the horses along with their own horses and all the men died. The people remaining came to the old man and said "How lucky you are that your son broke his leg so that he couldn't fight." The man answered " Yes, I am."

Of course this story could go on and on, but the point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

Most people are outward flowing. That means they think that things that are going on inside of their heads are happening outside themselves. For example: someone says "you made me angry" when it is clear that they made themselves angry. It is easier to point to something outside of ourselves and find blame, then to look at our own faults that we choose not to change. We choose not to change because of attachments, like ego. We also do not want to make other people mad at us by blaming them for our problems, so we blame god or some other mystical being who cannot confront us directly.

There are three main reasons why people blame God or Satan:

1. They are unwilling to take responsibility for their own actions.
2. They believe in spiritual warfare.
3. They have a misguided view of God and Satan.

too bad this isn't slots...because you'd be a winner.

Originally posted by debbiejo
An old Native American story goes like this:

One day an old man was followed home by a horse. The village people said, "look how lucky you are." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The horse left the next day. The people said "you aren't very lucky" the man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The following day the horse returned with 3 mares. The village people said "You are so very lucky, look what the god has brought you." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The mans son decided to break the horse in and in the process broke his leg. The people said, "you are so unlucky." The man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

A waring tribe was seen coming towards them and the village men rode the horses along with their own horses and all the men died. The people remaining came to the old man and said "How lucky you are that your son broke his leg so that he couldn't fight." The man answered " Yes, I am."

Of course this story could go on and on, but the point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

Originally posted by debbiejo
The point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

These are all the same question. Why can't man take accountability for his own actions and the results of those actions?

Regardless of whether there is a God or not, man needs to learn that the responsibility for his actions is his own. The consequences are his and he deserves them, good or bad.

Originally posted by lord xyz
I couldn't agree more. Although, I'm disappointed there isn't a religious-atheist debate in this thred about why it's right and the religious people being stupid. I mean, that's why we make these threads, right?

Originally posted by debbiejo
An old Native American story goes like this:

One day an old man was followed home by a horse. The village people said, "look how lucky you are." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The horse left the next day. The people said "you aren't very lucky" the man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The following day the horse returned with 3 mares. The village people said "You are so very lucky, look what the god has brought you." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The mans son decided to break the horse in and in the process broke his leg. The people said, "you are so unlucky." The man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

A waring tribe was seen coming towards them and the village men rode the horses along with their own horses and all the men died. The people remaining came to the old man and said "How lucky you are that your son broke his leg so that he couldn't fight." The man answered " Yes, I am."

Of course this story could go on and on, but the point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

Stupid story.

Cognitive dissonance: When a negative thing happens that seems to have no real explanation, it is disconcerting to the human mind, thus the explanation that there is a higher power at work behind their events puts less stress on the brain.

For the good stuff, maybe it has to do with the fact that positive events have been associated to God from an early age and that affirmation of cognitive beliefs has a similar effect on the brain as a drug addict getting his fix.

Originally posted by Regret
Why do people blame an illness or genetics for how they are? Why do people blame their parents or the environment they grew up in for the way they turned out?

These are all the same question. Why can't man take accountability for his own actions and the results of those actions?

Regardless of whether there is a God or not, man needs to learn that the responsibility for his actions is his own. The consequences are his and he deserves them, good or bad.

Theists are not the only stupid ones, atheists blame things outside thewir control for just as much as theists do. This is really a philosophical concept, not solely a religious one.

Not entirely true, some bad things can be contributed entirely to the environment they were born in.

It's hardly the fault of a 3 year old kid in Africa that he or she is about to die of aids. Nor would it be a woman's fault that she got raped, nor the fault of a child in Africa that he can't go to school.

There are plenty of cases where the person that gets screwed over is not responsible for getting screwed.

Because it's convienent.

Well in this story, he is not in control of the events happening around him, so you can't say that he should have taken responsibility for his actions. It's how the man viewed the events around him and he doesn't agree with the rest of the tribe as saying it is good or bad until the end, which I added. If the story went on, lets say, the son of the man now grows older and gets a terrible disease which the tribe could say "Oh, look at this misfortune, he is suffering so much now, he should of died in the battle, instead of like this.", but the lets say that the mans grandson, now becomes a great leader since his father has died. Now the event would be a "positive" depending on which view you'd take.

With all the swinging back and forth and people not looking at maybe a much larger issue, but only labeling events as bad or good, some calling it gods test, as in Job. I believe the experiencing the events either cause growth in one way or another in ones own integrity. How one reacts to each event could be looked at as a punishment and with that grows hatred, blame, jealousy, resentment, and many negative reactions. Or, it could be seen as a chance to grow in compassion, planning, empathy, leadership, patience, humility...etc. Or, nothing could be learned at all but blaming a deity for the circumstances. It could also be viewed as "When one door closes another always opens."

Originally posted by Regret
Theists are not the only stupid ones, atheists blame things outside thewir control for just as much as theists do. This is really a philosophical concept, not solely a religious one.

Originally posted by StyleTime
...Why not?

If you believe in "God" or the "Devil", why not blame them? They did do it after all.

double poteau, désolé

It's easier to blame someone or something else for our misfortunes than to take responsibility ourselves.

Originally posted by Fishy
Not entirely true, some bad things can be contributed entirely to the environment they were born in.

It's hardly the fault of a 3 year old kid in Africa that he or she is about to die of aids. Nor would it be a woman's fault that she got raped, nor the fault of a child in Africa that he can't go to school.

There are plenty of cases where the person that gets screwed over is not responsible for getting screwed.

its logical. if you believe that randomness does not rule the world and all actions have a supernatural{basically} cause/purpose/allower then your gonna blame god for your misfortune. furthermore if your a practicing believer then theres no LOGICAL reason why the creator should allow or cause bad things to happen to you{no matter how much believers try to twist words to make sense of it, it just is nonsensical} so it seems unfair and theres a cause other than randomness. so u blame it.

Originally posted by debbiejo
An old Native American story goes like this:

One day an old man was followed home by a horse. The village people said, "look how lucky you are." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The horse left the next day. The people said "you aren't very lucky" the man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The following day the horse returned with 3 mares. The village people said "You are so very lucky, look what the god has brought you." The man said, "maybe yes, maybe no."

The mans son decided to break the horse in and in the process broke his leg. The people said, "you are so unlucky." The man answered, "maybe yes, maybe no."

A waring tribe was seen coming towards them and the village men rode the horses along with their own horses and all the men died. The people remaining came to the old man and said "How lucky you are that your son broke his leg so that he couldn't fight." The man answered " Yes, I am."

Of course this story could go on and on, but the point of this story is that people blame god or the devil when things go right or wrong, when it maybe that we don't see the bigger picture and the grander story of how things work together. I believe that many religions lost something by labeling events that change and then wonder why god is angry with them or punishing them with misfortune. And if not god punishing them, then it must be satan.

I sometimes wonder that myself. Even though I'm a Christan, I think it would be wrong of me to blame someone else for my own misfortunes. I'm not even sure there's a devil, even if I believe in some sort of a force I choose to call God. Yes, it did suck to be harassed at school, but I don't see it as anyone's fault. I might blame the children who were cruel to me, but they had their reasons for doing so. Yes, it still hurts, but I see that they suffered too, under circumstances they couldn't control and I was an easy target. I don't hate them. I choose to believe there's a motive behind everything, which has nothing to do with God.

Regards, Yvonne