Word on the street is that he started out Jewish but later converted to Christianity, FishStix.
Which got me thinking and a quick Google search confirms that, yes, there is a bumper sticker for your name (well, more traditionally spelled) in the galaxy of fish bumper stickers. (and for some reason I can’t see any avatars so I have no idea whether yours is one of those or not)
Faith has never actually moved a mountain, but some studies have shown that prayer can be effective in certain instances. For example, if you’re ill and pray to get better, it may improve your chances and/or rate of recovery. Or, if you know that someone else is praying for you, it may likewise be beneficial. But if someone else is praying for you and you don’t know it, their prayers will have no effect on your health, and if nobody is praying for you but you believe they are, it works as well as if they’re actually praying for you.
Positive thinking can have great results, but it’s your own thinking that does the work. Throwing a penny into a wishing well is as effective as prayer (and as ineffective), so long as you believe that the well can grant your wish.
Non-theist have a long way to go to replace the kind of helpful solidarity that churches have managed to provide for their members.
A “church” of unbelievers that really brought caring folks together on a regular basis and replaced faith in unproved legend with trust in each others goodness would be my idea of positive “religious” evolution. We are a long long way from that.
I agree with you entirely on that score, poohbear. I’m a firm believer in the value of having a “support network”, and I think a church would be a marvelous thing to belong to, if it weren’t for all the metaphysics they expect me to believe…
ksoskins about 14 years ago
Don’t call upon the deus ex machina in vain.
cdward about 14 years ago
I don’t want you to fix it, I just want you to listen! (that’s what my wife says, anyway)
Larry Miller Premium Member about 14 years ago
Word on the street is that he started out Jewish but later converted to Christianity, FishStix.
Which got me thinking and a quick Google search confirms that, yes, there is a bumper sticker for your name (well, more traditionally spelled) in the galaxy of fish bumper stickers. (and for some reason I can’t see any avatars so I have no idea whether yours is one of those or not)
poohbear8192 about 14 years ago
PROBLEMS? I’ll tell you what a PROBLEM is! Try non-existence!! It’ll scare the ell out of you.
Bennn about 14 years ago
You believe that, if it makes you feel better poobeard8192 (paraphrased from Mr. Bennett in Pride & Prejudice)
poohbear8192 about 14 years ago
Bennn: We all “feel better” in our own way.
My “religion” (for lack of a better word) is non-theism.
Comments (condescending?) by Theists deserve a response just as mine do.
fritzoid Premium Member about 14 years ago
Faith has never actually moved a mountain, but some studies have shown that prayer can be effective in certain instances. For example, if you’re ill and pray to get better, it may improve your chances and/or rate of recovery. Or, if you know that someone else is praying for you, it may likewise be beneficial. But if someone else is praying for you and you don’t know it, their prayers will have no effect on your health, and if nobody is praying for you but you believe they are, it works as well as if they’re actually praying for you.
Positive thinking can have great results, but it’s your own thinking that does the work. Throwing a penny into a wishing well is as effective as prayer (and as ineffective), so long as you believe that the well can grant your wish.
poohbear8192 about 14 years ago
friziod:
Non-theist have a long way to go to replace the kind of helpful solidarity that churches have managed to provide for their members.
A “church” of unbelievers that really brought caring folks together on a regular basis and replaced faith in unproved legend with trust in each others goodness would be my idea of positive “religious” evolution. We are a long long way from that.
fritzoid Premium Member about 14 years ago
I agree with you entirely on that score, poohbear. I’m a firm believer in the value of having a “support network”, and I think a church would be a marvelous thing to belong to, if it weren’t for all the metaphysics they expect me to believe…