Am I losing my faith or just becoming more realistic?

[Meriweather]

I don't do forgiveness. I do revenge. It's a lot more satisfying.

To each his own. If you ever should desire something beyond satisfying, I highly recommend heart-felt forgiveness.

 

[JoeB131]

"Guy", senior citizens from nursing homes are given thirty minutes of resuscitation at a hospital and are only declared "deceased" by a doctor.

due they have huge holes in them?

My sister just passed away in a Hospice last year... nope, they don't make those kinds of efforts.

They are not pronounced "deceased" by those that lack the expertise to do so unless they have been decapitated nor do they deny EMTs access to said victims.......capiche', Joe Blowhard?

Again, a child with multiple 5.56 MM round blasted into him... they aren't going to pretend that kid needed resusciation...

Usually, the cops find a corpse, they don't call in the EMT's.

Now go sell crazy somewhere else.

 

[JoeB131]

A more in depth study of Pope Pius XII might have you reconsidering that label, but let's give it a pass. It is interesting that your idea of heaven is that it is a physical place. Recall what I said before about the habit of creating something in your own mind and evidently believing it is true for others. You reject your creation, and so do I.

I have studied Hitler's Pope quite a bit. The horrifying thing is, the Church is trying to make this guy a saint. Not to mention Emperor Karl, another blood-soaked tyrannt.

Totally handing around that place that isn't a place with all your lost childhood dogs.

Think of Elijah. When God didn't appear in a mighty volcano, Elijah did not walk off in a huff. He waited. Also, it appears you set a test for God. In your eyes God failed, and it appears you believe shunning Him is the proper payback.

NO, it's a proper perspective. God doesn't exist. Never did. He's a fairy story. I'm embarrassed I believed in that shit for as long as I did.

One of the hardest points to learn and accept about God, is that He is not our Genii of the physical world. With reaching out for knowledge of good and evil, Adam and Eve also gained the knowledge of death--and not just their own deaths. Their first experience with death is when Abel was killed. Losing a child is far worse than losing a parent--and you know first hand how bad and how hard it is to lose a parent.

I doubt Adam and Eve gave a shit. Nothing in the story indicated they did.

Are you trying to say we all descended from one couple... we'd be kind of inbred by now if we did.

MAGA!!!!

 

[Meriweather]

God doesn't exist. Never did.

I agree your version of God doesn't exist and never did.

 

[JoeB131]

God doesn't exist. Never did.

I agree your version of God doesn't exist and never did.

The fact that there's "your version" and "my version" tells me that Man created God, not the other way around.

Funny thing, why is Jehovah "real" and Amaterasu is fake?

 

[Meriweather]

The fact that there's "your version" and "my version" tells me that Man created God, not the other way around.

The difference lies in what happens when people create God and when people seek God. Abraham figured that out thousands of years ago. The God you created cures everyone with cancer. The God you created doesn't allow priests and nuns to be mean and say the wrong things to children. Notice that the God you created has everyone else doing bad things to everyone else and apparently has never blessed you in any way. Your mind has created the ideal God, one quite like a Genii, that you can control with prayer. i.e., Joe knows best and God better hop to.

Meanwhile, those who seek, find. Those who knock find The Way open to them. You do not seek to find The Way; you work to create your own way. In Joe and in Joe's way you trust. You fight against anyone and any faith that points to a different way. The Way points to a narrow path that carries one over floods and through burning cities, through loss of life and rejection. However, you do not see the path. All you see is the flood, the burning city, the loss of life and rejection. Life on this earth is not easy, Joe. The Way is narrow and few find it. It is the road less traveled...The Way that makes all the difference.

 

[ding]

I believe a lot of people get prayer wrong. This is especially true for those who see God as their servant.

One of the purposes of prayer is to alter the fabric of our identity.

In this regard, the structure of prayer is important. Giving thanks and giving praise puts us in a thankful state of mind which has been scientifically proven to be one of the key behaviors of reaching a state of happiness. When we are happy two things will happen; dopamine will be released which gives us that happy feeling and all of the learning centers of the brain get turned on.

Lastly and probably most importantly, prayer should not be about what God can do for us. Prayer should be about us asking God what He wants us to do.

Structure of Prayer:
1. Give thanks.
2. Give praise.
3. Ask God what He wants us to do.
4. Listen.

It can be done anytime, but I believe we are most receptive to hearing the Spirit in the early morning when we are less full of ourselves.

 

[Dale Smith]

"Guy", senior citizens from nursing homes are given thirty minutes of resuscitation at a hospital and are only declared "deceased" by a doctor.

due they have huge holes in them?

My sister just passed away in a Hospice last year... nope, they don't make those kinds of efforts.

They are not pronounced "deceased" by those that lack the expertise to do so unless they have been decapitated nor do they deny EMTs access to said victims.......capiche', Joe Blowhard?

Again, a child with multiple 5.56 MM round blasted into him... they aren't going to pretend that kid needed resusciation...

Usually, the cops find a corpse, they don't call in the EMT's.

Now go sell crazy somewhere else.

No one knows what size of the holes these alleged victims had because no one was allowed to review them, No EMTs were allowed into the shool room and this took all of 15 minutes allegedly and yet not a single fatality was removed from the scene for nearly twenty hours? Morons like yourself have no questions. You don't know why even after this event that two teachers that barricaded themselves were not found by these weekend Rambos that went through the entire school....and the janitor wasn't suspect? WTF? You can hear his voice on the 911 calls claiming the "shooter" was down the hall.....in a mass shooting event, any and everyone on the crime scene is a potential suspect. 150 plus shots fired by someone with Asperger's syndrome in 15 minutes while admins whisper into a telephone that shots are being fired but yet you can't hear a single shot. Children around the age of six said they heard a boom....no fifth graders are interviewed claiming that they hear a volley of gunfire and and that it freaked them out......no footage of 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th graders being whisked away to safety....you are stupid, Joseph.....you revel in it and because you can't explain? You lamely deflect, duck and dodge......and stupidly claim that anyone that questions the official story is "sick"?

Go fuck yourself, dipshit....stick to doctoring resumes for those with even lamer writing skills than you have.

 

[SweetSue92]

One of my main problems with God is that he did not answer my prayers and many things have gone wrong for me.

Seeking answers, I read a book called "Where the hell is God?" written by a Jesuit priest.

He explained that he and his family had a faith crisis when his sister had an auto accident and became quadriplegic.

His answer to the question "Where the hell is God?" is that God, in his view, doesn't CAUSE these bad things to happen, so there appears to be no point in praying to God to fix the bad things that happen.

His example is the long drought in Australia, which people have been praying to end, but the drought just goes on and on.

I guess the problem with this priest's resolution is that it has weakened my faith to believe that God isn't the CAUSE of bad things that happen, because if he ISN'T, then there is something more powerful than God in the universe, another God, or an impersonal force that controls random chance.

And now I find myself thinking: What's the point of a God who is a passive bystander to the events in the universe? Why pray to him for anything?

Christ teaches we SHOULD PRAY and if we knock on the door, the door will open to us.

So really, this Jesuit priest is saying something that is inconsistent with the teachings of Christ.

But my experience with prayer is that some of my prayers have NOT been answered, and I've been praying for many years.

Atheists, please keep your stupid comments out of this thread, I'm seeking answers from fellow believers.

Blackrook I wasn't on this board for many weeks and missed this. Where are you on this now, without me having to read 31 pages of this if you don't mind? Still about the same place?

 

[JoeB131]

The difference lies in what happens when people create God and when people seek God. Abraham figured that out thousands of years ago. The God you created cures everyone with cancer. The God you created doesn't allow priests and nuns to be mean and say the wrong things to children. Notice that the God you created has everyone else doing bad things to everyone else and apparently has never blessed you in any way. Your mind has created the ideal God, one quite like a Genii, that you can control with prayer. i.e., Joe knows best and God better hop to.

Naw, you miss my point entirely. There is no God. There never was a God. The only reason why nuns and priests did mean things was because the LIE allowed them to. Otherwise, we'd have taken those fuckers out and lynched them the minute they were caught diddling a kid. The LIE allowed them to get away with starting crusades, burning witches, torturing heretics and free-thinkers because the rest of us acceded power to them without any real proof.

So this is the dream I have. In order to have a church, we give you a "Truth Test". We take the leader of your Church, and throw his ass off the top of the Sears Tower. If God catches him on the way down, he's got a real religion.

Meanwhile, those who seek, find. Those who knock find The Way open to them. You do not seek to find The Way; you work to create your own way. In Joe and in Joe's way you trust. You fight against anyone and any faith that points to a different way. The Way points to a narrow path that carries one over floods and through burning cities, through loss of life and rejection. However, you do not see the path. All you see is the flood, the burning city, the loss of life and rejection. Life on this earth is not easy, Joe. The Way is narrow and few find it. It is the road less traveled...The Way that makes all the difference.

Oh, go fuck yourself. What makes life harder is all you religious assholes doing the bidding of the one percent because God says to. They make up stories about burning cities and floods (never happened) to scare people into compliance. The thing was when we learned how to control fires and floods and locust and plagues, they needed a new scare tactic. I know, let's threaten everyone with an afterlife of eternal pain if they don't comply.

 

[JoeB131]

No one knows what size of the holes these alleged victims had because no one was allowed to review them, No EMTs were allowed into the shool room and this took all of 15 minutes allegedly and yet not a single fatality was removed from the scene for nearly twenty hours?

Shool room? Um, yeah, you don't remove bodies from a crime scene right away, particularly if you really don't have all that many murders a year and don't have the forensic teams to document it.

Point was, you weren't there. People who were there described it all in vivid detail.

Halbig, Jones, Fenster and the other lying sacks of shit who've been spreading these lies are now having to pay out a shitload of money for doing so.

 

[ding]

The difference lies in what happens when people create God and when people seek God. Abraham figured that out thousands of years ago. The God you created cures everyone with cancer. The God you created doesn't allow priests and nuns to be mean and say the wrong things to children. Notice that the God you created has everyone else doing bad things to everyone else and apparently has never blessed you in any way. Your mind has created the ideal God, one quite like a Genii, that you can control with prayer. i.e., Joe knows best and God better hop to.

Naw, you miss my point entirely. There is no God. There never was a God. The only reason why nuns and priests did mean things was because the LIE allowed them to. Otherwise, we'd have taken those fuckers out and lynched them the minute they were caught diddling a kid. The LIE allowed them to get away with starting crusades, burning witches, torturing heretics and free-thinkers because the rest of us acceded power to them without any real proof.

So this is the dream I have. In order to have a church, we give you a "Truth Test". We take the leader of your Church, and throw his ass off the top of the Sears Tower. If God catches him on the way down, he's got a real religion.

Meanwhile, those who seek, find. Those who knock find The Way open to them. You do not seek to find The Way; you work to create your own way. In Joe and in Joe's way you trust. You fight against anyone and any faith that points to a different way. The Way points to a narrow path that carries one over floods and through burning cities, through loss of life and rejection. However, you do not see the path. All you see is the flood, the burning city, the loss of life and rejection. Life on this earth is not easy, Joe. The Way is narrow and few find it. It is the road less traveled...The Way that makes all the difference.

Oh, go fuck yourself. What makes life harder is all you religious assholes doing the bidding of the one percent because God says to. They make up stories about burning cities and floods (never happened) to scare people into compliance. The thing was when we learned how to control fires and floods and locust and plagues, they needed a new scare tactic. I know, let's threaten everyone with an afterlife of eternal pain if they don't comply.

You are not a happy person.

The best you can ever hope for is to suffer without complaint.

 

[JoeB131]

Will someone tell Bing I have him on ignore now because he was never adding anything to the conversation?

Thanks.

 

[ding]

Will someone tell Bing I have him on ignore now because he was never adding anything to the conversation?

Thanks.

Yes, Joe, I know you have me on ignore but I don’t have you on ignore. I have you on destroy. And that’s exactly what I plan to do every time I see a post of yours like your last one to meriweather Get used to it.

 

[JoeB131]

Sad people looking for attention...

 

[ding]

Sad people looking for attention...

That definitely describes people who attack the faith of others.

 

[Meriweather]

Naw, you miss my point entirely. There is no God. There never was a God.

Hear me. God is. In other words, I am a witness to God's being. I understand very well you have lost all belief you may have had once.

Jesus spoke of two types of people. There are the wise and intelligent ones who see how to take anything on this earth and turn it to their own advantage. Then there are the innocent and simple--infants really to the ways of the world--who are given understanding of God and salvation. He also referred to these two groups as tares (weeds) and wheat. The all grow so closely together they cannot be separated until harvest.

There are tares in the Church, there is wheat in the Church. In Jesus' own group there was a tare, but there was also wheat. Remember the prisoners looking through the bars--some see the dirt, some see the stars.

We take the leader of your Church, and throw his ass off the top of the Sears Tower. If God catches him on the way down, he's got a real religion.

Once again, the Commandments advise us against putting God to the test. This is a waste of time and doesn't get us any closer in seeking and finding God. Why do you wish to observe God and someone else? Each person has the opportunity to observe God and him/herself. Seek (in little things) and find.

One more thing. I do not mind discussing such things with you. Perhaps I have unwittingly said something to annoy or anger you, but that has not been my intention. Whatever the case, the next time you hurl something insulting at me, my part in this conversation is over.

 

[Meriweather]

Blackrook I wasn't on this board for many weeks and missed this. Where are you on this now, without me having to read 31 pages of this if you don't mind? Still about the same place?

Sue, I doubt that Blackrook is keeping up with this thread since it has gone decidedly off topic, but take a look at a thread that is currently on Page 2:

I finally found my answer and I found it here...

Thank you.

I have spent my life imitating the thief on the left side of Jesus, condemning him for not saving me from my suffering.

Now, thanks to the good people of USMB, I realize I must imitate the thief on the right side of Jesus, realize that whatever suffering I experience, it is probably less than I deserve, and ask Jesus every day to remember me when he enters into his Kingdom.

I am hoping this is the beginning of a new life for me.

 

[JoeB131]

I understand very well you have lost all belief you may have had once.

No, I got rid of beliefs in things that the evidence doesn't support.

For instance, I once believed in Santa Claus. Then I caught my parents putting the presents under the tree.

Once again, the Commandments advise us against putting God to the test.

Of course it does. Because then you'd realize that amputees never grow their limbs back no matter how hard they pray.

Perhaps I have unwittingly said something to annoy or anger you, but that has not been my intention. Whatever the case, the next time you hurl something insulting at me, my part in this conversation is over.

The only thing that offends me is your ignorance.

 

[Meriweather]

No, I got rid of beliefs in things that the evidence doesn't support.

For instance, I once believed in Santa Claus. Then I caught my parents putting the presents under the tree.

Two things here. When my topic is science, I look for physical evidence, because that is what science is. When my topic is philosophy or religion, physical evidence is of no use. I don't use my sewing machine to cook carrots, and I don't use my crock pot to hem a dress. In the same way, I don't seek physical evidence in spiritual matters, nor do I seek the spiritual in rocks and carvings.

Second: It is very odd how people take the news of Santa Claus. An uncle was so disgusted he swore he would never lie to his children about it. Meanwhile, I loved the idea of grown-ups having so much imagination they could all--as a group--delight children all around the world. Grown-ups could still play, and maybe being a grown-up wouldn't be all that bad after all.