For example, you put yourself through university by studying hard and working full time. Then someone says, you should thank god for giving you the strength. Like wtf do you mean, I busted my ass day in and day out but I’m supposed to thank god for it?
Oh man, let me introduce you to Christopher Hitchens. Unfortunately dead now, ha was an intellectual powerhouse who could cut down any argument for religion like a hot knife through butter. Start by searching Instagram for him. He’s also funny as shit.
I don’t have that issue. I don’t think I talked about God or religion in years. I do go to a church for mutual aid but it’s not religious
Not to irritate you, but you sound like someone who hasn’t accepted Our Lord in your heart.
But my therapist told me I need to stop getting into abusive relationships
I’ve had a life of endless suffering due to many things. When people tell me it’s all part of our loving God’s plan for me, I almost lose mind. If God exists, he isn’t loving. Inflicting such awful things on your children isn’t love. It’s abuse.
I live in a conservative suburb where every other person you meet is in some megachurch, so it’s inevitable. Having recently retired, I’m quickly running out of fux to give. One day I’m going to tell one of them how my Lord Cthulhu has changed my life, and see how fast they bail.
Or turn on you now that you have a fixed income
For the strength. No, not anymore. I looked into the origins of my batshit insane evangelical cult upbringing, really studied it (and still am not not gorging anymore) and got over myself. I’m at peace with my own beliefs, and when that happens, the only criticism that is genuine and valid are those who make a mockery of their deities by doing evil in the deities’ names.
Peace be upon you. 🌹 As one of those religious people, I can simply say: “No.” 😁
We deeply religious people (whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or others) simply believe that everything happens through God’s will. However, this does not mean that free will doesn’t exist. You will be rewarded solely for your hard work, Inshallah, because that is your own merit.
You should just keep in mind that the phrase “you should thank God for giving you so much strength” is actually a compliment. It means “God loves you”
Of course, it also depends on how the person expresses this words 😅, but it is something beautiful.
Peace be upon you all🌹🌹🌹
I appreciate you but I have many reasons to believe god does not love me lol
I’ve been an atheist since I was a kid and first learned the word that explained my skepticism of all the nonsense I grew up with.
I became open about it when I got to college and had that phase where I let stuff like people saying “bless you” or “god gave you strength” get under my skin and make me mad. All these years later. I’ve learned to pick my battles and not let peoples well meaning sayings bug me.
“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions” -Thomas Jefferson. Don’t get mad, and also don’t come right at them with the ridicule as they expect that and are prepared. Simply start agreeing with them and see how far you can take it.
A little irritated that they should presume upon my religious practice, like they think they need to act as hall monitor for God. Like you can praise God as you feel compelled, but don’t tell me how to; that’s between us.
I’m not sure “irritated” is the right word. If God is the reason good things happen, I have to ask why THE FUCK my daughter got a brain tumor at age 10. If that was part of God’s Great Plan then he’s a FUCKING ASSHOLE, and next time you pray you can tell him that for me.
Anything I say will seem reductive and hollow, but I’m truly sorry you’ve had to/are having to deal with this and I can’t imagine the hardship. I wish you and your family nothing but the best.
I was reading recently that thought as we know it, is a relatively recent development in humanity. Up until only a few hundred years ago, any ideas we came up with, were automatically attributed to the Gods. You didn’t come up with any ideas on your own, you wondered what to do, and God told you, and you did it.
It was only a few hundred years ago that people began to realize that they were thinking up these ideas on their own, and God had nothing to do with it.
Some people STILL think this way.
The idea of the weird voice in your head not being “you” can make a lot of sense, in a weird way.
I also once read that the Romans believed thoughts came from your heart. I get that. After all, when you feel loss or separation, you feel it in your chest.
Still, it’s interesting to think about - why do we think thoughts come from our head? I’ve tried to imagine thoughts coming from my heart, and it doesn’t feel right. I think it might be because our eyes and ears are right there, feeding information straight into our brain. And yet the Romans believed it. It must have felt right to them, so that would indicate that it’s a socialization sort of thing. We’re told where our thoughts emanate from, and we believe it.
I guess they didn’t know what the brain did exactly, but they must have noticed from battle injuries that the brain is key to being alive.
It irritates me because the family member who attributes random occurrences to god intervening in daily life and a great evil we are fighting on earth that also intervenes is catholic; this mystic shit is heretical as hell.
Its a philosophical crutch, putting your reason for living or being a decent person in the hands of an other entity is easier than taking that responsibility yourself.
I guess the emotion I feel when some theist is mouthing off or drawing irrational conclusions is pitty. I do try to not be judgmental, but its hard some days.
I will note however, that if that’s what it takes for someone to be a decent person, who am I to GAF :)
I’m not a Christian anymore, but brought up as one. I was never told what Christianity actually is and meant, and only figured that out later in life. That did help me to not be too annoyed with the annoying parts of Christianity, even when people themselves don’t have a clue about what they are saying.
A basic misunderstanding of what is meant by ‘thanking God’ in a religious context like this, for atheist (and for a lot of theists as well), is the idea that this is an outwards expression, to something out there. For the theists it is supposed to be an inward expression to a feeling/knowledge of yourself. That’s the entire idea of baptism, it’s the symbolic acknowledgement of having God inside you. And part of the three parts of God (in Christianity), inside, outside, and in other persons. Symbolized by the holy spirit, God as a father and Jesus.
A consequence of being a creation of the almighty God. So, that’s 4 Gods to keep track of. Of which 3 of them are the representation of 1, this also hints at the polytheistic beginnings of religion.
I think for most atheists the feelings of annoyance isn’t because of these beliefs, as they are in themselves quite logical (in their own right, I didn’t mean ‘correct’ or ‘factual’). The annoying part is Christians don’t understand their own religion anymore and most of it is infested with fascism.
Anyway, this helps me not hate too much on harmless frases.
