What Did We Do?

[Syne]

I think it is very, very obvious that if you are a believer then the gods DO NOT value life as much as we do. That must mean there is something much more important to believe in but unfortunately you have no way on knowing what that could be. I think it would be prudent for believers to recognize this and stop worrying about what their gods expect from them. You can be responsible for millions of deaths yet it means nothing to a god that places little or no value on life. We have to take care of life because IMHO the gods don't see it worth much. Build better churches and put the responsible inferior builder in chains or worse, shouldn't matter to gods that don't care if anybody lives or dies.

Depends on the god. The Christian god obviously does value some things more than life, since he had martyrs, including his own son. Just like humans find fighting for freedom being worth dying for, god finds things like freewill to be worth dying for. In Christianity, the "earthy body" is very often something that produces base impulses. It is really the soul that is valued, where the struggle for spiritual freedom may be worth the physical sacrifice. So there's really nothing these believers need explained to them. They know that natural disaster is not a problem of god's evil.

[Zinjanthropos]

Just like humans find fighting for freedom being worth dying for, god finds things like freewill to be worth dying for. 

Choosing to fight for or against freedom shouldn't matter then. Both would be equally worth dying for in god's eyes since free will is being exercised?

The very words, 'worth dying for', still doesn't place a value on life. It's more of an apathetic approach, like go ahead and kill each other, who cares? The real value lies in whatever is worth getting killed over.

[Syne]

Just like humans find fighting for freedom being worth dying for, god finds things like freewill to be worth dying for. 

Choosing to fight for or against freedom shouldn't matter then. Both would be equally worth dying for in god's eyes since free will is being exercised?

The very words, 'worth dying for', still doesn't place a value on life. It's more of an apathetic approach, like go ahead and kill each other, who cares? The real value lies in whatever is worth getting killed over.

Secularist define "life" largely as physiology, where theists often define "life" as the soul that motivates the physiology (god breathed life into a body, etc.). God is largely assumed to be more concerned with the soul, even at the expense of the body. There are many allusions to the "weakness of the flesh" and how this can corrupt the soul.

[Zinjanthropos]

Just like humans find fighting for freedom being worth dying for, god finds things like freewill to be worth dying for. 

Choosing to fight for or against freedom shouldn't matter then. Both would be equally worth dying for in god's eyes since free will is being exercised?

The very words, 'worth dying for', still doesn't place a value on life. It's more of an apathetic approach, like go ahead and kill each other, who cares? The real value lies in whatever is worth getting killed over.

Secularist define "life" largely as physiology, where theists often define "life" as the soul that motivates the physiology (god breathed life into a body, etc.). God is largely assumed to be more concerned with the soul, even at the expense of the body. There are many allusions to the "weakness of the flesh" and how this can corrupt the soul.

Doesn't weakness of the flesh have everything to do with free will? You're saying the soul, despite our choices, can't be corrupted? Life is basically a free ride for a soul. I fail to see any purpose for a soul based on this unless it's a cool thing to do, or the souls have some sort of bullshit session afterwards.

[Syne]

Secularist define "life" largely as physiology, where theists often define "life" as the soul that motivates the physiology (god breathed life into a body, etc.). God is largely assumed to be more concerned with the soul, even at the expense of the body. There are many allusions to the "weakness of the flesh" and how this can corrupt the soul.

Doesn't weakness of the flesh have everything to do with free will? You're saying the soul, despite our choices, can't be corrupted? Life is basically a free ride for a soul. I fail to see any purpose for a soul based on this unless it's a cool thing to do, or the souls have some sort of bullshit session afterwards.

Why would weakness of the flesh have "everything" to do with freewill?
Who said the soul couldn't be corrupted? I just said the flesh "can corrupt the soul."
What's the purpose for the mind? Is it just a cool thing to one-up the other animals?

What motivates atheists to attack a nonexistent god?

[Zinjanthropos]

Weakness of the flesh implies bad choices in my estimation. Didn't I ask a question? A simple no would have sufficed...lol

Apologize, it was late and in my grogginess/haste I saw allusion as illusion.

I would have no way of knowing if my mind has a purpose other than it's a good evolutionary adaptation that helps propel me up near the top of the food chain.

OK, remember you asked.....I never attack a god. I attack beliefs and if a god is one of them then it's fair game. The only motivation I needed happened to me years ago. My brother was swallowed up by a religious cult of people who were for all intents theists. It took everything I had to get him the hell out of there. During that time he was a pawn for someone else's financial gain. He was reduced to a pathetic figure selling flowers on a Vancouver street corner. There's more but for me personally, the cult got my phone number & threatened me over the phone time and time again to stay away, they knew where I lived and would pester me constantly. They killed our cat, stuffed it in a plastic bag and shoved it between my front and screen door with a nasty threatening note attached. My wife was pregnant at the time, I slept with a baseball bat beside me (I would have used it & I'm not a violent person) and until I got my brother out of there they continued their games. However once they realized he was gone (I got him to family 3000 km away) they just packed it in.

I learned later from my brother that they would have the new recruits placed in an empty home and pray to God that furniture would show up. Miraculously it did and how they managed to get the newbies to believe it was divine providence I don't know. My brother later told me that he couldn't believe he fell for it. He told me that one day they took all the fresh meat to Seattle by bus to attend an indoctrination session. He said at one point he got up and said this is crazy and walked out. Told me he didn't have any money to call me to come get him and eventually two bruisers came out and hustled him back in. After that day he said he committed to the cult. Is he angry about it? Damn right he is, a moment of your life lost forever.

Maybe that might tell us something about the mind. How it could have a purpose other than an evolutionary advantage is beyond me

[Syne]

Oh, it certainly is about choices, i.e. freewill.

I didn't mean to imply that you attack god, just that many atheists do and your OP could be taken that way. I'm not sure one cult reflects on all religious belief though. Most religious people would share your opinion of that cult.