this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2023
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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. A showerthought should offer a unique perspective on an ordinary part of life.

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The real beef.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Serving my dog? No.

Serving a farm raised dog intended for consumption like a pig or cow? Yeah I'd try it.

My personal oddities aside, I still disagree. I don't think worshipping a holy entity is at all the same as loving your pet. Maybe it is for you, but I know I don't feel commonality between what I feel for my pet dog and what I feel for God.

For example, I give my pet treats and teach him to do tricks. My relationship with God is one of respect and wondering. Would you say that's similar or different?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

My personal oddities aside, I still disagree. I don’t think worshipping a holy entity is at all the same as loving your pet. Maybe it is for you, but I know I don’t feel commonality between what I feel for my pet dog and what I feel for God.

This is actually a good point because as someone who doesn't really believe in god - or rather, any god that mankind thought up, I definitely don't think the same way of my cat.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is also true and a really valid perspective to consider.

I feel like the answer OP was trying to go for was "they both love the thing so much they couldn't do it" but that's a really narrow-minded view of human experiences. I'm actually wondering how many people are like me and believe in God but feel no more love for God than they do any random things in life.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I’m actually wondering how many people are like me and believe in God but feel no more love for God than they do any random things in life.

Exactly! I would probably think more of my cat because to me, god is just some character from a book that may or may not be real.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Well, your relationship with your dog involves another being, so it certainly seems different to me.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Your relationship with your dog is much more significant since he probably cares about you, is a good companion and can be proven to exist (unless you're making him up for the purpose of these comments). A relationship with god is a one-sided time/effort/focus sink that provides no benefit to anyone involved unless they're in on the con and passing around a collection plate.

If someone doesn't eat beef or tries to discourage others from doing so because it might be magic, they ought to lay off their bullshit. Stuff like that carves out a blind spot in peoples' critical thinking where things like ayurveda, homeopathy, chiropractors and acupuncturists can hide and prey on the desperate. Accepting the less-harmful aspects makes it harder to reject the dangerous ones.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This is why I'm bringing up Indian culture where the cow worship is pretty wellknown.

For them, again, cows are sacred beasts. Basically a living deity so whether you agree or not about the deity or existence of Gods you can't disagree that cows exist.

So from there I'm attempting to conceptualize how Indians feel towards Cows (worship of deity) and see if it's similar to how I feel about my pet dog.

At least that's what I took from the post.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Yes, I think your comment captures my showerthought. It was an excercize in empathy. I do realize that the love for a sacred animal is significantly more profound than the way I feel about my dog. That being said, I do have respect and love for my dear canine companion, which causes an inhibition for eating him.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Mmm I see I see. I don't personally agree but I agree when looking at it from your perspective.

I did a bit of a dive for it in a different comment but for me I do not share that love for sacred thing that you do which generated some interesting discussion. All around I'd say discussion mission was successful

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

It was just a showerthought, but this platform turned it into an interesting discussion. How amazing.

I have read that it is important to create content for Lemmy, in order to feed it. This has been my first post, I think. Better to get it done than put it off. I am glad people have been able to discuss.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm really glad as well.

One, I didn't allow myself to just be an argumentative commenter which is a struggle some days.

Two, it was great getting to discuss things with people. Different experiences different walks of life. I'm almost envious of some of what I learned wanting to feel it for myself y'know?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, I hear you. 👍

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Do you have any data on this:

A relationship with god is a one-sided time/effort/focus sink that provides no benefit to anyone involved unless they're in on the con and passing around a collection plate.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

If you're asking me for data to show that it's a one-sided relationship with nobody on the receiving side of the worship and praise being directed at the idea of a god, I can't help you with that. The existence of a god has yet to be proven but more and more of what has historically been answered with "god did it" is being explained by scientific inquiry. If somebody comes forward with high-quality evidence of a god, I'd be very interested in seeing it.

If you're asking about data showing the benefits of having a daily routine and social interaction within your community, that's something I believe I can find along with data that demonstrates a link between drinking an appropriate amount of water and not being dead. Making it a religious practice (daily prayer, regular church attendance) is unnecessary and adds nothing but an open door for manipulators and scam artists.

If you'd like to understand how receiving churchgoers' money benefits the clergy selling the idea of a god, that one's pretty obvious so I can't say whether it's been studied or what kind of data there is to present here.

Can you please clarify your question so I'll have a better chance of addressing it if I haven't already?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It’s a pretty straightforward question. Do you have any data that backs up what you claimed? I don’t see what other way there is to interpret that question.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Okay, please see my reply above where I've identified the parts of my statement I think you're asking about. I'm asking you to specify because there are a few different (though related) ideas involved. I'll restate them here so you can select one or more and, if you wish, refer to them by the letter before each sentence.

a.) A relationship with one or more gods is one-sided.

b.) Spending any amount of time, effort, focus (or other resources like money, for that matter) on religious endeavors is a waste of those things.

c.) A person who gives their resources mentioned above (in part b) to a religious organization or in the process of worship receives no benefit unless they're working with the ones fleecing the other believers.

Let me know which of these you are interested in or if there's something else you had in mind.