Why do Christians pray to their god?

[Sassy]

Trouble is, you can't tell the difference between your god and a figment of your imagination. 

Lighten up, Sass.

Try some hilarious black comedy.

I see the truth is getting to you.
My truth is real I have no reason to let anything bring me down. Jesus is alive and sat at the right hand of God.
What makes you think I require lightening up?
Is that all Christianity and religion means to you? Is everything you write about trying to score points, insult those with faith or make them angry?  It is futile and pointless...


All you do is reassure us what Christ says is true.

Matthew 5:11-12King James Version (KJV)

11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

I see no reason to let anything get us down. Christ gives us greater insight and we know the truth.

Perhaps you should read James Morrow’s “Godhead Trilogy”

Towing Jehovah

God has committed suicide. His gigantic body is adrift in the north Atlantic where it remains a menace to faith and shipping. It must be God's body because it’s two miles long and doesn't have a bellybutton.   The heavenly host who are dying off very quickly from sympathetic death syndrome have hired an oil tanker captain to tow the body to the North Pole where they plan to lay Jehovah to rest.

Perhaps you should read the bible... King James Bible
God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

How do you drag a spirit?
Flights of fancy and ridicule. God loves you so much he sent his son to die for you.
Would you send your son to die for someone like you?
I guess that somewhere inside the truth about God eats you up so much that you look for all different ways to try and make it untrue about Christ. But in the end Christ hurt no other human being. He dedicated his life to healing, uplifting and reassuring those whom humanity treated as the lowest of the lowest. I believe somewhere inside you, you know God and Christ have been reaching out to heal mankind. You must be breaking within and that is sad.

Along the way they have various adventures and at one point they get becalmed and are practically dying of starvation until they realise they have two miles of meat in tow.  The book does contain some recipes.


Blameless in Abbadon

This is the next book in the series. Here you can read how the body of God never made it to its final resting place - instead becoming the centre of attraction at a South Carolina amusement park.  A short time afterwards a man dying of cancer puts God's corpse on trial for the existence of evil. You'll probably enjoy the part where they take a walk through God's brain where they encounter several saints, and heroes from the Bible.  Among these characters we meet the colossally perverted Saint Augustine of Hippo, Lot, his pregnant daughters and his transformed wife. Lot carries her around wherever he goes because he's drilled a hole in a position he can use (his daughters have lost interest) and besides, she's very useful when it comes to salting margaritas.

Eternal Footman

The final instalment - God's bloated corpse has exploded and his huge skull has made it into orbit.

This bit is straight out of the book....

But isn't it, and wouldn't it be sad that anyone sure of their own self and secure in their own existence would actually find anything positive or necessary in such diabolical rubbish.
If I were you I would question if secure in what you believe you need to fill your brain or anyone elses with such effortless rubbish. The guy is laughing all the way to the bank with your money. But it did nothing for you, did it.
I personally if an atheist would not have displayed such utter junk or thought it useful for a thread.

Do yourself a favour. Read the bible, it will stop you looking foolish when you write something that the bible shows totally off the scale and improbable by all accounts..

I did not realise how badly Christ and God are a struggle for you.

[floo]

Reading the Bible, if you have actually done so Sass, never stopped you looking foolish!

[Brownie]

You've read the Bible, though, floo, haven't you?

[Leonard James]

There's no harm in reading the Bible, in fact most of the edicts attributed to Jesus are good advice. The harm is done by believing all the fantasy stuff.

[Khatru]

I never detected an overarching antitheist axe grind in Vonnegut.

Mind you who says that wouldn't be true if Vonnegut were writing today......After all ''thar's gold in them there New Atheist tomes''.

I was thinking the similarity was more in style rather than intent.

Still, check him out if you're curious.  He's good with the satire albeit sometimes it strays into the ludicrous.

[floo]

There's no harm in reading the Bible, in fact most of the edicts attributed to Jesus are good advice. The harm is done by believing all the fantasy stuff.

I agree the Bible does contain some sensible things including much, if not all, which is attributed to Jesus. It is, as you say, the fantasy element, which often does harm.

[Khatru]

Do yourself a favour. Read the bible, it will stop you looking foolish when you write something that the bible shows totally off the scale and improbable by all accounts..

Giants, unicorns, cockatrices, dragons, a talking snake and donkey, people living to close on a thousand years, the sun in orbit around a flat earth, a flood that covers the entire world, thousands of people coming back from the dead.  Telepathic communication with a zombie carpenter.  Genetically modifying goats by floating tree bark in their water trough,    You think all of that is for real and not in the least bit "off the scale" as you say?

I did not realise how badly Christ and God are a struggle for you.

Why do you insist on trying to drape me with your myth and superstitious mumbo jumbo?  I don't need your ju-ju, because unlike you, my world view is based on and commensurate with evidence.  You know....real and tangible truths not fairy tales.

No doubt you're on a misguided quest to convince me that my rational scepticism is absolutely the same as your blind faith.  You accept dogma, myth and superstition.  Do you honestly believe that using your ju-ju against me is an argument?

I've already mentioned this in another thread - I'll quote it here....

Ah, OK...so you believe that we non-believers are under Satan's control?   

Here's a heads-up for you - that just happens to be your religion - it's certainly not mine.

Why is it that believers like you, people who accept faith, dogma and religion think it's an argument to use those words like "Satan is your father" against somebody else?

What if I called you a "stupid forum poster" simply because I considered that you didn't consider yourself a stupid forum poster?  Isn't that your approach here?

I'll tell you what - let's be sensible about this. What do you say I call you the religite who clings to faith and dogma. Ok?  Then you can insult me right back with the opposite; you know,  something that you actually disrespect.

You see what I'm getting at?

Call me a damned rational sceptic. Call me a filthy logician or reasonista.   Hey!  You can even call me a godless evidencist.

Come on, Sass - hit me where I really live!

[Hope]

Giants, unicorns, cockatrices, dragons, a talking snake and donkey, people living to close on a thousand years, the sun in orbit around a flat earth, a flood that covers the entire world, thousands of people coming back from the dead.  Telepathic communication with a zombie carpenter.  Genetically modifying goats by floating tree bark in their water trough,    You think all of that is for real and not in the least bit "off the scale" as you say?

Well, it depends on whether you actually take every word as 'gospel' truth, Khat.  For instance - the flood report is within a section of Genesis that scholars are increasingly believing was a written long after any such events could have happened and was written as a theological treatise about the all-powerfulness of the Jewish God compared to the gods that the people of Israel had encountered in Babylon.  Where does the Bible refer to "Telepathic communication with a zombie carpenter"?  As for genetically modifying goats, I understand that this particular trick is a pretty common one.  It's as far from genetic modification as you can get, and is simply a case of tanning the animals's fleece.

Giants, unicorns, cockatrices, dragons:  I'm assuming that you are still referring to the King James Version, Khat?  Giants could well be the case - after all, white men travelling to the East about 150 years ago were deemed to be giants by the Japanese, the Chinese, the peoples of the Indian sub-continent.  There are particular tribes in China who are still regarded as 'giants' because of their considerably taller bodies compared to the average Chinese.  Similarly, dragons, there a number of animals that are either known as or nicknamed 'dragons'.  Specie-ally, I believe that they are generally lizards.

Why do you insist on trying to drape me with your myth and superstitious mumbo jumbo?  I don't need your ju-ju, because unlike you, my world view is based on and commensurate with evidence.  You know....real and tangible truths not fairy tales.

Perhaps you ought to add an extra word into that 2nd sentence, 'naturalistic' (between 'with' and 'evidence').  After all, do you have any evidence of any sort that that is the  sole form of evidence?

No doubt you're on a misguided quest to convince me that my rational scepticism is absolutely the same as your blind faith.  You accept dogma, myth and superstition.  Do you honestly believe that using your ju-ju against me is an argument?

I doubt whether anyone is on a misguided quest to do anything Khat.  They might possibly be on a quest to get you thinking whether what you base you beliefs on is as solid as you like to believe.

I've already mentioned this in another thread - I'll quote it here....
[/quote]

[Sassy]

Reading the Bible, if you have actually done so Sass, never stopped you looking foolish!

Where is the evidence?
There is a difference between being ridiculed by the ignorant and actually being foolish.
On here you are proof that I am ridiculed by the ignorant rather than the latter.

[Sassy]

Giants, unicorns, cockatrices, dragons, a talking snake and donkey, people living to close on a thousand years, the sun in orbit around a flat earth, a flood that covers the entire world, thousands of people coming back from the dead.  Telepathic communication with a zombie carpenter.  Genetically modifying goats by floating tree bark in their water trough,    You think all of that is for real and not in the least bit "off the scale" as you say?

Why do you insist on trying to drape me with your myth and superstitious mumbo jumbo?  I don't need your ju-ju, because unlike you, my world view is based on and commensurate with evidence.  You know....real and tangible truths not fairy tales.

No doubt you're on a misguided quest to convince me that my rational scepticism is absolutely the same as your blind faith.  You accept dogma, myth and superstition.  Do you honestly believe that using your ju-ju against me is an argument?

I've already mentioned this in another thread - I'll quote it here....

Is that a form of defense or are you just musing your way through hoping no one else sees the cop out?
What you have written has nothing to do with Christianity and is absolutely useless in an discussion about God.
I am wondering where you copied it from. I find the contents laughable. No one educated would use such futile rubbish in a post and think they have actually produced an argument or rebuttal.

If this is the atheist writing of the present future then all religions are safe... that is alarming.

[Leonard James]

No one educated would use such futile rubbish in a post and think they have actually produced an argument or rebuttal.

Back to the personal insults, eh, Sass?

I would hazard the guess that Khatru is not only better educated than you, but he is far more intelligent.

[Sassy]

Back to the personal insults, eh, Sass?

I would hazard the guess that Khatru is not only better educated than you, but he is far more intelligent.

Well you would be wrong as you are with the insults.

No one educated would use such futile rubbish in a post and think they have actually produced an argument or rebuttal.

Being uneducated is not an insult.   I said no one educated would use such futile rubbish in a post and think they have actually produced an argument or rebuttal.  If you can show using the contents in the place of truth about the subject they have produced an argument or rebuttal please show it us. Otherwise you really show you have reacted as an atheist and not on the level or education regarding what was being discussed.  So no insults and if wrong then show us. We BOTH know you cannot so why post the above if not to have dig yourself.

If he was better educated than myself in Christianity then he would be a Christian too, wouldn't he and not would not have been on the end of  the reply he got.

[Shaker]

If he was better educated than myself in Christianity then he would be a Christian too, wouldn't he

By no means, not necessarily. You're conflating 'knowing about' with 'believing in' - two different things entirely. There are innumerable people who know vastly more about Christianity than you ever have or will (not a major feat, admittedly) who don't believe a word of it.

[Leonard James]

By no means, not necessarily. You're conflating 'knowing about' with 'believing in' - two different things entirely. There are innumerable people who know vastly more about Christianity than you ever have or will (not a major feat, admittedly) who don't believe a word of it.

Thanks for saving me the trouble of answering, mate!

[floo]

By no means, not necessarily. You're conflating 'knowing about' with 'believing in' - two different things entirely. There are innumerable people who know vastly more about Christianity than you ever have or will (not a major feat, admittedly) who don't believe a word of it.

Well said! Sass only knows what she makes up and believes to be true!

[Sassy]

By no means, not necessarily. You're conflating 'knowing about' with 'believing in' - two different things entirely. There are innumerable people who know vastly more about Christianity than you ever have or will (not a major feat, admittedly) who don't believe a word of it.

You see how ignorant that comment is...
All atheists will know less about Christianity than any Christian. But the truth is that not all Christians understand what Christ was teaching...

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

Being born of Spirit and Truth is about living as Christ did and in the two commandments. Love God and love your neighbour as yourself. Peoples lives are changed by the power of Gods Spirit within them. It is not something they can do for themselves.

How very worldly your thinking and far away from the truth about God and the teachings of Christ.
You will never be in a spiritual position to understand the truth Christ taught till you can take the steps required to find the truth for yourself.

[Shaker]

You see how ignorant that comment is...
All atheists will know less about Christianity than any Christian.

I'm not one of them but a great many atheists have been Christians earlier in their lives, you know. Quite a few were religious johnnies - preachers, priests, vicars and what have you.

But the truth is that not all Christians understand what Christ was teaching...

Here comes the No True Scotsman fallacy out for his daily constitutional.

[Rhiannon]

So how do you think you're doing at the second of those commandments, Sass?

[floo]

Sass is hilarious, her assertions are fired by her imagination, not knowledge. A six month old baby wouldn't do any worse!

[Sassy]

I'm not one of them but a great many atheists have been Christians earlier in their lives, you know. Quite a few were religious johnnies - preachers, priests, vicars and what have you. Here comes the No True Scotsman fallacy out for his daily constitutional.

I am sure you know that NOT all come to fruition in their faith. The seed and the sower.
Unless you can actually disprove what Christ said then you are really making it up as you go along...
So many atheists claimed to have believe but they never came to fruition and they fell away.... So we see the inaccuracy in what you yourself belief. How you cannot even fathom the truth of Christ's teachings and why those fallen away never knew God or Jesus Christ.
My post clearly points out how people believing in Christ and doing all those miracles actually never knew him.

Here comes the No True Scotsman fallacy out for his daily constitutional.

Desperation instead of doing what people who really want understanding would do. Anyone actually interested in the truth Christ taught and about Christianity, would have considered what was said by Christ and written in Matthew 7.

21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?

23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

24 Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock:

It is clear that Christ gives two commandments. In obeying Christ we see God and Christ reveal themselves to the believer.

King James Bible
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

King James Bible
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

God promises something far bigger than a person merely believing. He offers the individual something far greater than just being able to perform miracles by gifts and power. He offers them to know both the Son and the Father who is God.
A personal relationship. For most they never get that far. Even believers doing all the miracles and preaching will not all know Christ. So no fallacy... a fact that not all who preach Christ will actually know him.

[Shaker]

Unless you can actually disprove what Christ said then you are really making it up as you go along...

... and that's the negative proof fallacy. Don't let Hope know you're using it, he'll be livid.

[floo]

More baseless assertions from Sass!

[Sassy]

So how do you think you're doing at the second of those commandments, Sass?

Well, had you actually known me, instead of judging me and insulting me, you might have known.
What was it that Rose pointed out to you?
I have no time to feel sorry for myself, I am too busy taking care of others. You might want to try it sometimes.
There are people with bigger problems than ourselves. I am still a work in a progress.
You gave it all up when the worries of this life came in and choked the faith you had.
But the truth is I cannot give up my faith and walk away. No matter what point in my walk I know God is real and Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So no matter how difficult life becomes... no matter how much people like yourself attack me... The truth about God and Christ remains... You like many others are just the testing ground.

Maybe... you could do with some help removing your forest from your eye then you will be able to see clearly enough to remove the speck from mine.

[Rhiannon]

As I thought then.

[Shaker]

I have no time to feel sorry for myself, I am too busy taking care of others. You might want to try it sometimes.

Since Rhiannon has mentioned numerous times that she has children, what makes you assume that she doesn't?