Tuesday, September 10, 2013

How a believer and a non believer can see the same thing two different ways.

Posted by Zman

I find it interesting how those of us who do not believe in a higher being and those who do can see the same event two different ways.  Nothing wrong with that for the most part but it is interesting.  A good example, on Memorial Day weekend back in May Jenn and I were visiting family grave sites with my family who are religious.  We were at my uncle's grave.  He passes away just over nine years ago and he loved going to Wisconsin as we all do in my family.  My mom related a story about just after he passed away and was buried she and my aunt were visiting his grave near sundown and a deer walked to the edge of the wooded area next to the cemetery, looked right at them and slowly walked away.  My mom took that a a "spiritual sign."  Nothing wrong with that of course.  Does not do anyone any harm as in that case religion is not being used to discriminate.  Now me being an Atheist and a skeptic just saw that as something that a deer would do.  You have a wooded area where deer hang out next to a cemetery where people go.  Deer are probably used to seeing people and will probably stand and watch for a few minutes and slowly walk away especially near sundown when deer tend to venture out of the woods.  But people like to make connections where none exist.  It's a coping mechanism.  Nothing wrong with that in most cases.  If someone gets meaning out of something like that and helps them cope with the loss of a loved one no harm to anyone.  I just find it interesting that people find spiritual meaning in things that happen naturally and how a believer interprets things that can be easily explained.

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