this post was submitted on 11 Jun 2024
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.
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What about praying to not die of cancer or for jobs and/or places to live? Or praying for a child to live, or for no Genocide etc. Lots of nonselfish prayers out there.
Then planes would never crash, there would be no crime, and all guns would shoot jello. Who wants to live like that?
Lots of people. You enjoy people dying for no fault of their own? I don't need planes crashing. I don't have a personal need of guns, and if there were no unjust threats, why is a gun necessary? As for crime, crime is really a construct based on a created morality, so that's up in the air.
My examples were about innocent people suffering, and it feels like your response is "Who would want to live in a world where innocent people don't suffer?" I almost think you're joking, because that's a seriously messed up thing to admit about yourself, much less assume everyone else agrees.
My point was that this wouldn't be a real life. It would be like a controlled fantasy Barbie dream house life and even she gets chewed up by the dog sometimes. There is no positive without negative. There is no advancement without adversity. If everyone wins the lottery, the lottery means nothing. Life is the struggle.
That's just your myopic opinion. Plenty of people live fulfilling lives without random chance of an early death being their meaning of living. Perhaps you're misunderstanding my original comment. I didn't say immortality (though several religions do promise that as an afterlife), nor did I say unlimited wishes. I mostly said stuff like fatal diseases, daily needs, and unfair deaths like genocides, etc. You added in plane crashes, which also isn't necessary for a fulfilling life.
It sounds a bit like you're a zero sum person, like not everyone in the world can have basic needs. As a reminder, we're discussing this under the assumption there is a loving omnipotent we can pray to. If the world is so messed up that people can't even expect to not die horribly of stuff that just happens to them outside their own choices, or where not everyone had an equal opportunity to just live a simple life and have their needs met, then that suggests that an omnipotent God decided to make life that way, and such a being is not deserving of my worship, and hasn't proved their existence.
How can anything judge your behavior if there is interference or proof? You can only be responsible for your morality if there is true free will. If you could pray away anything bad, then it would be unfair to be judged for reward in an afterlife
Not dying of cancer is selfish. It mainly benefits yourself
If you think dying only affects yourself, then that's already selfish, or sad. You have no family or friends who would mourn you? What if you're the breadwinner, or you have young children? A person dying doesn't affect only themselves.
mainly. Yes the biggest impact is to myself. Sure my kids will be impacted but not as much
Sure, for you. If a young single parent who is the only one who can support their child dies, at best they're hoping for nontraumatic foster care, but in many places, including first world countries, it can mean far worse for them. Still, I'll cede personal cancer for the sake of the overall point. That was hardly the worst issue in my comment.