You can't go wrong with god on your side.....can you ??

[mudsticks]

A Presbyterian Church quite close to me is pretty new in church terms as it was built in the late '70s as the original one burned down due to an electrical fault.

I believe it is the third church on that site as I think the original was also destroyed in a fire in the late 1800s.

So obviously best to have building insurance as the house of God is not immune to fires.

Although you have to wonder why an all-knowing, all-powerful God would let his house burn down twice

There's always an easy answer to this one.

Anything like that which goes wrong, where people say

"How could he let this happen"

Is 'a test of faith'

Fwiw I wouldn't want to try to get rid of other people's religions or personal spiritual practices.

We know where that road leads.



And who would say to any mother keening over the loss of her child, but finding solace in believing her infant was now sitting in the lap of Jesus.

Pull yourself together, and stop talking nonsense.

It's when religion is allowed to impinge on, or control the lives of others.

Or used to justify the unjustifiable, that the problems start.

 

[Dirk]

Every time something good happens - glory to God.
Every time something bad happens - man is sinful.
Classic 'Texas Sharpshooter' fallacious thinking.
Only to be expected with belief systems built on fallacies and unfalsifiable claims.

 

[Biker man]

This has a very serious side so I am not making light of a situation. Its more of an observation and to see the general consensus.
A friend of our is very god fearing....as is her 99+ year old mother.
The mother has just had a serious fall down the stairs.
Among other things she has.....
Broken neck
Fractured scull
Bleed on the brain
Broken leg
She is unconscious.
2 ambulances and a helicopter arrived.
Our friend said....."god must have been with her".
Now I have known the family for 40+ years and confess to shedding a few tears BUT...
such terrible injuries and she believes god was with her.......its beyond my way of thinking.
NB
I am not anti religious (apart from the obvious hard liners that believe it entitles them to hurt others).

 

[Biker man]

No it does not if you haven't got faith you have nothing.

 

[Biker man]

I would agree with you there. Despite my adamant atheism of decades past I find that I am starting to wonder if there really might be the big feller upstairs.

I look at people and see how complicated a human is do you really think it's come about by chance .

 

[Blue Hills]

I look at people and see how complicated a human is do you really think it's come about by chance .

Not that old chesnut.

 

[Biker man]

Not that old chesnut.

What's your explanation then ?

 

[Blue Hills]

What's your explanation then ?

er, chance, darwin etc etc.
Of course if this chance/evolution hadn't happened in the particular way it had (and it might never have happened of course) the miracle that is you wouldn't exist.
To put forward fallacious arguments.

 

[Biker man]

er, chance, darwin etc etc.
Of course if this chance/evolution hadn't happened in the particular way it had (and it might never have happened of course) the miracle that is you wouldn't exist.
To put forward fallacious arguments.

Read the Bible it will help you.

 

[Biker man]

There's always an easy answer to this one.

Anything like that which goes wrong, where people say

"How could he let this happen"

Is 'a test of faith'

Fwiw I wouldn't want to try to get rid of other people's religions or personal spiritual practices.

We know where that road leads.



And who would say to any mother keening over the loss of her child, but finding solace in believing her infant was now sitting in the lap of Jesus.

Pull yourself together, and stop talking nonsense.

It's when religion is allowed to impinge on, or control the lives of others.

Or used to justify the unjustifiable, that the problems start.

It needs to.

 

[mudsticks]

No it does not if you haven't got faith you have nothing.

I have no faith in a deity.

But i have plenty.

Neither humanism, nor a satisfying spiritual practice, require a separate entity to 'worship' or have faith in.

But if people want to do that, that's up to them.

Trying to make other people feel inadequate, or lacking, because they have no particular 'faith' seems a bit of a dodgy move to me.

 

[Biker man]

I have no faith in a deity.

But i have plenty.

Neither humanism, nor a satisfying spiritual practice, require a separate entity to 'worship' or have faith in.

But if people want to do that, that's up to them.

Trying to make other people feel inadequate, or lacking, because they have no particular 'faith' seems a bit of a dodgy move to me.

Fact of life with out faith you are lost .

 

[mudsticks]

Fact of life with out faith you are lost .

Fact of life..

.. That's only your opinion.

I'm not in the slightest bit 'lost' ta 🙏🏼

Nor are many others, I don't imagine



But I totally understand how people who feel something lacking in their life personally, spiritually, or materially might be drawn towards religiosity.

And also how those in dire need, difficulty, or straightened circumstances might appeal to a higher power, in the hope of assistance.

We are all part of a much greater whole, for sure, and should recognise that, but man made constructs such as religious faith, are not psychologically necessary for everyone.

You do you.

But don't try to persuade others, that 'faith' is a prerequisite for a life well lived

 

[Dirk]

Fact of life with out faith you are lost .

You missed out 'end of!' at the end of that sentence.
Faith is having the belief in something for which there is no good evidence.
Faith can be used to believe anything.
It is not a good determiner of truth.
I have faith, in the colloquial sense, in many things - it equates to confidence.
Relgious faith is a step too far to be logical.

 

[Biker man]

Fact of life..

.. That's only your opinion.

I'm not in the slightest bit 'lost' ta 🙏🏼

Nor are many others, I don't imagine



But I totally understand how people who feel something lacking in their life personally, spiritually, or materially might be drawn towards religiosity.

And also how those in dire need, difficulty, or straightened circumstances might appeal to a higher power, in the hope of assistance.

We are all part of a much greater whole, for sure, and should recognise that, but man made constructs such as religious faith, are not psychologically necessary for everyone.

You do you.

But don't try to persuade others, that 'faith' is a prerequisite for a life well lived

Why not ?