An hour ago, my beloved, to whom I am not wed, informed me that she is carrying our first child, a girl.

I will become this daughter's God.

She needs me. I will be there for her.

If you don't believe there is a need for God, you never loved a daughter as I love this treasure.

I once chatted with Freda Joan Lee. She asked me if I would like to meet the Prophet.

The next Sunday afternoon I sat in his living room. On the coffee table there was a heavy leather-bound book inscribed in gold with its title: THE GREATEST DAY OF MY LIFE.

It was a gift to him, given by the Quorum of the Twelve. Within its covers was the ordination of Harold B. Lee. Superb pictures showed the sacred day's events.

I looked at every page. I marveled. Afterword, he invited me into his library. Filled with a most impressive collection of Egyptian rarities.


Back then, I was completely convinced that God needed such men to lead, guide and inspire young men like me.

Today I know better.

And today I will lead, guide and inspire my new treasure.

I will be her God.

She needs me. I will be there for her.

And when I cease breathing, I will be within her, and her offspring, forever and ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1ZL5AxmK_A

Maybe you could just be a really, really good dad.

Everything that makes a girl mighty will be hers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ryztns1GJA

Parenthood is a wonderful thing. Congratulations, SN.

Thank God most choirs aren't feral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOIzRdDo_3I

This is a beautiful video.

Thank you, Screen Name.

And....Congratulations!!

You and Amyjo deeply impress me.

Both of you celebrate beauty, without holding back.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wFhzj5Sxc8

Screen Name Wrote:

> If you don't believe there is a need for God, you
> never loved a daughter as I love this treasure.

Congratulations on your coming bundle of joy!

That said, that statement about not loving a child as much as you if there is not a God is absurd and insulting. I'm not even sure what you mean by that.

I understand that many need a god to express awe or appreciate beauty. They are quick to credit god with treasures in their life like a child, but not so quick to blame god if their child, say, is killed.

As someone who has a daughter and granddaughter who are treasures in my life, adding a god has not been necessary for our deep bonds. I assure you, love for a child is not less without god. Think of all the time people spend worshiping God and imagine that time spent on the child you love.

She will worship you. Worship her back. I wish every child was met with such love, but apparently God didn't plan it that way.

Those are some excellent words. I couldn't add a thing. Thank you. I feel for anyone who believes they are not capable of great love all on their own without a God.

My kids are who I worship. They are my life, my reason for living.

Every particle of our known universe is miraculous.

On the systems and macro-level, the miracles are even more profound.

If the moon was 5% smaller or 5% larger, human life could not survive the differences.

If the Earth was 1 million miles further from or 1 million miles closer to the sun, we could not survive.

Our body is so amazingly complex that any system, organ or cell cannot be created in the laboratory of man.

The awesome power of intellect, imagination and estimating possible outcomes is so thrilling that no atheist fully comprehends them.

The fact that God can remain invisible to scientific instruments baffles me more than any other.

I have enjoyed the greatest debates between atheists and believers, and each side is equally captivating and impressive.

I choose to believe in God because there are simply too many coincidences and lucky situations among life forces to dismiss them, individually or all together.

I admire Carl Sagan as much as I admire Ravi Zacharias.

I esteem James Burke to be as awesome as John F. MacArthur.

But after all is said and done, I have enjoyed my life so much, and have been rescued from hell enough to thoroughly believe.


The beauty and plentiful arrays of the wildflowers, the songs of the birds, the formation of clouds and the fact that sleep, eating, sexual acts and being weary, then refreshed is all the evidence I need to say, "Thank You" to the great whatever up there.

I support no religion. But I sip from the offerings that many of them offer, often.


I find that most atheists are too militant for my taste. But don't get me wrong, the syrupy characters of Christendom aren't paid any attention to by me.

Life is such a richly wondrous adventure, goals are astonishingly simple to attain and newborn babies not only tip the scale of belief and faithlessness, catapulting the weightiest arguments of the non-believers into the stratosphere that I will likely remain blinded by the Light.

Gratefully. Simply too much to celebrate, in every direction, at all times and in every discipline.

This rushing generation is the best!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K21yj2lEgrA

See, this is a post. God is a semantic placeholder for you. It’s a workaround for the subject object split in our language. You got a problem with God? Maybe your problem is with you.

It’s a meaningful puzzle because we shouldn’t be here. The numbers don’t work. The human race should have gone extinct eight ways from Sunday. Yet here we are. If you want me to be a materialist, show me a model that works. But, bad models are a dime a dozen. That’s where religion comes in. Who’s to say their bad model is any worse than any other bad model? Mormonism has the decency to condemn you to your own bad taste.

I’m starting to think this Universe was created just for us. Not only because Tommy Chong says it, but because it makes the most sense. Who else really needs a Universe of space time? This place is our garden of Eden. Once science figures out time, the game will end. So there’s an end to time, and thus the Universe, long before its theoretical “heat death”. Which is to say, an ascension, so as not to freak anyone out. After all, in a Universe made just for you, what could be left to chance?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2019 06:10PM by babyloncansuckit.

There were times I needed prayer when raising my children. I still do need prayer for guidance in my life.

It isn't just the act of prayer itself that benefits me. It is in meditation and pondering that follows where I receive inspiration and guidance.

Sometimes in the form of a 'still, small voice.'

Once I was at an impasse in parenting with my children. I didn't know how to reach one of them while a teenager as there was a communication gap. Which is quite common during that age range. But frustrating nonetheless.

So I turned it over to God in prayer.

That was one such time I needed God. There have been other times; I've lost count.

The answer when it came was sublime but was what I needed and so did my child.

I had been going through the motions of loving my children. Taking good care of them. Tending to their needs, physical, social, schooling, etc. Providing for them and being there for them. I was so busy being a mom, that I'd forgotten to just be "in the moment," loving them.

So the answer when it came, was to "cherish" them. Not in an intangible way, but as an active participle. To be "actively engaged" in cherishing each moment with those children of mine while I could. Because the minutes flew by so fast. Before I knew it they were grown and on their own.

Once I started to visualize cherishing as an active verb and practice doing it with each of my children, I noticed an immediate shift in how our communications changed. The rift suddenly wasn't a rift anymore at all. We came together again as a family.

So that was a time I needed God, and he (or she) delivered.

There have been others too many to count. And that's why I pray. (And give thanks for all blessings great and small.)

I usually only pray when...I get too overfilled with happiness.

And when I desire something so bad, it hurts.

I have never NOT been answered.

A baby girl, a better job...every time I become desperate enough or overly grateful, I have to pray.

And somehow...I get lucky.

Not every time. Just when it really, really, really matters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZZmW59Ci5g

I believe a person can love others with or without believing in God, it really has to do with the capabilities of that person, but another reason to believe in God which is changing the topic a bit I guess is.....

We all will experience trials AND tribulations, many things we won't be able to fix on our own, there will be deaths, financial problems, illness, injustices and many other things beyond our control. We will try to fix it, it is our nature, but there will be a time, we will say God help me or God help them, so we believe in God when we come to the end of ourselves, which we all will (come to the end of ourselves). Of course there is exceptions maybe some will never say that, but many non believers will utter those words at the end of their life or in tragic situations.

If you are unaware of the final life moments of Steve Jobs, take a listen.

The greatest proof of God and the fabulous after-life ever revealed.

And from the greatest mind of our generation.

"Wow. Wow. WOW..."

- if you love goosebumps, Google it -

Screen Name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you are unaware of the final life moments of Steve Jobs...

Jobs was rotten both to the mother of his daughter and through her life, to that daughter. Had to be sued to provide even basic child support.

Not a good example of filial love.

At this critical juncture of your life, screen name, I am a little puzzled why you are pouring out your heart here on the board rather than being with your pregnant girlfriend and sharing this time with her?

Good catch. Jobs was a great cult leader, but let’s not forget what makes a great cult leader. The kid should be glad he never had time for her.

People either “get it” in early childhood or they don’t. That’s a lot to pin on a baby.

babyloncansuckit Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Good catch. Jobs was a great cult leader, but let’s not forget what makes a great cult leader.

Thanks Babs! Yes, he had the charisma to inspire followers!
And I think you’re right about the cult of Apple though I do use an iPhone, darn it!

> The kid should be glad he never had time for her.

I think she made up for his lack by writing a book . :)

If you want somebody to call you her God, get a dog.
Children raised without religion are .ore capable of higher brain functions, like empathy and reason.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.patheos.com/blogs/danthropology/2015/11/study-finds-that-children-raised-without-religion-show-more-empathy-and-kindness/amp/

I don't think Screen Name is going to rear his children religiously. He's just describing the depth of his commitment to his daughter.

I honestly can't tell.

On the article SC linked?

>>Update: Since this study's release, other social scientists have questioned the findings. You can read more about that on Matthew Facciani’s post. (linked)

https://www.patheos.com/blogs/accordingtomatthew/2015/11/no-atheist-kids-are-not-more-altruistic-than-religious-kids/

>>To summarize, this study was interesting, but a few fatal flaws severely limit the conclusions we can draw from it. These flaws are pretty obvious to anyone who has studied behavioral sciences (and may be why this paper was published in a biology journal and not psychology/sociology).

Seriously, as one who grew up an atheist and is no longer one, I'll simply offer the following from my own experience:

>>As you are, I once was... (that one's for the atheists here)

>>Faith is useful.

>>Grace empowers the will to choose to do other than it has previously done.

Cue up John Prine "To believe in this living is just a hard way to go."

Your mileage may vary.

"God is dead!"

--Nietzche

"Nietzche is dead."

--God

I came across this today, thought it might be appropriate here.

It's titled, "A Woman's Meditation" by Ruth F. Brin

'When men were children,
they thought of God as a father;
when men were slaves,
they thought of God as a master;
when men were subjects,
they thought of God as a king.
But I am a woman, not a slave, not a subject,
not a child who longs for God as father or mother.

I might imagine God as teacher or friend,
but those images, like king, master father, or mother,
are too small for me now.

God is the force of motion and light in the universe;
God is the strength of life on our planet;
God is the power moving us to do good;
God is the source of love springing up in us.
God is far beyond what we can comprehend.'

Obviously as a dirty, nasty atheist, the thrust of her narrative wooshes right by me. But I am impressed with Ruth Brin, the person.

https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/brin-ruth-f



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2019 10:09PM by elderolddog.

You need a god and a fish needs a bicycle.

I don't need a god. I have one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eee4-d7FUis

Screen Name Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't need a god. I have one.

Screen name, I hope you are spending some time away from posting to be with your pregnant girlfriend. She might be happy to hear some of your thoughts.

The last time I had anything to do with God, I begged him to heal my father, who was dying of Alport's Syndrome (kidney failure.) My father died a wretched, drawn-out death, at home. My mother, an RN, reasoned that they could not do anything for him at the hospital that we (she, my grandma, also an RN, and me as go-fer) couldn't do as well.

Now, my son is on dialysis with the same wretched ailment. I'm hoping (but not praying) for a transplant for him. I wish I could donate one of my own kidneys, but they were the source of the problem to begin with.

The times I have been hospitalized in my adult life, when asked about religious affiliation (post-Mo) I always say "Unaffiliated." The only reason I don't say "Atheist" is because it would break my TBM DH's heart.

But regardless of how I show it for paperwork purposes, God and I are not on speaking terms.