What the world needs and the best that can happen to anyone

[jimhabegger]

Thank you for the welcome!

And - how do you know you picked the right god to have faith in?

I called it “faith in God” because that’s how I think of it, but I might have done better not to have said “God” or even “faith.” It’s people trying to become better people, for the benefit of all people everywhere, because they want to. I think what motivates and empowers people to do that is a certain kind of love and trust, which I call “faith in God,” but I don’t think it needs to be attached to any particular view about the nature or existence of any god or gods.

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So....Paradise yet?

Not that most people will notice for a few more generations at least, but I think see some beginnings of it here and there.

[LastPoet]

My grandfather told me once told me that I couldn't please everyone. In the end, what is that god you speak of? Is it needed to justify our moral actions?

[EgoDeath]

I don't have any problem with someone wanting to live a righteous, straight and narrow, by-the-book type of life. I don't have a problem with people being spiritual or even with people believing in things that are not true. I have no problem with people valuing faith, even if I think faith is useless. I do have a problem with people teaching scientifically inaccurate things to their children and convincing those children these things are true and that, furthermore, if the children don't accept these things as true they will die one day and be sent to a place where they'll be tortured for eternity. That is wrong.

If you're suggesting the Bible can teach us valuable lessons regardless of the accuracy of its historical claims, I have to ask, why read the Bible to learn these lessons? There are many, many sources in literature and beyond that one can use to learn how to live a meaningful, moral, exciting and fulfilling life.

Basic things I think everyone could benefit from learning/knowing:

How to find and do things that are meaningful to you; things that give you a feeling of fulfillment
Physical fitness and proper diet
Meditation (not the spiritual kind, just a simple daily meditation routine that allows you to be calm and collected throughout the day)
Ability to deal with emotional upsets
Ability to deal with people
Willingness to learn
Critical thinking
Problem solving skills
Self-discipline
Open-mindedness
Willingness and ability to love and be loved
Honesty, most importantly, with yourself

I think if everyone learned/knew these things, the world would be a much better place. Faith isn't on that list, neither is the Bible. Trim the fat. Live a good life. Love the people around you and love yourself. Ideally, love what you do. If not, find something you do love to do for work, or alternatively, learn how to find some meaning/value in what you do do for work. Life is hard. We have to learn how to navigate our emotions and the emotions/personalities of others. But, with some elbow grease and a good attitude, life can be pretty fucking awesome. No god required.

[jimhabegger]

My grandfather told me once told me that I couldn't please everyone. In the end, what is that god you speak of? Is it needed to justify our moral actions?

Thank you for the welcome!

“Can’t please, everybody, so you ... got to please yourself.” - Ricky Nelson

It isn’t about trying to please everyone. In a way, it’s actually about trying to please yourself, to learn to be a kind of person that you might love, admire and trust.

It might have been a mistake for me to call it “faith in God,” because that’s actually distracting from what I’m trying to say. It’s actually about people trying to become better people, for the benefit of all people everywhere, because they want to; and how anyone who wants to might help that kind attitude and behavior grow and spread. If anyone wants to know what “God” means to me, I would rather start a new thread for that.

[LastPoet]

I liked Jesus. He was very socialist, if you cherry pick it enough. The idea of a god is nothing but that idea of self, bt perfect. It reflects what you want to be. Not a god IMHO.

[jimhabegger]

... why read the Bible to learn these lessons?

I didn’t say anything about reading the Bible to learn lessons.

There are many, many sources in literature and beyond that one can use to learn how to live a meaningful, moral, exciting and fulfilling life.

I agree.

Basic things I think everyone could benefit from learning/knowing:

I like everything in that list. Thank you for posting it.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

I think that a certain kind of faith in God is the best thing that can happen to anyone, and what the world needs most of all, for human progress, and to right the wrongs and repair the damage.

Seems to me that having faith in God to 'repair the damage' is kind of like thanking the man who sells you a bandage after stabbing you with a knife.

Boru

[jimhabegger]

Seems to me that having faith in God to 'repair the damage' is kind of like thanking the man who sells you a bandage after stabbing you with a knife.

I think that what I said was a poor choice of words. What would really like to discuss in this thread is how to help with the growth and spread of people trying to become better people, to help make the world better for all people everywhere, because they want to.

[Angrboda]

Seems to me that having faith in God to 'repair the damage' is kind of like thanking the man who sells you a bandage after stabbing you with a knife.

I think that what I said was a poor choice of words. What would really like to discuss in this thread is how to help with the growth and spread of people trying to become better people, to help make the world better for all people everywhere, because they want to.

I think we do that naturally. Bringing Gods into it just in some sense disenfranchises us and leads to dogmatism and other undesirable side effects.

[Mr.wizard]

Seems to me that having faith in God to 'repair the damage' is kind of like thanking the man who sells you a bandage after stabbing you with a knife.

I think that what I said was a poor choice of words. What would really like to discuss in this thread is how to help with the growth and spread of people trying to become better people, to help make the world better for all people everywhere, because they want to.

What is the criteria for this "better person" and who decides it? If you want a discussion on this, then we need to know what goal your trying to reach. To your initial point about "faith and god", I don't think we have any good evidence that those things make for a better society, in fact I think the evidence shows "faith and god" make it worse.