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lol picky picky. "We" is just a reference to people in general, not anyone in particular. "We" are being testy, aren't "we"? Now that one is in particular.
So in other words, you asked a question ("How many times have we heard...) and now you're upset that I answered the question you asked.
The archeological record tells us Yahweh was first worshiped as a war god, who's consort was the goddess Asherah (who was originally the consort of El, Yahweh's father).
Quote:
Originally Posted by BaptistFundie
The difference is that our Holy Book does actually tell the story of the beginning.
Such as getting a young Jewish girl pregnant 2000 years ago?
Another useful purpose for prayer is to relieve guilt. How many times have we heard of unfortunates who go to a church for a hand-up and the pastor says something like, "Well, I can't give you any money or a place to sleep but I can give you something much more powerful than worldly good--I can pray for you." Of course God never answers the person's prayer because as we all know God is non-existent. But the pastor can go to sleep that night with a clear conscience confident in the knowledge that he gave the person the most valuable gift he had to offer--not money for a warm meal or a night's shelter--but good old reliable prayer.
Yesirree, nothing succeeds like prayer....
For relieving a guilty conscience, that's is.
Actually you are more correct than you realize and obviously wrong about some other things...
Though I am an atheist and have yet to find evidence or good reason to believe a god exists, I can easily recognize the power of prayer. Not only is it a great way for some people to relieve guilt, it's also a way to help people feel better about their prospects looking forward. Relieving guilt, no matter how, is a valuable psychological win for these people. Unless of course it's to help bad people relieve themselves of guilt for being bad people, but for others who simply need to "stop beating themselves up" about something, the riddance of guilt is a good thing. Therapists help people to do the same thing all the time.
Then too for those who believe prayer will help them with whatever life challenges going forward, the value of prayer is that increased sense of comfort. Whether real or imagined, you might say the "power of prayer" is not all that much different than the "power of positive thinking." For many it actually works, whether real or imagined.
Where you are obviously quite wrong is to suggest "we all know God is non-existent." Obviously this is not true. If it were, the power of prayer to relieve guilt and/or to help with life challenges wouldn't work the way it does for believers. At least sometimes or in some cases. Regardless the reality about how it works.
How is this for making stuff up. God loves all of His children... no matter if they love Him or not.
For those interested to know more about who and what is God, the information at this link is great: God, the Heavenly Father
P.S. I don't go to church. My "church" aka "God" is with me at all times - wherever I am, He is.
Again with all due respect, I really have to wonder about people who claim any knowledge about what something like a god is up to or all about. Let alone with a link to find out. Always seems to me that doing so is in more than a few ways to minimize what such a thing would really be up to or all about. If such a thing existed. Not to mention all the various claims, notions and beliefs related to deities that, all considered, seem to negate one another or prove no one really has a clue about such a thing.
Again with all due respect, I really have to wonder about people who claim any knowledge about what something like a god is up to or all about. Let alone with a link to find out. Always seems to me that doing so is in more than a few ways to minimize what such a thing would really be up to or all about. If such a thing existed. Not to mention all the various claims, notions and beliefs related to deities that, all considered, seem to negate one another or prove no one really has a clue about such a thing.
From my experience, the way to determine if something is true or not is to read it, then put the question out into the universe “Is this true?” Then forget about it. I did that and it took ten years to get the answer. And the answer was yes.
What I can say which is difficult for people to believe, but it’s true and I’m not a nutcase. I have a personal relationship with God. It’s a soul thing. As I’ve posted here, I receive in my soul God’s Divine Love. First, my soul needed to be opened for this to occur. That took over two years, because when I first learned about God and the messages in the Truth for all People website, I wasn’t interested to even hear about it.
I have felt the presence of God and He’s so awesome and I have felt Jesus at least three times.
I was raised as a Protestant and attended several churches during my childhood. My grandmother was a devout Seventh Day Adventist. The last time I attended that church and heard all the doom and gloom, that was enough for me. No more religion! Until about six years later, as I have said in the past, God had other plans. So here I am attempting to get out the good news about our loving Heavenly Father. It’s not an easy task either. I’m not advertising this… just sharing that I’m working on my fourth book about God and His amazing Divine Love. It’s a labor of love.
From my experience, the way to determine if something is true or not is to read it, then put the question out into the universe “Is this true?” Then forget about it. I did that and it took ten years to get the answer. And the answer was yes.
What I can say which is difficult for people to believe, but it’s true and I’m not a nutcase. I have a personal relationship with God. It’s a soul thing. As I’ve posted here, I receive in my soul God’s Divine Love. First, my soul needed to be opened for this to occur. That took over two years, because when I first learned about God and the messages in the Truth for all People website, I wasn’t interested to even hear about it.
I have felt the presence of God and He’s so awesome and I have felt Jesus at least three times.
I was raised as a Protestant and attended several churches during my childhood. My grandmother was a devout Seventh Day Adventist. The last time I attended that church and heard all the doom and gloom, that was enough for me. No more religion! Until about six years later, as I have said in the past, God had other plans. So here I am attempting to get out the good news about our loving Heavenly Father. It’s not an easy task either. I’m not advertising this… just sharing that I’m working on my fourth book about God and His amazing Divine Love. It’s a labor of love.
I understand. Perhaps more than you realize, I understand. I have had similar experience but in time I no longer felt these experiences were/are what you believe them to be. How I determine something is true differs from your way considerably too.
What I mean is that I was raised a believer in God. As a Catholic, and over the course of that time I experienced what I felt was a connection with God. I related much of what happened to me (or didn't) to God. Hard to compare or contrast what I experienced then with what others claim they are still experiencing today, but at a minimum I know what it is to believe God is a part of a life experience. Including mine.
I can appreciate and respect your feelings about all this too. I just can't believe or convince myself that your feelings are a result of what you think they are, because of my life experience. Interesting how that works. Right? Or that anyone really can know what something like a god can be about. Perhaps based on the reverence I once had about God, to suggest such things just seems almost insulting to something that is supposed to be the creator of all existence. Believers always seem to overstep their bounds that way to me.
Not that you are the only one of course. Not by a long shot. Just my perspective is all, and my reason(s) for having the perspective I do...
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"We" is just a reference to people in general, not anyone in particular. "We" are being testy, aren't "we"? Now that one is in particular. 
Wo
