For example, you put yourself through university by studying hard and working full time. Then someone says, you should thank god for giving you the strength. Like wtf do you mean, I busted my ass day in and day out but I’m supposed to thank god for it?
I’ve had a life of endless suffering due to many things. When people tell me it’s all part of our loving God’s plan for me, I almost lose mind. If God exists, he isn’t loving. Inflicting such awful things on your children isn’t love. It’s abuse.
Oh man, let me introduce you to Christopher Hitchens. Unfortunately dead now, he was an intellectual powerhouse who could cut down any argument for religion like a hot knife through butter. Start by searching Instagram for him. He’s also funny as shit. Incorporate some of his arguments against god in your conversations with people who insist that god has anything at all to do with your accomplishments and you should shut them up pretty quickly.
Not to irritate you, but you sound like someone who hasn’t accepted Our Lord in your heart.
But my therapist told me I need to stop getting into abusive relationships
I live in a conservative suburb where every other person you meet is in some megachurch, so it’s inevitable. Having recently retired, I’m quickly running out of fux to give. One day I’m going to tell one of them how my Lord Cthulhu has changed my life, and see how fast they bail.
Or turn on you now that you have a fixed income
I don’t have that issue. I don’t think I talked about God or religion in years. I do go to a church for mutual aid but it’s not religious
Thank you for getting back to me. 🌹 I truly believe that many people feel this way. Tragic things happen in life. Believe me, I speak from experience too. Sometimes we walk a certain path, and something terrible happens to us. We wonder, ‘Why did this happen?’ But we’ll never know what would have happened if we had chosen the other path. Perhaps something terrible had to occur to protect us from something even worse. I know this might sound like making excuses sometimes, but I genuinely believe this. And there have been small incidents where I felt this was confirmed.
The fact that you believe God would not love you is, to me, a sign that you still believe in Him😊 and that is something good. Whatever you have experienced in life, or whatever you are going through right now, I wish you strength and all the best. I hope that soon everything will turn around for the better. I will pray for you. I know this sounds clichéd, but I truly mean it. You can always reach out to me whenever you want. Peace be with you. 🕊️🌹
I’ve been an atheist since I was a kid and first learned the word that explained my skepticism of all the nonsense I grew up with.
I became open about it when I got to college and had that phase where I let stuff like people saying “bless you” or “god gave you strength” get under my skin and make me mad. All these years later. I’ve learned to pick my battles and not let peoples well meaning sayings bug me.
“Ridicule is the only weapon which can be used against unintelligible propositions” -Thomas Jefferson. Don’t get mad, and also don’t come right at them with the ridicule as they expect that and are prepared. Simply start agreeing with them and see how far you can take it.
For the strength. No, not anymore. I looked into the origins of my batshit insane evangelical cult upbringing, really studied it (and still am not not gorging anymore) and got over myself. I’m at peace with my own beliefs, and when that happens, the only criticism that is genuine and valid are those who make a mockery of their deities by doing evil in the deities’ names.
Peace be upon you. 🌹 As one of those religious people, I can simply say: “No.” 😁
We deeply religious people (whether Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, or others) simply believe that everything happens through God’s will. However, this does not mean that free will doesn’t exist. You will be rewarded solely for your hard work, Inshallah, because that is your own merit.
You should just keep in mind that the phrase “you should thank God for giving you so much strength” is actually a compliment. It means “God loves you”
Of course, it also depends on how the person expresses this words 😅, but it is something beautiful.
Peace be upon you all🌹🌹🌹
I appreciate you but I have many reasons to believe god does not love me lol
I’m irritated with everything people do all the time.
This statement is beginning to irritate me.
Got a bug up your ass and better no one touch the sumbitch, amiright!
/lemmy
I was extremely irritated this week when the office catholic, who is quite happy to lie, cheat and steal, told me I’m going to hell unless I accept his god.
Biggest hypocrites I’ve found were in the years I spent at church. Not all of course but there are a ton of people who believe they’re allowed to do whatever they want as long as they repent and they look down on people outside of the church as if they were filth. Hell, even within the church, they had a superiority complex with “fellow worshippers”
Emotional pyramid-scheme.
Beyond being an obviously shitty (and annoying) thing to do, he’s not even right about his own theology; it’s been the position of the Catholic church for, at least, a century now that not only believers are saved.
So just Ls, all around, for that guy.
Atheist here. No, I don’t. The religious person who put in the work still put in the work, through their faith in God. The Atheist does it through their faith in themselves. It’s the same energy, because the religious person doesn’t think they have it in them. They do, but God makes it manageable. I get that. So when they say it about you, they’re just using tense they understand.
Like when they say “bless you” when you sneeze. They’re wishing you health in terms they understand.
Bless you is a great example. I don’t think most people say things like bless you or God gave you the strength to be literally religious, they’re just a spiritual person’s way of being polite.
I just say ‘holy fuck’
does that count?
I assume most folks using that expression are not using it in a deep spiritual manner, so it probably does. Saying it also usually makes people feel at least a smidge better after venting those feelings, so you may inadvertently also be a little more blessed. 😇
yeah but when I say ‘blessed thee’ people look at me funny
That’s their loss. I’d laugh. 😄
I’m religious, and I say that too. I think you’re in the clear.
Interesting observation - where I live many / most people will say Salud (good health) when someone sneezes, as an intentionally secular version of the more traditional Jesus
I was raised to say gesundheit. It’s German and basically means something like “here’s to your health.” Apple’s translation service says it just means “health”.
It does mean literally health.
Thanks. I saw someone else say that, and then I used Apple Translate (what’s built into my computer) to translate it. I’m part German but I’m not from Germany and I don’t speak German. I know a couple dozen words, mostly thanks to Rammstein, but my father taught me gesundheit.
Funny thing about languages, and I’m not sure English really does this. You sneeze in Germany, people say “health,” but what they mean is, “to your health” or similar. In Japan, you might be called an “otaku”, which is sort of a badge of honour in the west, as it is taken to mean you are a fan of something and very knowledgeable on the subject. In Japanese, it just means “house” or “your house” — as in, you never leave it. If someone calls you “otaku” in Japanese, they’re saying you never leave your house, you’re a basement dweller, you need to touch grass, and so on. Sure, in the west you can be a “homebody,” someone who prefers to stay at home, but not a “home.” It’s also early, so while I know a couple dozen words in German and like 5 dozen words in Japanese, English is my first language and it may very well have similar terms, I’m just blanking right now.
Yeah, you’re right, the implied meaning can be better translated with more words than the litteral one. And it’s nice to encounter a fellow German-through-Rammstein student ❤️🔥 (Mein Herz Brennt)
Thats a beautiful way to think about it
This is the first time I translated “bless you”. I never knew it was something religious. In german we simply say “health” (Gesundheit) when someone sneezes.
Its a hold over from the plague I think, plus general religiousnous in the past. https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2011/feb/14/why-do-we-say-bless-you-notes-queries
That’s interesting. In spanish, we also say “health” (Salud). I wasn’t expecting it to be the same in a language as different as german.
The “religious” word we can say when someone sneezes is “Jesus” (Jesús). Which is also a weird thing to say. I’m pretty sure the origin is still christianism, but I can’t see why someone chose specifically that.
I say Gesundheit here in Australia like its muscle memory anytime anyone sneezes. My girlfriend hates it but its ingrained in me, I have no idea why. Its just a funny word
I say the same despite only speaking English because I once read it was less like blessing someone and more like saying “keep your demons to yourself.” I now believe that is inaccurate, but it does make for a story.
I’m not sure “irritated” is the right word. If God is the reason good things happen, I have to ask why THE FUCK my daughter got a brain tumor at age 10. If that was part of God’s Great Plan then he’s a FUCKING ASSHOLE, and next time you pray you can tell him that for me.
Anything I say will seem reductive and hollow, but I’m truly sorry you’ve had to/are having to deal with this and I can’t imagine the hardship. I wish you and your family nothing but the best.
If I got mad at peoples lack of critical thinking I wouldn’t get very far in a day. But they are insane.
“Thank God for curing my cancer!”
“HE FUCKING GAVE IT TO YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE!”
Not only is it insane, it is also incredibly egotistical of people to think that whatever god might exist will help them when it didn’t lift a finger to prevent some of the most horrible things that have happened in history; the trans-atlantic slave trade and the holocaust being prime examples.
And, because I can already feel a religious person typing “bUt ThOsE wERe dOnE By huMaNs” yes, how observent of you, but accordng to your primary (and only) source for your god’s existance, it did intervene when humans were building a big tower. And also killed all the babies of Egypt because their leader refused to listen. And I’d argue that the holocaust and slave trade are much worse than humans building a tower.
And really horrific events like the holocaust must’ve had countless people praying to be spared, but since most of them died anyway, that must mean the Holocaust was God’s will, since that’s what religious people always say when prayers go unanswered.
Your family member survived cancer? “God saved them!” Your family member died of cancer despite praying? “Must’ve been God’s will, He works in mysterious ways!”
“It was to test my faith!”
And what about all the children with cancer that were in there getting treatment with you?
Ain’t no point in bringing logic to a dingleberry convention!
They say God, but they mean luck. If you translate it like that in your mind, it starts making sense.
