What led you to God?

quote:

---

I know a woman personally at the time this happened, and she said she thought people were faking it, and then one night, God literally knocked her so out in the Spirit, and I kid you not, she fell over straight down on her face and bounced, and yet totally unharmed. Never heard her say people were faking after that.

---

Were you there? Did you actually see this?...or are you just hearing the story from her recollection?

quote:

---

Btw, I am sure some people do fake stuff and want attention, but that's humanity for ya. I can tell you it's not fake all the time.

---

How do you know this?There is not one bit of evidence to validate the stories of the thousands and thousands of people who say they have been abducted by aliens, raped, impregnated, probed, etc.I think it highly probable that these alien abduction/visitation stories are all fake all the time.Claims of the type your aquaintence described are exactly the same, randman. The only difference is that beliefs that God visits people are not viewed in our culture as quite as loony as visits by aliens.How do you know it's not fake all the time?

quote:

---

An Anglican bishop from England flew over to Toronto in the 90s to some meetings, and God floored him. He went back to his diocese and reported his testimony to people there, and many of them were equally touched. Reporters from the Times came to some meetings and said they too started feeling it. Say what you want, but it's real.

---

Sure, and when I go to a rock concert or a sporting event where there is high excitement and energy, it's infectious.Group validation, wishful thinking, communal relinforcement, groupthink...all of these psychological phenomena are well understood.

quote:

---

The fact some want to fake the real thing is to be expected.

---

What you haven't yet done is provided any means at all to determine the fake from the real.

quote:

---

What else is there other than God?

---

There is life.

quote:

---

What gives your lives purpose?

---

My purpose in life is whatever I choose it to be.My joy in simply being alive drives my choice of purpose.This message has been edited by schrafinator, 01-15-2006 11:03 AM

quote:

---

or some seek "meaning" in various pleasures, and there are many varieties of those pleasures. Physical types can throw themselves into sports for instance, intellectual types into books, artistic types into art, and there's always the sexual addict, and there's even the satisfaction of feeling like a good person. Some dedicate themselves to making tons of money. Some are workaholics. People actually do have work or pastimes they really love to do. Sometimes it works, mostly I think as a drug of sorts; sometimes it leaves an empty hole. Then they have a "midlife crisis" or a psychotic break, or spend all their time at the bar.

---

...or they "find God".It's just another salve or additction intended to soothe the difficulty of life.

But the subject was whether/how people find purpose in life, and my examples were of NOT finding purpose in life and methods of escape from that fact. Finding God, however, does give purpose to life. So everyone will tell you.This message has been edited by Faith, 01-15-2006 11:34 AM

quote:

---

My purpose in life is whatever I choose it to be.

​

My joy in simply being alive drives my choice of purpose.

---

Ok. Do you have belief in an afterlife?Because if you don't, then the joy in life would be buried with you. Would it not?

Dear AdminAsgara,First of all, with all due respect, I'll have to pass on the "Queen of the Universe" reference - it is too close to "Queen of heaven and earth" and my beliefs are that that position has already been taken - permanently, along with "Ark of the New Covenant"! You may want to look into that a little. : )(Catholic Magazines & Religious Articles | Catholic Answers)Secondly, thanks -to everyone - for the quote tips. I'll have to take some time to familiarize myself. As for the other links AdminAsgara gave... Great! Thanks! So, like, does this mean I'll get a notice if my post happens to hit the top of the list of people to be voted off the island, uh, I mean website?One4Truth

How is looking for a fix not a legitimate purpose in life?

I suggest you look into acquiring a sense of humor. If you stay on topic, and argue the position (not the person), then you should do fine and be respected as a member. If you make a really great post, you could get a "Post of the Month" nomination.In the meantime, welcome to evcforum.

---

quote:

---

I suggest you look into acquiring a sense of humor.

---

I thought it was in good humor. Did you see the smiley?

My point was that usually those engaged in the mentioned activities don't feel life has a purpose, and the activities don't give them a sense of purpose either. But I'm not going to argue with anyone who insists they do.

i've known a few people in my time that treat religion like a drug, too. getting their weekly sunday fix. and then the wednessday fix. going more and more, doing less and less in their outside lives. spending more and more money... the attitude of life not having meaning is also often present -- many people turn to religion to give their lives meaning, and a lot of people do look for meaning in church.for some people, "serving god" is quite analogous to serving the crack pipe. i don't mean to say this is neccessarily true of all religion, or christianity. just that it can also easily be abused.This message has been edited by arachnophilia, 01-15-2006 09:46 PM

---

אָרַח

Again, I was talking about what people say about their own experience, not giving my own opinion as you are doing.

"no, i don't have a problem!"

---

אָרַח

quote:

---

Ok. Do you have belief in an afterlife?

---

I see no reason to believe that there is any sort of life after death.That many humans want there to be is most likely a reaction to the fear of the unknown.We humans know that we are going to die, you see.We have stuck God in the gaps of of our knowledge of many things over the millenia, and many continue to do so:How does the sun travel across the sky every day?The god Apollo drives it in his firey chariot.Where does the lightning and thunder come from?Zeus throws down the bolts of lightning. Or, Thor pounds his mighty hammer upon the earth.What makes us do bad things to each other/why do we get sick?The Devil/our fallen nature/Original Sin/evil spirits/demons/tenukiWhat happens to us after we die?We go to hell/heaven/the spirit world/purgatory/hades/reach Nirvana/become reincarnated/rejoin the cosmic energySee? This question fits right in, and any number of answers have been devised to ease our worry about the unknown.But to answer your question, I don't have any idea if there is an afterlife or not....and neither do you.Nobody does.

quote:

---

Because if you don't, then the joy in life would be buried with you. Would it not?

---

Yep.Why is this a problem that affects my chosen purpose while I'm alive?This message has been edited by schrafinator, 01-15-2006 11:14 PM

You have nothing to be sorry for, I have no pain, so don't worry yourself. I think 'bitterness' is the wrong word, bewilderment is probably more accurate. Let me guess, it is you who decides what a true Christian is, and anyone who deviates slightly from your opinion cannot be a Christian? You have nothing to apologise for, Christians and Christianity do not trouble me at all, I take neither of the seriously. And I shouldn't take anyone's word that they are Christian because.....? I tend to take people's word for things when I meet them, rather than trying to pigeonhole them. I wouldn't make that connection as it is a non-sequitur. Christians are as capable as anyone else at carrying out atrocities, the history pages bear testimony to that. Strangely enough, the most outwardly loving and caring people I know are Buddhists, but I have met Christians who act similarly. This doesn't sound particularly like Christianity to me. What example of Christ should we follow in particular? Should we through a tantrum if someome is going about their business in the Temple, or ruin a person's livelihood by killing all their pigs, or tell lies, be rude to our elders, lose our temper, or maybe even pretend to be something we aren't? Not at all, every Christian that I have met follows Jesus' example very well. Ah, the core teaching and main weapon of Christianity, threaten and scare the person into believing! Sorry, but I don't like being 'bullied' into believing that something is true, especially something as inane as Christianity. Unless my brain turns to mush, there is no way my views on God will change. Maybe when I'm in my dotage, or a sort of 'second childhood' I might believe in Santa, the tooth fairy, elves, giants, and Jesus again, but I hope that is a long way off. I think most people have came through a lot of stormy seas in their time, I had a particularly rough time of it from the age of 14 through to my early 20's, but it was only AFTER I abandoned Christianity that I was able to get my life together. I am not saying that being a Christian made my life rough, but it may just be that abandonning Christianity allowed me more time to think freely about doing some real positive things to make life better. That's very presumptious of you. But, I do have an 'anchor', I have my strength of character to carry me through the rough times, I do not need imaginary friends to rely on. It is looking good for Christians though isn't it? Doesn't the fairytale say that there's going to be all sorts of tragedies during which captain Jesus will swing into action? You must love it when ten's of thousands get killed in earthquakes and tsunamis, it must mean Jesus is coming back! Well, hold the front page, these things have happened many times since Jesus died and He still hasn't appeared. So don't hold your breath, because if He was going to come back, He would have been back a long time ago.Free yourself from self delusion, you are wasting your whole life following a fairytale. There are more important things in life than following Jesus. Join a golf club, or gym, or anything else worthwhile. Is this a subsite of Landover Baptist?Brian.