RE: Poverty and Theism
April 21, 2017 at 9:50 pm
(This post was last modified: April 21, 2017 at 10:01 pm by Flavius.)
(April 20, 2017 at 7:13 am)hopey Wrote: I don't believe it is due to religion that poverty occurs. If anything it is the needy have a greater reliance upon God. The bible says it this way "deny me riches and poverty, riches least I forget God, and poverty least I steal and profane the name of the LORD may God".
On a personal note God has always helped me get richer, more prominent, never less. The current job that I have I truely believe god gave me. Six months ago I applied for a job with the government, but was rejected. At the time I prayed and said to God "if you think I can do this job, please get it for me some how". Six months latter a job agent asked me if I was interested in a job with the department of education, I was going to say "not really interested", but God prompted me strongly to apply. Through a feeling deep with in me. So I applied. Got the job, and it turns out it was the job I had applied for six month earlier. I find the job easy and rewarding.
To top this off I pray blessing over my clients, or I did I should say, when I worked in my own business, or for general employers. I distinctly remember after praying for many weeks for a client to be blessed, God spoke to me as I worked and asked me the question "How would you like to work for channel 9", chanel 9 was a free to air TV station in our country. I was working on a clients Website at the time, the one I had been praying for, so I was super careful with it in case it was put on TV. That was the feeling I got. A few weeks latter the client came to us and said they were asked by channel 9 if they could appear on TV. They got a spot on A Current Affair, and when the show went to air, their business received thousands of sign ups in one night. It was a boon for the brand, and a blessing both to them and me. To them for their business, to me to know God has answered my prayers for them.
Sorry to stop you there, but your first sentence is faulty, therefore your entire argument is resting upon that first prejudice. I did not say religion results in poverty, or the other way around. I was explaining that they are both interconnected, so whenever poverty increases, so does the chance of resorting to theism.
EDIT: Notice the word "chance."
(April 20, 2017 at 1:19 pm)Shell B Wrote: Someone is going to have to split this thread. Geez.
To the OP, I'm not sure I agree with the premise, but that's solely based on my experience. I grew up in abject poverty and have been an atheist since my teens. Before my teens, I was technically an atheist, but didn't think about god enough to form a real opinion. I only went to church when someone religious died or got married. I was sometimes forced to go to church with friends when I had weekend sleepovers. I mostly just found it strange.
Believe me, I never said this is crude spot on evidence and this is what the world revolves around. It just heightens the chances, I also grew up in a not-so-wealthy family for a period of time, and despite that I managed to stray away from religious beliefs. This is just an interesting correlation I found because humans are addicted to patterns.
