Sounds like they have to believe in a supreme being in order to be "nice". Odd. And if they didn't, they wouldn't be "nice"?
Yes & I also hear the term "God Fearing" or "He's a nice God Fearing person" or "He/she is a good Christian." Always gives me a good chuckle. I guess it means someone who won't sin because he fears God is watching & will punish him? I just remembered something else that makes me chuckle. I watch a lot of True Crime shows. They profile the worst of the worst murderers. While the police are building the cases, they always say, "Looking at the defendant who attended church regularly & lead the church choir, you would never guess she would murder four husbands with Arsenic & enjoy watching them suffer slow painful deaths."
Anyone can be “nice”. I know drug addicts, drunks, wife beaters and thieves who are nice. I also know Christians, Jews, Muslims and Atheists who aren’t nice. If folks really want to centralize that word and say that it’s somehow associated with a belief system, there’s nowhere in any scripture that I have read that says that we have to be nice. Heck, there is nowhere in scripture that even says that I have to like someone much less be nice. Perhaps the error might be that instead of Nice, ya’ ll mean, Good? Sure. Anyone can be good. It doesn’t take a recognition in a Deity to be good. For that matter, anyone can obey the law. Everyone can be a model citizen and raise their kids to be respectful, efficient and kind but strong at the same time. Everyone can donate to charities, lend a helping hand to someone who needs it. Everyone can love, want peace and keep their eyes off the neighbor’s wife or husband. It doesn’t take a believer in God to do any of those things but, yes, there’s a but, all foundational moral and ethical values are those that stem from Judeo/Christian beliefs. What the BIG difference that an Atheist cannot fathom is the type of love we have for the Father. Just as we may love our moms and dads and try to do everything we can not to disappoint them, a person who loves and follows the basic commandments of the Father does the same. To most believers, heaven and hell isn’t even an issue. What we truly want to do is to please the Father and on a personal note, He’s done so much for me, why. wouldn’t I want to please Him?
God Fear or fearing God is probably one of the most misunderstood parcels of verbiage that for one reason or another, most folks have never bothered to look into. Are we really supposed to sit around, shaking in fear that we’re going to be struck by lightning or be thrown off a cliff if we tick off the Father? Those who have done their homework know that Fearing the Lord is a tad more interesting than some emotional outpouring of impending doom. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that I must be afraid of the Father. I AM told however that I should have Reverential Trust in Him which is what the “fear” really amounts to. So no, I am NOT a God Fearing man. Matter of fact, I am told that I shouldn’t fear anything or anyone. I kinda like Romans 8:38-39. Or, Proverbs 3:5-6.
I think the word here is choice, God gives me a choice as he does everyone. Also, we live on earth, not paradise, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." I don't preach to anyone, if they want to hear it they can find it in lots of places. If they ask then I try to help but how much it helps is questionable.
i've heard over my life, that god may be a female...being raised a non thinking catholic, a true sheep, I was taught god is ALL things....so for many yrs in Sciene of Mind, the god was the SUN,,, as in SOM, there were many who strayed from their birth religion and found SOM so my justification was the SUN.......
Dunno Joy, somehow that is a little confusing. You joined another “religion” and justify it because others left their birth religion and found som. I do not believe in and on God because of the relationship someone else has with God. I believe because of the relationship I have with Him. And, to fortify that just a bit, I do not even belong to a mainstream denomination. Needless to say, the word “sheep” in the context you use it doesn’t exist in my life nor others who have a personal relationship with God. Edit: Upon heavier examination, SOM is also the worship of the Son Of Man or rather….Jesus the Christ.
i wonder if fear does not actually refer to respect God. The idea of bowing down to only Him. I always get a little sick when people say they are Christians and then look to go to war, Like Biden. Christ said turn the other cheek (which I sometimes have a problem with) Love your enemies. Be as little children. If we all did that, the world could be a Utopia and that is what he wanted to show us. In an extreme way. But few 'Christians' actually practice that religion and thus should not say they are Christians. It is very sad.,