Oh! Well, that puts a different spin on things. What do you suppose happened to the worthy players on the opposing team? Why do you think God has forsaken them? To teach them a meaningful lesson for the future, perhaps? If so, then is it possible that He was only lulling you into a sense of complacency with your victory, which may cost you down the road? ("My, but aren't those 'free' pawns shiny!") I'd love to have a job where everyone was thankful, regardless of what I did or regardless of the outcome. Some guys (Guys?) have all the luck.
Don't be so hard on the guy. He can be thankful for the food and the person who gave it to him. The food and that person are conceptually comprehensible. And if there were 2 or more beggars and only one was given the food, then he was the chosen one. In addition to enjoying the food, he can bask in the knowledge that he was preferred and chosen over the others. That's two pills for the other beggars to swallow, isn't it? And as for logic, it is childish and obtuse to assume that human logic does not exist. It may not be enough to assess your deity, but it is the best we have and are capable of. Therefore, we should use it. That is the only currency I am looking at here. If you see a flaw in my logic, I welcome you to point it out specifically. My points were specific, not generalized. People are free to delve into their esoterica and make things up as they go along. That's what daydreams are for. However, when they verbalize those notions, they open the door for others to comment on it and assess it. In turn, I await your assessment of the specific flaws in my logic.
Say the beggar goes to sleep. He wakes up and there are some scraps of food by his side. Does he need to understand or know a concept of how the food got there to eat it or be thankful for it? No... He needs no conceptual thinking at all, his hunger and instinct to survive takes care of everything for him. He doesn't say "I won't eat this food until I know where it came from, until I conceptually understand how it got here. I won't feel thankful in any way to have had the food appear next to me." Your argument is silly, as just demonstrated. Your entire premise is flawed. It is like arguing over what people like in art, what music they like, etc. It is personal, and passing judgments the way you do is illogical, and serves no real purpose but to inflate your own ideas. Some things simply are not a function of genuine debate, and personal beliefs, as long as they are not put into actions that harm others, are personal. If a guy said, "I love my wife." If you thought his wife was a cow, would you really have a place to start to question him for his love for his wife, and open it up to debate? Not really... If you did, most normal people would think you as being rude, which really is exactly what you are doing here, being rude to personal beliefs that you don't agree with.
Z10, you are not even on point. I will endeavor to refrain from responding until you are. You may wish to reread the opening post to get your bearings. As for my comments regarding the issue of conceptual comprehension, that was more of a secondary issue initially brought about by rcanfiel in his post on page 1 of this thread. I merely explored it as an aside, just as you are welcome to do.
I am direct to the point. Here is the initial comment: "Recently, I heard someone give a victory speech. He thanked God for his good fortune. It immediately reminded me of other such instances where, in an apparent and misguided attempt at humility, the speaker thanked God for the turn of events. Even Thanksgiving comes to mind. It is deep and utter bullshit." Your comment of "it is deep and utter bullshit" is a product of your own personal beliefs, nothing you can know logically to be true or false. It is rude, and you know it. It is funny, because you don't like it when people are rude to you, but look what you are doing? You are saying someone else's belief systems are "deep and utter bullshit" only because they conflict with your own personal belief system, so there can be no real progress in any discussion, just further acrimony. If you had started the thread on a different tone, say something like: "I saw this guy thank God for winning a sporting event, and I really don't understand that conceptually, logically, or experientially, could someone please explain it to me?" That way, if your inquiry was a genuine request for understanding of a belief system other than your own, not an attempt to belittle someone else and their personal belief system...would make some sense if you are trying to understand others, but what you are doing is simply looking for a fight, and when your illogical premise and foundation of the post are called out, you get pissy and go into "I will endeavor to refraind from responding until you are." What you are doing is most illogical, which continues to make me wonder if you are actually secure in your own personal belief systems, so as not to be threatened or disturbed that someone else has a different belief system. Perhaps because you are in the minority belief system you feel threatened, I really don't know.
Thank you. Much better. Actually, I was not being so much rude as I was being forthright and candid. In fact, the speaker in question was unintentionally being rude to the people he defeated. (The double pill, remember?) Frankly, I didn't think I needed it to be explained to me, so I did not frame the original post in the form of a question. I merely connected the dots presented. I suppose I could have been more subtle. But it is the subtlety that goes unnoticed that seems to perpetuate the unintended rudeness I'm pointing to!
You can thank God and still believe both teams had an equal shot at winning. god may have acted. god may have acted. God might pick the more worthy team or the less worthy team. the ones whose fans pray harder or the ones whose fans died in a hurricane. Your construct is contrived. The losing players are not necessarily less worthy or forsaken. We could pick holes in your construct all day long. I am growing bored with this topic.
I can only imagine how well you must hedge your trades. As an aside, I find it both ironic and fascinating that you regard my construct as contrived.
Geez folks, I'm not that much of a saint for sure, my daughter says I am the most likely person to get killed by a handgun she knows, I don't take much shit from anybody including the mob-like guys that live right next door.... gotta luv 'em. Here's the thing, I pray, I keep track of what I pray over, and over time I see improvements in every single, not one thing left out, thing that I pray for. I asked God if I should pursue trading, I got the biggest yes answer imaginable, that was ten/twelve years back, I asked God about my job and He told me I would have the job as long as I need it sooo... long story/short I got kicked off the island from the job a few months back, went full time trying to figure out how to make a nice income and now hey...... trading's not that hard, good income is not that hard to do, there should be plenty left over to give to the Christian Children's Fund, my favorite charity. People want to kill me for that!! Not just Muslims, people in the US want to ruin me for that!! If they can't kill me they want to tax me and use the money to outlaw my religion!! Hillary wanted people to sit and chat with her about their problems. I have one for ya' honey, my wife's income is barely enough to cover the combined Fed/State/Local taxes. What ya' going to do about that one oh great Hillary, "She that must be obeyed......."