The problem with prayer.

[Godscreated]

 God has given me an abundance of evidence in our personal relationship, you see that's a great part of what Christianity is about, God giving proof that His children will know and understand.

GC

Please give me some evidence on why we should believe the Bible and that there is a magical man in the sky called God watching us.

First off there is no magic man in the sky, this shows me that you know nothing not the simplest things about the Bible. To give you evidence of God would be like giving a monkey a book to read. I will give you a truth you should believe, if you do not trust Christ as your savior you will be punished forever for your sin, this is from the Bible.

GC

[Godscreated]

 You do what, oh I know, you know more about nothing than anyone else.

GC

No, you still hold that title. I do "have proof to the contrary of the bibles statement" that "everyone would be on their knees confessing Christ." I'm aware of and sympathetic to your brain problem, but do at least try to keep up.

 Saying you have something and providing it isn't proof at all.

GC

[Excited Penguin]

Please give me some evidence on why we should believe the Bible and that there is a magical man in the sky called God watching us.

First off there is no magic man in the sky, this shows me that you know nothing not the simplest things about the Bible. To give you evidence of God would be like giving a monkey a book to read. I will give you a truth you should believe, if you do not trust Christ as your savior you will be punished forever for your sin, this is from the Bible.

GC

And why do you believe the bible? It's just a book some people made you think is truthful.

[Godscreated]

You certainly have no respect for your fellow man and especially Christians.

GC

Homophobe.

I'm sure Jesus would enjoy it. Do you not want to please God?

 You have no idea what you're talking about and you show it by the way you answer post.

GC

[Edwardo Piet]

LOL

[Godscreated]

First off there is no magic man in the sky, this shows me that you know nothing not the simplest things about the Bible. To give you evidence of God would be like giving a monkey a book to read. I will give you a truth you should believe, if you do not trust Christ as your savior you will be punished forever for your sin, this is from the Bible.

GC

And why do you believe the bible? It's just a book some people made you think is truthful.

  No it's the book that God showed me is true.

GC

[Excited Penguin]

And why do you believe the bible? It's just a book some people made you think is truthful.

  No it's the book that God showed me is true.

GC

How do you know God showed it to you and not your own preconceptions and indoctrination on the matter?

[Expired]

And why do you believe the bible? It's just a book some people made you think is truthful.

  No it's the book that God showed me is true.

GC

Why does god pick and choose who he shows the truth to? I've heard nothing from him by no fault of my own, yet I'm going to burn.

[madog]

This is what always amazes me, why does your God always give evidence to someone that does not require it such as you?

You're correct the knowledge wasn't required, through God's grace He gave me what He promised He would. Faith is required to obtain the knowledge.

And why is the evidence only something you or another indoctrinated person would consider as evidence?

First off we are not indoctrinated, and second we do not consider it evidence for belief. God promises this knowledge to those who accept Christ through faith as their savior. Faith+Promise= Knowledge.

The evidence is obviously something you want to hear, something that bloats your ego even more, rather than something that could be empirically tested by others 

  Yes all evidence is what I want to hear even when it's not what I expect. No it doesn't bloat my ego, it does how ever cause me to feel very good that God would share the knowledge with me as He promised. Christians do not need to go through a process of testing the knowledge God gives us we know for certain it's validity.

GC

Yeah, pretty much what I thought, your presumptions preach to your presumptions 

[robvalue]

The power of... irrational thought.

I've had an experience lately which gives me a little bit of insight into what religious beliefs might be like. I had an irrational belief, which kept going for quite a long time. Months. I knew it was irrational, yet it was powerful. It gave me hope. It felt like a way out of the depressing mess that is my life. It felt like a "cure". Emotionally, I believed it, even though logically I did not. It's too personal to discuss openly.

I felt the strain of cognitive dissonance. I can't give myself over to fantasy, no matter how strong the emotion, so I was struggling to reconcile this with reality. Part of me didn't want to give up this belief.

But eventually I did. I finally came to terms with the fact that it was a ridiculous, fanciful and unrealistic belief. It was a relief. But it also felt rather sad. I'd lost the hope I had. Even though I know it was false hope, and I even knew it at the time, it still felt sad to lose it. I got a small inkling of how firmly religious people must cling to their beliefs, no matter what the logical part of their brain is telling them. The dissonance was killing me; I can't imagine what trying to reconcile religious beliefs with reality must be like.

I'm settling down. I choose reality. Irrational false hope is not much different to constantly getting drunk or taking drugs. It's not any kind of permanent solution, and it's irresponsible to let such things affect decision making for yourself and others.