Do you believe in guardian angels?

[beakerandburette]

I have an 2mo DD and recently I have been finding white feathers in her cot, pram, Moses basket ect. I mentioned it to my mum and she suggested it could be an angel, I'm a little sceptical but I must admit it is a little bit strange.

So do you believe and have you had any experience of this?

The fact that that was the moment when you lost your "desire to believe" is immaterial. It would have been possible to explain yourself without stooping as low as you did. You have said that you respect support & prayer threads and don't post on them a number of times. Are you now going to add that you lurk and will take posts from those threads to use to make the rather ridiculous point that a non existant god that you don't believe in is a bad god?

Why are you surprised that I think anything of you at all? I read your posts, I take time to answer your questions and I advocate respect for people regardless of belief status, colour, gender, sexuality etc.

Did you think that the respect I spoke of did not extend to you?

I did not lurk on those threads. There were many people contributing, not just Christians. They were not specifically prayer threads.

I have no idea what you think, believe or respect. Because you never give anything of yourself at all to any thread I have seen you contribute on. You come across as seeing yourself above the fray, questioning, but not contributing, conducting but not playing.

I think Hakluyt's post makes a very valid point about the value of prayer.
Prayer seems to make absolutely no difference to the outcome. There seems to be emotional support that comes from everyone's thoughts being with someone who is suffering, but doesn't actually make any difference to the outcome. God doesn't intervene, so either he does exist but sees some people as not worthy of his help, or he doesn't exist and the outcome is determined by the medical condition.
I would never post on a thread that was looking for religious prayers, but I would post on a thread where someone was looking for emotional support regarding a potentially tragic situation.

Then you have not read my posts Hak. I respect people. I think diversity is good. I believe in god. I have posted these things many, many times. Did you not see any of those posts?

I question because I am interested in what other people have to say.

I have contributed lengthy (some might say too lengthy) posts on this forum.
I don't know what you mean when you say that I conduct, but I don't play.

I didn't say that you conduct but don't play. I said that is how you perceive yourself.

Then you are wrong. I perceive myself as one of many posters here who ask questions and contribute posts. It appears that you see me as something different.

What you have written Hak, is how you perceive me. What did you mean by "conducting, not playing"?

Actually going back to that CS Lwis quote

'but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.'

I just don't understand how anyone can accept this. Loads of Christians have dreadful pain and then people who have no belief who are living very comfortably.

Why use a system that people will attribute to something else. Is the pain a teenager with cancer has god's megaphone? How are you supposed to determine when the pain is just pain, or when it's pain megaphone pain or whatever?

So you've got a Christian whose going to church like 6 times a week and giving a shed loads of cash to charity and running a homeless hostel and they develop some super painful condition like fibromyalgia. How are they to know wether god is talking to them or not, it just seems so inefficient for something so supposedly vital.

Hak I would also request you withdraw and get that specific post deleted. Not because of the point you make but because you have taken someone's very personal and intensely difficult situation and used it without their permission to try and support your argument for there being no God. If they have read it, or someone passes this discussion onto them, I dread to think of what bringing it up in this context might do to them. I find that an abhorrent abuse and gross disrespect for the person concerned, who no doubt posted on MN for support at such a difficult time. I've only recently joined MN so do not know any details, nor do I wish them to be discussed any further in this debate. The use of any such direct personal case in another context must only ever be done with their permission. I will no longer respond to your comments in this debate.

I would like to second what BigDorrit said.

Big, if you suspect that to be the reason that Squidly posted you should ask her (although she may not respond). She is a poster on this thread, she is not "some" Christians.

I''m sorry - but for me, guardian angels go along with the tooth fairy and santa claus. None of it has ever been proven.