This is 2009, right? Insanity at Knock!

[J70]

I have read the thread and my first impression is that the people who believe in god and have faith are being ridiculed for doing so.

Several posters have likened to believing in God to some sort of stupidity or unwell mental state.

The poster questioning the evidence and proof of such a god says it couldnt possibly make sense.
I do have faith and had not such faith a few years ago.
Situations changed in my life which left me in a state of complete lonliness and depression (it involved the tragic death of a family member and my best friend) and the only thing i could turn too after this person died was a spark of faith that had been in me through my teenage and early adult years.
i had never been a strong religous person in fact quite the oppisite but i felt i could turn no where else and i know prayer didnt bring this person back but it helped me understand better what had just turned my world upside down including that of my family.
I believe i will see him again and that what makes me get through the bad times and i do feel him when im in need of help.
It was gods will that did this and i have to accept that and there is times i question this believe me there is times i just feel like giving up but thats the whole mystery of it.

It is his will in my view and i just live with it.
Im not imposing my beleifs on anyone or am i justifying religion but please dont ridicule my beliefs as hokey hackey because in my eyes they are not.

A poster asked believers to look at the history and id just like to tell that poster that his historical points are the same as i read in dan browns da vici code.
I doubt his creditionals as a theologian or a historical scholar are up to scratch.

my example i have not given lightly and please dont feel im playing a sympathy card because my life at the moment is wonderful.
Im marrying the woman i love and have a lovely son so i have no complaints.
Just dont ridicule my beleifs cause if you cant prove im wrong about god,im not going ask you to prove me right.

So, like other people here, you found comfort in religion at a time of trouble. Again, I don't think anyone questions that people find solace in ideas such as the existence of an afterlife or the existence of some supernatural overseer. The key point, to me, about this whole thing is what does something like that prove? You often hear religious people throwing statements such as "there are no atheists in foxholes" at non-believers. Or repeating the creationist canard that Darwin recanted his evolutionary theory on his deathbed. Assuming for the sake of argument that those and all such claims are true, well so what? What do they prove except that in times of desperation or loss, people will latch onto the idea of something bigger and benevolent because it comforts them? Whether or not a god or gods exist, the belief that he does exist is comforting to some. That doesn't mean that there is a god, or that the magical/mystical aspects of religion aren't complete bunkum. And I fail to see how it is an attack on or disrespectful of someone's faith to point this out.

[rossie mad]

Religion and the whole idea of a god in heaven to alot of people can be a great source of strength to those going through tough times...I get that and I suppose I would not want to shatter or convince people going through those tough times of the absence of god or an afterlife, but that does mean that there is such a thing as a god or a heaven. It is meerly a coping mechanism of the mind at play here and the god in heaven story plays to the mental frialties that I'm sure we all possess and makes understanding of tragedy easier on the mind.

wiki the history of the development of the new testament rossie if your so doubting of my points rather than simply ridiculing

I can tell you that once you have dependants especially that, you do not need a belief in a god to do good things, show good example and possess a strong mental resilience through all the shite this world throws at us. When you realise your children look to you for leadership there is no other way of behaving that I can think of. It's just built into our gene survival instincts. I'm sure for many, religious myths play a part in that whole mechanism but as I've said before that doesn't make the story true.

I would not liken a belief in a diety as showing someone up as stupid or unwell mentally. I would say blinkered would be a better description. Hands over eyes and ears because of the emotional investment paid down as well as the alternative being too difficult to comprehend. If thats where your at then thats where your at. I suggest that you don't read foums where people are able to share their views on such topics in case you read something you don't want to consider.

What the fcuk?

How dare you lecture me on parenting for one and on my (your description) blinkered emotional baggage beliefs?

Who do you think you are? Some kind of fuckin psychiatrist.
I dont need you to tell me how to raise my son or to show him leadership give me a fuckin break.That little person who is waiting at the door every evening for me is the one good thing in my life apart from his mother and i dont need you to tell me how to be fuckin there for him.
Ill manage well enough on that and i dont need the likes of you with your im better than everyone else kinda of shite.

On my blinkered afraid to face the truth baggage i did face the fcukin truth along time ago and im still to this day so i dont you to lecture me on that as well you little p***k.
Ill read this board as many times as i like as well so dont think im going away.
You and J70 give me one shred of reputible evidence that there is no god and ill put my hands up but dont the two of you go around here talking from up on high thrones making a laugh of peoples beliefs with nothong to back it up bar criticisms of meetings that was held thousands of years ago and your lack of understanding of what it takes to have faith.

[theskull1]

you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY)
/juː/, /jə/, /jʊ/ pron
people in general
You learn to accept these things as you get older.
You can't get a driving licence till you're seventeen in this country.
Too much alcohol is bad for you.
How do you get this thing to start?

(Definition of you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Idiot!!  I told you how to do nothing.   

Thats slap in the mouth language btw........and from a man who follows Christ!! Would you talk to people like that in the real world?

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY)
/juː/, /jə/, /jʊ/ pron
people in general
You learn to accept these things as you get older.
You can't get a driving licence till you're seventeen in this country.
Too much alcohol is bad for you.
How do you get this thing to start?

(Definition of you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Idiot!!  I told you how to do nothing.   

Thats slap in the mouth language btw........and from a man who follows Christ!! Would you talk to people like that in the real world?

Ffs lads keep it civil, no need for the threats skull.

[Gnevin]

[
You and J70 give me one shred of reputible evidence that there is no god and ill put my hands up

The burden of proof lies does not upon the sceptic to disprove unfalsifiable claims of religions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell%27s_teapot .

[Gnevin]

http://russellsteapot.com/comics/2007/welcome.html

http://russellsteapot.com/comics/2007/cue-the-zombie-bunny.html

[ardmhachaabu]

you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY)
/juː/, /jə/, /jʊ/ pron
people in general
You learn to accept these things as you get older.
You can't get a driving licence till you're seventeen in this country.
Too much alcohol is bad for you.
How do you get this thing to start?

(Definition of you pronoun (PEOPLE GENERALLY) from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

Idiot!!  I told you how to do nothing.   

Thats slap in the mouth language btw........and from a man who follows Christ!! Would you talk to people like that in the real world?

Ooooh check out the keyboard warrior 

[theskull1]

Ffs lads keep it civil, no need for the threats skull.

I threatened no one GDA. If Rossie used that language to someone in the street he'd get and he'd deserve a slap in the mouth...simple as...would you disagree?..or is that the way they speak to each other in Roscommon? He doesn't sound like a man who walks in the footsteps of christ thats for sure. One of the many a lar carte catholics.

Ooooh check out the keyboard warrior 

So I assume ardmhacha that you approve of the way yer man addressed me considering you didn't comment on his language? Your silence regarding his inflammatory contributions speaks volumes. What a great example youse all are to the christian faith I must say.

[Gaoth Dobhair Abu]

Ffs lads keep it civil, no need for the threats skull.

I threatened no one GDA. If Rossie used that language to someone in the street he'd get and he'd deserve a slap in the mouth...simple as...would you disagree?..

Fair enough skull, given in that context, I had read it that you were threatening him, cleared up now.
Although I did think that Rossies comments were more directed in response to J70's earlier post then you?

[theskull1]

Cheers GDA

But...Rossie was directing his abuse to me, looking at the structure of his post. I think thats fairly clear to see.

[ardmhachaabu]

theskull1, I commented on your response to his post which I think says multitudes about you, you keyboard warrior

You are a nasty piece of work and that post says it all

[redhugh]

Quick question for the non-believers here.What options would you favour,or indeend what are the options, when it comes to making funeral arrangements for non- believers.I'm not on a wind up mission here ,I'm genuinely very interested.I have heard of humanitarian services ,but don't really know what happens.Is a wake still a possible part of the whole thing without the religious element?

[Gnevin]

Quick question for the non-believers here.What options would you favour,or indeend what are the options, when it comes to making funeral arrangements for non- believers.I'm not on a wind up mission here ,I'm genuinely very interested.I have heard of humanitarian services ,but don't really know what happens.Is a wake still a possible part of the whole thing without the religious element?

When I'm gone I'm gone. So I am happy with what ever option would comfort my love ones most . If that's a church so be it .

[Gnevin]

theskull1, I commented on your response to his post which I think says multitudes about you, you keyboard warrior

You are a nasty piece of work and that post says it all

Is everyone who disagrees with you a WUM or a nasty piece of work?

[redhugh]

Quick question for the non-believers here.What options would you favour,or indeend what are the options, when it comes to making funeral arrangements for non- believers.I'm not on a wind up mission here ,I'm genuinely very interested.I have heard of humanitarian services ,but don't really know what happens.Is a wake still a possible part of the whole thing without the religious element?

When I'm gone I'm gone. So I am happy with what ever option would comfort my love ones most . If that's a church so be it .

Surely as a non believer a church burial would leave you resting in eternal hypocrisy. I'd say when the time comes your loved ones would rather make the arrangements that you are happy with ,it's unfair at a time of bereavemnet to burden your loved ones with the decision.