necessary delusion

rowlandbrowner

My girlfriend was watching a show on one of the National Geographic channels about people who have to live with disabilities, I had one eye on the TV – and one ear too I guess because I heard a young girl with primordial dwarfism refer to her problem as “Gods challenge for her” – in actual fact she is a genetic f**k up, there is certainly no divine challenge in this, she was simply formed incorrectly. Now I’m not trying to be harsh she’s a brave young girl, she’s had lots of surgery and went through a life harder than I would be able to cope with - I’m just trying to facilitate my point that her belief in God at the advancing age of 15 has probably helped her deal with her disability, and while most people would be held back by such a deluded belief in the absurd, in her case it has probably kept her going. It seems to be a common trend that people in her situation would have a belief that they have been handed a challenge from God and not simply been a random victim of a genetic defect.

My question is...

Do you think this is healthy and necessary delusion, to shield her from a very harsh reality?

And is it easyier for an "able bodied" person to have a atheistic view of the world, as - if their luck continues - they wont face any moments as hard as the aforementioned girl?

905

Yeah but you could probably find an atheist in similar circumstances who finds strength in her acceptance of reality. Something like that.

Pompey Magnus

Steven Hawking doesn't require a belief in God in order to deal with his motor neuron disease. But I suppose if the person does need a personal crutch then I'm not going to try and take it from them.

lostexpectation

that girl was from the american south wasn't she?

Dades

rowlandbrowner wrote: »

And is it easyier for an "able bodied" person to have a atheistic view of the world, as - if their luck continues - they wont face any moments as hard as the aforementioned girl?

I think, to a degree, atheism is a luxury, as so often despair does lead to a religious belief.

pH

rowlandbrowner wrote: »

Do you think this is healthy and necessary delusion, to shield her from a very harsh reality?

Only for one particular delusion - there are other interpretations.

Hoddle, who was on a salary of £350,000, was reported in The Times last Saturday to have told one of its sports reporters: "You and I have been given two hands and two legs and half decent brains. Some people have not been born like that for a reason; the karma is working from another lifetime. I have nothing to hide about that. It is not only people with disabilities. What you sow, you have to reap."
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/htmlContent.jhtml?html=/archive/1999/02/03/nhod03.html

Even belief in a Christian God is not the nice comfort blanket you'd have us believe - any reasonable reading of the new testament would indicate that the majority of us are going to hell, so you live a life with a horrible disability and then burn in hell for eternity, lovely.

rowlandbrowner

pH wrote: »

Even belief in a Christian God is not the nice comfort blanket you'd have us believe - any reasonable reading of the new testament would indicate that the majority of us are going to hell, so you live a life with a horrible disability and then burn in hell for eternity, lovely.

Your average Jesus freak is very rarely a bible scholar, they usually have the fluffy, marshmallow filled “god loves us all” view.
The people who are ardent readers of the bible – and buy all that fire and brimstone stuff are the folks in groups like the Westborough Baptist Church.

Zillah

I can also imagine a severely disabled person with a belief in God who is bitter and angry at the Divine Overlord for being so cruel towards them.

People can have positive or negative attitudes about their lot in life, regardless of whether they believe in God or not. I think religious belief or lack thereof flavours your outlook on life, rather than dictates it.

Zombrex

rowlandbrowner wrote: »

Do you think this is healthy and necessary delusion, to shield her from a very harsh reality?

I think it is perfectly possible to give a person hope without resorting to superstitious nonsense that will ultimately lead to the person being bitter that the fairy princesses (or what ever) haven't cured her or fixed her.

Xhristy

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