Do you believe in God/a higher power?

[CuriousAboutWhatYouThink]

Not religion. I have no time for organised religion and the associated man made rules.

But do you believe in 'something'?

For context, my grandad was a CofE vicar but my parent rebelled against it and we were brought up broadly l in the religion (eg we celebrated main religious festivals like Easter and Christmas) but not as practising Christians and without a particular belief in God.

As an adult, I have friends of different faiths and none and it's something we have discussed from time to time. It's also something I used to discuss with my grandma who had a very strong belief in God but also believed the Bible until she became older when she still had a strong faith but admitted she thought the Bible was largely nonsense!

I suppose I've always felt that there is 'something' but I refer to it as the universe. I don't know, I always feel that there has been 'something' looking out for me.

That doesn't mean bad things have never happened because they have and religion/belief doesn't protect anyone from that. And it doesn't mean my life is anywhere near perfect because it's not. But the universe has always seemed to 'step in' when needed.

I don't know. I'm going through a tough time at the moment but I have a feeling everything will turn out to be OK because it always does.

@thisishowloween

I understand that now. Still, my comments at least make people (not just you particularly) aware of different/more nuanced perspectives on the afterlife. Personally, I think that's a good thing. Too often, in discussions of religion, even academic discussions, the perspectives given are not very diverse.

I had a cat that once pissed in my boyfriend's work cap, which he'd left on the kitchen counter. He put the cap on and cat piss poured down his face. That cat is definitely headed for the furry sulphur pit. Another one vomited in my mum's shoe when she came to stay - not sure how the judgement on that will go.

I think I once did

But after watching my grandad who was very religious and loyal/involved with the church horrendously.die.from.cancer.i found myself questioning it.

Also after a friend's young child died too young.

I find it hard to reconcile with the idea that God or whatever higher being could make children or loved ones suffer horrendously at odds with the faith I had.

Mine once vomited a half digested rat on the sofa with DH then sat in.

More recently he came home with a freshly baked scone he’d pinched off someone’s windowsill (the cat, that is, not DH).

He’s definitely going to kitty hell 😂

110% and I know Him.

I had a cat when I was a child that was pure evil.

He would lay in wait, hiding on the stairs, tucking his ears down so you couldn't see him then he would scramble up your legs and body, claws and all.

Obviously saying the cat is evil is applying some sort of human moral to him, but I can't think of any other word to describe it.

He was an only cat, he was never picked up against his will, or bothered or wound up, he'd been seen by the vets to make sure he wasn't anxious or stressed, he had 2 litter trays, and access to roam outside if he so chose. He was absolutely fine. He just loved to make people fall down the stairs and laying in wait was foolproof because the toilet and bedrooms were upstairs.

5 year old me tumbled down those stairs many times, and I went to school covered in scratches.

One night, I forgot to close my bedroom door fully. I think I must have had a middle of the night wee or something.

When I woke up, he was laid on my chest, ears tucked back, eyes as big as dinner plates, and just lunged at my face teeth and claws sunk into my nose.

He was rather tragically hit by a car, and even though he was hell bent on making sure I perished, I still loved that little ginger tom cat.

We had another cat when I was a young, newly sexually active adult who outed my newly found sexual activity by dragging several used condoms across the house. I thought that was pretty evil too.

There are almost certainly other life forms in the universe. Some are likely to be more advanced. That doesn't make them a higher power though - it just means if they decide to attack us they'd win (unless of course they misjudged the scale as in Hitchhiker's Guide 😂)

I'm loving the turn this thread has taken 😂

Same - I love stories about arsehole cats 😂

You can not imagine the look on my mums face, and I think I had an out of body experience.

I thought I'd managed to dispose of them, wrapped them up in tissue, put them in my little waste bin in my bedroom. We'd (my mum, my 7 year old brother, and I) gone to do our weekly shop at asda, mum stuck her key in the door, opened it, my little brother ran inside and shouted "What's that?!", and the little fucker had one in it's mouth then had the audacity to run away from me, dragging a torn used condom all the way round the lounge, and had dropped one in the hallway right in front of the door ready to be stood on.

I think she was furious, but she was either too stunned to speak or she decided to spare me for fear I might just have a heart attack.

Now it's one of those stories she likes to tell when friends are round because she thinks it'll embarass me but alas, I am immune. Thankfully think my brother has forgotten.

I don't think I'll ever own a cat again though.

that begs the question about the little dog in that story. From humans standpoint, had anyone realised, he was a very good dog indeed to swallow up an alien attack fleet.
But from the perspective of the hapless aliens as they met their doom…Bad Dog.

Christ, this thread has taken on some speed since I last checked in. Probably shouldn’t have used that word 🫣 but there are so many questions to ask and answer and I absolutely agree and could add several more, like what if you weren’t keen? do you still have to ‘live’ in heaven infinitely? Even if you don’t want to?

its pretty good example of the evilness of “god” to be fair!

I’m not sure if this has already been covered, but I believe in the forces of good and evil. People ask why God allows innocent people to suffer. He doesn’t. It’s really hard to explain and I don’t go around saying it as it probably makes me sound odd!

if you look at the history of mankind we have always been more powerful when we work as a collective. An energy is created when a large number of people are in meditation/prayer/at a concert/rave with a single focus. That energy can either be positive or negative but it is powerful.

I also think if you give positive energy out you receive it back. We also interpret events as good and bad because of our own preconceived notions. A natural disaster which kills innocent people is tragic because humans live in a place where nature is more powerful than we are. The event itself is natural not evil. The mistake was the arrogance of humans.

Anyway I’m sounding a little crazy to myself now! But I know what I mean 😂

You seriously believe that a bloke built an ark and gathered two of every animal around the world and put them on it?

Everyone, I think Percy might be a troll having a bit of fun.

Just on this..I'm a theology scholar. The whole "lost in translation" thing is not the case. Scrolls a thousand years apart in origin are identical. English translations are taken from the original Hebrew and Greek and are done by committees or linguistic experts. We have what the authors originally wrote. That does not of course mean it is historically true or the word of God but it is the original "version" at least.

Course she is. That’s why we’re annoying her and talking about the morals of fleas 😂

Back to basics, if you are a Christian how do you explain the virgin birth?
That's the bit I'm struggling with.

Because with God anything is possible.

That doesn’t explain anything though. It’s like a parent saying “because I said so”.

What sort of an explanation do you want?

God chose to overrule the laws of Human Biology.

As none of us know the mind of God we don't know why He did that.

Some logic and an actual answer. Saying “because God did it” doesn’t explain anything. It’s just nonsense.

Well that's the best I can do.

If that answer doesn't satisfy you then maybe you should speak to your Parish Priest who knows more about Theology than I do.

I doubt she’d be able to give an answer either.

Religion seems to be based completely in the idea that if we can’t yet explain something by science, it must be God.

Which isn’t actually an answer - it’s just a way of saying “I have no idea so I’ll pretend that it’s because of God”.

Ignoring the fact that the virgin birth is a made up story written by a human man, of course.

"I doubt she’d be able to give an answer either." Have you actually asked her instead of second-guessing her?

If you have such negative views about other people's belief systems why bother to engage?
Just stick to your own views and be happy.