When Someone Brings Up God How Do You Respond? page 2

[Athena]

Yes the earth is 6,000 years old and fossils were put in the earth to test our faith......lol

Being from the bible belt ive heard it all. You can never reason with those people. I think of religion as a philosophy which you can take good things from. I love reading Taoism text, its very insightful. Do I pray to an imaginary guy with a beard in the sky? No. But i dont judge those who do. Its a personal choice.

[Primal Toad]

I'm an atheist, and I would simply point and laugh. I just can't take believers seriously. There's no evidence, and they still believe. It's ridiculous.

I don't like many of your responses Griff... You would literally point and laugh? Why? There is no reason to laugh at what someone believes in no matter what it is. Thats what makes this world so great - no one is right or wrong about anything. We all believe in different things. In the end the only thing that matters is that we are alive. We are all living on this beautiful Earth and have a chance to make it extremely special with our choices.

[Primal Toad]

Thank you everyone else for your responses. I already responded to all the comments as best as I could. Keep them coming though! I am enjoying all the responses.

[Primal Toad]

Yes the earth is 6,000 years old and fossils were put in the earth to test our faith......lol

Being from the bible belt ive heard it all. You can never reason with those people. I think of religion as a philosophy which you can take good things from. I love reading Taoism text, its very insightful. Do I pray to an imaginary guy with a beard in the sky? No. But i dont judge those who do. Its a personal choice.

Hi Athena! Thank you for your response. I don't pray either but I am NEVER going to stop anyone from doing so. In my eyes, praying allows one to connect with their inner self.

When someone asks me if I believe in God I say yes. I just might define "God" differently then them. We all have our own little theories - no one believes in the exact same thing. Maybe the basic principes but we all interpret it all differently - especially religion. We are unable to comprehend how the universe got started or what the point of it is - its mind-boggling and not comprehendible.

[Athena]

Hi Athena! Thank you for your response. I don't pray either but I am NEVER going to stop anyone from doing so. In my eyes, praying allows one to connect with their inner self.

When someone asks me if I believe in God I say yes. I just might define "God" differently then them. We all have our own little theories - no one believes in the exact same thing. Maybe the basic principes but we all interpret it all differently - especially religion. We are unable to comprehend how the universe got started or what the point of it is - its mind-boggling and not comprehendible.

I agree. I mean I dont know whats true. I dont believe I wont ever be able to. I think of "God" as energy that flows in and out of things. I dont really think of it as one person but a 'force' ....ok getting a little star wars. lol <---- NERD

[MamaGrok]

I'm also Catholic, and agree with twinmama 100%.

Along those lines,

Religion doesn't come from a place of reason, though

This is true for many religions, and for many Christians, but it is not true for Catholics. As John Paul II said, "faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the truth." Neither can contradict the other, b/c they are both means to the same, one, truth. You can arrive at the conclusions that the earth is round and the moon revolves around the earth and men can walk on it either by proving & experiencing it yourself, or you can know it b/c someone trustworthy told you so. The first is reason; the second is faith. Most of us believe those things by faith, yet that does not mean we believe them irrationally. Our faith must be grounded and must not contradict reason, else one of the two is false.

Benedict XVI was lambasted at Regenburg because he insisted on true religious faith being grounded in reason, b/c God Himself is a rational, knowable being. One may find the Catholic faith wrong, and be well entitled to hold that belief, but know that it is *not* based on "blind faith."

There is nothing in my Catholic faith that contradicts anything I've read at MDA. Whether the theory of evolution is eventually incontrovertibly proven or not, it changes nothing about the truth of the primal "blueprint" and changes nothing about the compatibility of these things with my beliefs. It is actually my Catholic faith that led me to search for the things that comply with the nature - truly "natural" - God granted us.

The question Toad is dealing with is a legitimate one, one I've entertained myself. I think that, especially since you're dealing with strict 6000-year Creationists (which Catholics are not), I'd probably follow tangentrider's logic, which addresses their concerns within the context of their belief system without needing to get into the validity of that system. There are some who still won't be happy, b/c they won't be open to the idea that Christ may have been using an analogy based solely on what the audience around him knew ("becoming all things to all men"), and probably the only tact there is, as twinmama suggested, to deal solely with what is going on today. Discuss the fact that b/c of our excess consumption of grains bred to be excessively high in gluten which we no longer allow to rise for the time needed to make that gluten digestible and which are in many other ways ill-prepared, we are seeing an epidemic of people losing their ability to tolerate any grains at all.

Good luck!

[Ghost]

To be perfectly honest, I've been having a crisis of faith lately. I used to give daily praise to the Flying Spaghetti Monster-- or, FSM; or His Noodly One-- but lately science has called everything I once believed into question. I can only assume that He has guided me with His Noodly Appendage to Mark's Daily Apple so that I could learn He's actually a Flying Squash Spaghetti Monster.

Grainless RAmen.

MR

[Sleeping Fire]

The bible was written in parable form to make it easier to understand..."the bread of life" was not meant to be taken literally in the original Hebrew language.

That said, I think that PrimalChild is right..."just smile and say ok."

[Griff]

Thats what makes this world so great - no one is right or wrong about anything.

That's where you and I will have to disagree. I don't tolerate superstition or beliefs that have no proof, and religion has zero proof. Sorry that you don't like my responses. I don't like yours much, either.

[naiadknight]

"I'll bear that in mind, however, my body does not handle grains well."
Which is true on both accounts, just not the way most would take it. I mean it as "I'll remember not to bring up this topic again with you," they'll take it as "I'll take your response under serious consideration and see what I can do to remedy this." If asked again, I revert to a very similar line.
For God/dess/e/s stuff in general, I usually smile and let them ramble on. When they've reached a stopping point, I change the topic. If they blatantly ask, I'll usually reply with "I'm spiritual but not religious. I'm glad you've found a religion that suits you, but I have not." I never add on that I think organized religion are some of the best businesses with the best brand recognition on the planet.
Anywho, those two will usually cause them to change the topic. If they press further, it becomes "I fail to see the reason that your belief must be my belief. Conversation closed. Next topic." Further pressing and I walk away or, if in a situation that is unadvised, I'll repeat "Conversation closed. Next topic." until they get a clue.