Obviously god did it

[Asterisk07]

I hear stories of peoples personal experiences that make then believe there is obviously a god no matter what. I read on a forum about someone getting a small cut on there finger, giving 2.50 to a homeless person, then having the cut start to heal that night, now that person is confesed there is a god. There is a person at my school who is without a doubt the most rligious christian I have ever met, he says that the reason hes so religious is that during a christian camp he went to he was for some reason(he dident know why) was swmming far out into a lake with below zero temperatures, he says that hes body was going numb so he swimmed to the shallow end, he was suffering from frostbite or something because of it, he says that it HAD to have been god that saved him( saved meaning because his feet touched the shallow end of the lake) and no other reason...I should probly laugh at such stupid reasons to believe in something that makes no since..but now I just get REALLY REALLY pissed off! stressed Have any of you heard peoples stories of personal experiences of why they believe in god? What are your thoughts on this matter?  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Yeesh. Sounds like my mother. Since I was six (that's when she started going to church), she's had this idea that "God" did EVERYTHING that ever happened to anyone. Or so it seems, anyway.

When I was in fourth or fifth grade, my mom was the leader of my Girl Scout troop. We were at a camp doing a horse care workshop (yanno, learn how to ride them, brush them, care for their feet, etc), and it started to cloud over and thunder... we all started complaining that it was going to rain and my mother said, "God smiles on Girl Scouts" about a minute before the downpour started.

When I was in between sixth and seventh grade, I went off to performing arts camp, and I had been worried about getting my first sign of womanhood, if you get my drift, while I was away at camp. My mom assured me that "God won't do that to you," then promptly on day two of camp, I started my first and most painful period and was incapacitated for the majority of the week.

When my uncle died, my mother said that "God waited until he was ripe.... and then he picked him." Mind you, my uncle died because of a negligent doctor.

*headdesk*

Conversely, after doing all of these terrible things to her and her family, her "God" apparently is also the one who is responsible for helping her bank account by telling her what not to buy at the store (if something she needs is out of stock, that means "God is telling me not to buy it right now."), teaching her not to be prideful by causing her to lose the thousand dollar question on Who Wants to be a Millionaire (seriously, she believes that God made her answer that question wrong because she feels she was becoming "prideful" about being on television), and God is also the one who is responsible for the "promising" employees she's picked up over the past year or so (all of whom ended up being total flakes).  

[Asterisk07]

*shaking head left to right* that is just terrible...*huuh* Religion consuming peoples lives...you know everyone hates me at school now because David( the very religious guy I was talking about) who isabsolutaly adored by EVERYONE because everyone says how they wish they could be as religious as him, or how good of a christian he is, blah blah freaking blah, either way he is just an a** to me and whenever I say anything "disrespectful" or bad towards David everyone goes off on me...I hate him so much now stressed ...dang it I hate people that do drastic things for dumb a** reasons 3nodding  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Heh, wouldn't you know it... but my mom randomly went on a rant about that Millionaire thing today to one of her friends, and I had to sit there and listen to her without laughing or scoffing at her. She went into detail, so now I can recount it in all its headdesk worthy glory. It's a paraphrase, but it's generally pretty close to what she said.

Quote:

I know it was a lesson in humility. I almost never pray for myself. I pray for my husband, I pray for my father, I pray for my daughter, I pray for my friends... I prayed to get the audition, and I did. I prayed for God to get us safely to New York and back when I went for my audition, and he did. I prayed to pass the audition, and I did. I approached it with humility, but once I got to the studio I got cocky. I thought I was hot s**t, and God gave me a reminder to be humble. When I was in hair/makeup, one of the staff told me, "I sense a humble spirit in you," and I just nodded and soaked up all the attention. I was just so excited because I did so well in rehearsals, and I even got to practice reading from a teleprompter! I got the question wrong because I forgot to pray. There is no doubt in my mind that if I had remembered, God would have stopped me before I answered and told me to think it through. I didn't go there wanting to win a million dollars, I just wanted to win something to help us out financially, and I blew it because I forgot to pray. It was meant to be, and I screwed it up. Nobody will ever convince me that God was not giving me a lesson.

..... IMO, if her god did this to her - he's a belligerent meanie head. It cost her about a thousand dollars just to get up there and back, since she had to go up on two separate occasions and pay for room and board both times. She kisses God's metaphorical a** all the time, and I highly doubt that any god that did exist would punish her for having fun with this experience and "forgetting to pray." It was bad luck and she's determined to see it as divine intervention. With all the ridiculous amount of praying she did beforehand, she's making her god look pretty bad by suggesting that this one moment of perceived "pride" would piss him off enough to make him "teach her a lesson" in such a humiliating and financially costly way.

It was so hard to hold my tongue through that spiel of hers... she knows I think that her idea of "divine intervention" is a crock of bullshit... I just waited for her to finish and said that she just had a brain fart and if she ever gets another chance, she'll just think the question through more thoroughly before giving the first answer off the top of her head. I reminded her that it's easy to just call out the first thing that you think of when you're nervous and in front of a lot of people, but she insisted that her nerves didn't make her answer incorrectly. I won't push the issue, but I will continue being the voice of reason whenever she brings it up.

I firmly believe, due to personal experience, that prayer does jack s**t in the sense of getting a deity to do your bidding... but for those who really believe in it, prayer can help them to accomplish things through the power of positive thinking. She'd never admit this, but I really think that prayer serves no purpose for her other than to make her feel better and to help center her and aid her in focusing on tasks. It's possible that praying before going on stage would have helped her to take her time and answer more carefully, but not because "God" would be reminding her of anything... just because she would FEEL like he would and therefore she'd be more focused and attuned to the task at hand.  

[SkeletonPhoenix]

Asterisk07

I hear stories of peoples personal experiences that make then believe there is obviously a god no matter what. I read on a forum about someone getting a small cut on there finger, giving 2.50 to a homeless person, then having the cut start to heal that night, now that person is confesed there is a god. There is a person at my school who is without a doubt the most rligious christian I have ever met, he says that the reason hes so religious is that during a christian camp he went to he was for some reason(he dident know why) was swmming far out into a lake with below zero temperatures, he says that hes body was going numb so he swimmed to the shallow end, he was suffering from frostbite or something because of it, he says that it HAD to have been god that saved him( saved meaning because his feet touched the shallow end of the lake) and no other reason...I should probly laugh at such stupid reasons to believe in something that makes no since..but now I just get REALLY REALLY pissed off! stressed Have any of you heard peoples stories of personal experiences of why they believe in god? What are your thoughts on this matter?

Wow there has to be a god because that dumba$$ should have died. I mean it he should have drowned, not even because he's cristian but because he was swiming in freezing water.  

[Liquid Robot]

Firstly, your friend sounds just like some over-religious fanatics in my school too. The other day they tried showing me pictures e.g. of God's name written in the clouds or a baby born with something that looks like 'Allah' in Arabic in his ear - all from random Google searches. I told them they were being way too gullible, but I don't think they even knew the word xD They don't understand half of what I say.

And... He's probably not too clever. Why did he swim there in the first place and, furthermore, he swam, meaning that he swam to the shallow end... and, since God gave us free will, he probably wasn't controlling his body. Unless he felt like having a good laugh at someone's stupidity. I'd guess if God's really up there he has humour :]  

[Asterisk07]

mrgreen That made me feel better..if only ANY other people at my school would realize how rediculous they judge and act sad  

[-GS-Sailor Nemesis]

Not to be mean Daffodil, but.... your mother's an idiot.  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

I agree that my mom's an idiot about her religious beliefs. XD Menopause seems to have had a bad effect on her.  

[-GS-Sailor Nemesis]

Well at least you're not following her into mental oblivion.  

[Goddess of the Coulee]

I feel that it is slightly hypocritical to become angry towards the religious. They have a belief just as we do... I don't appreciate them acting as if i am inferior because of my belief and sure wouldn't appreciate one getting mad at me for my thoughts. So in return i am open-minded.

It is proven that people use a god or multiple gods to explain the unknown, they also use god to lessen depression, to have something to look forward to, to cope with a loved one's death, and many other reasons.

I went through a period of time in middle school where i believed i was christian. It helped with my depression. It helped me cope with many things honestly... Now that i realize what can only be truth i am nothing but miserable.

Ignorance is bliss right? I've lost my ignorance and in return my bliss.  

[Iconoclast Enthusiast]

Reminds me of my dad. Why did he become a Baha'i? Because he had a DREAM. A freaking DREAM! I have dreams all the time, what makes him think that anything in them means anything!? >_<

So yeah, people with baseless, silly reasons for their religiosity, it kinda pisses me the hell off. confused It just frustrates me that people can be so ridiculous.  

[Iconoclast Enthusiast]

Goddess of the Coulee

I went through a period of time in middle school where i believed i was christian. It helped with my depression. It helped me cope with many things honestly... Now that i realize what can only be truth i am nothing but miserable.

Ignorance is bliss right? I've lost my ignorance and in return my bliss.

Off-topic, but I'm curious: why did losing religion make you unhappy?  

[Daffodil the Destroyer]

Goddess of the Coulee

I feel that it is slightly hypocritical to become angry towards the religious. They have a belief just as we do... I don't appreciate them acting as if i am inferior because of my belief and sure wouldn't appreciate one getting mad at me for my thoughts. So in return i am open-minded.

It is proven that people use a god or multiple gods to explain the unknown, they also use god to lessen depression, to have something to look forward to, to cope with a loved one's death, and many other reasons.

I went through a period of time in middle school where i believed i was christian. It helped with my depression. It helped me cope with many things honestly... Now that i realize what can only be truth i am nothing but miserable.

Ignorance is bliss right? I've lost my ignorance and in return my bliss.

I think you're assuming that the majority of us are angry at Christians for having beliefs, and I think you'd be wrong if that were the case. I just think that many of their beliefs are extremely amusing. Also: atheism is not necessarily a belief; technically it describes a lack of belief.

Yes, religion is a crutch. So? I was a devout Christian in high school, on the fast track to becoming an incurable bigot. My beliefs helped me cope with my depression as well, as I was not allowed to go to therapy (though that's a bit off topic, so I won't share unless someone asks). It became an unhealthy addiction and a dangerous obsession. I, for one, am much happier now that I don't feel the need to subscribe to someone else's rules and beliefs.

And not to sound rude or overstep any bounds here, but... if you've "lost your happiness" or whatever, just because you've realized that the crutch of religion doesn't work for you anymore... then that's probably something that you should be dealing with in a more healthy manner in the first place. If you've got depression, religion shouldn't be your cure - therapy should. It is a long-term fix that is far healthier than filling your mind with things you have to force yourself to believe in.

 

[Sex! at the Disco]

My mother is exactly the same way, only she has the whole black-church-going-lady-LAWDY-hallelujah complex that completely excludes reason and respect for other opinions. Every time I get into the car she tells me about how "the spirit", i.e., common sense, tells her to do something, and when she doesn't do it she gets punished.


Example--My driving Test.
My mother goes out to the car and gets her insurance card. When she comes back, the guy ask fro he registration too.

"OH LORD I KNEW I SHOULD HAVE LISTENED TO THE SPIRIT! YOU TOLD ME TO GET IT AND I DIDN'T! ALRIGHT GOD I'LL GET THE HANG OF IT ONE DAY! LORD YOU TOLD ME...*fades into distance*"