But the rational part of your brain tells you that these people are, in all probability, deluded
and that in those times of dire need, there isn't actually anyone or anything listening to them or watching over them, let alone waiting to intervene.

Are you really that jealous?
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:34, 3 replies, latest was 15 years ago)

True,
But the thought that there is someone there can have powerful effects. It's like the placebo effect - it can give someone a reason to go on, to beat a disease that would otherwise have claimed them. Our minds are powerful things - deluding ourselves is not always necessarily a bad thing
(Godwin's Lawyer is more evil than Hitler, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:37, Reply)

Not necessarily
But if it starts to affect your whole life, makes you waste time on silly weekly rituals and turns you into a self-righteous dick, then one could argue the effects are adverse.

This is, of course, a huge, sweeping generalisation, and the placebo effect can have peculiar and far-reaching benefits in the right contexts. You've got to draw the line carefully though.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:54, Reply)

Most people who believe in God aren't like that
Most just get on with it.
A lot don't even go to church.
Don't tar them all with the same brush as that prick next door to your folks.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:59, Reply)

Haha, yes, you can probably spot the chip on my shoulder from where you are
As you can probably guess, he's not the first one to have riled me.
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 15:01, Reply)

It must be ACE
Look, if I don't know my husband is fucking the nanny, then he's not fucking the nanny. You dig?
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:37, Reply)

my husband DJ the nanny Al the nanny Al
(wellgroomedwookiee is a filthy-minded hobgoblin, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:43, Reply)

I thought I'd hidden it well
*sadboatrace*
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:49, Reply)

I honestly honestly am
I think I am smart enough to realise that they probably are deluded but I am not arrogant enough to think I have all the answers and that I haven't been conditioned by my life experience and surroundings. So I could be massively wrong. And to be honest I hope I am.
( SteveFrench Cardio is for homo's. do you even lift bro?, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:37, Reply)

I hope so too
Not sure there's a god, but I can deffo do magic.
I made Ioan Gruffudd come to my street.
( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:40, Reply)

I am convinced at some point my Sith powers will unveil themselves them to me

( SteveFrench Cardio is for homo's. do you even lift bro?, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:41, Reply)

Horatio Hornblower? on land?

( Amberl was stripey and dominated Europe, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:42, Reply)

EGGZACKLY

( Roota zweeeeeoooooowm, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:43, Reply)

Oh, I would never presume to suppose that I did have all the answers. That would, indeed, be deeply arrogant
But I choose to accept the gaps in my knowledge rather than trying to fill them with a fairytale explanation.

I also won't deny that it would be lovely to find myself in some sort of idyllic afterlife once I pop my clogs in about 25 years' time. However, given there is not a shred of evidence to support this figment of someone's imagination, I find it much more soothing to pragmatically assume that death is the end of it, and, to paraphrase the side of the number 156, to stop worrying about it and enjoy* the life I have.

*_{Well, I should probably stop being such a cantankerous git, but I've time to work on that...}
(LongJohnBaldry, Wed 1 Sep 2010, 14:43, Reply)