In any religion exactly .. Can I know?

I have a friend who is off the charts Christian. Everything she does was God’s doing. She has overcome some hardships, been through some tough emotional upsets and keeps on going. I find it so sad that she can not take credit for her own strength, her own choices, and chooses instead to praise the invisible friend for somehow manipulating everything in her life to help her get through it ?

Thing is a lot of these people truly believe that god is talking to them/telling them to do these things, it is such a strong belief that they really cannot distinguish between their own desires/thoughts and "what god wants them to do".

Well God told me to tell you..... Nahhh...just messing with you ?

Agreed. I have friend who is a pastor who does this often. He prays and waits for a thought or feeling that “isn’t of his own mind” and then acts on that feeling as he believes this is guidance from god. We are good friends and one of our favorite things to do is debate. He a very intelligent person and one of the most dedicated people I know in this respect. He actually knows why he believes and almost always has a good answer for his convictions. In other words, he isn’t like most christians I know that just believe and never cracks open that book. While he is very religious, he is also one of the most responsible and busy people I know. He has many talents and is hardly ever not doing something to improve his life and pocket book, as he has an affection for as well. Yet, he believes god provides him with all his possessions and completely discounts his own actions in obtaining them. I try to tell him not to discount himself and that there is a reason christians have a saying that “god only helps those who help themselves.” Because if you sat around waiting on god to provide you with things, you’d be waiting your whole life.

god told me he is not real LOL

My mum used to tell me tidy my room. That was God enough for me!

It is authoritarian justification. Displaces any personal responsibilty to a third party. It could be argued the same for peer pressure ."HE MADE ME DO IT!" or war crimes blaming captains, generals, love of country and so on for atrocities committed etc.

Thoughts inside your head do not come from other places. The thoughts come from your head.

God told me to reply to this. The unicorn told me to ignore it. I know who to listen to.

Agreed. It's a perfect catchall for people who take no responsibility for their actions. If what they do works, praise the lord! If not - well God was trying teach them a lesson.

People who listen to other voices are often under Medications of Sorts or in Specific Habitats where their actions are observed. I think it was Flip Wilson who used the Phrase "The Devil Made Me Do It." God's Other Son by Don Imus gives a first hand scenario on how Religion makes this the way to go.

Reminds me of my religious kinsman. He has every argument covered. Ask him for example why the Bible is the sole authority on religion and he’ll just say that God told him so. There’s no way to refute that claim—end of argument.

Wait—I just thought of a reply: Next time I’ll say: “That’s odd, God told me that the Upanishads are more meaningful. Have we caught God in a lie?”

If they did that they would have to take responsibility for the outcome. gods fault

@Sydland mine too. I don’t understand why people do this. I recently got into a text argument with a nephew. He called me almighty in a sarcastic way because I want to be recognized instead of god for the effort I put in to resolve a situation. I guess in his limited cult driven mind, he believes that only god can take credit for anything. Of course he wouldn’t dare blame god for the bad stuff. ??‍

Religious people love to credit god for any good decision they make. It helps them to feel like they aren't delusional. Yet they are.

Whenever anything goes right they thank God/Jesus. Whenever goes wrong they blame Satan. It's ridiculous.

That gets me too! If they are hearing voices...there is a diagnosis for that!

Claiming God told them to do something instead of just admitting it's their own desire elevates religious people's opinions to the status of "infallible".

Cop out. Avoiding self-analysis and self-awareness. Just plain fucked-uppedness.

Right? Own your actions (good and bad) as yours.

I am recently single and having to mow the lawn for the first time in my life. The first time I attempted it a very kind man pulled over, with his family in the car, and said he "felt led by the lord" to finish mowing for me. I let him, because mowing was kicking my arse, but when he was done I thanked him for making the choice to stop and help a neighbor.