Question for the Christians

[hiddenhome]

Just wonderin' 'n' musin' like. Do you ever get fed up or feel uncomfortable with the amount of blasphemy on the main boards? I've been noticing it more and more recently. I don't know why people think that this isn't offensive or unpleasant. I don't think they'd do it to other religions Makes me wonder why people are so vehemently anti Christian, then keep making these references. Also, can't understand why people can't equate a religious person's love for God to an atheist's love for their family and children. They wouldn't like to be insulted over their love for their dcs, but quite happily take the pee and dish it out to the faith people. Sometimes they're even hostile and aggressive about it. I find the boards quite slack liberally minded, but don't know why they don't extend this liberalism to everyone. If you truly choose equality, doesn't it mean that the equality should extend to those you don't agree with and even actively dislike?

I know we're supposed to take it as part of being a Christian, but was just wondering how others felt really.

[DoubleGlazing]

:o at denominational tart

[seeker]

So nobody can give me an example of an answered prayer.

[ethelb]

I prayed I woud pass my driving test and I did. Not an example of an answered prayer necessarily, but you asked for one.

[Peachy]

Blasphemy from non beleivers doesn;t bother me- it would if they beleived but they don't so it is meaningless.

Bonfire that is largely it for me- from a Quaker persuasion. Prayer is in many ways like a meditation in my thinking (I am a fan of Vivekananda's writings) and whilst I ask for things they tend to be more like strength, which might work as either a request or a meditation but does work for me.

[headinhands]

I didn't pray that I'd pass and I still passed. grin]

[headinhands]

Ethelb, I assume you had been practicing for a while? Now, get a 13 year old to sit the test who is blind and has no prior experience and pass and then we might have something to talk about.

[ethelb]

i was being tongue in cheek.

of course it was to do with practice.

( I thought you meant practicing catholocism for a while there rather than practicing driving )

[Starwisher]

I prayed to be released from panic attacks, anxiety and agoraphobia

[MrsMcCave]

I think God looks at the bigger picture and knows better than we do what it is that we need. So if the hypothetical 13yo were to pray for a driving license, maybe what she wants is confidence. Or transp

[headinhands]

Loving the 'bigger picture' mantra. Is a bit like sudocreme, comes out of the cupboard for so many things from unanswered prayer to god ordained mass murder.

[hiddenhome]

God doesn't answer prayers in the way people expect Him to. Prayer isn't a magic trick or a list of things a person desires. I never pray for myself, only for other people. People have also prayed for me and I have felt their prayers being answered.

Several very strange things have happened to me in the course of my life that cannot easily be explained. The person that I am today cannot be easily explained that I believe that God has led me to where I am.

I don't know why there is so much suffering in the world, but most of it is directly down to the action/inaction of our fellow human beings. If we all sought a less selfish, holy life and truly loved one another there would be no starvation, violence, rape, child abuse etc. Natural disasters would still occur because that's how the natural world functions, but we would be able to help each other to relieve the pain.

[KalSkirata]

when I was doing my O levels way back when if you blasphemed the teacher sent you out of the class (6th form college). At any one time half the class would be having fun in the corridor or a ciggie outside.
I'm religious. Blasphemey neither affects my faith nor God so I dont give a crap about it. But religious people like that teacher can be dicks.

[headinhands]

But hidden, you still have to accept that your god of love is watching 26000 children die everyday due to no fault of their own and while watching that horror passively he is also healing someone's back pain in Slough and helping someone pass a driving test in Edinburgh? Really? Straight up?

[hiddenhome]

No, I don't believe that He answers prayers in that way. I believe that we're supposed to help the starving people in the world. If we all did that, there would be no starving people. I never pray for trivial things. I pray for my family, friends and the wider world. I try to make a difference to peoples lives through my job and through giving to charity.

[hiddenhome]

I believe that we're all capable of feeling and carrying God's love into the world and using it for the good of everyone else. Not everyone chooses to do this and some people are selfish and destructive. We can all be selfish at times, but if we follow God's plan for each and every one of us, we can ease each others' pain. I know some will argue that the love comes from within and that it's in our genes, but I believe that it comes from the entity known as God.

[LineRunner]

What, like 'the Force'?

[hiddenhome]

No, not quite Can't you go and take the piss elsewhere? Like in Chat?

[LineRunner]

No, I'll debate where I like, but thank you for asking.

Metaphors seem to play a key role in religious belief and explanations of relgious beliefs.

Jesus didn't literally mean a 'cup' in the Garden of Gethsemane, for example.

[MrsMcCave]

Naturally it follows that metaphor has to be used to make us ignoramuses understand and retain what god is saying. What is your point, linerunner?

[MrsMcCave]

I meant, metaphors are needed for things that are by definition invisible,

[seeker]

So there is nothing anyone can tell me that shows me that there is any such thing as the power of prayer?

[headinhands]

At what point in our evolution did god put his love in our genes? At what point did he think we were ready. Imagine what we'd be like without it. Funny thing is primates display morality and empathy too. Maybe a little bit spilled into them?

[LineRunner]

How else can human ideas about the nature of god be described, except by metaphor? The prophets did it (and I find reference to 'the bloody OT' a bit odd btw), Jesus did it, Paul did it.

[MrsMcCave]

I meant literally bloody. Sorry to offend.

Can you explain what you meant about metaphors? A large percentage of the bible is metaphor, certainly

[LineRunner]

Metaphors are our only way of explaining and sharing complex ideas. From early humans' placement of flowers in burials, to Richard Dawkins' reference to The Selfish Gene, we are made powerful but yet limited by symbols and language.

I cannot imagine a pure knowledge of God. Some religious worshippers have been able to yearn for or perhaps imagine more than me.

I can however imagine the evolution of religious beliefs along with evolution of symbolic thinking and language.

Maybe that's my loss. But I have a brain and I like thinking with it.