@pb1022 saidI don't think the world revolves around me at all. But my relationship with each member of this community with whom I debate and discuss beliefs DOES revolve around the beliefs each has espoused to me and the beliefs I have espoused to each of them.
You think the world revolves around you, don’t you? Quite an ego you have.
@fmf saidWell, I hope it went well for them. I've been there in the hospital watching loved ones too, did pray, and it didn't go as I would have liked. This year I spent a large portion of in the hospital myself, did pray, I'm here still. Does that mean God likes me better than those that didn't live? No, things that happen to us are common to all people when we all experience good and bad things in life? Believing in God or not will not change any of that; I think disbelieving or rejecting God only does one thing in that equation: remove the hope we can have in this life because none of us are promised tomorrow.
sonship has brandished the “There are no atheists in foxholes” adage frequently, often as a go-to debating point when he found my lack of belief an affront. Sometimes he’d claim that I really wasn't an atheist but that I just claimed to not be a believer because I was "angry" at Jesus for making me accountable for my "wickedness".
Having said that, I think there are atheists ...[text shortened]... Have any of the agnostics or atheists on this forum ever had their lack [or loss] of belief tested?
@pb1022 saidYou are speaking on behalf of the entire global population of this planet?
No one - and I mean no one - when their very own life is in jeopardy and on the verge of being lost reacts the same way and has the same feelings as to when a close relative’s life is about to be lost.
You know it, and I know it.
Stop being ridiculous.
@pb1022 saidAre you intent on downshifting fully into Romans1009 mode or will you just be being obnoxious for a page or two?
Right.
But you’d hardly know it from this post of yours, navel gazer:
<<What a momentous thing ~ what a game-changer ~ it would have been, in light of all the views I have espoused and propagated sincerely here on this forum over the last decade or so, if I had prayed that night.>>
@pb1022 saidDo you feel that it is impossible for a person to value more of the life of another than their own?
You’re being blatantly dishonest if you’re claiming the impending death of a relative and *your* impending death have the same effect on you.
And it’s very obvious.you’re being blatantly dishonest.
03 Jan 22
@kellyjay saidThank you for sharing, but my personal testimony in the OP was in no shape or form intended to be about my thoughts on the efficacy of prayer. Your response makes me think that you think it was.
Well, I hope it went well for them. I've been there in the hospital watching loved ones too, did pray, and it didn't go as I would have liked. This year I spent a large portion of in the hospital myself, did pray, I'm here still. Does that mean God likes me better than those that didn't live? No, things that happen to us are common to all people when we all experience good a ...[text shortened]... in that equation: remove the hope we can have in this life because none of us are promised tomorrow.
03 Jan 22
@fmf saidI took your sharing to be sort of a victory lap of sorts for not yielding to the need for prayer, nothing more than that. Since hospitals have been huge for me this year, and my past in them, I just gave my two cents, nothing more than that.
Thank you for sharing, but my personal testimony in the OP was in no shape or form intended to be about my thoughts on the efficacy of prayer. Your response makes me think that you think it was.
03 Jan 22
@pb1022 saidFrom this post one can conclude that you don't have children, a loving life partner, or a very good relationship with your family. Hands up everyone who's surprised...
The obvious difference is the atheist in the foxhole has *his life* in jeopardy. You did not. One of your relative’s lives was in jeopardy - yours wasn’t.
It doesn’t matter how close you are to your relative, it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.
And I hope your relative is Ok.
03 Jan 22
@kellyjay saidYour two cents' worth was about as trite an interpretation of what my OP meant as you could have mustered. Oh well. And I am sorry that hospitals have been huge for you this year.
Since hospitals have been huge for me this year, and my past in them, I just gave my two cents, nothing more than that.