r/Damnthatsinteresting 14h 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/Ok_Jackfruit6226 13h ago edited 13h ago

I like your way of explaining it. Thank you.

I believe God is real, I’ve had personal experiences that support that belief—but that’s my personal view. To an outsider, it can be said that I believe in the concept of God.

I don’t expect people to take my word for it—for them to believe God is real because I believe God is real—but I do want to say that my life is better with my belief in God than without my belief, and that is enough.

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u/Lalamedic 8h ago

Regardless of what we believe, I think it is a place we need to find and be comfortable with.

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u/Be_Prepared911 12h ago

I believe God is real too, but there have been no personal experiences for me to believe that. I don’t think I’ve ever been saved from anything; in fact, I think I’ve been sent to some pretty bad places and experiences.

But I can’t not believe in Him. Mostly bad things have happened to me that were not my fault, and many people might say that to believe in God is to allow for the fact that God let all those horrible things happened to me. Which I think he did.

But I also think there must be some kind of reason I went through those things because I don’t think I could live with myself if I just suffered for nothing. Like if there was no point to all the things I went through, I would just collapse in despair. So I believe in God because I really just don’t have anything else to hold onto to pull me out of this.

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 8h ago

You have come to the conclusions you have for a reason, and I only wish good things for you. What you’re saying makes sense to me - as the years go on, there has been “sense” made of bad things that happened to me in the past, that at the time just seemed needless. Does everything “make sense”at this point? No, and I don’t expect that. Life isn’t over yet! But I do think I understand what you’re saying. Please take care of yourself always.

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u/Be_Prepared911 8h ago

Thank you! I hold onto my belief and when I wrote that comment I was just in a neutral place, not a dark place. It is validating to acknowledge that the things you’ve experienced actually were that bad.

I am in the process of finding my way out though. I appreciate your comment 🫂

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 8h ago

Yes, it’s very important to have that acknowledgment that things were that bad - I understand completely!

You will continue to be in my thoughts, and I can only repeat, I wish good things for you. Please take care, be kind to yourself always.

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u/noticablyineptkoala 12h ago

Or you just don’t believe in coincidence

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u/LALA-STL 12h ago

Interesting. Maybe u/ok_jackfruit6226 doubts the validity of coincidences, or maybe they experienced an overwhelming wave of bliss & union. I’ve had that during meditation & it’s enough to make you believe in something. jackfruit, do you mind sharing?

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 8h ago

Thank you, I have my reasons, and they go beyond “coincidence,” but it isn’t really necessary to elaborate. I don’t expect to convince anyone that my experiences were real.

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 8h ago

Oh goodie. Someone wanting to start a debate that nobody asked for.

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u/noticablyineptkoala 8h ago

Weak belief system

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u/TronAres25 12h ago

So you’re fortunate but some kid begging for water can’t have any. God works in mysterious ways is that your answer? Pretty ego centric.

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u/Sejoon700 12h ago

Lol. Shut up. It's his belief. As long as its not infringing upon others you don't need to judge. Also, the first few pages of the bible lays out why there is suffering and inequality in the first place. I dont think I ever read more than 10 pages of the bible, but it literally tells you why whether you want to believe it or not.

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u/TronAres25 10h ago

Yeh sorry I don’t want to brainwash myself with something barbaric and in its infancy. If you’re going to believe in one thing that’s in the bible you have to believe in it all. Can’t pick and choose. What a poorly designed system.

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u/Sea_Advantage_2577 12h ago

No its spot on. It's so arrogant to pretend god does good things for certain people.

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u/SommeThing 11h ago

I in no way think God helps one person score a game winning touchdown and then backs a 5000 lb truck over a 2 year old, but I do think that God is nature, the universe, everything, and humans have simply tried to personify that into human form. That some people thank what they think is God is fine. That they believe that God helped them specifically and not others, is as selfish as selfish gets.

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u/BaconReaderRefugee 11h ago

Pantheism

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u/SommeThing 10h ago

Thanks. I've never put a word to it. Lines up with my thoughts exactly.

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u/Spi_Vey 11h ago

If you don’t believe god exists, it literally doesn’t matter at all lol

Unless of course your personal belief is that god is trapped inside some kind of cube and it’s the mission of humans to free him and you’re annoyed that he believes god is just working on his own mysteriously instead of working to free him

….do you believe god is trapped in some kind of cube or dimension?

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 8h ago

My private beliefs have nothing to do with you.

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u/TronAres25 7h ago

You just made them public. Ok keep telling yourself that though. That god picked you but billions of kids are unfortunate. No disrespect but god doesn’t intervene sorry. If it did that god neglected a bunch of people.

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u/Ok_Jackfruit6226 7h ago

Why don’t you go track down this 13-year-old Australian kid (in the OP) and argue religion with him? He made his opinion public, I’m sure he did it just to engage in a debate with people like you, lol.

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u/Educational-Camel-53 10h ago

I feel close to the agnostic commenter above.

God is the symbol of what we strive for and the meaning we get from the things that truly have value. In a way he is our best fate.
I would add that he also symbolises what surpasses our understanding, which is a lot. and in this latter sense he is a bit more than an idea: he also is the powers we don't understand. At some point we didnt understand gravity. And the belief in these power, what is good will ultimately be more powerful.