The next time you think YOU have it bad.........

It's ok, We all have our own journey. You have yours and I have been through mine. These concepts are not foreign to me at all. I've been through them and come out to another place. I respect your beliefs and your life path. There is no reason we all need to agree. diversity is a nice things about life. And one thing I do know for sure in my own life is that actual real love has been what has been most healing for me in my adulthood. I'm not going to go into all the scenarios in which the things you are saying do not apply because I don't want to bring up horrible images of suffering. But, I have no right to tell someone that suffering was for their own good when they were born into horrendous circumstances.

That is perfectly said. Our journeys are our own and we have no right to tell anyone that they have to see it our way.:drinker:

I think of Frederick Douglass when you speak of being born into horrendous circumstances and if you've ever read his autobiography, you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that he was indeed born into bitter and evil and hard slavery and worse. The spaces of these pages can not contain the people that were born into horrendous circumstances whose very lives were changed thru sufferings. It is written that Jesus Himself learned obedience thru His sufferings and if anyone has EVER suffered on this earth...it was Jesus. It is written of Jesus that God was PLEASED by His sufferings:

Hebrews 5:7 who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him, 10 called by God as High Priest “according to the order of Melchizedek,” 11 of whom we have much to say, and hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing.

So what am I saying...what is The Word of God saying to us? That suffering is not proof of God's lack of love. The problem is we don't know God, we don't understand life, time...we are a finite people trying to explain and understand a Infinite, All Wise, All Good, All Love God. Again, it is utterly useless to even attempt to explain to finite minds how a Perfect, Infinite, Holy, Awesome, Loving All Knowing, Only True and Living God operates. It is perfectly natural for us humans to do so and to understand, we must be Super-Natural and operate, think, believe on a totally unearthy, unnatural, way--which again, requires a close and personal relationship with God, which the greater majority of folk (much like the rich young ruler) simply are not willing to do nor follow.

My Atheist fiance once bought a bag of chips for a homeless man in the grocery store who was about to shoplift. Some god didn't do that. My fiance did, because he's a good person who didn't want to see a struggling man go to jail just for trying to feed himself.

Good on your fiance. (no sarcasm) Might I point out though, that just because someone doesn't believe in God doesn't make them impervious to God's promptings, or incapable of doing nice things for others. God always does his good works through other people. It'd be a little weird if he Himself came down and bought the hobo the chips. So He used your fiance, who clearly is a good person for listening to the prompting.

I want to show the OP to a girl I know. she is ALWAYS bleating on facebook " why is life so hard" because she has to pay for childcare and bills, yet still has $$ to buy cigarettes and get drunk every weekend, plus deciding to buy a puppy from a backyard breeder ( I think because her friends got one, so did she ). oh and buying things for her bogan car . .

seriously makes me steam fly from my ears.

lovely story OP thanks for sharing !

I don't think it's gods will, just people being nice for a change.

My Atheist fiance once bought a bag of chips for a homeless man in the grocery store who was about to shoplift. Some god didn't do that. My fiance did, because he's a good person who didn't want to see a struggling man go to jail just for trying to feed himself.

Good on your fiance. (no sarcasm) Might I point out though, that just because someone doesn't believe in God doesn't make them impervious to God's promptings, or incapable of doing nice things for others. God always does his good works through other people. It'd be a little weird if he Himself came down and bought the hobo the chips. So He used your fiance, who clearly is a good person for listening to the prompting.

Please tell me you're trolling. You're doing an excellent job.

Yep. I'm trolling. Because someone who believes in God and his power to positively influence others HAS to be trying to stir up trouble. *cracks up* You're funny! :laugh:

'Kay, anyone else completely turned off by the wall-o-text preaching yet?

This isn't church, nor is it a place of atheists to spout their smug self-assurances. Let's all just get along and respect one another.

Well, I stumbled in here by accident (as often happens with the forums for me), but some people are just having a conversation. It wasn't a conversation I wanted to have, so I left it.

Not sure i get what god has to do with the lady being unable to easily afford her groceries.

This thread confuses me.

I'll break it down for you. The gist of this thread is this: Smile - because there are plenty of people who have more problems than you do. Thank God you're not one of them.

That's what goes through my head when I hear someone say, "Don't sweat your problems, other people have it worse" - and it always irks me.

If things like this move a person, then perhaps the thing to do is to offer service to those who are in need rather than to sit around thinking that the annoyances and problems in one's life can't be all that bad compared to others. The thing that staggers one person may not be as difficult for someone else to deal with - so instead of comparing the size of one's problems, offer what you can and accept what you need.

My Atheist fiance once bought a bag of chips for a homeless man in the grocery store who was about to shoplift. Some god didn't do that. My fiance did, because he's a good person who didn't want to see a struggling man go to jail just for trying to feed himself.

Good on your fiance. (no sarcasm) Might I point out though, that just because someone doesn't believe in God doesn't make them impervious to God's promptings, or incapable of doing nice things for others. God always does his good works through other people. It'd be a little weird if he Himself came down and bought the hobo the chips. So He used your fiance, who clearly is a good person for listening to the prompting.

Please tell me you're trolling. You're doing an excellent job.

Yep. I'm trolling. Because someone who believes in God and his power to positively influence others HAS to be trying to stir up trouble. *cracks up* You're funny! :laugh:

Not everyone believes in what you do. Nobody says such inflammatory statements and just doesn't expect getting a negative response. You proved my point right there.

Also, I thought that if there was a god, he created us as autonomous beings. We are not robots being programmed nor are we proverbial Matrix cells. This isn't Ghost in the Shell.

'Kay, anyone else completely turned off by the wall-o-text preaching yet?

This isn't church, nor is it a place of atheists to spout their smug self-assurances. Let's all just get along and respect one another.

Well, I stumbled in here by accident (as often happens with the forums for me), but some people are just having a conversation. It wasn't a conversation I wanted to have, so I left it.

You're just about the only one behaving appropriately here, then. What with the over-preaching and snide atheists and people accusing others of "trolling" (not sure that person really knows what the word means, anyway) for sharing an insight, I think I've had about enough of this, too.

Great post, OP. What a great way to remind us to love the little things in life and see things in the proper perspective.

And to all the troublemakers, well, *drops pants and bends over*. I'm out.

Isn't being grateful for what you have and knowing that somewhere out there somebody has it worse than you lessons that transcends religion?

If you don't want to turn this into a religious debate -- then why mention god or religion? Because you want to ramble off your beliefs in a public space and not be questioned? You are automatically going to offend a lot of decent people out there who are perfectly moral and humble without religion by doing what you did.

Religion is a divisive topic -- those are prohibited. The story would have been equally compelling without the religion.

Isn't being grateful for what you have and knowing that somewhere out there somebody has it worse than you are lesson that transcends religion?

If you don't want to turn this into a religious debate -- then why mention god or religion? Because you want to ramble off your beliefs in a public space and not be questioned? You are automatically going to offend a lot of decent people out there who are perfectly moral and humble without religion by doing what you did.

Religion is a divisive topic -- those are prohibited. The story would have been equally compelling without the religion.

THANK YOU.

And if that woman thinks she has it bad, there was a guy whose wife died of cancer and his daughter died a week later in a car accident. And if he thinks he has it bad there is a....

There is always someone that has it worse and I think it's almost obnoxious to focus on it to a degree. Your plights are still your plights.Your emotions consume you all the same. I find when people use those comparisons, it belittles the feelings of people who apparently "don't have it so bad" and it makes them feel even worse since they apparently don't even deserve to feel bad. Who even gets to define what is a worse event than another? It leads down a ugly path that causes more harm than good.

The next time someone thinks they have it bad..... that sucks. I'm sorry for you. How can I help you find a solution? And no, I'm not going to judge you or tell you how lucky you are because that would be idiotic.

Not sure i get what god has to do with the lady being unable to easily afford her groceries.

It's the grace of God that lets us live to see each new day & to breathe each breath. Grace is God giving us what we don't deserve. None of us deserve our next meal, but He has mercy on us because He loves us. He desires to have a relationship with each and every person on earth. He gives us a free will and the majority of people choose to not believe or trust Him. And because we choose not to trust Him, our Great God gives us our way and once we've rejected Him we may never have another chance to accept what He did for us.
If we all realized how undeserving we really are and swallow our pride, then we'd all be happier and more thankful.

I disagree with this but that is my choice.

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