I am playing around with a subject for an upcoming video. I would like to know how you would answer the question. What is a personal relationship with God/Jesus really and what would you compare it to? I may use your thoughts in my next video! Thank you fo your help!
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Like many have said, I find it hard to believe that an imaginary thing is "personal". That said, I could see some residual good coming out of a belief like that. I could see someone gain in confidence or belief in self because some imaginary friend spurs you on. Unfortunately, from my perspective, this sometimes turns into a kind of megalomania or something like that.
Chris0615
Level 5
June 9, 2019
3
I don't know why this cracks me up but a "personal" imaginary friend?
I don't think it is possible to have any kind of relationship with something that is invisible and imaginary, personal or otherwise.
jlynn37
Level 8
June 9, 2019
2
I agree, the problem here is that people actively, consciously delude themselves into BELIEVING that they can have a relationship with something that does not exist.
i've never had a relationship with an imaginary thing. when i was a kid i remember other kids (maybe one or two) that had an imaginary friend. i never got it. BUT i have been thinking about how a religious person may not want to be with an atheist because it may jeopardize their personal relationship with god. i've just been thinking how ridiculous it is to have a more important relationship with 'god' as opposed to having one with an actual person. i think maybe they get that tingly feeling when thinking about god. like thinking of jumping off a cliff gives me that tingly feeling. i can think of shit and get a tingly feeling. i'm betting that feeling is what a lot of ppl confuse with feeling god's presence... which is only a mind thing. i digress
SeeCanU
Level 7
June 9, 2019
2
That is disturbing, My X-wife treated her God like a God and me like Satan. Her pretend relationship was more important.
@DavidLaDeau yea that IS disturbing that somebody will put an imaginary thingy above a living person. and you seem like a supercool dude (from your videos).
i am told that when i was a very small child i had an invisible friend, possibly a rabbit, and i got upset when someone sat down on the swing next to mine because that person had sat on my invisible rabbit. until i was 15 i had a different invisible friend i called "god," but i wasn't a fanatic about it. this was just someone who witnessed the hardships i was going through. i never expected him to do anything about it. i just wanted a witness (i was an abused child). god wasn't a terribly important part of my life, though, and when i realized what i had suspected all along -- that there was no such personage -- it wasn't especially traumatic.
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@SeeCanU Thank you! I just try to be real and empathetic. Though i do love a bit of satire!
@genessa I actually thought that God was real. Then I grew out of it.
@DavidLaDeau well, i guess i did too, until age 15, but it just wasn't a big, important part of my life. i don't even know how much i believed that he was watching. it was really more like a game, or a wish.
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.. wtf am i doing?????@DavidLaDeau
Mental illness is more rampant than any one believes!
It is disguise as religious faith!
I've never had a relationship with any God or religion because I wasn't raised to. By the time I was forced by my grade school to go to church, I already had serious doubts about all religion.
onthefire
Level 7
June 9, 2019
3
I am happy it went that way for you.
Very interesting question! I was raised in the church. This was a popular topic - having a personal relationship with God or Jesus, and feeling the holy spirit. I tried, boy how I tried. It was fully expected of me as a PK. However, NEVER did I ever once feel like there was a god or his son or his spirit around me, helping me, or protecting me from a goddamn thing. My father was a minister who said "goddamn", which was very confusing for a child. He beat his wife and kids. Where was god then? When I divorced, 2000 people at Aloma United Methodist Church turned their backs on me, even though the choir director also got divorced. But they loved me singing in the contatas, building the courtyard, volunteering on the building committee (coz I'm an engineer), etc. My girlfriend killed herself in 2011 and while at that time I was already seriously questioning the existence of a god, I used to do what I called my "grief walk" up and down my street ( it's secluded so nobody saw me). I would look up in the sky and beg for relief from the pain of losing the woman I was in love with. Nothing. I claim to be agnostic because I can't prove there's not a god. Although, I have seen two UFOs! When Jesus stops by and puts my fingers in the hole in his palm, I'll believe again. Not holding my breath.
Stilltrying1964
Level 7
June 9, 2019
1
First I'm very sorry for your loss. That must still hurt very bad.
Second, That is a very stylish t-shirt there!
Third, I was involved in a young earth creationist, fundamentalist, cult. Called The First United Methodist Church. Normally they are considered moderate but these guys indoctrinated me to be an extremest, Inerrant, wacko!
Luckily, I grew out of It. Much of the idea of my video centers around how everyone in church talked about their personal relationship with god and how Jesus told them this and that. It was expected from everyone. I did not know what they were talking about.When I asked they basically told me I was flawed, in sin, or not believing enough. I as a child, would stay up all night just trying to believe enough for Jesus to love me. IT WAS CHILD ABUSE!
@DavidLaDeau Thank you. It does still hurt and probably always will.
Even worse is my family's completely inadequate response to my grief. I guess because we weren't together very long they think it doesn't matter very much. That and other horrible things they've done have left me an orphan of sorts. I don't speak to any of them anymore. My bible-thumping southern baptist brother says these bad things have happened to me because I've turned away from god. What a joke! If there is a god, he's a total prick! ✌
@Stilltrying1964 Iv'e noticed that just as many bad things happen to Bible thumpers, only its god "testing" them. Really God does not know? If its for the sake of learning could an all powerful god not teach in a positive way? They demean their won God.
It's pretending really hard that your moral compass is someone else.
And that 'someone else' can grant personal favors if you do certain things "Just right".
But you never do things 'just right' because the game is rigged. Apparently. lol
So happy to be Atheist!
RavenCT
Level 9
June 9, 2019
4
You can't win when your imaginary friend won't let you!
@DavidLaDeau Exactly.. Though frankly they were never that friendly? Roman Catholic upbringing... Not a fun playmate. lol
The less time you spend with this subject, the better your life and life of others will be. God is not useful for anything.
St-Sinner
Level 9
June 9, 2019
2
I have the internal need to help others escape it. So it is very important that I am aboe to approach subjects like this in a way that helps the to think rather than "just believe."
Delusional thinking bordering on psychosis. Basically it's when someone has bullshitted themselves into being able to release dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin through very specific stimuli in such quantities that produce a distinct chemical high that is percieved as a "spiritual experience", much in the same way that LSD or Psilocybin would, but to a much lesser (usually) extent.
Kafirah
Level 8
June 9, 2019
1
Yep, thats basically it in a nut shell.
I don’t know.
indirect76
Level 7
June 9, 2019
2
That is a great answer. I often run into Christians that ALWAYS have to have an answer. They simply can not accept that they do not know and thus will not accept honesty from others.
Please explain how someone has a personal relationship with a nonmaterial object or being they cannot see or touch, and that they only "hear" within their mind. I believe I may have a more personal relationship with the chair I sit in since I can see it, can touch it, and can hear it when I sit down on it. It is a comfortable chair that attractive given the decor of the room it sits in.
My veiw of the personal relationship with God is influenced by reports of Nicholas Epley's research reported in Discover magazine.
[blogs.discovermagazine.com]
RussRAB
Level 8
June 9, 2019
3
Thank you, i will check it out. The personal relationship with nothing IS in fact ridiculous, the key is making it obvious to those who believe it as i did as a child indoctrinated into fundamentalism.
@DavidLaDeau - I will be interested to see what you come up with on your Youtube channel.
A personnal relationship with something nonmaterial. I suppose those people call that spirituality. To me, it only looks like imagination.
Religion is a like a virus.
Religion hijacks the mind like a virus hijacks the body. Both a virus and religion's goal is to reproduce itself.
Richard Dawkins, author of "The God Delusion."
LiterateHiker
Level 9
June 9, 2019
5
A much more conprehensive book is called "The God Virus."
To reproduce itself by proselytism, but mostly by breeding.
@QuidamOutrepont Very true, This is why the Bible tells us to kill unborn children and babies, yet Christianity is anti-abortion. They simply want more baby Christians.
No such relationship, pure imagination, & wishful thinking.
Lilac-JadeCanada
Level 9
June 9, 2019
3
Hosh never expected to hear that from the likesnof you! Ha! Ha!
@DavidLaDeau Hmmm, what would you expect of me?
@Lilac-Jade Hey! Look I have hecklers that say I'm a troll, Don't know what site I'm on or just trying to get famous on my YouTube channel! Heck I was scared to talk when I first met you on the other site years ago. How far I have come!
@DavidLaDeau I feel I said something wrong.
@Lilac-Jade Noooooo! Just look at some of the comments! They are actually funny! Your always the best!
@DavidLaDeau Ok, if you say so.
Umm, you know this is a site literally named agnostic.com, right?
zeuser
Level 9
June 9, 2019
4
Thats why my fellow apostates can anwer this question and help me to answer questions that Christians have. You know I have a profile you could have looked at complete with bio and link to my YouTube channel right?
Enjoy being online again!
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