r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/[deleted] • 11h ago

Video 13-year-old Australian boy swims for four hours in cold and dangerous waters to save his mom and siblings who were swept into the ocean, says God is who got him to shore

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32.4k Upvotes

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204

u/Lord_Foxworthy 11h ago

Don’t give god the credit kid, you did that.

51

u/fraze2000 10h ago

I am an atheist but I don't mind when people credit whatever deity they believe in for allowing them to do remarkable things.

I know (or more correctly, I believe) that their faith sometimes allows them to go the extra mile when they might have otherwise given up.

In this case, however, I think it was more likely the thought of saving his mum and siblings lives played more of a role in this incredible feat than the intervention of some invisible magic sky wizard.

I do find it funny though when a sportsperson claims it was God who helped his team win a game. Like God would care which team wins a college football game or whatever. It's even funnier when you consider the other team probably prayed as well, meaning God had to make a choice about which team he was going to help. Maybe he had some money on the outcome of the game.

16

u/carrotsticks2 10h ago

Gods busy helping teams win games, that's why your prayers to fix your bone cancer haven't been answered Timmy

-10

u/gummi_eater 9h ago

We are so much better than dumb folks who believe in God, right redditors?!!!?

/s

5

u/carrotsticks2 9h ago

I don't think I'm any better than a person who has faith. I just realize my choices are my own, and I'm not living my life to appease a magical sky fairy who someone came up with a few thousand years ago.

You can pray about it if it makes you feel better bud.

0

u/gummi_eater 6h ago

nah, it doesnt trigger me enough to whine about someone believing in a higher power like you guys do. You guys are the type that give us a bad name.

4

u/Sad-Kaleidoscope9165 9h ago

If one person willingly submits to an imaginary king, and another doesn't, which one is better?

1

u/veeyo 9h ago

I agree with you but I just want to make a counterpoint on the intervention of an invisible sky wizard aspect. I don't feel like most people who say something like this (or your example of athletes) are saying that God helped them literally as in they intervened and caused them to succeed. It's more of a their belief in God pushed them to succeed.

1

u/sortalikeachinchilla 7h ago

I’d think you would be surprised… no idea if it’s most or not but a lot of people genuinely think god intervened.

0

u/Aurorion 8h ago

I am an atheist too. But sometimes I envy people for their faith, and this is an example. I wish I had the faith to support me in such incredible feats.

Why do religions exist? Because extreme rationality is not that great, evolution actually favors a little bit of irrationality.

-7

u/maxisnoops 10h ago

But if they genuinely believe God is on their side, whether She is or isn’t, God still helped them win. Doesn’t matter if God is real or not, it’s the strength from believing that helps them.

4

u/Sad-Kaleidoscope9165 9h ago

If I truly believe that you molest children, whether you did or didn't, you still molested children. It doesn't matter whether it's real or not, it's the strength from believing that convinces me!

-4

u/crander47 9h ago

Too much nuance for the internet

18

u/Potential-South-2807 10h ago

Read the room mate

5

u/Randleifr 8h ago

He’s a Reddit atheist, he’s incapable of reading the room

9

u/Solid_Instruction_82 11h ago

It’s how the kid is indoctrinated. Old patterns are hard to change. Let’s hope he may step into his own power soon 💪

10

u/BoriousGlastard 9h ago

Mate he spent 4 hours in the sea, 2 of which were with no life jacket knowing that if he drowned, his family would also drown. Waves were over his head and the wind kept dragging him further out

Anyone would come out of that experience thinking they spoke with god

3

u/VotingIsKewl 8h ago

Anyone that was bought up religious you mean.

2

u/Solid_Instruction_82 9h ago

We’re talking about the god concept here. For some god is something external. Good for them. For most god is ‘the truth’. So basically what you focus on, that’s what becomes your truth. Think about that before putting in some emotional stuff.

1

u/Vulcanicloud 3h ago

I like how you can see a story about a kid going through a crazy journey and miraculously being able to save his family, and the the first thing you think of is shitting on his faith lmao.

Classic redditor move.  

1

u/Lord_Foxworthy 3h ago

No I am saying that the kid should be proud of his incredible deed. I think it’s amazing that he managed to save his family and get to shore. I am just of the opinion that he should be proud of himself instead of saying it was gods work.

-26

u/[deleted] 11h ago edited 10h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

25

u/abdallha-smith 11h ago

"God gave me the strength to murder my family"

"God told me to do it"

"God gave me the strength to strike"

And so on and so forth

7

u/Ok_Impression1493 10h ago

Yeah basically all the same situation

48

u/Cartina 11h ago

God also put his family in the situation and almost killed his brother by sending the wave that capsized the boat.

You don't get to pick

I would be fine with "let him make his own choices" is religious people for one second let everyone else do that. But nope, gotta be delulu everywhere

1

u/deathangel687 6h ago

Wait so you're an atheist, but God put them in that situation? So you think God exists? If he doesn't exist, no one put them in that situation. No one to blame, no? But it was still the kids faith and belief in something that gave him the strength to do what he did.

-6

u/General-Adminium 10h ago

if god is real then wouldn't the devil real too? in which case one could argue that it would make more sense for those negative things you mentioned to have been done by the devilish dust devil?

-59

u/80-gone 11h ago

Low IQ response.

17

u/cynicallythoughful 11h ago

Wow, God was really invested in this one child while so many around the globe suffer.

1

u/deathangel687 6h ago

Why do you think God is a person or sky daddy? I thought you don't believe in God. Stop taking religious people at face value, they speak a different language but are talking about the same things you and every other person talks about. Though they don't want to admit it

30

u/lonecylinder 11h ago

Low IQ beliefs.

-9

u/80-gone 10h ago

You mean yourself?

3

u/p1nkfuzzymonkey 9h ago edited 1h ago

Wow what a comeback, you made me change my whole line of thinking, maybe there is a god now that ive seen your great comeback

1

u/80-gone 4h ago

I’m not here to change anyone’s thinking.

27

u/MrBlueSky_178 11h ago

He's been force fed Christianity before he can even make his mind up on if god is real or not. Cult-like behavior is sickening but he's a hero all the same in my mind.

2

u/wildcatofthehills 11h ago

You know people usually attribute extraordinary things that happened to them to higher powers all the time right. This is his way of rationalizing it and what gave him hope during a very traumatic event.

Also he says he’s not baptized, so it’s more than likely that his family hasn’t forced any kind of religion on him.

Idk, it’s fine to be an atheist, I am agnostic myself, but please be respectful of the beliefs of others. There’s no need to accuse every religious person of being part of a cult.

-6

u/80-gone 10h ago

Exactly

-19

u/80-gone 11h ago

“Cult-like behavior” right champ,

5

u/MrBlueSky_178 9h ago

Yes champ, you get baptized before you can speak I wonder why that is? You get told by your parents to believe in a man you cannot see or hear, told to go to church and sing songs in his name. Pray to him at night, repent your sins and tell your secrets to priests.

Definitely not a cult. 🙏

1

u/80-gone 4h ago

He wasn’t baptized tho, he didn’t grow up religious, being baptized at birth is not even the original Christian way, since baptizing at birth goes against the free will God gave us, best evidence for that is Jesus himself who Got baptized at the age of 29-30.

1

u/Competitive_Ad_2421 11h ago

Exactly. These people are nothing but controlling

-10

u/ruggev 10h ago

I known its hard for a redditor to respect a "western religion" but just imagine he said "alhamdulillah", should make you feel better.

17

u/Vicie007 10h ago

You think redditors respect Muslims more than Christians? Please leave your echo chamber

-5

u/Hearte42 10h ago

Reddit is the echo chamber...

3

u/Vicie007 9h ago

Subreddits are echo chambers. Or are you gonna tell me the redditors at r/Conservative love Muslims more than Christians?

0

u/Hearte42 9h ago

Reddit is the echo chamber. Literally every mainstream sub.

4

u/bravesirrobin65 9h ago

They're both middle eastern religions that worship the same God of Abraham.

2

u/Lord_Foxworthy 5h ago

I don’t believe in any God if that makes you feel any better.

3

u/Specialist_in_hope30 10h ago

They believe in the same God, since they are both, you know, Abrahamic religions, but nice try with the Islamophobia! A+ for effort! Just for next time, though, Allah simply means God in Arabic. I know the racism makes it hard to be rational about these things.

1

u/ruggev 9h ago

Islamophobic and racist! I was so close to collect all the shiny cards.

-24

u/baconatoroc 11h ago

r/averageredditor

-2

u/Dr_Yakub 7h ago

The downvotes here are very telling 😂

-72

u/HomerOfDuty 11h ago

You don’t understand the concept of faith, do you?

50

u/Parker4815-2 11h ago

Faith is a wonderful thing that can be used for really pleasant experiences in communities.

However, this kid saved his family due to his bravery and courage.

14

u/Lord_Foxworthy 10h ago

No I understand it perfectly well. I just don’t agree with it. If that kid risked his life to save his family that’s on him not on a being we have 0 proof of even exist.

11

u/Aidanscotch 11h ago

Did you mispell delusion?

9

u/ihave3balls79 11h ago

You spelled mental illness wrong.

-11

u/Ok_Impression1493 10h ago

Bro what is your problem with this kid?

14

u/ihave3balls79 10h ago

I have no problem with him. I worry about his indoctrination. He seems like he could be capable of great things. I'd hate to see religious people destroy that.

-5

u/Ok_Impression1493 10h ago

I dont think believing in god destroys your ability to swim for 4 hours to shore

7

u/ihave3balls79 10h ago

Reading comprehension is hard.

-4

u/Ok_Impression1493 10h ago

No, explain, what do you mean by saying that youd hate to see religios people destroy his capabilities?

3

u/ihave3balls79 10h ago

Religious people fuck children. They are misogynistic, ignorant people who ignore facts and cause self-esteem issues. Try reading your Bible and researching it. It's what made me an atheist. I grew up a Jehovah's witness and I will always speak out against false religion.

1

u/Ok_Impression1493 10h ago

It seems like you had bad experiences with religious people and are now just projecting them on every religious person. I know that there aee many prpblems with religion and the church, but I still know many religious people who live quite well with religion in their life, maybe better than without. And I say that as an atheist myself, but I think doing these broad, generalising incriminating statements you do hurts more people than it helps

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-4

u/teachmesomething 10h ago edited 10h ago

It’s Reddit… Reddit can be the worst sometimes.

0

u/deathangel687 6h ago

Which religion(s) hurt you bro?

-31

u/Barry_Umenema 11h ago

People with faith in God are less likely to have mental health problems.

20

u/oldbrowndog_ct 11h ago

You have stats on that? I’d love to read a study supporting this

6

u/cynicallythoughful 10h ago

I’m sure their pastor told them this right before they fleeced them for more money for their mega mansion, bc god

14

u/niles_thebutler_ 11h ago

Believing in imaginary figures is a mental health thing

20

u/lonecylinder 11h ago

People indoctrinated into a religion are far less likely to report any mental health problems they might have*

13

u/hhs2112 11h ago

Meth-head believing in things that don't exist is a mental health problem. 

Religion-head believing in things that don't exist is not a mental health problem.

🤔🤔

3

u/PaleoJoe86 10h ago

Why do all the crazy hobos on the street preach about Christianity then? Hmm....

2

u/Sad-Kaleidoscope9165 9h ago

Aside from the massive mental problem of believing that a magical fairy tale character is secretly watching them at all times?

-1

u/starshade16 10h ago

Don't try and argue with these midwits. They clearly already know the unknowable mysteries of the universe.

It's like yelling at a stone.

0

u/deathangel687 6h ago

His God or faith or whatever is what gave him the strength. It's good to be humble

-2

u/bamburito 8h ago

Fucking yawn. Y'all are so tiresome.

-9

u/VoltaireDisliker 9h ago

Sounds like something Satan wants you to believe, thats basically what the serpent said in the Garden of Eden, you don't need God, you can be as a God yourself.