Geoff, can you explain this last sentence in your blog post?

John,

Thanks as always for your thoughtful answers.

I particularly like this part:

Which makes perfect sense to me. When I want something I "put it out to the Universe". Which is like prayer in that I verbalize/crystalize to myself what it is I really want/need. I fond that once that is done, things happen more smoothly than if I were just worrying or stressing.

Point is that you don't need God to pray. You just need to focus your thoughts.

The amputee thing bothers me in that the faithful are always claiming miracles. Cured of cancer, saved from death when falling out of a tree, a forum member (ScorpioRose I think) claims a miracle birth. So miracles abound but never for amputees. To the non-faithful, all this miracle stuff comes across as kindergarten level nanny nanny boo boo... "my invisible friend is better than yours!" and it's grating on the nerves. Especially when you are an adult. Example: imagine I was in a hospital with Geoff... we both were seriously injured... I would just be injured. But his injuries would Glorify the Lord. That's annoying.

The Thou Shalt Not Kill thing sticks in my craw too. Every non-pacifistic Christian is going against God's #1 (according to Carlin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rCz0-HY1TLU - thanks John) rule. It's unbelievable to me that people can insist that they believe in an all powerful Creator and then in the same breath disregard his Laws. The world would be a fantastic place if Christians actually walked the walk that they talk.

The distribution of water, food, money ... in this world is truly horrifying. I wonder why the Christian leaders of the world have never sought to change the balance. I put the onus on the Christians simply because they the most control. Muslims are no better (Saudi Arabia). Jews aren't saints (Palestine).

Are there any Faith Based initiatives to pressure the redistribution of wealth? Or is that too Socialist/Liberal/Evil?

I just whipped your ass!


---Austin 3:16

__________________
The Phils are champs, go phuck yourself!

I smoked your grass.

Toked - 4:20

Well, that makes sense. But anti-atheism leaves you with...theism.

The proof of the existence of God is that you couldn't prove anything if He didn't exist. It's a transcendental form of argument. But in those blog posts, the basic point, for some of those questions, was that the video was being inconsistent with the logical consequences of its worldview.

And for a lot of questions they just had false premises. Or were just doing a poor job of handling Scripture.

When discussing suffering, it is one thing when you are discussing pain and suffering intellectually and quite another when someone is undergoing actual pain and suffering. So when discussing such matters, it is best to keep in mind that someone who is suffering may be reading. Regardless, we will all go through some suffering.

The Internet is terrible for conveying tone of voice, so you don't want to appear flippant or that you are trying to be clever. Especially when talking about suffering.

You are a funny man Mr. Robiinson.

I said last sentence. I wasn't asking about flippancy but how your friends suffering glorifies the Lord.

Yes, true. However, if there is a god, he brought us into existance so that we may acknowledge him. He has no power without the powerless to be ruled by him.

And if he does not exist, then we invented him so that we can acknowledge a being higher than our understanding. In this scenario we avoid chaos. Don't understand something? God did it! Pass the nachos.

__________________
The Phils are champs, go phuck yourself!

I would agree with what you describe as "putting it out to the Universe," though, within my belief system, I do believe there is a higher power who has greater purposes for life- some of which we can grasp, others we will learn in time.

I used to get a little bugged by people always talking about miracles and claiming them in their lives (then in some cases when a bad thing happens to someone they consider evil, they point to "God's will" or "God's wrath" or "God's judgment" upon that person).

HOWEVER, I do believe miracles happen. There are events and turning points in one's life, when I believe G-d puts a person in your life or reveals a spiritual truth at an important time, OR in some cases perhaps even healing.

There are many cases with people who have come into the hospital where I serve and even the doctors later said that the person making it was nothing less than miraculous.

You know when a doctor who is a self-proclaimed agnostic says himself that a patient's recovery or survival is "nothing less than a miracle"- a power higher than us or the natural laws of science is at work.

As far as the disparity of food and water distribution, there are a whole host of excellent non-governmental organizations (NGOs)- both faith-based and secular who are doing amazing work to combat hunger, restore clean water and provide healthcare to at-risk peoples.

Part of the problem, I think is that the population of the world has exploded to the point that we may have reached the cusp of sustainability.

There have always been famines and disease, etc- but since overpopulation began to take hold in this past century, (combined with over-consumption in the west) and the crisis has been further exacerbated.

That said, these are our fellow human beings, and each person needs to speak up, get involved with local efforts, and also lobby our legislators to increase relief aid to help address these issues.

The United States still has the lowest or close to the lowest percentage of national Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and federal budget spent on international aid.

We need to do better- but the only way that begins is when I realize and say- I can only change myself- so I will do better- like that saying goes:

"Be the change you want to see in the world."

__________________
Peace,

John

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