Why do so many people believe in God? (Serious Question?)

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go-B

climber
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Feb 28, 2011 - 09:36am PT
Credit: Daily Readings from the Life of CHRIST, vol.3-John MacArthur


John 6:37, All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will certainly not cast out.



Norton

Social climber
the Wastelands
Mar 2, 2011 - 09:30am PT


"If we want to postulate a deity capable of engineering all the organized complexity in the world, either instantaneously or by guiding evolution, that deity must already have been vastly complex in the first place. The creationist, whether a naive Bible-thumper or an educated bishop, simply postulates an already existing being of prodigious intelligence and complexity. If we are going to allow ourselves the luxurt of postulating organized complexity without offering an explanation, we might as well make a job of it and simply postulate the existence of life as we know it!"

Richard Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (New York: W.W. Norton, 1986), p. 316.
Norton

Social climber
the Wastelands
Mar 2, 2011 - 09:36am PT
And speaking of Men of God: Another one bites the dust.



Rev. Grant Storms, a renowned anti-gay Christian pastor from Louisiana, was arrested last week for masturbating at a public park, in the vicinity of a carousel and playground where children were present.

According to the New Orleans Times-Picayune, one woman saw Storms parked in his van "looking at the playground area that contained children playing, with his zipper down...," the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office report read. After judging that Storms was masturbating, the woman and another mother who witnessed the event both alerted deputies.

After being apprehended by authorities, Storms claimed that he had been urinating into a bottle. He was then booked for obscenity -- charges that he denied -- and then released due to overcrowding in the jail.

The reverend appeared less willing to discuss the matter at a press conference on Tuesday, during which he blamed "pornography" for the incident.

"Pornography is destructive and it can ruin a person's life, and it ruined my life," he said at the conference, admitting that he had his hands in his pants, but maintaining that he wasn't masturbating. "Do I have problems? Yes. Did I do something wrong? Yes."

Despite his apology, which he also extended to the gay community, to which he has been a prominent opponent, Grants also denied claims that he had been "looking at the children" in the area.
Tony Bird

climber
Northridge, CA
Mar 2, 2011 - 09:56am PT
The creationist, whether a naive Bible-thumper or an educated bishop, simply postulates an already existing being of prodigious intelligence and complexity.

this shows the lopsidedness of dawkins' education and the lack of imagination in his conception of god.

hey, those folks in new orleans got more apology and contrition outa rev. storms in one day than catholics have gotten out of all their priests and bishops in the last 50 years. he joins the rush limbaugh do-as-i-say-not-as-i-do dittohead club.
go-B

climber
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Mar 6, 2011 - 08:01am PT
Credit: Daily Readings from the Life of CHRIST, vol.3-John MacArthur



No one knows when it's your last shot, are you ready to meet your maker!
Jesus is the crash pad of God, the one you really need!
go-B

climber
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
Mar 7, 2011 - 08:13am PT
Credit: Daily Readings from the Life of CHRIST, vol.3-John MacArthur

Hope that God opens your eyes to the truth of Him!
go-B

climber
Sozo
Mar 8, 2011 - 08:18am PT
Credit: Daily Readings from the Life of CHRIST, vol.3-John MacArthur


Luke 23:43, And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise."

What a promise!
go-B

climber
Sozo
Mar 9, 2011 - 09:46am PT
Credit: Daily Readings from the Life of CHRIST, vol.3-John MacArthur


Matthew 9:12, But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
rrrADAM

Trad climber
LBMF
Mar 10, 2011 - 10:42am PT


This is your brain on God...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHh9ywmo5AE
Skeptimistic

Mountain climber
La Mancha
Mar 10, 2011 - 10:55am PT
That's so DARK-SIDED!!!

Here's her MySpace page. Definitely give the rap song a listen..

"I am extremely patient as true Christians are..."
rrrADAM

Trad climber
LBMF
Mar 10, 2011 - 11:03am PT
And, after making a big "show" for the cameras, and ripping up the check cause it was 'tainted', off screen she acceped the money, and got gastric bypass surgery.
Skeptimistic

Mountain climber
La Mancha
Mar 10, 2011 - 11:12am PT
And god rewarded her unwavering faith by killing her oldest daughter in a car crash.
FRUMY

Trad climber
SHERMAN OAKS,CA
Mar 10, 2011 - 11:23am PT
In Jeff's honor I'll answer is question.
Because they are dyslectic.
They should be looking for a good dog. In that you can have faith.
Even a bad dog is better than no dog.
High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
Mar 10, 2011 - 11:36am PT
Skeppy,

Mother Nature works in mysterious ways.
Skeptimistic

Mountain climber
La Mancha
Mar 10, 2011 - 01:07pm PT
^^^^^

aka: random events....
Brandon-

climber
Done With Tobacco
Mar 10, 2011 - 01:18pm PT
Dan Dennett at TED;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DTepA-WV_oE&feature=relmfu
rrrADAM

Trad climber
LBMF
Mar 10, 2011 - 01:51pm PT
And god rewarded her unwavering faith by killing her oldest daughter in a car crash.
Unfortunately, that is also the one that the God Warrior blamed much of her problems on in that video... Said she didn't pray enough.
rectorsquid

climber
Lake Tahoe
Mar 10, 2011 - 02:05pm PT
Said she didn't pray enough.

That always confuses me. Sometimes people say that God has a plan for everyone. If you can pray enough to make God change his plans, doesn't that mean that you are somehow changing Gods plan? If God is omnipotent then wouldn't the plan already be the best possible plan?

Do any of the believers have an explanation for that?

Can you pray enough to actually make your life better somehow or not?

How about praying for others? Can you make someone else's life better by praying?

And in the end, doesn't praying for someone life to be better constitute greed which is a sin? After all, averting Gods original plan so that you are happier that little Timmy got his heart transplant is just human greed.

Thanks for any insights about this.

Dave
High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
Mar 10, 2011 - 02:19pm PT
Do any of the believers have an explanation for that?

Or this one: Would it be okay to pray to God to blow the roof off your 25 year old trailer in the storm so your insurance buys a new one?

Would it be child abuse if Marguerite - the God Warrior - demanded her one remaining daughter to pray for this? and if the daughter didn't because she thought it was wrong would it be child abuse if the mother punished her?

And if so, how could the state step in? Because it would be freedom of religion. Hmmm....

Thanks for any insights about this.

....

Wes, haha.

My extended family was really into the Left Behind series. Proof right there that there is something in the world called "religious fiction."
High Fructose Corn Spirit

Gym climber
Full Silos of Iowa
Mar 10, 2011 - 02:27pm PT
Would it be okay to pray to God to blow the roof off your 25 year old trailer in the storm so your insurance buys a new one?

And if you removed just a few nails to aid your roof blowing off a few days later after praying for it... who really did it? Was it you, under your own "free will" entirely or (b) was it the Holy Ghost, influencing your will (if not "possessing" it entirely) helping you along?

Who's to say? Pat Robertson? Ted Haggert?

Thanks for any insights about this.


.....

EDIT

Or you could just sneer at them!

Who says there has to be just ONE strategy?

Religious superstition is a complex problem requiring many and various strategies. Kinda like climbing.

Don't get yourself locked into a one-strategy playbook. Not good.
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