Comments on: What Foxholes? http://www.godispretend.net/2006/06/what-foxholes/ A collection of thoughts on the lie that is religion. Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:32:25 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Megan http://www.godispretend.net/2006/06/what-foxholes/comment-page-1/#comment-7 Megan Wed, 28 Jun 2006 20:59:00 +0000 http://godispretend.net/?p=6#comment-7 You mean unicorns aren't real? :( You mean unicorns aren’t real? :(

]]> By: andrea http://www.godispretend.net/2006/06/what-foxholes/comment-page-1/#comment-6 andrea Wed, 28 Jun 2006 03:01:00 +0000 http://godispretend.net/?p=6#comment-6 People who make this assertion are confusing hope with prayer. Survival is a basic human instinct, and in a life-threatening situation it is only natural to hope that we and our loved ones make it out alive. We may think, "If I survive this quadruple bypass surgery, I'll never eat another cheeseburger" or "I hope Johnny makes it home safely from Iraq." Rationally, we know that hoping is just a natural reflex and will not change the course of events.<br/><br/>Prayer is entirely different. It is a learned behavior, not inherently human. Also, prayer is directed at something (God) and some sort of outcome is expected in return. It sounds more like "God, if you let me live, I promise I'll never sin again" or "Please take my life instead of Johnny's." Prayer is an active and conscious process of bargaining with God to produce a desired result.<br/><br/>Now that I've separated the two, it should be fairly obvious (even to the most hard-core Christian) how atheists can and do stay true to their beliefs in the most dire of situations. Of course we want to survive. But we have no use for prayer, because to us the idea of divine intervention is as ludicrous as expecting the Easter Bunny to ride in on a unicorn and save the day. We can only believe in ourselves and our own abilities, and we waste no time helping ourselves because we know no higher power will.<br/><br/>And don't even get me started on how disrespectful this phrase is to those atheists putting their lives on the line to serve our country, down in the foxholes where they supposedly don't exist. I hope they know that although there is no god to support them, their fellow atheists sure do. People who make this assertion are confusing hope with prayer. Survival is a basic human instinct, and in a life-threatening situation it is only natural to hope that we and our loved ones make it out alive. We may think, “If I survive this quadruple bypass surgery, I’ll never eat another cheeseburger” or “I hope Johnny makes it home safely from Iraq.” Rationally, we know that hoping is just a natural reflex and will not change the course of events.

Prayer is entirely different. It is a learned behavior, not inherently human. Also, prayer is directed at something (God) and some sort of outcome is expected in return. It sounds more like “God, if you let me live, I promise I’ll never sin again” or “Please take my life instead of Johnny’s.” Prayer is an active and conscious process of bargaining with God to produce a desired result.

Now that I’ve separated the two, it should be fairly obvious (even to the most hard-core Christian) how atheists can and do stay true to their beliefs in the most dire of situations. Of course we want to survive. But we have no use for prayer, because to us the idea of divine intervention is as ludicrous as expecting the Easter Bunny to ride in on a unicorn and save the day. We can only believe in ourselves and our own abilities, and we waste no time helping ourselves because we know no higher power will.

And don’t even get me started on how disrespectful this phrase is to those atheists putting their lives on the line to serve our country, down in the foxholes where they supposedly don’t exist. I hope they know that although there is no god to support them, their fellow atheists sure do.

]]> By: Megan http://www.godispretend.net/2006/06/what-foxholes/comment-page-1/#comment-5 Megan Tue, 27 Jun 2006 20:57:00 +0000 http://godispretend.net/?p=6#comment-5 I was once put in a life-threatening situation. I was stuck in the left lane of the interstate in the middle of Denver at night with no way to get off the road because there was a concrete barrier on the other side of my car. My car was completely dead, and, to make matters worse, I had three screaming 14 year old girls in the back seat. Oh yeah and this was the day before I was scheduled to graduate high school.<br/><br/>Did I call on God? No. I called on AAA and my dad. I survived the ordeal, but it wasn't thanks to God. It was thanks to my emergency flashers and the courtesy patrol guy whose JOB it was to drive around and look for people like me who break down in the middle of the construction. God didn't attach the jumper cables, and he certainly did not put in my new alternator (because if he had it wouldn't have malfunctioned several months later). AAA got my car home, and my dad got the rest of us home. Not God.<br/><br/>Now some might call this whole ordeal a "life lesson" from "God" or say that "obviously he wanted me to live." But the only "lesson" I learned was to heed my warning lights, and if "God" really cared about whether or not I lived, then he wouldn't have had my car die only 10 yards from a breakdown lane.<br/><br/>Therefore he does not exist. And if by some minute chance he does, he's one big jerk. I was once put in a life-threatening situation. I was stuck in the left lane of the interstate in the middle of Denver at night with no way to get off the road because there was a concrete barrier on the other side of my car. My car was completely dead, and, to make matters worse, I had three screaming 14 year old girls in the back seat. Oh yeah and this was the day before I was scheduled to graduate high school.

Did I call on God? No. I called on AAA and my dad. I survived the ordeal, but it wasn’t thanks to God. It was thanks to my emergency flashers and the courtesy patrol guy whose JOB it was to drive around and look for people like me who break down in the middle of the construction. God didn’t attach the jumper cables, and he certainly did not put in my new alternator (because if he had it wouldn’t have malfunctioned several months later). AAA got my car home, and my dad got the rest of us home. Not God.

Now some might call this whole ordeal a “life lesson” from “God” or say that “obviously he wanted me to live.” But the only “lesson” I learned was to heed my warning lights, and if “God” really cared about whether or not I lived, then he wouldn’t have had my car die only 10 yards from a breakdown lane.

Therefore he does not exist. And if by some minute chance he does, he’s one big jerk.

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