Why does God get the credit?

[tackattack]

Why give God credit though? 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"
Prayer helps tons of people. Even if God weren't real, prayer would still be positive affirmations and a way for people to self-talk through their problems.
Belief helps everybody, you believe everyday that the force of gravity will hold you on the planet. You may not want to look at it like that, but you sure act like you have a lot of belief.
Let's pretend you meant faith there. faith helps people to. Faith builds hope which is helpful in breaking away from negative feedback loops. Faith also develops positive goals, goals that people use everyday to achieve their desires.
You may consider thanking God is stupid, but that's because you're not convinced He is real. There's not really any harm though in acting like God is real and thanking one extra cause for your "blessings" is there? It doesn't diminish the thankfulness in any other cause. I think you have a zero sum mindset regarding thankfulness, and I don't believe you're correct on that point, IMO.

[Cod]

Why give God credit though? 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"

Okay

Prayer helps tons of people. Even if God weren't real, prayer would still be positive affirmations and a way for people to self-talk through their problems.

Prayer doesn't help to find lost relatives. Prayer doesn't cure cancer. If you think that talking to yourself is positive go for it, but it ain't going to help you find your car keys.

Belief helps everybody, you believe everyday that the force of gravity will hold you on the planet. You may not want to look at it like that, but you sure act like you have a lot of belief.

I don't need to believe that, it's self evident. And gravity deserves the credit for sticking me to the floor.

Let's pretend you meant faith there. faith helps people to. Faith builds hope which is helpful in breaking away from negative feedback loops. Faith also develops positive goals, goals that people use everyday to achieve their desires.

No I meant belief not faith, so lets not pretend anything.

You may consider thanking God is stupid, but that's because you're not convinced He is real. There's not really any harm though in acting like God is real and thanking one extra cause for your "blessings" is there?

Okay I'll try that at Christmas... I won't thank anybody who buys me a gift, I'll just thank Santa.

[Brian37]

Why give God credit though? 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"
Prayer helps tons of people. Even if God weren't real, prayer would still be positive affirmations and a way for people to self-talk through their problems.
Belief helps everybody, you believe everyday that the force of gravity will hold you on the planet. You may not want to look at it like that, but you sure act like you have a lot of belief.
Let's pretend you meant faith there. faith helps people to. Faith builds hope which is helpful in breaking away from negative feedback loops. Faith also develops positive goals, goals that people use everyday to achieve their desires.
You may consider thanking God is stupid, but that's because you're not convinced He is real. There's not really any harm though in acting like God is real and thanking one extra cause for your "blessings" is there? It doesn't diminish the thankfulness in any other cause. I think you have a zero sum mindset regarding thankfulness, and I don't believe you're correct on that point, IMO.

^^^^^ This is what is called circular reasoning.

If A Muslim quotes the Koran claiming it is all about doing it for the glory of Allah, pretty sure you wouldn't buy it blindly.

If a Buddhist says, "Because Buddha said so", pretty sure you wouldn't suddenly give up your position in a split second and become a Buddhist.

I don't give any religion credit, because unlike you, I see every religion for what it is. Mythology made up by humans in antiquity written by humans who didn't know any better, and mostly sold today, by parents selling it to their kids prior to the kid being able to develop adult critical thinking skills.

[tackattack]

@Brian37 I was asked for a reason why people give God credit. I cited dogma of those people to explain why they do it. I also did not excuse them not being appreciative of other contributions to the positive and negative things that happened to them. I figured that was a more appropriate to reference something they believe and think on than citing the biochemical, societal and evolutionary reasons people thank their skydaddy. That doesn't mean there aren't multiple reasons, but it's not circular. If it was a Muslim I would have quoted Surah “Why should Allah punish you if you have thanked Him and have believed in Him. And Allah is Ever All-Appreciative (of good), All-Knowing.” (4:147)
To be more precise:
1. X believes in the Bible
2. the Bible says Y
3. Therefore X does Y because of the Bible
I understand you feel the authority of the Bible is a circular argument and I wouldn't necessarily disagree. But we weren't talking about whether person X should be thankful to God, but why X did thank God.


@Cod If you want to be a dick at Christmas, more power to you. Notice I said "thanking one extra cause" meaning that you should be grateful for all the causes.
You also admit that acting on beliefs helpful, don't believe talking to yourself helps and don't want to discuss faith.

https://theweek.com/articles/476117/talk...g-car-keys that was with a 5 second google search, because you don't even need to open the door to the power of prayer to get my point.

[Cod]

@Cod  If you want to be a dick at Christmas, more power to you. Notice I said "thanking one extra cause" meaning that you should be grateful for all the causes.

Yeah, so be grateful to the invisible man who delivered the gifts, as well as all who worked all year to pay for them, spent the time shopping for them and wrapping them. Makes perfect sense.

You also admit that acting on beliefs helpful, don't believe talking to yourself helps and don't want to discuss faith.

No idea what you are waffling on about here. If you want to discuss faith I'm happy to do so.

[mordant]

Why give God credit though? 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"
Prayer helps tons of people. Even if God weren't real, prayer would still be positive affirmations and a way for people to self-talk through their problems.
Belief helps everybody, you believe everyday that the force of gravity will hold you on the planet. You may not want to look at it like that, but you sure act like you have a lot of belief.
Let's pretend you meant faith there. faith helps people to. Faith builds hope which is helpful in breaking away from negative feedback loops. Faith also develops positive goals, goals that people use everyday to achieve their desires.
You may consider thanking God is stupid, but that's because you're not convinced He is real. There's not really any harm though in acting like God is real and thanking one extra cause for your "blessings" is there? It doesn't diminish the thankfulness in any other cause. I think you have a zero sum mindset regarding thankfulness, and I don't believe you're correct on that point, IMO.

It depends on how the cited verse is interpreted / understood by particular believers, but literalists would say ALL means ALL. God gets ALL the glory for the things YOU do, even though it was YOU that did them. By extension, the surgeon doesn't get credit for saving your life, that would be ungrateful towards god.

I realize of course that many Christians -- arguably, in practice, most Christians -- don't consciously take it to this extreme. However ... many in my experience and observation are so conditioned to reflexively give thanks to god for both the sublime and the ridiculous, that they do have a tendency to attribute far more to divine intervention on their personal behalf than is even remotely warranted. Indeed, the canonical example of praying to god for a parking spot or to locate missing car keys and then thanking him for the parking spot or found keys or the won ball game or whatever, strikes me as an effort to claim prayer was answered in any way possible. If they would stop to think about it for like three seconds I think they would have to admit that unbelievers and heathens find parking spaces and missing keys at about the same rate. But they NEED to be able to claim victory because the truth is, prayer simply does not actually work.

Athletes "giving glory to god" for winning a game is the height of this lunacy in my view. Things like that have, all things being equal, a 50% chance of coming true all by themselves, and if you know you're a more skilled / practiced team than the opposition, asking god for victory after stacking your own deck strikes me as a pretty desperate gambit to claim prayer is effective by people who know full well on some level that prayer is bullshit.

[Amarok]

Why give God credit though? 1 Corinthians 10:31 "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"

Drivel 

Prayer helps tons of people. Even if God weren't real, prayer would still be positive affirmations and a way for people to self-talk through their problems.

Delusions are delusions 

Belief helps everybody, you believe everyday that the force of gravity will hold you on the planet. You may not want to look at it like that, but you sure act like you have a lot of belief.

I don't believe it it's a fact 

Let's pretend you meant faith there. faith helps people to. Faith builds hope which is helpful in breaking away from negative feedback loops. Faith also develops positive goals, goals that people use everyday to achieve their desires.

Delusions are still delusions 

You may consider thanking God is stupid, but that's because you're not convinced He is real. There's not really any harm though in acting like God is real and thanking one extra cause for your "blessings" is there?

Actually it does

[tackattack]

@Amarok Please spell out exactly how thanking all of the causes (in this case God you can fill in the blank with unicorn or whatever)either detracts from another person's thanks or negatively impacts a situation. Also, so if you believe your car is sitting in your driveway, and you go outside and it's not there, what happened to your fact then? It's a belief based on experience that you assume every day.

@mordant Perhaps a better verse "No matter what happens, always be thankful for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 There are probably a ton more. I agree with an interpretation should be everything should be [b]done[b] to the Glory of God, and I feel most Christians would as well. There could be a huge conspiracy that people pray for everything to prove that prayer works. More likely would be just a feeling of gratitude that needs an outlet for most, IMO.

@Cod see my comment to Amarok. Acting on beliefs is a normal and secular response. Beliefs that cultivate a sense of gratitude would then be of positive benefit. Why, because it acknowledges contributions and is beneficial in developing humility for the individual and pride/ownership of the contributors. The target of the gratitude is irrelevant and having multiple targets doesn't mean there's less gratitude for a contributor..

[Cod]

@Cod see my comment to Amarok.

I'm not interested in your response to him... Please address my points.

Acting on beliefs is a normal and secular response.

Are we talking about beliefs based upon evidence here? If not, I disagree.

Beliefs that cultivate a sense of gratitude would then be of positive benefit.

To who? Only those who benefit surely.

Why, because it acknowledges contributions and is beneficial in developing humility for the individual and pride/ownership of the contributors. The target of the gratitude is irrelevant and having multiple targets doesn't mean there's less gratitude for a contributor..

Why thank a silent partner.

[Amarok]

@Amarok Please spell out exactly how thanking all of the causes (in this case God you can fill in the blank with unicorn or whatever)either detracts from another person's thanks or negatively impacts a situation.

I already did that . 

Also, so if you believe your car is sitting in your driveway, and you go outside and it's not there, what happened to your fact then? It's a belief based on experience that you assume every day.

1. This isn't equal to the scientific fact of gravity .

2. No I'm afraid it's a fact my car isn't in my driveway because I don't own a car .

3. And I would never just assume my car is in my garage . I would withhold judgement until I could confirm it as known factors could make it  not so .Theft etc 

4. Lastly all it would do is alter the fact . It was a fact it was in my driveway at one point now it's a fact it's elsewhere

---

Acting on beliefs is a normal and secular response.

Based on evidence and with a degree of skepticism yes .

Beliefs that cultivate a sense of gratitude would then be of positive benefit.

Such beliefs are negative 

Why, because it acknowledges contributions and is beneficial in developing humility for the individual and pride/ownership of the contributors. The target of the gratitude is irrelevant and having multiple targets doesn't mean there's less gratitude for a contributor..

It does none of those things . The target does matter .Such delusions are worthless .