ksr141

A couple questions from a rationalist non-believer.

Do you believe that God can affect change in the universe through a super natural force (the Holy Ghost or some other agent)? Meaning, does God routinely violate the laws of thermodynamics by influencing the universe through a non-natural means (for example, turning water into wine)?

Do you believe that God influences the fate of people - a round-about way of asking if you believe prayer has a tangible benefit, despite there being no evidence for it (for example, the death rate among Christian vs. Non-Christian cancer patients is exactly the same in spite of fervorous prayer)

If the answer to both of these is “no” - God doesn’t violate the physics of the universe on a whim and God doesn’t change the luck of people that believe in him, I ask you if it matters at all whether one believes in God or not?

My view has been that the answer to that question is “no” - the universe truly doesn’t care if you believe or not, as God cannot affect the universe in any tangible way. So faith is entirely about finding mental solace for the believer. Do you think there are other more productive ways humanity could achieve this same comfort (therapy, community building, etc)? Why is belief in God necessary?

Found this out the hard way. Wife and I both went in for annual checkups. During mine, the Dr. asked about a pre-existing condition I had been seeing a specialist for. We chatted about it for about 30 seconds with the Dr. basically saying “oh, ok” and that was that. 2 weeks later we get the insurance bills, wife owes $0 and I owe $200. Basically paying $10 per word where no medical advice was offered.

Agree with OP and not the Dr.’s chiming in - DO NOT discuss medical issues during a wellness check if they’re being covered elsewhere. The system is fucked, but that’s the way it is.

You mention that a large part of faith is finding that mental solace, bettering yourself through discipline, and building a community. What I’m trying to understand is why belief in a diety is necessary to achieve that. I feel we could make more progress taking a holistic approach to bettering our shared humanity. It feels like a large part of the appeal for finding and joining a faith is that it appeals to our inherent tribalism and one can feel in some way superior over their fellow man (I didn’t mean this to be a slight, it’s part of being human). Surely we could do better without the labels and inclusivity.

Thanks for answering my questions tho... I honestly didn’t expect you to say you believe miracles like the water-into-wine story are factually accurate. I’m glad your faith has helped you in life.