who here believes in a god?

[shwsrvcs]

I read this today, somebody posted this on face book and I just thought.. WHAT A MIND FUCK...... It's the first line in this that gets me... "long before psychology came about" right there is the key balance statement of the whole piece making the reader's thoughts or instincts placed on notice that you should forget anything that you might know or think... followed by unverifiable statement and then progressing into biblical rhetoric and a call to arms to side with "god" and to foget any sort of self worth in favor of putting your trust said god and giving all to faith....

what do you think? god or no god... what are your opinions...

Okay.. crucify this post!!!

DG

September 22, 2009

Eliminate Negative Self-Talk
by Rick Warren
"Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts" (Proverbs 4:23 GN).

Long before psychology came around, God said your thoughts determine your feelings and your feelings determine your actions. If you want to change your life, you've got to control the way you think.

Our minds are really an amazing creation. It would take a computer the size of a small city just to carry out the basic functions of your brain. Your brain contains over one hundred billion nerve cells. Each individual cell is connected with ten thousand other neurons.

In addition, you're constantly talking to yourself--all the time. Your mind is talking to you! You're talking to yourself right now. Research indicates that most people speak at a rate of 150 to 200 words per minute, but the mind can listen to about 500-600 words a minute. That's why you can listen to me and plan today's dinner at the same time.

In fact, our internal dialogue--the conversation we have with ourselves--is at a rate of 1,300 words per minute. How? Because our mind sees in pictures, and you can see a thought in a nano-second!

The problem is a lot of us are like Job, who says, "Everything I say seems to condemn me" (Job 9:20 GN). He is saying, in effect, "Everything I say puts me down." If you are typical to the human race, you are your own worst critic.

We're always putting ourselves down. We walk into a room smiling, but inside we're thinking, "I?m fat. I'm dumb. I'm ugly. And I'm always late!"

God wants us to stop putting ourselves down. When you put yourself down, who are you really putting down? When you say, "I'm fat. I'm dumb. I'm ugly. I'm no good. I have no talent," you're really pointing to the Creator who made you. When you say, "God, I'm worthless. I'm no good. I can't do anything," you're saying, "God, you blew it with me." That's why God says it's wrong to put yourself down.

How do you eliminate negative self-talk so you can become a more confident person?

The Bible teaches the principle of replacement: "Fix your thoughts on what is true and good and right . . . Think about all you can thank God for and be glad about" (Philippians 4:8 TLB).

In other words, don't think about all those weaknesses in your life. Focus on who God wants you to be and on what God wants to do in your life. I don't know any better antidote to low self-esteem (or to facing your hurts, habits, and hang-ups) than to read God's word every day: study it, memorize it, meditate on it, and apply it in your life.

There isn't a better thing you can do to raise your confidence level than to start believing what God says about you. As I read through the Bible, chapter by chapter, I find a verse that speaks to me. I write it down on a card, memorize it, and then I start affirming it back to God. "Father, thank you that I am valuable; I am significant; I am forgivable; I am capable." Let God renew your mind because "your life is shaped by your thoughts" (Proverbs 4:23 GN).

[qxm]

Originally Posted by shwsrvcs

I read this today, somebody posted this on face book and I just thought.. WHAT A MIND FUCK...... It's the first line in this that gets me... "long before psychology came about" right there is the key balance statement of the whole piece making the reader's thoughts or instincts placed on notice that you should forget anything that you might know or think... followed by unverifiable statement and then progressing into biblical rhetoric and a call to arms to side with "god" and to foget any sort of self worth in favor of putting your trust said god and giving all to faith....

well.... that about says it all .......

[SoloGirlsContent]

HORES the Egyptian SUN GOD is all I know

[Spunky]

Jesus is lord!

[marketsmart]

either god is real or its the greatest works of fiction ever created...

i lean towards the latter...

[bronco67]

I was walking from my car to the supermarket door today, and the thought occurred to me...look at all of these other walking, talking parasites/virus/organisms all going about their business which they think is important. None of this would exist if not for our planet being the correct distance from the sun, and having the perfect balance of oxygen/chemicals to allow us to sprout up from goo, evolve over many years, use our hands with opposable thumbs to build shelter, kill each other and create governments, build shopping malls and nuclear weapons, and take ourselves way too seriously.

The human race is a one of a kind accident in the universe, each of us basically a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

This is more likely than the existence of God.

[itto]

imho mankind is the biggest failure in evolution - self-awareness makes us think of death and whatever.. hail to them low critters like apes who just live their lives and don't think about the outcome of their actions.

[TiltMaster]

I don't really like lying to myself , so no i don't believe in jesus....But what really gets me is HOW THE HELL DID THE UNIVERSE START AND WHAT WAS BEFORE IT?

I can believe that it was just luck for our planet to be formed the correct distance from the sun and all that , because .... the universe is just too big , we will never know how big , so a planet like ours was BOUND to happen somewhere

[PenetratinP]

Originally Posted by bronco67

I was walking from my car to the supermarket door today, and the thought occurred to me...look at all of these other walking, talking parasites/virus/organisms all going about their business which they think is important. None of this would exist if not for our planet being the correct distance from the sun, and having the perfect balance of oxygen/chemicals to allow us to sprout up from goo, evolve over many years, use our hands with opposable thumbs to build shelter, kill each other and create governments, build shopping malls and nuclear weapons, and take ourselves way too seriously.

The human race is a one of a kind accident in the universe, each of us basically a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

This is more likely than the existence of God.

That was beautiful man.

Seriously.

[papill0n]

Originally Posted by bronco67

a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

[dozey]

Originally Posted by itto

imho mankind is the biggest failure in evolution - self-awareness makes us think of death and whatever.. hail to them low critters like apes who just live their lives and don't think about the outcome of their actions.

The search for meaning in anything when you're on a spinning dirt wad in the vacuum of space for no apparent reason seems bound to failure or misconception at very least. The majority of people appear to operate in relative ignorance most of the time anyway (which isn't necessarily a bad thing). But not only that, the same people tend to take a stubborn / ignorant approach which would aptly be described as primitive when confronted with anything outside the scope of routine. Cognizance is fairly irrelevant if you're almost incapable of introspection... it's practically self awareness without the awareness - an extrospective reactionary existence.

So... without meaning to deride humanity, I'd say it's an observation that speaks more of the infrequent critique than his subject.


Metaphysics is always a hard subject to articulate.

[madawgz]

I dont agree with "god"

but something very similar comes to mind after reading this thread

the power of Positive Thinking, and i believe this has worked for me...and many others

theres a movie on it, its called The Secret.

oh, and after watching the movie i understood more of why i was thinking in a certain way, it came clear. but its hard to always think positive lol

[brassmonkey]

my pops thumped on the bible when he was hi

[JD]

Originally Posted by bronco67

I was walking from my car to the supermarket door today, and the thought occurred to me...look at all of these other walking, talking parasites/virus/organisms all going about their business which they think is important. None of this would exist if not for our planet being the correct distance from the sun, and having the perfect balance of oxygen/chemicals to allow us to sprout up from goo, evolve over many years, use our hands with opposable thumbs to build shelter, kill each other and create governments, build shopping malls and nuclear weapons, and take ourselves way too seriously.

The human race is a one of a kind accident in the universe, each of us basically a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

This is more likely than the existence of God.

fucking brilliant!

[hjnet]

Originally Posted by TiltMaster

I don't really like lying to myself , so no i don't believe in jesus....But what really gets me is HOW THE HELL DID THE UNIVERSE START AND WHAT WAS BEFORE IT?

I can believe that it was just luck for our planet to be formed the correct distance from the sun and all that , because .... the universe is just too big , we will never know how big , so a planet like ours was BOUND to happen somewhere

The Big Bang that happend about 13.7 Billion years ago also created our actual physical constants and physical characteristics (and maybe ended those that existed before if it was just some kind of rebound). That includes Space as we know it and Time as we know it. There was no "before", as the definitions of "before" and "after", "below", "above, "left", "right" were created at that point (again, if it wasn't a rebound). Since then our Universe expanded to an app. diameter of ~96 Billion Light years

[Sausage]

Yep, am Anglican. Go to church very occasionally to.

Know that probably paints a cross on my forehead for all the rabid athiests we seem to have here, but it's a personal choice and I enjoy it. However anyone regardless of being religious or athiest who tries to force their views on others is an idiot.

[Redrob]

Mysticism is reality; dogma is culture.

[dozey]

Originally Posted by hjnet

The Big Bang that happend about 13.7 Billion years ago also created our actual physical constants and physical characteristics (and maybe ended those that existed before if it was just some kind of rebound). That includes Space as we know it and Time as we know it. There was no "before", as the definitions of "before" and "after", "below", "above, "left", "right" were created at that point (again, if it wasn't a rebound). Since then our Universe expanded to an app. diameter of ~96 Billion Light years

Hardly a satisfactory explanation though, just keep asking "why" and you'll end up with the answer "I don't know why." Unless of course you accept some fundamental state without evidence, which would thereby render every derived concept equally arbitrary. Thankfully however some things (with the exception of their own genesis) aren't contingent upon conception i.e., quantum mechanics (as far as I know). Presumably the Big-Bang theory itself requires the acknowledgement and integrity of such underpinning mechanisms in order to hold any validity. Thusly the parameters for a cyclic model of the universe remain unexplained - the universe itself exists within the mechanism and constitution that defines it, not as an axiomatic construct. You're still left to explain why the apple falls regardless of where it came from.

[okny]

People need something to believe in, i rather worry about what is going on today not what happens when i die for the most part i think once the lights turn off that's it no magical place or anything of that sort...

[adultebusiness]

Originally Posted by okny

People need something to believe in, i rather worry about what is going on today not what happens when i die for the most part i think once the lights turn off that's it no magical place or anything of that sort...

Very True. People need something to have faith on.

[Zorgman]

Do you really want to know. That's the question.
If you know there is a heaven and hell would you worry about everything you do.
Would you want to die in bad times when you know there is a better place.

I think if we knew about these things the world would be a smaller place.

It's something our brains could not handle, how the universe was create. Why and how etc. It's no in our control and really will NEVER be. Why even think about it.
Just be true to yourself and be good to your family.

[BV]

[After Shock Media]

You may have to answer it for me as I am Agnostic.

Originally Posted by bronco67

I was walking from my car to the supermarket door today, and the thought occurred to me...look at all of these other walking, talking parasites/virus/organisms all going about their business which they think is important. None of this would exist if not for our planet being the correct distance from the sun, and having the perfect balance of oxygen/chemicals to allow us to sprout up from goo, evolve over many years, use our hands with opposable thumbs to build shelter, kill each other and create governments, build shopping malls and nuclear weapons, and take ourselves way too seriously.

The human race is a one of a kind accident in the universe, each of us basically a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

This is more likely than the existence of God.

The randomness of it versus the size of it makes our ideal worlds, same distance, same needs, same ways things developed even, not only more than likely but so common when it comes to math that the sheer number of such ideal planets could very well require a lifetime to count.
Not even going to take into account our own planets extremophiles.

Fairly certain mathematically any given type of world that falls within the rules of physics not only exist, they do so in great numbers.

[Mr Pheer]

Originally Posted by shwsrvcs

Our minds are really an amazing creation. It would take a computer the size of a small city just to carry out the basic functions of your brain.

Whoever wrote that has never read the specs of the i7 processor.

[Major (Tom)]

A creator? I do not deny that. Yahweh, the god of the bible? That's a stretch. I take an Aristotelian tenet: that there is an unmoved mover which set everything into motion. This does not deny the possibility of the big bang theory. It could have been a fusion chain reaction, or a what we would think of as a deity. An unmoved mover is the most plausible. This does, however, conflict with the notion of faith and dogma, and does not reconcile comfortably with many.
Duke

[seeandsee]

we will see after we die :D

[jigg]

yes
but not in the popular version of the bearded man in the sky

[SleazyDream]

there must be a God - cause I live in the home of the Gods

[ruth]

Originally Posted by simonsyinister

HORES the Egyptian SUN GOD is all I know

I always thought that was Ra, not Hores?

[Darkland]

Originally Posted by bronco67

...

The human race is a one of a kind accident in the universe, each of us basically a self aware shitpipe with meat wrapped around it.

This is more likely than the existence of God.

To actually believe, out of an infinite universe, that we are the only intelligent life is just as ridiculous as believing in the existence of a god. Why? Because unlike god, we have ourselves as a basis of proof and probability of existence.

Originally Posted by TiltMaster

I don't really like lying to myself , so no i don't believe in jesus....But what really gets me is HOW THE HELL DID THE UNIVERSE START AND WHAT WAS BEFORE IT?

I can believe that it was just luck for our planet to be formed the correct distance from the sun and all that , because .... the universe is just too big , we will never know how big , so a planet like ours was BOUND to happen somewhere

This is a basis for many people, even some in this thread, to do a little spiritual fence sitting. "I believe in a god or a creator, I just don't subscribe to a god based on religious doctrine."

Just because you can not explain something, doesn't mean it must have a supernatural or otherworldly cause at the expense of some omnipotent being.

Originally Posted by madawgz

I dont agree with "god"

but something very similar comes to mind after reading this thread

the power of Positive Thinking, and i believe this has worked for me...and many others

theres a movie on it, its called The Secret.

oh, and after watching the movie i understood more of why i was thinking in a certain way, it came clear. but its hard to always think positive lol

While positive thinking is a very powerful tool for personal wellness it is NOT as "The Secret" portrayed nor as easy. I feel sorry for anyone who swallowed that movie hook, line and sinker. She merely pieced together the bizarre notion of quantum philosophy with the philosophies from several cultures to create a new one for gullible people. The sale of her books and movie made her a wealthy woman. She is nothing more than a modern day snake oil huckster. Read up on the lawsuit that was brought against her.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...012694,00.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathly..._b_198995.html

[CaptainHowdy]

Why bother arguing this over here?

[czarina]

truly smart people don't believe in God.
Religion is too much of a fable with too many holes in it for anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together to really fall for it.

Still, the power of positive thinking is indeed a recognizable force. Not that it will control EVERYTHING in your life, but it does help you get up and get going and do things that otherwise you wouldn't because you feel incapable of.

[Riffhard]

Benjamin Franklin once said that the best service a man can for God is to be kind to you fellow man.

I just believe in being good to people, and respecting all forms of life and the environment. If there is a God, then I'm sure he'll be satisfied with me.

[themadwriter]

From what i have read and understood about religion Jesus was a very humble and simple man, that being said does any one think he would today walk into the Vatican and say to himself this is what i had in mind?

Religion is today, still the largest money making scam in the world!!!

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by Darkland

To actually believe, out of an infinite universe, that we are the only intelligent life is just as ridiculous as believing in the existence of a god. Why? Because unlike god, we have ourselves as a basis of proof and probability of existence.

Actually, I meant that we on this planet are a one of a kind accident. That's not to say that other "accidents" haven't happened out there somewhere.

[bronco67]

Originally Posted by czarina

truly smart people don't believe in God.
Religion is too much of a fable with too many holes in it for anyone with 2 brain cells to rub together to really fall for it.

Still, the power of positive thinking is indeed a recognizable force. Not that it will control EVERYTHING in your life, but it does help you get up and get going and do things that otherwise you wouldn't because you feel incapable of.

So true. Sometimes I envy religious people who have that faith, and know that there's something for them after death -- of course, the smart people know that its just eternal blackness.

I can imagine it'll be really tough on the death bed without religion.

[Scott McD]

Nope. It's one big pile of BS...

[kowalsky]

God is a stupid concept. However if make some people to be happier, it´s ok, I don´t like to make them open their eyes...

[SpicyM]

Originally Posted by itto

imho mankind is the biggest failure in evolution - self-awareness makes us think of death and whatever.. hail to them low critters like apes who just live their lives and don't think about the outcome of their actions.

I was thinking of the self awareness the same way.. and its scary if thats true, it makes people afraid of death and then the question: what happens after it? Do we just fall asleep? forever? what is forever?? just darkness? something must happen.. Are we going to be conscious of the death?? What happens to the soul if the body just rots?? Then the question is if we really managed to think like this on our own or some strange power helped us.. ie: why people? why not apes??

[Tom_PM]

Given time, mother nature grows right over all religions, politicians, everything.

Think on that and be at peace.

[camchoice]

Too much crap going on in this world, no such thing as a god. A sadistic devil maybe...

[SpicyM]

Originally Posted by TiltMaster

I don't really like lying to myself , so no i don't believe in jesus....But what really gets me is HOW THE HELL DID THE UNIVERSE START AND WHAT WAS BEFORE IT?

Bingo.. This is the exact question that always bothers me.. really you nailed that.. I can accept the big bang theory.. but then what was before?? Nothing? Ok, how did the nothing looked like??? And what is outside the space?? I know its huge but everything has its borders.. so what is outside that??

Also.. if a chemical reaction created live/human beings.. why we cant create it in a lab?? (not cloning)

[Tom_PM]

We can't be so arrogant to think that we know it all, now can we.
Super colliding is cool though. Particles, anti-particles.

[Kard63]

I agree people desperately look for explanations/reasons and lot of concepts promoted in the bible would be very beneficial for feudal kings to keep their people in line but I still believe.

[SpicyM]

..or better question.. the Big bang was caused by a chemical reaction.. where did the chemicals come from?? What created them? Did they just happen to be?? How can something create itself?? And where were the chemicals located as there were no space?????

[SpicyM]

The difference between religion and atheism is that the religious people have answers to all the questions

[2012]

Yes i do.
I can't wait to go to heaven. Where we will all talk to the animals, they will not hurt us anymore because there will be no need to compete for food. No more fighting and killing and I'll see all my dead relatives. Even the ones I hate, because now we'll magically get along.
It really doesn't matter what we do to the earth. It will be made better after we are resurrected from the dead to have picnics and parties with all gods creatures. We'll all have smiles on our faces. The mega rich and ultra poor will finally sit at the same table for cake and ice cream. We'll all dress alike and use a unisex toilet because there will be no more perverts.

[onwebcam]

Pharmacratic Inquisition
http://video.google.com/videoplay?do...94877846161987

[Brujah]

This is all a simulation.

[hjnet]

Originally Posted by SpicyM

the Big bang was caused by a chemical reaction..

No it wasn't