What makes you think God cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think the football player means in their analysis of God is that they are letting God lead their lives in that moment. They are believing in themselves and using word of God that they are special in god's eyes and can do good and don't need to fear. Not that God is directing the football or their arm physically.

When destruction and abuse hits I think most people, well most normal people, attribute that to Satan's influence in the world. People channeling satan for actions or just the world being fallen and a place of suffering.

God, I hope not -- It sounds pretty abnormal to me.

its not. It's just the bad part of human nature and the idea that our world is an ever changing planet. Not something reliable. So either trauma in the world is attributed to nature or to abuse by humans. What is so abnormal about that?

By this line of thinking, then we should also attribute blessings to human nature and the world. You can’t have it both ways…

Only people who believe in God, believe in blessings. To others, it's simply good luck or the result of hard work, or good thinking.

[Anonymous]

Human nature is a mix of good and bad. Same for the world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think the football player means in their analysis of God is that they are letting God lead their lives in that moment. They are believing in themselves and using word of God that they are special in god's eyes and can do good and don't need to fear. Not that God is directing the football or their arm physically.

When destruction and abuse hits I think most people, well most normal people, attribute that to Satan's influence in the world. People channeling satan for actions or just the world being fallen and a place of suffering.

God, I hope not -- It sounds pretty abnormal to me.

its not. It's just the bad part of human nature and the idea that our world is an ever changing planet. Not something reliable. So either trauma in the world is attributed to nature or to abuse by humans. What is so abnormal about that?

By this line of thinking, then we should also attribute blessings to human nature and the world. You can’t have it both ways…

Only people who believe in God, believe in blessings. To others, it's simply good luck or the result of hard work, or good thinking.

Many people who believe in god think hard work and good thinking is doing god’s work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think the football player means in their analysis of God is that they are letting God lead their lives in that moment. They are believing in themselves and using word of God that they are special in god's eyes and can do good and don't need to fear. Not that God is directing the football or their arm physically.

When destruction and abuse hits I think most people, well most normal people, attribute that to Satan's influence in the world. People channeling satan for actions or just the world being fallen and a place of suffering.

God, I hope not -- It sounds pretty abnormal to me.

its not. It's just the bad part of human nature and the idea that our world is an ever changing planet. Not something reliable. So either trauma in the world is attributed to nature or to abuse by humans. What is so abnormal about that?

By this line of thinking, then we should also attribute blessings to human nature and the world. You can’t have it both ways…

Only people who believe in God, believe in blessings. To others, it's simply good luck or the result of hard work, or good thinking.

Many people who believe in god think hard work and good thinking is doing god’s work.

While people who don't believe in God think hard work and good thinking make sense. So believers and non-believers are acting responsibly with different motivators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think the football player means in their analysis of God is that they are letting God lead their lives in that moment. They are believing in themselves and using word of God that they are special in god's eyes and can do good and don't need to fear. Not that God is directing the football or their arm physically.

When destruction and abuse hits I think most people, well most normal people, attribute that to Satan's influence in the world. People channeling satan for actions or just the world being fallen and a place of suffering.

God, I hope not -- It sounds pretty abnormal to me.

its not. It's just the bad part of human nature and the idea that our world is an ever changing planet. Not something reliable. So either trauma in the world is attributed to nature or to abuse by humans. What is so abnormal about that?

By this line of thinking, then we should also attribute blessings to human nature and the world. You can’t have it both ways…

Only people who believe in God, believe in blessings. To others, it's simply good luck or the result of hard work, or good thinking.

Many people who believe in god think hard work and good thinking is doing god’s work.

While people who don't believe in God think hard work and good thinking make sense. So believers and non-believers are acting responsibly with different motivators.

People who aim up and hope to do good in the world and not overpower or weaken themselves yes do so with different motivators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I think the football player means in their analysis of God is that they are letting God lead their lives in that moment. They are believing in themselves and using word of God that they are special in god's eyes and can do good and don't need to fear. Not that God is directing the football or their arm physically.

When destruction and abuse hits I think most people, well most normal people, attribute that to Satan's influence in the world. People channeling satan for actions or just the world being fallen and a place of suffering.

God, I hope not -- It sounds pretty abnormal to me.

its not. It's just the bad part of human nature and the idea that our world is an ever changing planet. Not something reliable. So either trauma in the world is attributed to nature or to abuse by humans. What is so abnormal about that?

It's abnormal to attribute destruction and abuse to the influence of an unprovable, evil supernatural influence -- this applies to certain religious people only and is not simply the bad part of human nature.

[Anonymous]

What do you think is normal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is normal?

DP - that's a big question - "normal" varies a lot. I would say pp's use of "abnormal" was a bit confusing, or perhaps too general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is normal?

DP - that's a big question - "normal" varies a lot. I would say pp's use of "abnormal" was a bit confusing, or perhaps too general.

This quote makes a statement but gives no evidence to back it up.
"It's abnormal to attribute destruction and abuse to the influence of an unprovable, evil supernatural influence"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is normal?

DP - that's a big question - "normal" varies a lot. I would say pp's use of "abnormal" was a bit confusing, or perhaps too general.

This quote makes a statement but gives no evidence to back it up.
"It's abnormal to attribute destruction and abuse to the influence of an unprovable, evil supernatural influence"

sounds to me like the expression of an opinion, which needs no evidence to back it up. for instance, "It's abnormal to eat 6 candy bars in a day" or "I love DCUM."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is normal?

DP - that's a big question - "normal" varies a lot. I would say pp's use of "abnormal" was a bit confusing, or perhaps too general.

This quote makes a statement but gives no evidence to back it up.
"It's abnormal to attribute destruction and abuse to the influence of an unprovable, evil supernatural influence"

sounds to me like the expression of an opinion, which needs no evidence to back it up. for instance, "It's abnormal to eat 6 candy bars in a day" or "I love DCUM."

Well many people eat six candy bars in a day at Halloween and many others blame God or Satan on good and evil or blame the world's chaos which seems to be left off in the rebuttal but was in the original opinion statement, so I'd say many disagree with you and would need further evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is normal?

DP - that's a big question - "normal" varies a lot. I would say pp's use of "abnormal" was a bit confusing, or perhaps too general.

This quote makes a statement but gives no evidence to back it up.
"It's abnormal to attribute destruction and abuse to the influence of an unprovable, evil supernatural influence"

sounds to me like the expression of an opinion, which needs no evidence to back it up. for instance, "It's abnormal to eat 6 candy bars in a day" or "I love DCUM."

Well many people eat six candy bars in a day at Halloween and many others blame God or Satan on good and evil or blame the world's chaos which seems to be left off in the rebuttal but was in the original opinion statement, so I'd say many disagree with you and would need further evidence.

perhaps you missed the point. Opinions don't require evidence.

[Anonymous]

So someone thinks a statement is abnormal and holds this opinion? It's one opinion then and the rest of us who don't think the same way can ignore since they've brought no evidence forth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So someone thinks a statement is abnormal and holds this opinion? It's one opinion then and the rest of us who don't think the same way can ignore since they've brought no evidence forth.

You can ignore a post on a message board with or without evidence. Participation here is voluntary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It becomes a little easier to understand if you accept that you agreed to this life before you incarnated. You knew the things that you needed to work on. You knew the lives you were meant to touch. You knew the healing that you needed to do. Of course, you always have free will. And you probably have no memory of your soul contract. But, you did choose this.

I had cancer. It sucked. But, it changed me. It made me a more compassionate person. It made me appreciate every moment more. When my best friend died, I had another shift. I was really angry at God/Goddess, Source, Spirit, …whatever name you choose. As I began to process her death, I began to accept that dying isn’t the worst thing that can happen. Her death led me to Hospice Chaplaincy. I’m a better minister because I’ve experienced loss and suffering.

We are only on this earth planet for a minuscule amount of time during each lifetime. Our purpose is to learn to be more loving, more compassionate, more like the Source from which we come.

Just my thoughts.

Ignoring the evangelical vs atheist debate in the thread for a moment, I think this is beautiful PP. I think of God as universal, source, creation. I see God in dew drops on leaves and in sunsets and in the way the wind brushes my cheeks. God, for me, isn’t a person with marionette strings, causing a war in one country while across the ocean free people spend hundreds at Target and then go home to warm cozy beds. That’s the unfair circumstances of where we live and were born, and the choices of people around us. God is the love from which everything was created. We were created to love, but often fail at doing so. That’s not God’s fault. We have free will.

You don’t have to believe in God, and it very isn’t a requirement to lead a life of meaning or love. But I find life so much richer because I do.