RE: A Believer's Thoughts on Faith
June 29, 2022 at 9:17 am
(This post was last modified: June 29, 2022 at 9:38 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(June 28, 2022 at 7:09 pm)rlp21858 Wrote: Grand Nudger: well, i do think you'll have to tell me what you believe a god is.
Not really, since "atheist" is a completely inarguable comment about what I am..not what a god is. That said, we need look no further than the christian god for an example of the kind of thing I don't believe in. Christians believe in a personal and intervening deity - and I do not.
There are other types of gods (as many as there are different types of people) - but I don't believe in any of them either. It really is that simple. I don't believe in personal gods or impersonal gods. I don't believe in intervening gods or in absentee gods. I don't believe in big g gods, or little g gods. I don't believe in new gods, I don't believe in old gods. You may think I'm mistaken in thinking that there are no gods, but there's no way to sell the notion that I'm mistaken about whether I believe in them. To be completely fair (and save you tons of time) you wouldn't have any more luck in trying to convince me that I was wrong..not about what I do and don't believe - but about whether gods existed....and supposing this was opposites world and you did, it still wouldn't matter to me.
That's a thing that people tend to learn too late here, in my experience. Christians, for example, waste their time trying to prove or assert that their god exists when a gods existence is irrelevant to whether I would join it's club. There are plenty of real dirtbags who don't have to be argued into existence and I haven't joined their clubs either. So, instead of meandering around with what has only ever been and can only ever be a completely unproductive discussion of what gods are, let's just assume that a god exists, and that it's your god - and I'll still pass. Especially so, in that case. The grand irony of apologetics with a person like me is that the more you insist it's true the more reason I have to reject it. It's worse as a reality than it is as a fantasy. With respect, I don't think any misunderstanding on my part is operative here.
I can no more choose to believe in your god, or any god, than I could choose to join your gods club. Whatever you think any of the other facts of the matter are - this is me, telling you a fact of the matter of me. No amount of practice....whatever that's supposed to be... changes that. Just like I could shovel dogshit in my mouth all day long and over decades and still not enjoy the flavor. Do you really want to be the guy holding the spoon, insisting that if I (or anyone else) tries just one more bite of dogshit, we might suddenly like it? Sounds absurd, right?
Here we are.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
