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For debate:East of Eden wrote: Wealth tends to promise what only God can deliver, true satisfaction, security, etc.
As far as I can tell, people who believe in God and pray are no better off than those who don't. If believers are better off than unbelievers, then their good fortune may lead them to believe in God rather than their belief resulting in good fortune.JoeyKnothead wrote:From Post 248 of the linked thread:
For debate:East of Eden wrote: Wealth tends to promise what only God can deliver, true satisfaction, security, etc.
Please provide some means to verify:
1- God can deliver stuff, and has a monopoly on the delivery of...
2- True satisfaction
3- Security
Such egocentric promises have always been part of the Christian business model to lure herding followers into church to empty their wallets, driving them off their feet and onto their knees to engage in sycophantic ritual practices.JoeyKnothead wrote:From Post 248 of the linked thread:
For debate:East of Eden wrote: Wealth tends to promise what only God can deliver, true satisfaction, security, etc.
Please provide some means to verify:
1- God can deliver stuff, and has a monopoly on the delivery of...
2- True satisfaction
3- Security
Yes indeed.Strider324 wrote:I would be ecstatical to see any evidence of Yahweh delivering on anything of import...anywhere....anytime.
Around 5000 children die every day of cancer. Virtually all of them - including their family and friends - prayed for a cure. Mind you, they didn't pray for Yahweh to take them to heaven - they prayed for Life.
None of those prayers were answered, and the 5000 are now dead. Just like the 5000 the day before, and the day before, and the day before, and the day before......
But apparently, Yahweh did choose to answer Delilah Bufords prayer from Bogalusa, LA to let her win the $100 scratch off ticket.
Mysterious ways - and ethics - indeed.
Flail wrote:Such egocentric promises have always been part of the Christian business model to lure herding followers into church to empty their wallets, driving them off their feet and onto their knees to engage in sycophantic ritual practices.
Aren't you answering your own question?Flail wrote:My horribly indoctrinated niece recently prayed along with her husband that their house would sell and a pending offer on a better house would be accepted. Both 'prayers' were answered although it took almost a year for God to act. When I reminded her of how many people had died of terrible diseases and calamities during that time period despite their prayers, I got:
1. A dirty look
2. The standard Christian blather, "God works in mysterious ways."
Such things makes me ill and cause me to wonder why anyone would be Christian.
Yes, in one sense. I was thinking on the side of those whose earnest prayers for disaster victims to BibleGod go unanswered while others credit God with clear skies on their wedding day. Sometimes it's just hard to come to terms with the power of indoctrination and snake oil over otherwise reasonable minds.Mithrae wrote:Flail wrote:Such egocentric promises have always been part of the Christian business model to lure herding followers into church to empty their wallets, driving them off their feet and onto their knees to engage in sycophantic ritual practices.Aren't you answering your own question?Flail wrote:My horribly indoctrinated niece recently prayed along with her husband that their house would sell and a pending offer on a better house would be accepted. Both 'prayers' were answered although it took almost a year for God to act. When I reminded her of how many people had died of terrible diseases and calamities during that time period despite their prayers, I got:
1. A dirty look
2. The standard Christian blather, "God works in mysterious ways."
Such things makes me ill and cause me to wonder why anyone would be Christian.
Of course the comfort, health and wealth concept of Christianity isn't necessarily biblical, but it's hardly unique amongst positive thinking/self-improvement/all-you-need-is-love/all-you-need-is-drugs/etc etc.
IMO, if you engage in any of these superstitions, you're just not busy enough, or you're bored. There are more productive things than make believe.Mithrae wrote:The bible says "in all things give thanks" - presumably that means good and bad. Is there anything better in viewing events as the product of inscrutable chance or determinism rather than the inscrutable whims of a deity? Or in imagining that there's some kind of 'free will' floating around in human brains which makes things meaningful?
