Do you think we are wishful thinking, in a God?

Sometimes in life Ill think, Im lucky to be alive. Theres times on the road a speeding car alnost creamed me, and just life in general I think, maybe someone is watching over me. But then I think of my aunt, who recently had a rare disorder that caused oxygen to be deprived, rashes. It would eat her own immune system they told her, and it did. One day, only having it a couple months, she said, I dont want to die. 😟 A month later, she passed from that horrible disease. Why wasnt anyone watching out? Was it truly just her time, at only 57??
And you hear of little kids...recently a boy kept a knife under his pillows because his mom was violent. Thinking ahead at a young age for protection. And then, his mother took the knife, and literally stabbed him in the back, and he died. An innocent little being. Was there someone watching over him????? 😢 While I do believe there must be some higher power and am astoundingly grateful for life, Its hard wondering theres a being watching us or that loves us etc, when you think of those examples.

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Rhode57 · 56-60, M

I dont believe in the christian god of the bible or the bible or jesus . For starters the bible was written nearly 2000 years after jesus was meant to have been born , Jesus was born well after Roman rule had ended so the roman governor they said was ruling was long dead before jesus was even born . The bible says jesuses dad and jesus himself were carpenters even that is wrong as history has proved he was a stone mason or builder all these facts are proven without doubt . If adam and eve were the first humans where did cave men come from or dinosaurs ? Its is all a load of nonsense and the bible written by madmen and the church grabbed on it to try and control people . The bible has been proven to be totally wrong and well out of date . Since it has been translated so many times , no one actually knows what the original writing was and how much has been added by churches monks etc .

ArishMell · 70-79, M

@Rhode57 I agree most of it is a mash of myths, legends, fragments of distorted history and simple statements if particular religious beliefs, but you are wrong about its age.

If it had been written when you claim, it would be late-19 or early-20C age. IF Jesus existed as and when claimed the New Testament tales started to be set down within the first 2 or 3 centuries AD when Christianity started to form as more than just a minor Jewish sect.

The Old Testament is an anthology of ancient Jewish writings from around 500BC, and with some differences including their order, these also form the Torah.

Whatever the unknown scribe who concocted Genesis really meant, no-one except a few rabidly fundamentalist types terrified of questioning it, takes it literally these days. Even its writer, who genuinely would have known nothing about astronomy, geology and palaeontology, may have meant it metaphorically - but we cannot know that.

It does though contain hints of being written by and for a priestly caste of tribal rulers intent on pushing their own religious beliefs as part of trying to weld a bunch of tribes into a single society.

I've wondered if the "In the beginning...." phrase and consequent text might actually be part of a Year 0 concept - rather as we saw in our own times with the far crueller and far more crass Khmer Rouge. Meaning, "Errr, yes, there were people and societies with their own religions before we Hebrews but we must not talk about them". If so, it certainly worked though its author could never have dreamt of it inspiring 6000-year-old-Earth enthusiasts in far-away lands 6000 years after his own life!

The whole lot though has passed through many editors and translators so it's hardly surprising it cannot be taken as an accurate account - though details like Jesus' and his father's trades are really not that important. It is though worth considering that for centuries the Church of Rome used its monopoly in Western Europe to forbid translating the Bible from Latin to national languages, so most of the common herd could not read it and form their own opinions on what the priests said it all meant or were quoting selectively.

In the end though it's not what a bunch of people in a small society in the Middle East 2000 - 3000 years ago thought and wrote. It's how people use or misuse their thoughts nowadays that counts.