Distraction is the biggest enemy God faces today

[Mudda]

So why doesn't god come and find me?

He's right in front of you, and in you, and all around you.

So then why is it "difficult to find god"?

Some people find it difficult, while other people do not.

I'm in between, because while I have faith in God, I am angry at him for all the bad things that have happened in my life. I am also distrustful of the Catholic Church, because of the sex scandal, and this also is testing my faith.

So why would god make it difficult to find him and also do bad stuff to people, like give them cancer or make them deformed?

Job asked that question, and God's response was, "Were you there when I laid down the four corners of the Earth?"

In other words, we are completely incapable of understanding the answer to the question.

C'mon, seriously, god has never said anything at all, that's a made up story written by a human.

 

[Blackrook]

God is everywhere. All we have to do to meet him is open our hearts.

But hearts are hardened in this modern world of ours.

Life is cheapened by the easy availability of abortion, and the influence of that attitude has spread into every aspect of our lives. We literally no longer see our neighbors as children of God anymore, but as meat packages with no inherent value. Our indifference to suffering of others is a symptom of this.

My heart is open, yet I've never seen God. And don't tell me something stupid like I'm not looking hard enough. I'm looking plenty hard.

I can't help you with this because I have always been a believer, I was raised to be a Catholic and I've always believed in God, and really I've taken that for granted.

While I am angry with God and angry at the Catholic Church, I never doubted that God was real or the Catholic Church is God's true Church.

I think my faith in God was bolstered by my investigation of miracles that have happened over the last 2000 years. The one that stands out the most is the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. There were 70,000 witnesses, and many of them were Freemasons and atheists, hostile to the Catholic faith, and yet they saw the miracle.

This miracle came at a critical junction, for it was at the cusp of the 20th century, a modern century full of horrors carried out with modern technology. Millions upon millions of people died violently in the 20th century, through war and genocide, and Fatima was like a beacon to Catholics that yes, God is still with us despite all that.

So god has only ever shown himself through some weird optical illusion? And that's why you believe? Brah, that's pretty flimsy to base your core beliefs on. Seriously, you have to have more than that.

Well, there's the Bible.

And there's the fact that Jews still exist, which is proof that the Old Testament came from SOMEONE.

And there's the existence of the Roman Catholic Church, which is the oldest institution with a centralized authority and cohesive structure that has lasted some 2000 years. It is very difficult to explain how any organization of fallible human beings could have kept together that long without some sort of divine intervention to keep it together. There's been plenty of off-shoots and breakaways from the Roman Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic Church remains.

 

[Compost]

Our modern world is full of so many distractions that it is difficult to find God.

We have all this technology to fill our hours, we no longer have time for the bigger issues.

God reaches us in the quiet places, but quiet has been abolished in this modern world.

Quiet has not been abolished. Distraction is not God's enemy. People choose distraction and noise over God. There have always been distractions that keep people from seeking God. Blaming "our modern world" for failing to seek Him is just making excuses for leaving God out of your life.

No, it's not an excuse. People used to be much more religious than they are today. During the Middle Ages, people marked the days with celebrations of the saints. People went on pilgrimages to holy sites. People prayed the rosary, and they prayed at meals, and they prayed when they got up in the morning, and they prayed when they went to bed. That kind of faith and devotion is much less common than it used to be. What's ironic is, people loved God and thanked him, when they had a lot less to thank him for.

People still do those things. For crying out loud, I get Saint of the Day emails. There are apps that feature Holy reminders. There is a TV station that airs people praying the Rosary two or three times a day. Technology is another tool for the faithful. Those who wish to be thankful, act out their faith, regardless of how uncommon it may appear to you.

I know about these things, because my father, my stepmother, and my sister are very devout Catholics, and they listen to Catholic radio, and they say the rosary, and they read the Bible.

But you can't deny that faith is much weaker in our modern era than it was even 100 years ago. The atheists think this will be some kind of victory for them if this happens, and people lose faith in God. But I think that instead of a new era of rationality, the fall of Christianity will mean a descent into paganism, belief in magic, and superstition. The common man is simply incapable of dealing with a world without some resort to the supernatural, and if Christianity is no longer believed, people will return to older ways.

Interesting. Sounds like you figure if there are not enough people believing in God, then there'll be an increase in belief in gods. You may be on to something. If the Global Warming cult has it's way, we'll return to caves. Man will be so busy foraging for food and trying not to be eaten by wild animals he won't take time to thank God, but he'll make burnt sacrifices to the great god carbon dioxide.

 

[Mudda]

God is everywhere. All we have to do to meet him is open our hearts.

But hearts are hardened in this modern world of ours.

Life is cheapened by the easy availability of abortion, and the influence of that attitude has spread into every aspect of our lives. We literally no longer see our neighbors as children of God anymore, but as meat packages with no inherent value. Our indifference to suffering of others is a symptom of this.

My heart is open, yet I've never seen God. And don't tell me something stupid like I'm not looking hard enough. I'm looking plenty hard.

I can't help you with this because I have always been a believer, I was raised to be a Catholic and I've always believed in God, and really I've taken that for granted.

While I am angry with God and angry at the Catholic Church, I never doubted that God was real or the Catholic Church is God's true Church.

I think my faith in God was bolstered by my investigation of miracles that have happened over the last 2000 years. The one that stands out the most is the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima. There were 70,000 witnesses, and many of them were Freemasons and atheists, hostile to the Catholic faith, and yet they saw the miracle.

This miracle came at a critical junction, for it was at the cusp of the 20th century, a modern century full of horrors carried out with modern technology. Millions upon millions of people died violently in the 20th century, through war and genocide, and Fatima was like a beacon to Catholics that yes, God is still with us despite all that.

So god has only ever shown himself through some weird optical illusion? And that's why you believe? Brah, that's pretty flimsy to base your core beliefs on. Seriously, you have to have more than that.

Well, there's the Bible.

And there's the fact that Jews still exist, which is proof that the Old Testament came from SOMEONE.

And there's the existence of the Roman Catholic Church, which is the oldest institution with a centralized authority and cohesive structure that has lasted some 2000 years. It is very difficult to explain how any organization of fallible human beings could have kept together that long without some sort of divine intervention to keep it together. There's been plenty of off-shoots and breakaways from the Roman Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic Church remains.

The bible was written a minimum of several generations after the facts, making it hearsay mixed with myths.

As for the Catholic church still existing makes it proof of god is complete nonsense, I'm sure that even you can see that. Same for the Jews existing being proof of god.

Got any real proof of god?

 

[RWS]

I pooped a kernel of corn, that I haven't eaten in 2 years.

Therefore it was put there by God.

 

[Bruce_T_Laney]

The biggest? lol

Reasoning and the ability to think about the evidence at hand is the biggest enemy of mindless religion.

I am reasoning and thinking right now. Do you consider me mindless, because I also have faith?

I believe you are a sheep that has strayed from the flock and look to excuse your lack of faith by blaming technology.

No one is forcing you to spend time in the internet or watching TV, and it is your choice how much time you want to devote yourself to your religion and the works of thy Father.

Free will was given so either use it wisely or do not but stop passing the buck for your straying from your Sheppard.

 

[guno]

Our modern world is full of so many distractions that it is difficult to find God.

We have all this technology to fill our hours, we no longer have time for the bigger issues.

God reaches us in the quiet places, but quiet has been abolished in this modern world.

Quiet has not been abolished. Distraction is not God's enemy. People choose distraction and noise over God. There have always been distractions that keep people from seeking God. Blaming "our modern world" for failing to seek Him is just making excuses for leaving God out of your life.

No, it's not an excuse. People used to be much more religious than they are today. During the Middle Ages, people marked the days with celebrations of the saints. People went on pilgrimages to holy sites. People prayed the rosary, and they prayed at meals, and they prayed when they got up in the morning, and they prayed when they went to bed. That kind of faith and devotion is much less common than it used to be. What's ironic is, people loved God and thanked him, when they had a lot less to thank him for.

People still do those things. For crying out loud, I get Saint of the Day emails. There are apps that feature Holy reminders. There is a TV station that airs praying the Rosary two or three times a day. Technology is another tool for the faithful. Those who choose to make the effort to be thankful act out their faith, regardless of how uncommon it may appear to you.

And were do the statues fit into all of this?

 

[guno]

The Genesis story makes it clear that humans are the stewards of God's creation, and animals are put here for our use, as food, clothing, etc.

Right... it's like going to the KKK on genetics.

You BELIEVE what you believe. I don't believe. I don't just accept what someone else has told me. I don't believe that just because some one wrote it down and claim it's from God, that it's from God.

I have asked, multiple times on this forum, about how if God has to exist because the universe is so complex it MUST HAVE BEEN created by an intelligent being, then God must be so complex that God must have been created by an intelligent being, which would also be so intelligent it must have been created by an intelligent being and so on and on and on.

And not one single person who BELIEVES in God has been able to answer this. And it's pretty obvious why. Because there being a God is just not true.

God was not created, he is.

He is the necessary being.

"I am who am."

Well, two problems.

The first is that different religious people will tell you different things. So, a lot of people say God created the world. I mean, it's in the Bible right? And they also say God must have created the world (because they feel they need to justify their thoughts) because it says so in the Bible. So, if different religious people say different things, who is right? They can't all be right, so why would I believe you over some other religious person?

The second is that if God just existed, then it's also perfectly possible that the world, the universe and everything else just EXISTED. So, why do you need a God to make things just exist?

I believe God created the universe because the existence of a physical object implies that someone created that object, physical objects don't come into being by themselves, that is a violation of the law of entropy.

The universe did not always exist, and will not always exist, it has a beginning and an end. This is believed by astronomers, and it is called the Big Bang Theory. So if you're going to argue that the universe always existed, then you would have to take it up with the astronomers, it's not even a religious issue its a science issue.

Exactly you "believe". You don't know at all. There is not one piece of evidence to point to you being correct in any way.

The universe didn't always exist? How do you know this? Again, you don't, you're just making stuff up, saying you believe it, and hoping it'll pass. It doesn't.

The Big Bang Theory is one in which they believe that a lot of matter exploded from a very small space. Well, what was BEFORE the Big Bang? Probably another universe, or the same one just going through a renewal process. That is just a guess, again, I don't know, you don't know. The difference is that I don't believe things I don't know, you do.

 

[bodecea]

Our modern world is full of so many distractions that it is difficult to find God.

We have all this technology to fill our hours, we no longer have time for the bigger issues.

God reaches us in the quiet places, but quiet has been abolished in this modern world.

Quiet has not been abolished. Distraction is not God's enemy. People choose distraction and noise over God. There have always been distractions that keep people from seeking God. Blaming "our modern world" for failing to seek Him is just making excuses for leaving God out of your life.

No, it's not an excuse. People used to be much more religious than they are today. During the Middle Ages, people marked the days with celebrations of the saints. People went on pilgrimages to holy sites. People prayed the rosary, and they prayed at meals, and they prayed when they got up in the morning, and they prayed when they went to bed. That kind of faith and devotion is much less common than it used to be. What's ironic is, people loved God and thanked him, when they had a lot less to thank him for.

And if they didn't they were suspected of heresy and bad things happened to them.

 

[bodecea]

God is everywhere. All we have to do to meet him is open our hearts.

But hearts are hardened in this modern world of ours.

Life is cheapened by the easy availability of abortion, and the influence of that attitude has spread into every aspect of our lives. We literally no longer see our neighbors as children of God anymore, but as meat packages with no inherent value. Our indifference to suffering of others is a symptom of this.

Life isn't cheapened by the holocaulistic way in which we treat animals then? No, animals don't have souls, why is that? Why would God make humans and give them souls, and not other animals? Oh, perhaps because it's convenient for you, or some religious person didn't tell you to think like that.

The Genesis story makes it clear that humans are the stewards of God's creation, and animals are put here for our use, as food, clothing, etc.

You actually believe that story?

 

[Compost]

Our modern world is full of so many distractions that it is difficult to find God.

We have all this technology to fill our hours, we no longer have time for the bigger issues.

God reaches us in the quiet places, but quiet has been abolished in this modern world.

Quiet has not been abolished. Distraction is not God's enemy. People choose distraction and noise over God. There have always been distractions that keep people from seeking God. Blaming "our modern world" for failing to seek Him is just making excuses for leaving God out of your life.

No, it's not an excuse. People used to be much more religious than they are today. During the Middle Ages, people marked the days with celebrations of the saints. People went on pilgrimages to holy sites. People prayed the rosary, and they prayed at meals, and they prayed when they got up in the morning, and they prayed when they went to bed. That kind of faith and devotion is much less common than it used to be. What's ironic is, people loved God and thanked him, when they had a lot less to thank him for.

People still do those things. For crying out loud, I get Saint of the Day emails. There are apps that feature Holy reminders. There is a TV station that airs praying the Rosary two or three times a day. Technology is another tool for the faithful. Those who choose to make the effort to be thankful act out their faith, regardless of how uncommon it may appear to you.

And were do the statues fit into all of this?

Tell us, guno. Is your obsession with statues, your distraction?

 

[RWS]

I disagree. Dissolution of religious fanaticism may actually lead to world peace and harmony, after the initial religious, economic, and political collapse.

It'll be hard, but then we'll be free to follow our own faiths, and do the right things for humanity and the world.

It will take something of the magnitude of an "ET-intervention" for that to happen, and wake us up to reality...

Though that may have happened already a long time ago. But we definitely need it again, because we totally fucked it up the first time...