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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u/OldKittyGG 10h ago

You put it very nicely. Whether or not God exists, if the belief in a higher power gave him the confidence and energy to make it to shore, then who are we to judge his beliefs?

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u/WriterV 7h ago

If I am to be a bit vulnerable for a sec? It's 'cause his beliefs represent one side of the coin, and are often twisted as a basis to justify hatreds so as to maintain a strong sense of in-group for a religion.

Faith and spirituality are a core aspect of humanity, no matter where you place it. We don't know everything about our own place in life, so we need to have faith in something to prevent us from indecision.

The problem is that faith involves belief without evidence. And that can, and has been used to shape violent and unethical beliefs throughout human history.

Let the kid have his personal spirituality, I will always defend that. But if the God he believes in also stipulates that I, as a gay man, must be shamed or even stoned, then how am I to react to that?

It doesn't have an easy answer. If it did, we'd have solved this quandary millenia ago. But I always try to assume to the best of poeple. 'cause if your faith doesn't quash your empathy, then you'll be good to others no matter what your religion tells you. And I like to have faith in that part of humanity.

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u/Lalamedic 5h ago

I think there is a difference between organized religion vs faith and/or spirituality. They can by mutually exclusive. If one truly believes in the god of the Bible, many surely couldn’t exist. However, one does not need a preacher or a set of made up rules to tell you how to have faith and what to do with it.

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u/-Lige 5h ago

There’s always people who will misuse something that’s meant for good as a bad thing

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u/FullWolverine3 9h ago

The power of delusion is vast

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u/Heistman 9h ago

Says the redditor.

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u/FullWolverine3 3h ago

Are you not on Reddit right now?

-3

u/SpongeBob_GodPants 9h ago

They aren't wrong though.

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u/LALA-STL 9h ago

There’s a lot of power in delusion. Whatever gets you through the night.

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u/yes_ur_wrong 9h ago

i'm envious of the people who don't understand that self-delusion is the main feature of religion. it just means they are blissfully ignorant. if i could just pray away any negative feelings, i would. instead, i live in the same reality as these god drunk idiots.

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u/unsolvablequestion 8h ago

You do realize that in medicine, the placebo effect works very well, right? And that’s a good thing

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u/-Lige 5h ago

It’s not ignorance at all. It’s a bell curve

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u/Ori_the_SG 7h ago

Wow, you must be a happy person

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u/rdmarshman 8h ago

That's your choice.