Jamie_L

I was thinking yesterday about atheism, my family, and my day-to-day life.

Although my wife believes in various supernatural things, including an all-powerful god and an afterlife, she is practically-speaking a secularist. We get along so well because religion and god are non-issues for us in our day-to-day lives. It just doesn't come up. We never talk about it. She doesn't talk about God. I don't talk about atheism (not because I'm afraid to - because it doesn't matter. The fact that there's no god doesn't impact my daily life). It never impacts our plans, our thinking, our long-term goals for us, our kids, etc. We basically live our lives as if there is no God. So, despite our beliefs being somewhat at odds, the things that are important to us are essentially the same.

After thinking about this, I asked myself this question: are we that different from your average religious family? Do religious people sit around and talk about God all the time? Do they wake up and think to themselves: What can I do for God today? Do their long term plans include goals to do things for God, secure their place in heaven, etc?

I suppose the answer, for some people, is actually "yes". And that boggles my mind. What a strange, surreal life that seems to be. To think more about what happens after I die than my financial security in retirement. The think more about pleasing a largely invisible diety than seeking happiness for myself and my family.

If people really do that, I'm just amazed that they are happy people. Human beings are really kind of bizarre.

Jamie

wildernesse

Hi Jamie,

As a Christian, I will say that I do think about God often--in regards to my interactions here and IRL. My atheist husband and I talk about Christianity often, and religion is a common topic in my conversations with friends and family.

It has nothing to do with what happens after I die--afterall, I don't know what will happen anyway. It has to do with how I live my life today--it makes me think about my actions and how they affect other people, both directly and indirectly. It pretty much impacts my daily life in many ways.

I don't ask myself the questions in your post, but I ask other things that help me attune my life to what I feel God wants. And, yes, I'm a happy person, as are the majority of my theist friends and family.

--tibac

faust

Good question. I hadn't really thought about it but now that you bring it up i'm curious. I keep wondering what the theists mean when they say "I have a personal relationship with Jesus." Beyond the mumbo-jumbo, what are they saying? What does this mean? Do they walk around talking to jesus and think he talks back or somehow manifests himself in their daily lives? When they go to work do they think about God watching them and marking their score cards?
Could a theist please give their experience?

If i were to hazard a guess, I would think that they walk around doing things like everyone else and only think about god when they do something markedly good or bad and paralyze themselves thinking "oh no, god just saw that" or "oo look what a good thing i did, god is happy with me now i bet." I can't fathom how religious beliefs play out in their daily lives.

Thesouphead

I know that some do. My fiancee's mother brings God up about every 20 minutes ..when she is awake. Earlier this week, her mother called the cable company to get them to come remove the digital cable box from her room after she found out that my fiancee(23 years old) would be able to watch HBO. She didn't want that kind of thing in her house or that kind of thing showing up on her cable bill. Not because it was going to cost extra money(which my fiancee was going to pay ), but because it was unholy. My fiancee's name is Tara and her mother's name is Deb. Last night, Deb came into Tara's room to tell her that she had a Joyce Meyers video that she wanted Tara to watch. Deb does not go a single day without telling Tara that she is sinning and that she needs to be more holy.

seebs

This may not be the right forum for this discussion; just about anything I could say would probably come pretty close to the "preaching" line.

That's assuming, of course, that the goal is to discuss this and get answers.

HelenM

Basically - yes.

Maybe this thread would be better in GRD.

Anyway, yes, Christians generally pray early in the day about what's going on in their lives and then throughout the day they have some amount of prayer-dialogue with God. If something difficult is up ahead they might pray "Lord give me strength to get through this" and afterwards "thank you". As good things come to mind or if it's a beautiful day they might pray "thank you for this". If they get angry beyond what they think was appropriate in a situation, they might later pray "Lord please forgive me for behaving that way". etc.

I think that many Christians do walk around believing God is with them, helping them, listening to them, throughout the day. Re: keeping a scorecard: When you think about your friends, do you think of them as keeping scorecards on you? I would think, probably not. Christians don't necessarily think of God primarily as keeping a scorecard on them although if you asked them whether He keeps track of everything they do they'd say yes He does.

Helen

GaryP

My sister cannot go long into a conversation with me without interjecting God.

For instance, talking about getting a good price on getting her roof fixed, several things fell into place and she got a real good deal. She said, "It must have been God's will." Of course, later when the roof started to leak, she didn't mention that it was "God's will".

christ-on-a-stick

Jamie - The fundy members of my family (everyone except me, my husband, and my sister) do. It's bizzare. On holidays/birthday gatherings, etc., when the 15 of us are gathered at my grandparents' house, the other 12 will be engaged in conversation about God/Christianity/church for about, say, 90 out of about 120 minutes. Literally. They talk about almost nothing else when they are together. In their day to day lives, they are all pretty immersed in it too... morning bible study/prayer, multiple church services and bible studies per week, etc., etc....

My superfundy (biological) mom is the most extreme. She goes to church probably seven times a week - more than once on some days - to services and to volunteer for different things. She until recently worked for a Christian organization. I visited her home once and realized that she did not have ONE SINGLE book or tape that was not Christian-based. In her car are only "Christian music" tapes. It's freeeeeaky.

While I don't think that this is necessarily typical of the "average" religious household, I don't think it's uncommon among fundamentalist types. The church they go to (that I grew up in) is probably 5,000 members strong and I would venture to guess that at least 75% have this kind of "lifestyle". *Edited to add - and this isn't the "Bible Belt" by any means either, but laid-back and often socially liberal Southern California!!!

So count yourself lucky, Jamie!

christ-on-a-stick

Hmmmm... something else just occurred to me...

If more or MOST Christians were like your wife, Jamie, I think the world (and the US for sure) would be a very different place indeed.

Shake

Jamie, that's how my wife is, too. Even though she started taking our 2½ year old to Sunday school last fall, it's a relative non-issue.

It's also pretty much how I was as an Xian long ago. Didn't think much about it more than once a week (twice during Lent).

As for movies, Thesouphead, I was watching one with some former business associates (Amway spinoff), and during the one or two times with some brief nudity or excessive language, they would shout out, "Noise!" Like static, I think they saw it as interference to the story. I can't even remember what film it was now, I'm afraid. It's like they try to block out the facts that there is swearing, sex, and violence in the world.