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> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment ! OP isn't stupid. He has no problem comprehending the wrath of your imaginary f

by weland 13y ago

> Sometime it is very difficult for human to understand GOD and his punishment ! OP isn't stupid. He has no problem comprehending the wrath of your imaginary friend, nor the imaginary nature of the aforementioned wrath. He lost a dear friend and mentor. The one who has trouble understanding reality is you.

jlgaddis 13y ago
A few months ago, I was on the losing end of a head-on motorcycle versus Jeep Cherokee crash and spent several days in the hospital. I had some pretty severe injuries but somehow managed to not smash my head in -- I don't wear a helmet and, although I had several broken bones, I somehow escaped with only had a few cuts and scrapes to my head. Several of the doctors and nurses said (words to the effect of) "someone upstairs must have been looking out for you". I'm an athiest and I get really annoyed when people say such things but, at the time, the best way I could think of to respond was to simply keep my mouth shut and not respond at all, so I said nothing. It was about the fourth or fifth person who made such a remark when I finally went off. "Oh!? Well why the fk wasn't he looking out for me a few seconds earlier? He could have stopped that Jeep from turning in front of me -- but he didn't, did he? Get out of here with your religious bullsh*t!" I really hate to be like that or respond to people that way but I just couldn't take it anymore. Apparently, however, "the word spread" as not one more person said anything even remotely similar to me the rest of the time I was there. (Similar/related: all the "praying for you" comments posted to my Facebook page. I responded to those with something along the lines of "I don't believe in God so don't waste your time praying but, if you must, pray for the doctors who are operating on me instead.")
- mseebach 13y ago
  > "Oh!? Well why the fk wasn't he looking out for me a few seconds earlier? He could have stopped that Jeep from turning in front of me -- but he didn't, did he? Get out of here with your religious bullsh*t!" So supposedly you were the rational party to the exchange, yet you failed to see that people (although you don't share their exact worldview) were just trying to be nice and went full-on asshole in return. No wonder the word spread quickly. I'm not religious, but I have enough empathy to understand that when someone says "god bless" or similar, it's meant sincerely, and I care much more about a world in which strangers are sincere to each other than one where everybody understands there is no god.
- Confusion 13y ago
  I'm an athiest and I get really annoyed when people say such things [..] Why? You make it sound like you think that's an entirely reasonable response, but as a fellow atheist: I don't think it is. Why not just say 'Thanks'?
  - lmm 13y ago
    It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? More generally I get annoyed when someone says something false, even if I can't immediately see what mistakes it's going to lead them to make. My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later.
    - bostonpete 13y ago
      > it can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? This seems like a red herring. I'm not a religious person, but the notion that it's possible for a divine power to influence human affairs doesn't necessarily imply the absence of free will. Do you have evidence of this dangerous fatalism? Other than the tiny percentage of fanatics who want to be martyrs, I don't consider religious folks to be an especially reckless bunch.
      - lmm 13y ago
        No, I don't have a study or anything, this is just personal experience. > Other than the tiny percentage of fanatics who want to be martyrs, I don't consider religious folks to be an especially reckless bunch. You see a more subtle form in the conservatism that goes with religion; many religions oppose positive social changes, and I think that's partly because of the assumption that nothing could be truly wrong with the world the way it is today.
    - PavlovsCat 13y ago
      > Why not just say 'Thanks'? > It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. I know I'm quoting out of context, but I had to. > My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later. But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about. No, when someone speaks from their position into your life, that is not okay. If you speak from your position into theirs, it's super objective and correct, and to downvote them into oblivion is a perfectly adequate response. Who here would care if they're hellbanned? Just another peddler of religious beliefs, nuke them. Oh, but as Bill Hicks said: Newsflash, you're dead too. Mistakes lead to a bad outcome, so does perfection. So I don't quite get the posturing. We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. -- Charles Bukowski Yet from what I can tell, not believing in a particular fairy tale doesn't mean that every single thing you otherwise hold true isn't a fairy tale as well. It doesn't take a lot of science or introspection to realize that, does it? When people say "Planet Earth" instead if exactly describing the configuration of all matter and energy in the universe, does that make you angry, too?
- MartinCron 13y ago
  As a fellow atheist and motorcyclist, may I suggest that you start wearing a helmet? I mean, when there's no afterlife to look forward to, you should probably wear the appropriate safety gear.
  - chinpokomon 13y ago
    As a former motorcyclist, don't squid!
ansimionescu 13y ago
Bashing someone for their religious beliefs. Really enlightened behaviour, right there.
- ramblerman 13y ago
  preying on grieving people with your religious beliefs is worse.
- weland 13y ago
  I'm bashing someone for being an asshole. The fact that there's a religious touch in his assholeness is quite irrelevant to me.

by weland 13y ago

jlgaddis 13y ago

A few months ago, I was on the losing end of a head-on motorcycle versus Jeep Cherokee crash and spent several days in the hospital. I had some pretty severe injuries but somehow managed to not smash my head in -- I don't wear a helmet and, although I had several broken bones, I somehow escaped with only had a few cuts and scrapes to my head. Several of the doctors and nurses said (words to the effect of) "someone upstairs must have been looking out for you". I'm an athiest and I get really annoyed when people say such things but, at the time, the best way I could think of to respond was to simply keep my mouth shut and not respond at all, so I said nothing. It was about the fourth or fifth person who made such a remark when I finally went off. "Oh!? Well why the fk wasn't he looking out for me a few seconds earlier? He could have stopped that Jeep from turning in front of me -- but he didn't, did he? Get out of here with your religious bullsh*t!" I really hate to be like that or respond to people that way but I just couldn't take it anymore. Apparently, however, "the word spread" as not one more person said anything even remotely similar to me the rest of the time I was there. (Similar/related: all the "praying for you" comments posted to my Facebook page. I responded to those with something along the lines of "I don't believe in God so don't waste your time praying but, if you must, pray for the doctors who are operating on me instead.")

mseebach 13y ago
> "Oh!? Well why the fk wasn't he looking out for me a few seconds earlier? He could have stopped that Jeep from turning in front of me -- but he didn't, did he? Get out of here with your religious bullsh*t!" So supposedly you were the rational party to the exchange, yet you failed to see that people (although you don't share their exact worldview) were just trying to be nice and went full-on asshole in return. No wonder the word spread quickly. I'm not religious, but I have enough empathy to understand that when someone says "god bless" or similar, it's meant sincerely, and I care much more about a world in which strangers are sincere to each other than one where everybody understands there is no god.
Confusion 13y ago
I'm an athiest and I get really annoyed when people say such things [..] Why? You make it sound like you think that's an entirely reasonable response, but as a fellow atheist: I don't think it is. Why not just say 'Thanks'?
- lmm 13y ago
  It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? More generally I get annoyed when someone says something false, even if I can't immediately see what mistakes it's going to lead them to make. My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later.
  - bostonpete 13y ago
    > it can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. If you think it's in God's hands whether you survive a crash, why wear a seatbelt? This seems like a red herring. I'm not a religious person, but the notion that it's possible for a divine power to influence human affairs doesn't necessarily imply the absence of free will. Do you have evidence of this dangerous fatalism? Other than the tiny percentage of fanatics who want to be martyrs, I don't consider religious folks to be an especially reckless bunch.
    - lmm 13y ago
      No, I don't have a study or anything, this is just personal experience. > Other than the tiny percentage of fanatics who want to be martyrs, I don't consider religious folks to be an especially reckless bunch. You see a more subtle form in the conservatism that goes with religion; many religions oppose positive social changes, and I think that's partly because of the assumption that nothing could be truly wrong with the world the way it is today.
  - PavlovsCat 13y ago
    > Why not just say 'Thanks'? > It can lead to a very dangerous fatalism. I know I'm quoting out of context, but I had to. > My experience is that even the most benign-seeming of errors can cause problems sooner or later. But of course you don't mean the mistake of mistaking a genuine attempt to be friendly for something to be indignated about. No, when someone speaks from their position into your life, that is not okay. If you speak from your position into theirs, it's super objective and correct, and to downvote them into oblivion is a perfectly adequate response. Who here would care if they're hellbanned? Just another peddler of religious beliefs, nuke them. Oh, but as Bill Hicks said: Newsflash, you're dead too. Mistakes lead to a bad outcome, so does perfection. So I don't quite get the posturing. We’re all going to die, all of us, what a circus! That alone should make us love each other but it doesn’t. We are terrorized and flattened by trivialities, we are eaten up by nothing. -- Charles Bukowski Yet from what I can tell, not believing in a particular fairy tale doesn't mean that every single thing you otherwise hold true isn't a fairy tale as well. It doesn't take a lot of science or introspection to realize that, does it? When people say "Planet Earth" instead if exactly describing the configuration of all matter and energy in the universe, does that make you angry, too?
MartinCron 13y ago
As a fellow atheist and motorcyclist, may I suggest that you start wearing a helmet? I mean, when there's no afterlife to look forward to, you should probably wear the appropriate safety gear.
- chinpokomon 13y ago
  As a former motorcyclist, don't squid!

ansimionescu 13y ago

Bashing someone for their religious beliefs. Really enlightened behaviour, right there.

ramblerman 13y ago
preying on grieving people with your religious beliefs is worse.
weland 13y ago
I'm bashing someone for being an asshole. The fact that there's a religious touch in his assholeness is quite irrelevant to me.