My discussion with God

Racer1930

Racer1930

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Semi- Dreaming..............

Me: "what? what's going on?"

God: "Well Mr. Brownlee, we haven't heard from you in awhile, so I decided to take your call, what is your issue?"

Me: "well God...it's like this...I've pretty much done the best I can and I expected to be able to semi-retire at my age but these things keep popping up...how many crosses do I have to bear?"

God: "interesting analogy Mr. Brownlee...my son had a similar problem...let's look at the book. I see you have done relatively well in your life with minor setbacks...but you want something more."

Me: "Well God, I just want things to get easier...y'know."

God: "Let's look at your family history. Your father toiled all his life to give you a proper upbringing and missed out on a few things along the way. Your Mother helped raise a nephew and lost out on many of her dreams. Luckily they found each other and were happy. I see you were born by C-Section when your Mother was 39 years old - obviously not a planned birth but both of your parents were willing to take the risk instead of aborting you. Your Grandfather worked in the coal mines and three of your relatives died in the Civil War...two on the side of the North and one on the side of the South."

Me: "Wow...I didn't know that"

God: "There is a lot you don't know Mr. Brownlee...but I'm a busy man...you get what you get, simple as that. Now do you have any further questions before I return you to your normal dream of being late for class or not being ready for inspection?"

Me: "I guess not...no wait...what does the fox say?"



God: "I get this question all the time...the fox doesn't say anything...it's a fox."

Me: "Yeah...I guess you are right."

God: "Yes...I AM.
 
A good read that provoked some thoughts.
If prosperity religion had any substance; then we all could follow a simple abc plan and all would be well, nice and tidy.
But that is just a good sale for those who peddle their own type of snake oil.

But imo that isnt faith. There are some heartbreaking roads we have to cross. Some senseless things that just cant be rationalized. In more pointed terms there are some things that we will never understand, things that will hurt and pain us all the way to our own graves.
Trying to understand those things is natural, but imo they make the pain worse. In most cases there will never be a good reason, there isnt a good why, it is just too senseless. Even for those who live the most pure lives, a person can be as faultless as possible and still suffer.

Faith is just believing the Lord knows what he is doing, and a belief that is real enough to be genuine during the tough times too. To keep on doing our best.

Tony I am glad your son has you and his mother. I know you love him, and you will be there for him.

In Atlanta he probably has some great doctors. I pray that they will be sucessful in helping him.
I wish you all only the best.
 
Greg said:
A good read that provoked some thoughts.
If prosperity religion had any substance; then we all could follow a simple abc plan and all would be well, nice and tidy.
But that is just a good sale for those who peddle their own type of snake oil.

But imo that isnt faith. There are some heartbreaking roads we have to cross. Some senseless things that just cant be rationalized. In more pointed terms there are some things that we will never understand, things that will hurt and pain us all the way to our own graves.
Trying to understand those things is natural, but imo they make the pain worse. In most cases there will never be a good reason, there isnt a good why, it is just too senseless. Even for those who live the most pure lives, a person can be as faultless as possible and still suffer.

Faith is just believing the Lord knows what he is doing, and a belief that is real enough to be genuine during the tough times too. To keep on doing our best.

Tony I am glad your son has you and his mother. I know you love him, and you will be there for him.

In Atlanta he probably has some great doctors. I pray that they will be sucessful in helping him.
I wish you all only the best.
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Excellent post, Greg. Others in this forum may bash us for our beliefs and opinions, but I hope they keep their opinions to themselves. It can be hard to stay strong when bad things pile up. Life can kind of seem to get on top of you. Watching my mother-in-law go through what cancer did to her was a hard thing to do. Especially from a spiritual prospective. She was a long time sunday school teacher who did her best to raise her kids in a godly home. She even adopted her grandson when her daughter wasn't able to handle the responsibility when her husband bailed on her. She certainly wasn't perfect, but it seemed especially cruel to have her go through what she went through physically. The thing is, she was so positive about it. She credited her faith with giving her perspective. I questioned it a lot more than she seemed to. There have been a lot of physical, and mostly related, financial hardships in my life. My wife and I taught sunday school for many years, my wife still teaches as she has since she graduated high school. I've worked with troubled youth at the detention center and outside of it as well. My wife has worked in many more areas of ministry as well. She certainly deserves a lot better than what we have, even if I feel like I don't most of the time. I don't say any of this to brag or toot my own horn. It's just to show that, when you feel like you are doing what you should be it can be hard to understand why bad stuff still happens. We will never know this side of heaven. The thing is, as Greg pointed out, that's what faith really is. It's not about platitudes or anything else. It's simply faith.
 
Along the way (in life) I was able to hear a person speak who had gone through a (verified) death experience - and who came back due to quick efforts by on-scene EMTs. He said the oddest thing. He said it was totally un-explainable...but the closest he could get to describing it would be the old joke - two caterpillars are walking upon the ground and they see a shadow go over them. They are initially afraid, then they realize that it is a Monarch Butterfly. One looks over at the other and says "Man...they will never get me up into one of those things"

Of course, neither of them realize that - that is exactly what they will become.

Personally...I have a hard time thinking that one's performance on earth has no bearing on what is beyond. There has to be a God...whether it's mine or yours or shared.

To think that a man like Albert Einstein, a scientist and atheist, would burn in H_LL for eternity for his views while a man like Ted Bundy, an evil serial murderer, could get salvation at the last minute and receive salvation before they hit the switch on "old Sparky" and go to Heaven....well...I just don't know.
 
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"Others in this forum may bash us for our beliefs and opinions, but I hope they keep their opinions to themselves."
So I suppose it's only okay for people to express their opinions as long as they agree with you?
I'm not for bashing, but I also don't like censored debate.

"To think that a man like Albert Einstein, a scientist and atheist, would burn in H_LL for eternity for his views..."; so you say.
Here's how a lot of scientists view religion: science flies men to the moon. Religion flies men into buildings. RIP 911.
 
gone said:
"Others in this forum may bash us for our beliefs and opinions, but I hope they keep their opinions to themselves."
So I suppose it's only okay for people to express their opinions as long as they agree with you?
I'm not for bashing, but I also don't like censored debate.

"To think that a man like Albert Einstein, a scientist and atheist, would burn in H_LL for eternity for his views..."; so you say.
Here's how a lot of scientists view religion: science flies men to the moon. Religion flies men into buildings. RIP 911.
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Respectfully, I don't think anyone here said anything about a "censored debate". In fact, I don't believe anyone asked for or wished for a debate in any form. There are plenty of places on this site for debates. This was simply a thread for like minded people to support each other. I'm not sure how that offended you or your sensibilities. I never said anything about anyone going to hell or why they would do so. I would never say anyone would burn in hell for their views. That simply isn't what the bible teaches. However, I don't wish to get into a public debate with you. If I did, I would join the Forum area. If you are truly interested in my thoughts on the subject, I suppose you could PM me and if I will attempt to discuss it rationally and respectfully.
 
gone said:
"Others in this forum may bash us for our beliefs and opinions, but I hope they keep their opinions to themselves."
So I suppose it's only okay for people to express their opinions as long as they agree with you?
I'm not for bashing, but I also don't like censored debate.

"To think that a man like Albert Einstein, a scientist and atheist, would burn in H_LL for eternity for his views..."; so you say.
Here's how a lot of scientists view religion: science flies men to the moon. Religion flies men into buildings. RIP 911.
Click to expand...
Ahhh, you think along the same lines that I do, proof is the only way that one can even imagine that there is a God. Without proof one can only speculate, rely on the inacurate interepretations of a book of fables, or listen to a preacher spout off a bunch of fairy tales. I know a lot of people take religion seriously, but I'll ask you why, if you don't have concrete proof of your so called creator how can you take it seriously? I know faith is a big thing, a powerful thing, and I have faith. I have faith in something and that is myself and some of my fellow man, but to have faith in something in which you have been told exists, but you can not see and no one has, or has definitive proof of it existing just doesn't fly with me. I'm not trying to say that because you believe it is wrong, far from it, I'm just don't understand how you can believe when there is no proof of if it existing This coming from a guy that was raised Catholic and questioned all he was taught right from the begining.
 
Mopardh9 said:
Ahhh, you think along the same lines that I do, proof is the only way that one can even imagine that there is a God. Without proof one can only speculate, rely on the inacurate interepretations of a book of fables, or listen to a preacher spout off a bunch of fairy tales. I know a lot of people take religion seriously, but I'll ask you why, if you don't have concrete proof of your so called creator how can you take it seriously? I know faith is a big thing, a powerful thing, and I have faith. I have faith in something and that is myself and some of my fellow man, but to have faith in something in which you have been told exists, but you can not see and no one has, or has definitive proof of it existing just doesn't fly with me. I'm not trying to say that because you believe it is wrong, far from it, I'm just don't understand how you can believe when there is no proof of if it existing This coming from a guy that was raised Catholic and questioned all he was taught right from the begining.
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I'll be honest with you, me and faith struggle daily. With that said though, how much proof is there on the flip side? For the big theory to be true, the matter that exploded had to come from somewhere, where? For evolution to be true, two totally different living things had to produce a third totally different living thing. I've never seen a dog, pig, human being, bird etc give birth to anything other then a dog, pig, human being, bird etc. So we haven't seen proof of evolution either. As far as how old the earth is, how is it that just a couple years ago they unearthed a dinosaur that had soft skin/flesh? 65 million years is a long time to find soft skin cells/flesh. The point is, I see nobody being able to prove any of these theories as facts with all questions answered. IMO the idea of creationism is no more "faith" then the big bang theory or evolution. While I think that some religious groups are dangerous, they're no more dangerous then the groups that devalue human life as nothing more then circumstance.
 
Thegroundpounder99 said:
I'll be honest with you, me and faith struggle daily. With that said though, how much proof is there on the flip side? For the big theory to be true, the matter that exploded had to come from somewhere, where? For evolution to be true, two totally different living things had to produce a third totally different living thing. I've never seen a dog, pig, human being, bird etc give birth to anything other then a dog, pig, human being, bird etc. So we haven't seen proof of evolution either. As far as how old the earth is, how is it that just a couple years ago they unearthed a dinosaur that had soft skin/flesh? 65 million years is a long time to find soft skin cells/flesh. The point is, I see nobody being able to prove any of these theories as facts with all questions answered. IMO the idea of creationism is no more "faith" then the big bang theory or evolution. While I think that some religious groups are dangerous, they're no more dangerous then the groups that devalue human life as nothing more then circumstance.
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YEP.
 
"Others in this forum may bash us for our beliefs and opinions, but I hope they keep their opinions to themselves."
“So I suppose it's only okay for people to express their opinions as long as they agree with you?
I'm not for bashing, but I also don't like censored debate.”

Sorry, I must have been having a bad day. Could have chosen my words better.

I didn’t mean to accuse you of censorship. I recently got blessed out by a fanatic who is intolerant of anything he thinks doesn’t support his religious beliefs 200%. Everybody self-censors that they read and hear, based upon their built-in filter of beliefs and experiences. I’m just tired of getting yelled out when reality doesn’t jibe with fantasy. In this case I wanted to make some chassis adjustments for the feature race, but the owner / driver insisted that God told him in a dream that the car would win as it was… then we got lapped and I got chewed out. So after trying to argue some science vs. faith I suggested he find another crew chief.

“…how much proof is there on the flip side?”

It’s odd what people will accept as “proof” and what they won’t. I prefer science’s use of mathematics and repeatable experimental results over “trust me”. But of course our state of technology and understanding can’t explain everything. I’m not against religion, I just worry about folks who stop trying to understand things scientifically because it is easier to just fall back onto faith. Worse are the fanatics who shout down reality because it’s inconvenient to how they’d like reality to be. Again, not accusing you of any of that. Just as I don’t know much about you, you don’t know much about me. I’m not an atheist, and I’ll try as best as a flawed human can to tolerate your beliefs that don’t match up with mine. But when something happens that I don’t understand, my priority is to use science to figure it out rather than fall back upon faith.
 
Science is the "how" of life. How does it work now, what evidence there is for how things worked before, how things might work in the future, etc.

Religion, spirituality, lack thereof, or all of the above are some of the ways to ask "why". We know that we can think, feel, and communicate. Why can we think, feel, and communicate, and what are we supposed to do about it?

Neither of these questions is mutually exclusive of the other. One can pursue the answer to "how" while still pondering the question "why". Science and everything that is not science can coexist--it makes no claims to the contrary.

I have no beef with science or religion, I just wish that some of the fanatics at either end of the spectrum would open up a little bit and give each other a great big hug.

Besides, how could I hate religion? I'm Jesus. :beerbang:
 
fury said:
Science is the "how" of life. How does it work now, what evidence there is for how things worked before, how things might work in the future, etc.

Religion, spirituality, lack thereof, or all of the above are some of the ways to ask "why". We know that we can think, feel, and communicate. Why can we think, feel, and communicate, and what are we supposed to do about it?

Neither of these questions is mutually exclusive of the other. One can pursue the answer to "how" while still pondering the question "why". Science and everything that is not science can coexist--it makes no claims to the contrary.

I have no beef with science or religion, I just wish that some of the fanatics at either end of the spectrum would open up a little bit and give each other a great big hug.

Besides, how could I hate religion? I'm Jesus. :beerbang:
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Very well said, Fury. Finding a balance in life is extremely important, to me at least. Extremism, in virtually any area, concerns me greatly. Claiming science or any religion is infallible is simply ridiculous. Both have been proven wrong many times over.
 
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