I am an Atheist and always have been.

IrishEyes said:
This forum and it's members are also in my daily gratitude prayer. Whether you like it or not,;)
the differences we all share in so many things helps me to understand people better. To know
each of us are seeking answers in our very own way.

Only time will tell and who of us we be able to say "I was right!" In the end, does it really matter?
If we all end up in a different place or the same, or no place at all, we all got to live and believe as
we wanted.
Click to expand...
Yes it really does matter.
I just demand from God that everyone gets saved here. Last minute or whatever. If you call on Jesus just before you die you will be saved. I say it, so people know and for the rest I only have to pray and God will show them. Just call on Jesus. Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.

 
Messy said:
Yes it really does matter.
I just demand from God that everyone gets saved here. Last minute or whatever. If you call on Jesus just before you die you will be saved. I say it, so people know and for the rest I only have to pray and God will show them. Just call on Jesus. Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.

Click to expand...
For some of us it really does matter for some it never will, it doesn't need to be something to divide us or for some to try and trick
others into or out of what they believe.
Learning about the Bible is something each has to do on their own as verses can mean different
things to each of us and sometimes even changes as we change. To learn about it, a person needs to put their own effort into it.
God can attempt to show a person who doesn't believe, just because you pray for it doesn't mean it will happen, they have free will
just as you do. It has to be their choice.
Everyone who calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved. As you stated here - Everyone- has to do their own calling upon
the Name of the Lord. We can not do it for them. We can pray they do it, they still have to do it.
 
JustDave said:
You know. I don't think it does. Not one bit, but here we are on page 33.
Click to expand...
It can be a great discussion to be able to be part of here, in the world around us, it's a very touchy subject with many
and can't be discussed. I am not a preacher or not even remember Bible verses off the top of my head.
I just know my heart and how I feel. I know how I have changed and keep working hard at it. Mine is my own personal
feelings and experience. My words are more a testimony than Biblical Facts.
 
JustDave said:
"The practice of gratitude" It's one of those things where the benefit becomes clear when you do it. I've never come across the psychological dynamics of why it works, although I'm sure there is something out there. I understand it from experience, but I've never sat down and figured out the cause/effect connection. As you say, it doesn't make any difference why or how you do it. It's still the same cat, just skinned in different ways.
Click to expand...
It's a form of positive thinking. Almost any kind of positive thinking is good because it results in positive emotions and promotes more positive thinking due to the brain's neuroplasticity. The parts of our brains we use grow larger like a muscle and the parts we don't use, atrophy. Positive thinking becomes habitual when we do it enough.

Martin Seligman's formula for happiness is Positive Emotions + Engagement + Relationships + Meaning + Accomplishments or PERMA. So "positive emotions" is one element that leads to happiness.

It seems like the positive psychology movement has kind of waned in popularity, but it's still useful. There have been entire books written about the practice of gratitude by researchers and Buddhists, too, from what I remember.
 
My question remains the same as it was in post 798, where I used a hedonist as an example. To whom (or what) do they express their gratitude to? Or can they be completely without gratitude and still be a positive thinker?

". . . they saw little value in directing thanks (gratitude) especially toward abstract concepts, including evolution or the cosmos." [from post 798]


hedonist.jpg
"
 
Last edited:
RambleTamble said:
It's a form of positive thinking. Almost any kind of positive thinking is good because it results in positive emotions and promotes more positive thinking due to the brain's neuroplasticity. The parts of our brains we use grow larger like a muscle and the parts we don't use, atrophy. Positive thinking becomes habitual when we do it enough.

Martin Seligman's formula for happiness is Positive Emotions + Engagement + Relationships + Meaning + Accomplishments or PERMA. So "positive emotions" is one element that leads to happiness.

It seems like the positive psychology movement has kind of waned in popularity, but it's still useful. There have been entire books written about the practice of gratitude by researchers and Buddhists, too, from what I remember.
Click to expand...
2:28

He saw on an RSI scan that a woman first thought about something and then her brain responded. He had been taught for 20 years as a neurosurgeon that your brain creates who you are and what you can do.
 
IrishEyes said:
I should add here too, I don't just pray when I am in need. I give a prayer every morning
of gratitude for another day, for the beauty of the world around me, for the simple things that
give me peace, happiness for His glory that is in each day. My health and those that love me.

I have more prayers of gratitude than of needing help over the last few decades and I think
that is a big help in being heard and shown the way and it's a commitment I made when I was
baptized right after I gave him my guilts, sins and bad feelings toward certain people in my life
and left them in that water never to look back.
Click to expand...
You, I believe, agree with what I am trying to convey. He is there to talk to. He hears us. He doesn't agree with us most times but he makes that clear. I do not look for for him to supply the answers I want. I suspect you are the same.
I hear him and then I have to think about the answers he provides. His answers never deviate from his word so I often cross check what am hearing. Then the revelations come. I try to fit his responses into my life. What did I miss, what did I overlook. What did I not consider.
Then I find myself trying to consider his view as opposed to mine. That never fails to take me out of myself snd try to see the creation from a little above my own self.
I know that sounds crazy but when I do manage to let go, the view is amazing and confirms that God is beyond my understanding, but HE is here for me. How?? He is the God almighty. I am his creation. What do I know.
I know he watches over me. I know he loves me, Why? haven't got a clue. But he is there. I know in my worst times I can call to him and he hears me. Makes me feel safe.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top