did I say God “talks to me”

I said

I receive help and guidance from God and therefore know God does exist

if I did say that God talks to me then sorry, I’m no profit!

What I meant, and again this is my own, not of some teaching, I’ll try to explain:

Say for example, something is troubling me, I have to make a choice and it is not an easy one to make, I will ask God for help. Its that simple, no prayer mats, no beads, no drugs, no embarrassment and no expectations.

And during that time, because sometimes difficult situations take time to iron out, I may feel the urge to do wrong to myself and others (for example, drink to excess, be hurtful or cruel towards other people ether verbally or worse) I can listen to my thoughts and my faith helps me stay on the right path, because, and this is the hard part to explain and for people without Faith to comprehend, I can feel God in doing the right thing, not just that it is the right thing, but something else, something better.

This is not easy to do, this takes balls to admit this stuff, a lot more balls than it does to try and knock it down.

But like I say, I have my Faith, I am not sure if a church is something I wish to be a part of as I too hold contempt towards the actions of man carried out in God’s name. It’s personal, and it is mine.

I found God and never lost my faith. I lost my faith in Church and organised religion.

I tried to find Him on the Christian cross, but He
was not there; I went to the Temple of the
Hindus and to the old pagodas, but I could not
find a trace of Him anywhere.

I searched on the mountains and in the valleys
but neither in the heights nor in the depths was I
able to find Him. I went to the Ka’bah in Mecca,
but He was not there either.

I questioned the scholars and philosophers but
He was beyond their understanding.

I then looked into my heart and it was there
where He dwelled that I saw Him; He was
nowhere else to be found.

Mr Nutt now you are splitting hairs – which I admire with you gently winding up our resident god botherer botherer – the thinking mans angry man oh you get the picture
How does god communicate with you then fine art? Graffiti ? Signs

toast, yep, mostly through toast.

I liked when Brian Cox portrayed Hannibal Leckter in Manhunter, the monologue given to Will Graham played by William Petersen…
Summed it up for me

which was?

I was brough up a Catholic, by a devoutly Catholic mum and a quietly but profoundly athiest dad.

I never witnessed or heard of abuse by any figures of authority in the Church, but never really believed in God and resented the rules imposed on me by others who did believe.

I’ve considered myself an atheist from the age of seven or so (I used to ask A LOT of awkward questions 😀 ) and although there have been many difficult times in my life when I feel that faith in a God would have made me happier and helped me to deal with pain and loss, I just don’t believe.
I don’t think you can actively choose to believe in a higher being or not: You either do or you don’t. You can choose which one to follow, but that’s a different matter.

Both my parents were good, honest people who, believers or not, lived by a strong moral and ethical code. I hope I’ve inherited that, at least.

If you are in anyway a rationalist, please reread the God Delusion and/or any of the other books mentioned by the Wopster. For me, they just reinforced my already strongly heald opinion on the matter of religion.

And as for ‘militant atheism’, consider this. For thousands of years religion was forced upon the masses as a means of control. Only very recently in Western Europe has it been possible to declare yourself an atheist without any form of censure or retribution.
In parts of America and many Muslim states (amongst others) religious observance is still considered to be mandatory and a declaration of atheism is punishable by social ostracism or in some cases even by torture or death.
Is it any wonder us atheists sometimes get a bit vocal?

Say for example, something is troubling me, I have to make a choice and it is not an easy one to make, I will ask God for help. Its that simple, no prayer mats, no beads, no drugs, no embarrassment and no expectations.

And during that time, because sometimes difficult situations take time to iron out, I may feel the urge to do wrong to myself and others (for example, drink to excess, be hurtful or cruel towards other people ether verbally or worse) I can listen to my thoughts and my faith helps me stay on the right path, because, and this is the hard part to explain and for people without Faith to comprehend, I can feel God in doing the right thing, not just that it is the right thing, but something else, something better.

I think many of us do the same thing – some call it meditation, self realisation, whatever. Some people feel the need to bring the belief in a higher being into the process, some don’t & some can’t.
As long as you’re happy, who cares?

Anyway, sorry to get a bit heavy.
Have you considered a nice handmade bike instead? That’s what I’m going for when my next ‘mid-life crisis’ kicks in.
Cheaper than a Porsche and a blonde, probably more fun too. 🙂

There is no God. Prove to me one shred of evidence that there is…

Case closed!

It really is laughable that in this day and age people still believe in this superstitious nonsense. Supposedly intelligent people some of them are too…

ahh the problem is in proving Deity does not exist – there’s no true evidence to prove the lack of existence; which is where we go back to String Theory and the hypothetical problem of 11 extra dimensions that we know nothing about.

Case opened.

It really is laughable in this day and age people still believe that science has answered all the questions of Life, the Universe and Everything. Supposedly intelligent some of them too… 😆

The problem is that for a lot of people Science is supported with the fanaticism of religious zeal and, it has been argued, psychotherapists are their priests.

Perhaps the true answer is that, at this current time, we don’t know one way or the other.

There is no God. Prove to me one shred of evidence that there is…

Case closed!

You might say the same of Gravity, or Thought, or Electrons. You cannot see them, only the effect they have on the world.

Mind you don’t float away

*by the way, that take your pick reference was only a folk memory. No one is that old surely!!

Can we stop the somewhat ridiculous use of Capital Letters To Attempt To Give Things More Gravitas Than They Deserve?

An example: faith vs. Faith. science vs. Science

The latter is either the start of a sentence or a name of a person.

faith=Faith=FaIth=fAITh

Bloody Anti-Capitalists!

Oh! Well Done!

there’s no true evidence to prove the lack of existence;

How do you get evidence of a thing that does not exist not existing? You cannot prove a negative – everyone knows this – but that does not mean it does exist that actually require evidence which is not, objectively, there.

people still believe that science has answered all the questions of Life, the Universe and Everything

Whoever said that is an idiot as well – got a source?

Perhaps the true answer is that, at this current time, we don’t know one way or the other

By your standards we never will as a lack of evidence for existence in no way discredits a bleievers view – exceleent system clearly.

which was?

I forget…..

How do you get evidence of a thing that does not exist not existing?

In the same way that you prove Shroedingers Cat never had kittens.

Whoever said that is an idiot as well – got a source?

Inferred from STW forum ca 2010.

By your standards we never will as a lack of evidence for existence in no way discredits a bleievers view – exceleent system clearly.

Never’s a long time but science has a way to go before people can scientifically prove / disprove any sort of Deity existing within the universe.

Of course it depends upon what Deity is – if Nature is Deity then Science is just a way of better understanding Deity.

Junkyard I struggled in making any “leap of faith”, I was embarrassed with myself for many years to even consider the possibility of God, of talking to God, of having even Faith.

Still I find it hard sometimes, but it is better than nothing, its not an instant thing, but it does bring about rewards. Why discredit something you don’t accept, if you don’t believe, then don’t believe, its not a choice it is an option, it is there if you ask for it.

Mr Nutt
Congrats on opening and reading the Bible…
I encourage your journey into discovering the truths of the Bible (and Jesus which are more numerous and historically accurate than most people think).
I can endorse joining an “Alpha” or “Christianity Explored” course to help your journey.
It took me a few years of attending a good church, various courses and reading numerous books before I finally committed myself to God.

Good luck Mr Nutt.

I was lent a book that was written around the turn of the last century by a woman that claimed she could channel the thoughts of the moon.
it was a good read, wish i could remember what it was called.

anyways the moon was not impressed with us.

My local station recently assaulted it’s travellers with “Alpha Course” posters which said: “The meaning of life is _______” and “We can fill in the blanks”.

1st: What makes you think that life has a “meaning”? Life has no meaning. This is a good thing.

2nd: What “blanks”?

Presumably, promising you on their website that you will go to “hell” (location undefined) if you do not follow “jesus” (existence hearsay only), as promised by the Alpha Course, is their way of giving your life “meaning”.

Sorry. Sounds like a load of old codswallop put about by a bunch of cultist half-wits to me.

Nutt is either a) a troll supreme or b) an unfortunate victim of childhood indoctrination into dogma – a form of child abuse or c) a fool.

Exit.

How do you go about ‘finding yourself’ while abdicating responsibility for difficult decisions to some other entity?

Whats the difference between this;
Say for example, something is troubling me, I have to make a choice and it is not an easy one to make, I will ask God for help.
and any other God made me do it defence?

I’m sure various acts of terrorism have been committed in the name of various gods, by using exactly the same thought process.

In STW parlance, why not MTFU and take the decision and the responsibility on yourself?

Life has no meaning. This is a good thing.

you may have misheard…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0zIHBgZx04&t=0m48s

Mr Nutt

I think it is an honourable thing to take the time to think about what life is about and finding faith if you can. I think that ther is a part of all of us that wants to worship something. For some this is god, for other allah, buddha, football, bikes, booze etc etc. There have been some terriblet hings done by people in the name of religion, which as pointed out earlier is differnt to faith. Different faiths require different things of you. the christian faith would say it is very difficult to have a faith by yourself, the need ot meet with others for encouragment and spedning time with poeple of the same faith is important.
I have enjoyed reading most of this thread, its a shame that some of the poeple on here think their viewpoint is more spuerior than others and as such feel the need to question their sanity and beliefs in put downs.
I am a christian and have been for many years, i struggle with aspects of it from time to time, but also have enough faith to carry on and believe it is worth carrying on with.

Discussions like this usually come back to those with a “scientific” mind to have some form of tangible evidence of God before they believe He exists. Whether they would accept he exists even in the face of hard evidence is another matter. Whilst I have a scientific understanding of a variety of things, I don’t dismiss the possibility of there being a God.

Here’s and interesting point – take a sample of leading mathematicians and ask them if infinity exists or not. Some say yes, they BELIEVE it does and others say not. Neither side can prove it one way or the other. To me, I see no problem with the concept of counting indefinitely. What we lack (besides time) is the language to describe such large numbers. Similarly, we lack the language to describe (or even comprehend) God.

This is where belief and faith come in. If we accept the possibility that God does exist, other aspects of our lives might have different meaning. In the same way, if we accept that infinity exists, it opens up avenues to other areas of science that don’t stack up if infinity doesn’t exist.

Science and religion operate on different levels. While science depends on evidence, religion revolves around faith in something.

Ian

Brief reentry:

its a shame that some of the poeple on here think their viewpoint is more spuerior correct

Fixed.

Bye.

Happy Easter!!

Infinity isn’t just big numbers, I recommend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinity as a starter.

Here’s and interesting point – take a sample of leading mathematicians and ask them if infinity exists or not. Some say yes, they BELIEVE it does and others say not

It’s probably best not to make up metaphors if your knowledge in that area is limited.

I was actually referring to a Horizon programme earlier in the year on the subject. That is what I recall. It struck me a the time that the existence of infinity was akin to a belief system.

Ah, probably best not to make up metaphors if your knowledge in that area is based on a programme off the telly from a while ago.

Fixed it for me.

Discussions like this usually come back to those with a “scientific” mind to have some form of tangible evidence of God before they believe He exists. Whether they would accept he exists even in the face of hard evidence is another matter.

This is a very good point. Lots of folks who claim they do not believe in a god, claim that it is because of a lack of evidence. They often lack the self awareness to see that theirs may be a belief system as well. I’d like to ask those same folks if they then believe in ESP.

Ah, probably best not to make up metaphors if your knowledge in that area is based on a programme off the telly from a while ago.

Why not? What’s wrong with the telly? What would your knowledge have to be based on to make it valid? Some book you read a while ago? A sample of scientific journal papers which support your preconceived notion?

Lots of folks who claim they do not believe in a god, claim that it is because of a lack of evidence

So what about the different gods?

Do Christians not believe in Allah because of a lack of evidence?

Whether they would accept he exists even in the face of hard evidence is another matter.

The implication would seem to be that we are wilful children who are just being contrary… 🙄

ok, then Do you believe in ESP?

What would your knowledge have to be based on to make it valid?

Um, a basic understanding of the concept? Like, for example, the idea that infinity isn’t just the biggest number you can count to?

So what about the different gods?

Do Christians not believe in Allah because of a lack of evidence?

Ah, probably best not to get involved in arguments if your knowledge in that area is so weak.

Christians do believe in Allah

I love all the fixing of each other’s posts on this thread. Very nice of everyone to do that.

Um, a basic understanding of the concept?

ok, but Would the telly not be a reasonable source for that understanding?

Do Christians not believe in Allah because of a lack of evidence?

Ignore this question if it’s tricky….

No, I don’t, but as the subject of ESP is tested more, and those test results begin to show that it works, I would be able to change that view.

Christians do believe in Allah

Really? To the extent that they worship him? In the way it says in the Koran?

Purely by chance I came across this on another forum today. Means something to some – to others the overdubbers will burn in hell……………….

Warning – quite loud if at work

Hmmmm can’t get embedding to work

YOUTUBE LINK

… 😉

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQdIiEUFtqk[/video]

I seriously think that this goes some way to explaining the phenomenon of faith and worship more than any long drawn out waffle on a mountain bike forum..

praise be