God is a question, not an answer

Newquay, I am so sorry. Possibly too much is stressed on the power of prayer for the wrong reasons, if you pray your prayers will be answered and all will be well, perhaps there needs to be more stressed on one's pray will be answered but not always as one expects . Just a thought , we all find our own way through it

Interestingly I feel,caught between two camps. I have lived as a committed Christian for many years, can you hear a but coming on? But I have suffered two really major events -a dreadful chronic illness of a loved one and a bereavement both despite all prayers, fasting and everything!
So I have a big problem with many Christians' attitude that "all will be well if you pray" but I go along with it.

True .jingle,i have found on this forum only two have mocked , the rest either have a faith or are atheist or agnostic , never mocked anyone

There is a huge difference between a person's religious beliefs and their political opinions. It is downright unkind to rubbish, or to mock, the former.

You can argue the 'fors' and 'againsts' of politics. You can't do that with religion, because no one can know the absolute truth.

thatbags, I do not feel threatened or hurt by anything you say, I did say I was hurt when told believing in God was the same as believing in the tooth fairy , I had forgotten whi had said it , so it was you.

You did not say you wanted to ask questions you said you wanted to criticised , how arrogant , but no surprise

I think my comment is just as philosophical as your OP, bags.
I had read the article before asking it.

Oh good, pen. I'm glad someone else found the idea interesting. I thought someone(s) would.

Some, yes, obi, but they are always open to improvement and tweaking into better shape.

I can go withat thought... I often wish I could have faith in a deity..but too many questions unanswered...
Need to explore Quaker philosophy more thoroughly...

So you were just baiting, as usual. Hey ho.

Bo Winegard is somebody who posts links to interesting things. That's all I know. I mentioned his name out of politeness and because someone else might want to look at his and Irwin's stuff.

Also, secondarily, to show that Twitter isn't the hell-hole some people portray it as. It's full of interesting people.

Sorry, William Irwin's article.

post to thatbags

Do you come to many conclusions in life?

Who is Bo Winegard and why does his/her opinion matter?
Should I put any effort into reading his/her article and why/ why not?

Actually, the artile linked to in the OP answers your question very well, dj. Take a look if you really want an answer and weren't just baiting.

Because I believe in discussing things, dj, in airing ideas. It helps my understanding of the world. Why else?

Anyway, as I said before, I like the idea of god being a question rather than an answer, but I discovered, when trying to exlain it to MrBags, that it's quite difficult. I'd better read the article again.

For someone who doesn't put any effort into believing or doubting something because you do not think it is worth the effort, you seem to have put a lot of effort into this thread, bags.
I wonder why you started it.

Excuse me, ab, but I didn't question anybody about their faith. You chose to feel threatened or hurt by what I said about ideas and beliefs being, in theory, open to question. I was not talking about any particular person's ideas or beliefs. Just as you don't care what my beliefs are, I don't care what other people's beliefs are but if I hear about a belief I'm allowed to talk about it, to consider it in conversation with others, if they so choose. Anyone who doesn't want to discuss an idea or a belief doesn't have to.

bookdreamer, perhaps you should just stop reading my posts then? They are not obligatory, you know, and I wouldn't mind in the least

Luckygirl - I agree, no one actually knows.

Whether one believes or not, if the world's population, of whatever religion or non religion, lived their lives by the 10 Commandments oh what a lovely world it would be. Not likely to happen of course but a nice thought.

As for me I never understand thatbags posts. Always too deep for me and too many words.

i think intolerance is the problem, not if you believe or not. I personally found it difficult backpacking through parts of the USA last year. When asked repeatedly what church I belonged to ( that's none ) my answer was met with genuine disbelief. A friend had engaged in conversation with a couple the previous evening. On leaving next day she was asked if they could take a photograph of her ^ " as they wanted to show their family what an atheist looked like." ^

thatbags, my faith is part of me , it is not an opinion, that you are an atheist is of no concern to me and I wouldn't be so ill mannered as to question you as to why you are an atheist. A person faith belongs to the person who has it, no one else, in my opinion challenging my faith is no different to me asking you do you enjoy sex on the kitchen table and if so with whom

Jesus is a good place to start looking for evidence for the existance of God. There are references to him from historical sources apart from the Bible. He claimed to be God. So was he mad, bad or God?