Some of you may remember posts of mine from the past and if you do you will know of my strong faith in God. I haven’t done any posting lately but I always think of this forum and how there are so many people that have no part of God in their life.

Earlier in the day a weird thing happened to me. There were a few minutes where I lived with the understanding that God did not exist. For some reason I had a brief moment where I could actually see how so many people have difficulties believing.

This bothered me and I have to admit that for some time afterward I was left contemplating the experience that I just had. I had to assure myself that my faith could not be thrown away easily and that I would be able to come to an understanding of why I was feeling the way I was.

It didn’t take long and I started to remind myself of the times that God has shown His work to me and I was back on track. Maybe I just needed to be inspired to write about it.

At work on Friday I had the poops. Not the normal kind either but the bad kind. I had the bubble gut. My work is not set up right for these kinds of moments because there are only two bathrooms in the whole place. One for the men and one for the ladies.

I work in a warehouse that assembles parts for Ford, GM and Chrysler. There are only about ten of us in the place but I happen to work with a young lady who has caught my eye.

Anyway, I have had an upset stomach for a few days but Friday it started right when I woke up. I was so sure that this day was gonna suck but what can I do? I had to work. Before I left I just said a little prayer to God and I said, “God, I won’t possibly be able to make it on my own today but with your help, I will”. I had a calming feeling come over me because I really believed that through Gods help I could make it.

We had just finished a big job the day before and were now about to start a new one. Right when I walked in my boss told me that I would be working with Frank at his desk. Frank works in the back corner and is probably my favorite person there. He’s about 60 years old and his smile reminds me of a frog which makes me laugh.

We all work somewhat close together but my desk is right next to the isle. Any shot to the bathroom can be seen by everyone. This particular day was so perfect for my situation. The whole place was scattered and everyone was so preoccupied with learning the new job that no one was paying attention to anything.

I made a mad dash to the crapper close to ten times throughout my nine hour day and no one knew anything but Frank, who just laughed, which made me laugh, cause he looks like a frog.

This whole day was one big coincidence. I ask God for His help and He hands me this day. Now, someone could say, “Well if God really existed He should have taken your poops away”, but this isn’t how God works.

In the movie Evan Almighty, Morgan Freeman plays God who has a conversation with Evans wife in a bar. Evans wife doesn’t know she’s talking to God but is told that when someone prays for patience God doesn’t just make them more patient, but gives them the opportunity to be patient. When someone prays for a closer family, they don’t just receive a vacation at Disney Land but they get the opportunity to be together and work as a family, which in this case He is referring to Evan and building the ark with him.

When I left Friday morning I knew God wasn’t gonna give me a calm stomach, but I knew He would present me with the opportunity to find my way through the day safely. I think that this is the difference between those that have God in their life and those that don’t believe. Most people would give up on God when He doesn’t take away their crap. And they would never stop to think about other ways to find His help.

If you believe, you can see the way God works.

"A" for effort on your level, but it really wasn't necessary.

No ****.

And if your poops did go away instead, what would you have attributed THAT to?

(this will be my one and only question in this incredibly silly and anecdotal thread)

I had this strange experience reading a thread today. It started out sounding like a standard theistic ramble, but then for a moment I thought I saw the light. Like a bolt of lightning on a clear day it seemed to come from nowhere ...

"At work on Friday I had the poops".

I thought, "this can't be real. I'm about to read one of the greatest theistic spoofs of all time!"

Unfortunately, it quickly became obvious that it was all too real.

Sigh, what passes for God's grace these days ...

LOL, I just showed my wife this OP and my question and she said to me:

Then OP would obviously be complaining and saying, "WTF, God didn't move me to the back with Frank."

Yep, God is busy making sure the cute girl at work doesn't notice you have a tummy ache...

So you are telling me there is a god because you were not embarrassed due to your exited colon…. Wow … this is the best post I have red all day . To attach such mundane coincidences to a faith is beyond me. And this is one of the reasons that religions will linger around.

``Oh my goodness Timmy , my farts don’t smell like crap , it must be the work of god … praise JESUS praise JESUS my farts don’t stick``

Welcome back Erf... The_Outlaw has now been demoted to the 2nd most ******ed theist here.

I don't think I would call BigErf a theist...

What a god! Just think how much he loves you! THat he would work in such specific manner on your behalf. I wonder if he was doing the same thing the day thousands of people were requesting the strength, or wisdom or anything for that matter that would help them survive the slowly rising water in their home as the levees broke in New Orleans. They perhaps never lost faith that their god would grant them the tools needed to survive. THey didn't need the water to disappear or help to arrive, they just needed a way, anyway, to survive that day. Instead they died painfully and tragically praying to their imaginary friend to come save them.

The two bananas I ate.

If you aren’t affected by Gods Word then it’s useless. As far as you’re concerned God doesn’t exist and you probably live your life with a different meaning then someone who chooses to believe. At this point, it’s probably close to impossible for you to see the way God works. You can't see or feel His power because well, He doesn’t exist. This is pretty logical.

As silly as it seems I happen to look for the God in everything and a while ago a thought hit me. Maybe the reason I am finding God is because I’m looking for Him. But it’s not just that I’m looking but rather that I am expecting to see Him. I’ve noticed this about myself quite a bit. I have a very unique way of seeing a different story then the rest of you.

madnak even made a comment about that in a thread I made a while ago. He said, and I replied with, “I couldn’t have said it better myself”.

I think the saying that, “you tend to believe what you want to believe” is correct. If I’m looking for God hard enough I will probably see Him for the sheer fact that I will want to. So to a nonbeliever I ask, does this mean that God doesn’t really exist because even though I believe, you don’t, and therefore you’re right? I would say, yes.

When madnak says that I focus on what I view as positive, he is really disagreeing with me because when he sees the same thing as me, he sees negative. And he’s not wrong for that because in his eyes it is negative. So if I happen to take the negative and in my own mind turn it to positive, then there is an accusation of avoidance. This fascinates me.

I see something here that I know most of you don’t have a grasp on and it’s partly because of its simplicity. The flaw is that it’s too easy and in this world we have complicated our minds to where we cannot except this truth.

This is the way God works. God changes your mind. He brainwashes you to see good. When you see good then a positive vibe is produced just as strongly as a negative vibe in someone who sees negativity. This is why nothing is, it’s just the way you see it.

Now think about those two feelings for a little bit. Good and bad feelings cross into our lives constantly and they directly affect us all. They have no purpose other then altering our moods. Feelings take us to different paths throughout our day and can be the reason for a positive or negative attitude.

I pray constantly and repetitively for the ability to see the good in everyone and every situation that I am faced with. I have worked so hard on this that it is now usually just a matter of seconds that I can take a negative situation and turn it into a positive one. This happens because I have trained my mind to do so.

The benefit of this is the release of pressure on your life. I have so much faith that I don’t even necessarily have to have a solution but the belief that one will be obtained allows me to let go of my problems. This requires a constant effort on my part to hold strong during tough times and not let stress win my mindset.

So those who know God doesn’t exist have to rely on themselves and others for support. I wish I could say that I knew that many people in this world who are worthy of that burden. I choose to rely on God because He’s always there wherever and whenever I look for Him.

Even if it is just in my head, isn’t that all that matters?

The way God works is not for Man to comprehend.

Why is absolute zero -273 degrees C? Why are stars and planets round? Why does light go at the speed that it does? Why are there seven parts in the visible spectrum? Why is the universe primarily consisted of hydrogen and oxygen, the main ingredients for the element of life? Why are there only two sexes of multi-cell organisms? Why not three or four? Why wasn't Man created "perfect" (perfect genes for reproduction purposes) and asexual? These are all scientific questions which probably cannot be answered, because the answers might not be available at all in this universe i.e., God might have reserved certain knowledge.

Now if you move onto other domains of inquiry, such as societal and cultural, the way God works is irrelevant, because then you'd be asking about the way Man works.

NO HELL NO. Truth is all that matters. If your son is being molested by his uncle and you train him to see good in everything, he'll be screwed. Teach him to see both good and bad for what they are and teach him to search for truth.

Science has already answered most of those questions. Absolute zero is -273 degrees C because we decided on a scale for which water would freeze at 0 and boil at 100. Stars and planets are round because gravity is a central force, pulling matter equally from all directions. The speed of light is derived mathematically from Maxwell's equations, but this depends on a different universal constant, so that's still a good question.

Alright, so an updated, more technical version of that question would be: why is gravity a central force? Or more broadly, why is *gravity a primary universal force?

As for the scalar questions of temperature, you've already pointed it out that it's simply a measure we use. We can use other systems of empiricism, but the rules are constant.

*Change 'gravity' with any other universal phenomena.

I don't know therefore god. I don't know therefore we can never know. We can never know because god is mysterious.

That's some pretty sweet logic you got going there.

Erf,

The positive thinking you're talking about is of course a good thing, but it doesn't require a belief in God. Learning to see the good in everything is valuable, but don't fool yourself into thinking that the only way you can do it is through prayer to an imaginary friend.

I just go with what works, that's all.

There are people starving right now. There are people in prisons and labor camps and detention centers. There are people dying from plagues.

To view the world as a positive place, to suggest that everything is okay, is doing a disservice to those people.

In order to solve a problem, you have to look at the problem. You have to analyze it and understand it. And that means focusing on the negative sometimes.

Nobody ever cured a disease by pretending it wasn't real, or believing a solution would just "come along."

Does worrying or distressing about things that you cannot control make anything better?

What are you going on about? And where are you getting your inane conclusions from?

I'm talking about the laws and functions of the universe (as we understand it), as expressions of "the way God works," and you're assuming (horribly, I might add) that I'm answering those "why" questions with, "we don't know, therefore God".

Please double-check your comprehension skills before attempting to use (faulty) reasoning in order to critique another person's observations. Maybe you should have been paying more attention in English class, and need to brush up. While you're at it, review your informal reasoning as well.

lol

Oops. lol.. Anyway, fixed.