Imagine a moment I’m projecting my consciousness on you—there, that was easy.
That is the beauty of religious belief. It takes no effort nor academic discipline, but is lauded as type of high achievement. Belief was never intended as an end-point, but a proving ground, a temporary waypoint to truth. We test our theories and improve them, retest and share them, accept criticism and hone our hypothesis into a working physical model that creates actual things—results.
Resting on belief we find there is nothing to do, no equations to solve, no advances in the general knowledge of humanity, so we take to the road and teach the technique on others—and believe harder, like concentrating on it could bend a spoon. Dreamy philosophies of heaven and celebrated archaic battles in hairsplitting, immoral grandeur.
It is not natural to believe in god. How many have found god having never been persuaded, presented, or indoctrinated by another mere mortal? The true wonder of nature hits us the first time our toes touch the grass as a child. It’s real and you know it! That wonderful mystery spawns curiosities and appreciation all on its own. Through beliefs we quickly quell the desire for discovery, resting on our smug fat butts with a specially tailored shortcut to never knowing anything—Faith
Like a kid that found his dads hatchet, what are we to do with all this free time? What else is there to do but injure yourself and everything around you? And thinking about thinking about belief. Whoa! That’s deep!
TheCommonAtheist 
And thinking about thinking about belief.
That has to be one of the most powerful sentences ever penned.
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It’s true. Thanks boss. I certainly remember the drill. It’s a consuming conundrum one must abandon all trust in themselves. Really THE most powerful and empowering, enlightening thing I’ve ever penned—“I don’t really believe any of it”.
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“like concentrating on it could bend a spoon” – that’s a good one. I like the hatchet adaptation, too.
This concept about how much easier it is to have faith and believe vs. actually going about the business of life and taking responsibility for one’s actions is something that needs to be explored more.
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Oh I agree completely. Thousands of years stalling, waiting… maturing in faith while we eat our own tail hoping Jesus comes.
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No effort? Pfffrtt!! I have been trying to believe all this crap for a long time. I remember telling Mr. Jefferson, “I’m doing the best I can. I want it all to be true. A loving and all forgiving dude and everything is peachy keen grandpa who looks exactly as I expect.”
I tried. Really. For years. It’s all over now.
It takes god like powers to create a rainbow and hold a camera.
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I’m surprised you didn’t bend any spoons Bill. That’s a tremendous effort.
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The last one I bent was in the garbage disposal when I turned it on. It was a freakin’ miracle, man.
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I believed pretty hard a couple of time. When I tried to level that field I realized I just needed more. But you know that little white speck on the top of the chicken shit? That little white speck is chicken shit too. Even the parts of religion that work for you would work for non believers too.
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The least inexpensive product ever to produce–costs nothing to make–with the greatest cost ever–your freedom to think for yourself, or 10% of your income, whichever is easiest to give.
Humanity’s most profitable and capitalist invention– yet so many want to buy it. Who needs admen when they have preachers!
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It is a sweet deal. It’s all free in the Mormon church, but if you don’t pay you don’t get the really neat blessings in the temple. That is 100% true. If you don’t pay a full tithe—no admittance. Can’t get your recommend to go in. It’s a pretty neat club.
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So even the winners lose if they don’t pay up? What a neat racket for the bishops, etc.
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The doctrine is all about enduring to the end. If you don’t cross the finish as a full blown tithe paying member you could burn. My mom always called tithing “fire insurance”.
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Well, I guess that is one way of looking at it. I personally see it as legal robbery.
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Umm, I’m not so convinced! Nor am I too comfortable with YOUR brain mixing with my brain!!! I want to RUN AWAY!!!! I’m like Alan Arkin (Dwain/Professor) with Peter Faulk (Jim) in that 1979 movie The In-Laws and this specific scene… with your consciousness invading mine and bullets hitting everywhere!!!! 😱
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I’ll be gentle sir. I’m shooting blanks anyway. Hahaha
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Hahahaha! Well, those sure are SCARY blanks that kick-up dirt, shatter glass windshields, and make lots of blood come out of sketchy Mexican mobsters named Jesoos! If those are your “blanks,” then I’d hate to feel your…
un-blanks? Your… full ones? 🥴😬 LOL
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2×0 is still zero. But like a good religioso I can talk it into existence.
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Religion has got to be the most successful scam ever devised.
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Free franchise, sell ideas you don’t have to prove and there’s no guarantees. No refunds, scare the shit out of children and the adults pay for it all. Sweet deal.
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The word “Faith” in the context of religion is a contrived virtue that in any other context would be considered a gullibility. Hoping for things you believe to be true despite a lack of any creditable evidence. The word Delusional is a good descriptor for religious faith. Accepting primitive narratives of human origin stories as nothing more than musings takes a special dispensation from reality that only religion makes acceptable.
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I keep forgetting that. Trying to mix belief with anything but faith… Certainly true NoN. Any other field if study beliefs only last through the trial period. After that we discard the two ways, it didn’t work, or, it did and that belief is now knowledge.
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Belief is like thinking god protects you. Faith is what keeps you going after you find out he doesn’t. 😁 and it can indeed, move mountains.
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“Greater miracles than these follow them that believe”—Jesus. The real power is people merely working together. No signs follow them that believe. No water turned into whisky, not feeding more people with less food, and ophthalmology is still a profession in the believers world. There are either no true believers, or the scripture is a lie—or both.
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As children are taught to delay gratification, we need to teach delayed “belief”. Simple accept many situations as unsettled at the moment and then come back to them later to see if they can be settled. This is not hard is it? (I don’t think so but the Belief Squad is not interested in such delays. They are all for BASAP, Believers As Soon As Possible.
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At least teach them the key problems of perception and bias. Those anchoring biases and beliefs are just as varied as there are religions. Careful out there kids—it’s easy to be fooled, even fooling yourself. Be skeptical. Think it through
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it is natural to believe in god, especially if one is brought up in a religious environment.
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Your not the first Noel. Indoctrination makes one think it’s their idea. All these angels and sh*t, where are they now?
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It is not natural to believe in god. — HA! And just try to teach that concept to a True Believer!
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It is natural to be gullible, especially as a child. What a neat deal to have someone provide all the answers before you’re old enough to reason. Splendid!
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