Where Do You Find Faith?

Off Topic
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[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
For those of you who are not religious, where do you find your faith? More specifically what makes you trust that things will turn out alright in the midst of adversity?

[/quote]

I am not religious.

I did spend 16 years in a Lutheran church where I sang in the youth choir and contemplated being a Pastor. I loved the services and with my charisma thought I’d be a good fit.

At 17 I realized I didn’t believe in God and thus began an adventure in how to live believing when I died there would be no Heaven, etc.

One great discovery was the belief that death would be kind of like life before being born. I don’t recall being in agony with hell-fire pitchforks before being born, so don’t imagine anything like that will happen when I die.

Where do I find my faith? Every morning I wake up and am grateful I’m not dead. Six years ago She Say’s father died of prostate cancer. I spent 6 months tending to him…feeding him…administering his drugs…changing his sheets…wiping his ass…it wasn’t fun…but…every day he was thankful to be alive…an ex-army colonel who had gone on to serve his County in the Narional Security Administration (NSA) he could have quit at any time and cried his eyes out, but he never did…in fact…he knew he had the cancer for 10 years before telling anyone…when asked why he said, “I didn’t want to ruin your good time”…6 years ago I though he was selfish for not letting us mourn with him, but now I think, “what a hero…who the fuck wants to be pitied?”

So…if you don’t believe in God…you should wake up and you should (basically) thank God you’re still alive… I don’t belive in a man in the sky…but making up something to pray to helps…

Just pretend God is Santa Claus… you know it’s fake…but you believe anyway.

Also…you’re too young…but…when you have kids you’ll believe in an all powerful being…I have 3 sons and I believe everything will turn out alright for them. Why? It ain’t got nothing to do with the Christian God as portrayed in the Bible.

I believe every day of my life is spent working to make earth a better place for all humans…if God can’t see that then fuck him…if he reads this and finds me blasphdmous then fuck him…supposedly hes’ all knowing and all good so if he didn’t see thie T-mag post coming he’s not all knowing or all wise and is therefore not God.

Anyway…I’m sorry you’re concerned about your major…30 years from now you may not be able to put your hands over your head, so no over head pressing…or…your groin hurst so fucking bad you can’t squat 135 lbs…how you handle this depend on your love of God…even though you realize there is no God.

My shoulder hurts…my groin is in constant pain…not believing in God doesn’t matter…I do pushups, leg extensions and hope for an MRI that will lead to surgery that will fix me. To put this in the lap of God is…well…let’s just say I don’t think it will happen.

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[quote] sen say wrote:

I have 3 sons and I believe everything will turn out alright for them. Why? It ain’t got nothing to do with the Christian God as portrayed in the Bible.

[/quote]

Err…so why then? Why would you believe that “everything will turn out alright for them?”

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[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote] sen say wrote:

I have 3 sons and I believe everything will turn out alright for them. Why? It ain’t got nothing to do with the Christian God as portrayed in the Bible.

[/quote]

Err…so why then? Why would you believe that “everything will turn out alright for them?”[/quote]
Because they are HIS children. I completely agree with him I know my kids will have awesome lives because what I do affects the way there life goes.

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“Life shrinks or expands according to one’s courage.”

Talk to the weightlifting coach, I’m sure there’s broomstick drills or mobility work or something you could be doing to get yourself ready for the time you can start lifting a barbell proper. As for everything else, well, what I’ve got that’s worth saying has already been said.

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I don’t need faith or stories. Just do what needs to be done through hard work.

What I understand of ethics is that religious ethics are/ were really intended to be unchanging. Most western faiths have ideas rooted in tabula rasa, but really science and reason are all we need for ethics these days. Historically people like Aquinas shaped Christian ethics via his interpretation of Aristotles works, which influenced the Church basically from the time of the printing press in Summa Theologica. So far every time I bring this up Christians are pretty dumbfounded.

We don’t know everything but we know enough about us being social animals, and what it takes to thrive as a human to be able to tell us what is right. Also, we know that what is right is dependent on context as well as environment.

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[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote] sen say wrote:

I have 3 sons and I believe everything will turn out alright for them. Why? It ain’t got nothing to do with the Christian God as portrayed in the Bible.

[/quote]

Err…so why then? Why would you believe that “everything will turn out alright for them?”[/quote]
Because they are HIS children. I completely agree with him I know my kids will have awesome lives because what I do affects the way there life goes.[/quote]

Dude what are you talking about? You have the power to prevent your kids getting cancer, getting hit by a car or any of the other things that can happen to anyone?

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Iv got more of a chance avoiding those things then “god” does

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[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:
Iv got more of a chance avoiding those things then “god” does[/quote]

Huh? I have no idea what you’re talking about.

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[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:
Iv got more of a chance avoiding those things then “god” does[/quote]

I’m not claiming that God or being faithful to God is going to prevent any of that happening. See book of Job. This is not about God or religion anyway. It’s a purely temporal matter.

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I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.

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The only things I have “faith” in are my intellect, my instinct and my ability to respond and adapt to whatever life throws at me. Those are the only things within my control. Everything else I have no control over. I can’t control the actions of others (I can INFLUENCE them, but not control them). I can’t control random events like natural disasters or surprise terrorist attacks (I can INCREASE my likelihood of survival by avoiding DC and filtering my water, etc…). I can follow current events and make data driven decisions about my environment. I can learn skills that are useful.

Ultimately, all I can do is follow my best understanding to mitigate the risks that I perceive in my environment and prepare my self to die if I fail to meet those challenges. I’ve led an interesting life and have had people try to kill me on multiple occasions. I’ve also had plenty of “close calls” with accidents, work related situations and random events. I’m still here. None of that has anything to do with “god” or “faith”. It has EVERYTHING to do with how I responded in the moment. My little brain seems to do well under pressure. It’s been tested many times. So I have “faith” in MYSELF. Everything else does not matter - I’ll either adapt to it or die trying. Personally, I’ll put my money on me adapting to it.

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[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

And rightly so. I don’t for a moment expect God to shield me from physical harm in this world.

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[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

And rightly so. I don’t for a moment expect God to shield me from physical harm in this world.[/quote]

Also Santa Claus isn’t real either

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[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

And rightly so. I don’t for a moment expect God to shield me from physical harm in this world.[/quote]

Also Santa Claus isn’t real either
[/quote]

And yet, you and sen say have both claimed that your kids are somehow magically protected whilst I acknowledge the cold, hard facts of life. People seem to think that religious people all live in a fantasy world. Some might but I certainly don’t.

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[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

Blaming the victim.

Drivers need to be taught to not hit kids crossing the street.

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[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

And rightly so. I don’t for a moment expect God to shield me from physical harm in this world.[/quote]

Also Santa Claus isn’t real either
[/quote]

And yet, you and sen say have both claimed that your kids are somehow magically protected whilst I acknowledge the cold, hard facts of life. People seem to think that religious people all live in a fantasy world. Some might but I certainly don’t.[/quote]
I don’t think for a minute anyone is saying that their kids are “magicly protected” but I’m saying don’t worry about some “god” that may or may not be real. Its YOUR life take charge, life is wayy to short to be praying to nothing put your faith in yourself be your own fucking god :wink:

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[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]kenny-mccormick wrote:

[quote]SexMachine wrote:

[quote]angry chicken wrote:
I’ll take teaching my kid to look both ways before he crosses the street over trusting in blind “faith” that “God will protect my kid” when he crosses the street any day of the week and twice on Sunday.[/quote]

And rightly so. I don’t for a moment expect God to shield me from physical harm in this world.[/quote]

Also Santa Claus isn’t real either
[/quote]

And yet, you and sen say have both claimed that your kids are somehow magically protected whilst I acknowledge the cold, hard facts of life. People seem to think that religious people all live in a fantasy world. Some might but I certainly don’t.[/quote]
I don’t think for a minute anyone is saying that their kids are “magicly protected” but I’m saying don’t worry about some “god” that may or may not be real. Its YOUR life take charge, life is wayy to short to be praying to nothing put your faith in yourself be your own fucking god ;)[/quote]

You’ve completely missed the entire point of prayer and religion.

38

[quote]bulkNcut wrote:
For those of you who are not religious, where do you find your faith?[/quote]

I spent damn well close to 30+ years a Militant Atheist much like some of the people posting in this thread. I KNEW I was smarter than anyone who believed in a God, I KNEW I was right, and I KNEW my abilities would get me through.

Then something happened along the way and I just sort of figured out I was full of shit. (I could outline what those things were, but that is a long post I’ll save unless someone wants to read it.) I realized I was no better than any decent person, and in some ways a lot worse. And finally I broke my conditioning of looking at people as groups and members of groups and started looking at them as individuals.

This sort of forced me to start respecting people based on their actions, not the actions of a group. This lead me to respecting a lot of religious people. And this lead me to opening my mind a little bit and listening.

While I’m certainly not “religious” as I understand the connotation of the word, I’ve certainly come to realize that I am in fact spiritual, and believe in some sort of Grand Architect.

But to answer your question, at the very core of it, religious or not, everyone has faith in something, everyday. Every time someone lets a dog lick their face they have faith the training and temperament of the dog hasn’t changed and the animal isn’t going to maul your face. The examples are endless. No matter how small or large, faith is a human affliction, one either embraced or compartmentalized.

Because I’m going to wake up tomorrow alive. And as long as one is alive, it could always be worse.

Because I live in one of the most powerful, prosperous and (compared to the world and human history) freest States the world has ever seen. My life could be a lot worse.

Because I’m generally healthy. This could be a lot worse.

Because sometimes… All it takes is an instant to change your entire world.

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Faith is what you have in things that don’t exist.

My awesomeness is real

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[quote]countingbeans wrote:

I spent damn well close to 30+ years a Militant Atheist much like some of the people posting in this thread. [/quote]

Hope I didn’t come across as a militant atheist…ai yi yi…why do I drink so fucking much and then come on here.