God in your life
One of the horrors of graduate school is statistics. I am in graduate school and you have to take it, even if you are a word person and not a numbers person.
You can guess which one I am.
So, I was scrolling through questions in the General Social Survey looking for a topic for a statistics class project and saw a few questions that might be interesting to my readers.
The General Social Survey, in case you don't know, is the longest running, most substantive survey of American behavior and opinion. It is the single best source of data on societal trends, and has been collecting data since 1972. It is overseen by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.
Here is one question from the 2004 survey.
Q. A number of items use the word ''God.'' If this word is not a comfortable one, please substitute another idea that calls to mind the divine or holy for you.
''You may experience the following in your daily life, if so how often?''
''I feel God's love for me, directly.''
The choices:
Many times a day
Every day
Most days
Some days
Once in a while
Never or almost never
Don't know
No answer
You give me your take and I'll tell you how the nation responded.
You can guess which one I am.
So, I was scrolling through questions in the General Social Survey looking for a topic for a statistics class project and saw a few questions that might be interesting to my readers.
The General Social Survey, in case you don't know, is the longest running, most substantive survey of American behavior and opinion. It is the single best source of data on societal trends, and has been collecting data since 1972. It is overseen by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center.
Here is one question from the 2004 survey.
Q. A number of items use the word ''God.'' If this word is not a comfortable one, please substitute another idea that calls to mind the divine or holy for you.
''You may experience the following in your daily life, if so how often?''
''I feel God's love for me, directly.''
The choices:
Many times a day
Every day
Most days
Some days
Once in a while
Never or almost never
Don't know
No answer
You give me your take and I'll tell you how the nation responded.
70 Comments:
Don't know. Warm fuzzy feelings happen all the time, so I can't chalk them up to God. If He's talking to me He has to stop mumbling -- I'm hearing impaired.
Oh, a riddle! I love puzzles.
My guess....
Some days
This post has been removed by the author.
Personally,I would answer.....
Many times a day
But nationally.....I would guess between Once in a while and Never or almost never
If a vast majority experienced divinity in their lives this world wouldn't be as it is today.
Let those who have ears.....listen!
At the end of this parable Jesus states that "to those who have, more will be given and to those who have not what little they have will be taken away."
As I understand this is that when a person has a state of ming of gratitude to the Creator and feels abundant God provides more of the same. When we feel wronged by God and ungrateful for the little He has given we naturally repel any good that can come our way.
This parable is Jesus explaining the natural laws of the Universe, The Laws of God.
To those who have more shall be given, to those ungrateful people who bemoan there lot will have what little they think they have taken away.
To those who have ears listen...
You can choose to paddle upstream (resistance) or flow downstream (allowance).
Well, for once I agree with RubyTuesday. I think that God directs His love at me in a constant stream like the sun. It's only when I make my mind and heart quiet that I hear It. So how often I hear God depends much more on me than on Him.
I suspect that most people nationally will say seldom or never.
Jesus wept.
Correction: I don't agree with RubyTuesday's view of the quote from Mark 4:25. I do not think it is about being given stuff or abundance. I think it's quite clearly about being given knowledge. If you read the passages around it, it's not about wealth of the material kind. See also Luke 8:18, New Living Translation "So pay attention to how you hear. To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given. But for those who are not listening, even what they think they understand will be taken away from them". However, only Luke 19 restates this in terms of coins, and I think that is a way of making an analogy or allegory for simpler minds.
How about this view Betty for I didn't write the last one...
14"Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them. 15To one he gave five talents[a] of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. 16The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. 17So also, the one with the two talents gained two more. 18But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master's money.
19"After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. 20The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.'
21"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
22"The man with the two talents also came. 'Master,' he said, 'you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.'
23"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!'
24"Then the man who had received the one talent came. 'Master,' he said, 'I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. 25So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.'
26"His master replied, 'You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? 27Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
28" 'Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. 29For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. 30And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:14-30&version=31
I think that is pretty specific Betty!
I think it is a parable, Ruby. A story told in allegorical terms for people who don't easily grasp abstract theological discussions.
If you believe that rewards in this world reflect the state of your relationship with God, please reread the book of Job. Where were you when He framed the Leviathan?
Brooke
Being impatient I cheated and peeked.
Interesting stuff in that GSS.
Ron, keep it secret for now!
GOD IN YOUR LIFE: Those people on the Hudson certainly had God in their life:
MIRACLE ON THE HUDSON
January 15, 2009
The airplane hit a flock of birds. Wow! I sure hope those birds are okay! That could ruffle a few feathers. I smashed a bird on the runway one day, and it made me cry. I’m asking now: Has the NTSB checked on the welfare of that family of birds? At least first-responders would go out there and see what they could do, if they have any compassion for dumb animals at all. Nope: They just ignored them, and let em die.
How would you like it if you and your family were out for a stroll, and then Oh, BAM! You all get hit by a 200 Ton plane by a higher species. Would you want to be ignored? Would you appreciate some first aid, and perhaps a glass of lemon aid to go with it? Would you appreciate people saying: “Well, that dumb family shouldn’t have been out for a stroll in the first place. How do you treat the miracle of life?
How about so-called “dumb babies” being treated as mere “lumps of tissue”, and 4,000 of them aborted, killed, murdered every day in this Land of the Free? “Can’t stop progress”, is that it? A man got in your way in bed, and then along comes the baby, and he or she was also in your way, so “let’s commit murder”, and your American law is such that it is a virtue, not a crime. Is that it? The miracle of life is nothing to you but a death-wish. Therefore, the winds of sweeping political and economic changes will blow, a plane of a higher species, and sweep the wicked from off the earth, like nothing but a dumb flock of birds. May your “soul” rest in peace, but if only you had one.
The miracle of life may then take root in the four quarters of the earth, like the sons of Jacob and of Judah or Yehudah (Hud-son).
Street
Ron said,
"My guess....
Some days"
........................
Ron,
There's a philosopher, I think Descartes,who says he believes in God;because if it turns out there is no God, then there is no harm- but if there is a God, then bad things are gonna happen to him for not believing in him.
So, you better warm up to God, buddy, whether you feel him or not.
I forgot to answer the quiz.
Daily
WC
That would be Pascal's Wager.
However, the same wager could be made in different ways...
For instance, you'd better warm up to Allah.
You'd better warm up to Shiva.
You'd better warm up to Thor or Zeus or any of a number of other Gods.
So you need to ask yourself - what if you're wrong about Thor?
OK Brooke
I don't want to spoil the surprise. Although I wish more folks would venture a guess.
The parable of the talents to me, mean If you don't use the gifts God has given you to help others, your lazy and didn't deserve those gifts.
My God I beleive in doesn't give you money, or possessions. Since when he sent adam and eve out of the garden for disobedience, he said "Man will work by the sweat of his Brow". And If you don't work, you won't eat.
God gives blessings in abundance, even to the unrightous. So, to those who use and share their gifts (talents) with other, your cup will runneth over with blessings.
I figure on the question brooke asked, the survey will say "sometimes"
For me, when my mind and spirit are quiet, I hear the voice of my God more often. It's not always daily. But amazing how when crisis comes, or when we are in dispair for some reason, our ears and hearts are tuned to listen more readily.
A couple of years ago on our news, a local pastor went to the mall, around Christmas time, and he asked one question? Who is Jesus Christ?
It was amazingly sad. Most knew Christmas was a celebration of the birth of Christ. But to actually who he is, few knew.
So you need to ask yourself - what if you're wrong about Thor?
..........................
I'll take my chances.
WC
Ditto. I'll take my chances about "warming up" to your mythical sky daddy.
SLTrib:
"Ron, keep it secret for now!"
If one wanted to keep it a secret, even temporarily, they should not use exact quotes!
kbp
Come on dude! Take a guess - just don't reveal the secret....
Ron, I have to give it to you on thisone...I got to the site...even found the question...but ask me if I could get to the analysis.....
Brooke....Stats for Non-Science Majors was one of the only classes I outright cheated in....my heart goes out to you.....
Regina
It's OK. I gave in before you did...
From a statistical standpoint it's very interesting. Anytime you have a study with large samples that is replicated over a time period it adds to the credibility of the study.
I'd say it's an indication of how many "average Americans" feel.
Ron...Oh I get the science...even actually believe in it!
In fact, I worked for a marketing and social research company for several years in college...
but ask me if I can do the math to find the standard deviation.....
And I worked there before the dawning of the age of calculators! When I was in college, we had a computer building....it was state of the art...one of the few in the nation...and it was a big building...and the entire building was the computer...and it couldn't do what your typical hand held calculator that every seventh grader has, today....
ROTFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Howere', all things being equal, I found the GSS site horrifically difficult to navigate....
THIS is MUCH more fun!
As far as the census of America to your question, I would guess:
"Once in a while"
Regina
LOL - You're obviously *SLIGHTLY* older than I, but one of the "I walked five miles in the snow" stories I tell my kids (besides not having color TV til age 10) was having to go out to my father's work at NASA to punch cards for my computer science class.
Ron,
I have punched cards. I had a class (RPG? Thankfully, I've forgotten) that required cards and I remember the classic disaster of dropping the box of cards. I remember Xmas wreaths made out of folded and gold spray painted cards.
I did not have a TV of any kind until I was about 10. My father thought that it would distract us from real learning and culture. He used to read aloud to us after dinner, instead. I thought everyone knew who Dylan Thomas and Arthur Conon Doyle wer. Boy was I wrong.
rericson,
I also went to school before calculators, and while I was in college they began to appear but were considered cheating if you used them in class. What a shock when I started trying to help my grandson and found that they are REQUIRED. LOL. Explains why no one can make change when the cash register is down.
Well, I guess we old folks should pat ourselves somewhat on the back. At least we can use computers. Some of our peers are hopelessly lost.
Betty....you made me laugh...I had (thankfully) forgotten those obnoxious wreaths!!!!!
Hadn't given much thought to the demise of the keypunch industry, either.....
Ron, I remember when selectric typewriters came out...when my first secretary got a mag it was very 'space-agey'
When I was young, color t.v. had not been invented...or if it had, it wasn't marketed to the public...we had a big RCA and it came with a tri-color plastic screen that could be fitted over the picture tube to give outdoor scenes a more "realistic" look....
Howdy Doody
Rin Tin Tin
Sky King
Lassie
Father Knows Best
Life of Riley
I love Lucy
Wagon Train
How The West Was Won
Bonanza
The Perry Como Hour
Bat Masterson
Ed Sullivan
Wonderful World Of Disney
Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom
The Mitch Miller Show
Art Linkletter
The Jackie Gleason Show
Peter Gun
Gunsmoke
Oh my...this is depressing....I can't even remember all the old shows I watched....
Hey, even I used a slide rule as a child, but simply just to do it, not out of need. My father taught me how to use one, even though he had a "calculator" at the time. My father's first calculator ran on 6 AA rechargeable batteries, was about an inch tall, and charged off a "wall-wart". I remember him buying it. Sigh--I can't be that old, can I?
Back to God. I would think that now that there is a recession, the answer will be more often than before the recession. I don't know the result of the survey and whether it can be compared to a previous one.
When my children go to college, what am I going to tell them? Things were so bad when I went to college, I had to use a computer with a 170Meg hard drive and 4Meg of RAM! And no Internet access!
Furnace
Yes, shame the spoiled little guys.
I had a computer with 5 1/4 inch 160 K floppy drives. I remember getting my first 5 meg hard disk and thinking how "I'll never fill this up."
Now they have cell phones with everything a person needs, you can call, text, calulator, see whom your talking to if they have the same kind of phone, play games. Technology has come a long way.
Betty,
"I did not have a TV of any kind until I was about 10. My father thought that it would distract us from real learning and culture. He used to read aloud to us after dinner, instead. I thought everyone knew who Dylan Thomas and Arthur Conon Doyle wer. Boy was I wrong."
I didn't let us have a TV when my kids were growing up until they were 5 and 6 -- and then I turned it to PBS and took the knob off so they couldn't change the channel. We did family reading time every night, though. My son was just telling me the other day that our reading time was one of his fondest memories. I know my oldest grandson adores it when I check out books like Sideways Stories from Wayside School and read them to him while he's visiting. His 4 year old sister is just starting to get involved in them too. I can wait until my other two grandsons start enjoying the longer stories.
That is, I "can't" wait until the other two start wanting those longer stories. Time to re-read the Chronicles of Narnia and Julia of the Wolves. ;)
Rebeckah said...
Betty,
"I did not have a TV of any kind until I was about 10. My father thought that it would distract us from real learning and culture."
So how far off was he, Rebeckah?
Cheese....
In some ways it is easier to just not deal with the television issue at all, by simply not having one.
It's much harder to have one and use it for some of the wonderful things it offeres, without allowing it to be all consuming...
When I was small my time was strictly limited, although everything was pretty tame so I could choose what I wanted to watch...
With my children, I was like Rebeckah, mostly public television programming and very select other programs...and I went to great lengths to make sure they had all sorts of other things in their lives that were entertaining....we always did lots of trips to the museums and the Bronx Zoo is one of the places we all still love..
And making tree houses and hiking and canoeing and skiing and snow sports...and lots of picnics and bug hunting expeditions....
and lots of trips to see broadway shows and for ten years running we bought season passes to the young people's concerts at lincoln center...
The whole world doesn't use the television as a baby sitter!!!!
*smile*
Sounds like you have had a good life just like I have and do. It's just that we (FLDS) have been hammered over the TV thing as well. People saying that we don't let our children watch TV but instead we 'brainwash' them.
Cheese said:
So how far off was he, Rebeckah?
Cheese, no offense but I'll bet a lot of people see you "far off."
Our perceptions of the world are vastly different.
It is natural to think of our "perception" as some objective reality. However, our objective reality may be only an illusion.
Cheese,
Betty had no TV until the age of 10. I don't know how old I was when we got a TV, I was a reader from the age of 5 and TV couldn't compete. I didn't allow a TV in my house until my children were 5 and 6. I've had some teachers tell me that it helped my daughter enormously that we didn't have one when she was younger because she has ADHD.
Cheese,
"Sounds like you have had a good life just like I have and do. It's just that we (FLDS) have been hammered over the TV thing as well. People saying that we don't let our children watch TV but instead we 'brainwash' them."
You aren't alone there. I was amazed at the number of people who told me I was abusive to my children because they had chores and couldn't watch Saturday morning cartoons. Funniest of all were the people who would proclaim, "There are a lot of educational shows on PBS!" and all I could think was, "Yeah, and I'll bet your children don't see any of them." :D
"and I went to great lengths to make sure they had all sorts of other things in their lives that were entertaining....we always did lots of trips to the museums and the Bronx Zoo is one of the places we all still love.."
We were fortunate when the children were young to live in Bridgeport, CT which had a small zoo. We often went on Sundays after church because admission was free after 1:00 pm. In fact, I discovered early on that "educational" toys were more likely to keep my children occupied and give me some "me" time, so they got a lot of those too. And we'd go to things like the re-enactment of the British landing in Fairfield, CT and to the beach and things like that. My children didn't have much money at all growing up but they've told me as adults that they don't feel deprived. They had food, clothing, shelter and lots of fun activities to do and learn from.
My parents didn't allow us much TV. But we actually liked going outside or riding our bikes and such than we did TV.
Guess growing up, as kids we used our imagination more to have fun.
I can remember go to the movies with my parents, watching disney movies now and then, but we weren't interested to much in news, etc.
Rebeckah...Wed. was free admission day at the Bronx Zoo....Tues. at MOMA....Thurs. at the Museum of natural History....lol
And when they were really young I would take a couple at a time to Macy's Herald Square and let them paint their faces in the make-up dept, until we got kicked out then up to five to the pet store and toy dept and when we started getting the 'evil eye' from the floor walkers on five, we would head up to eight to the furniture dept where I would let them jump on the mattresses....when that was bordering on getting arrested, we would take the elevator to the basement and have a snack in the cafe and off to home...we could have hours of entertainment for maybe ten dollars!!!!
Later when things were not so tight we actually started buying discounted family memberships and boy, oh boy did that feel luxurious!!!!
After I bought this house in Pa. we did outdoor things every weekend...
Rebeckah said:
couldn't watch Saturday morning cartoons
Horrible child abuser, I'm calling the CPS hotline right now..... :)
Quote from wise but geriatric ex Associate Judge in Harris County:
"Shoot, when I grew up dirt was a toy."
Funny how reality has changed in such a short time, huh?
HAHAH Ron!
Ron,
"Horrible child abuser, I'm calling the CPS hotline right now..... :)"
Too late, they're all grown up. ;P
26"(A)Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?book_id=47&chapter=6&version=49
This is for you Harley!
27"And who of you by being (AI)worried can (AJ)add a single hour to his life?
28"And why are you (AK)worried about clothing? Observe how the lilies of the field grow; they do not toil nor do they spin,
------
Here is another scripture for you Harley! Let see you intepret this scripture into "long hard labor"! LOL!
This post has been removed by the author.
8"So do not be like them; for (K)your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.
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My God I beleive in doesn't give you money, or possessions.-Harley
------
My God does! :)
Since when he sent adam and eve out of the garden for disobedience, he said "Man will work by the sweat of his Brow". And If you don't work, you won't eat.-Harley
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31"Do not (AO)worry then, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear for clothing?'
32"For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things; for (AP)your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
33"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and (AQ)all these things will be added to you.
34"So do not (AR)worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.
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I love my God....and my God loves me and that is a good thing! :)
Yes Rubytuesday
God loves you. He loves you so much that he might take everything from you, kill all your children and infect you with painful boils.
You see what you want to see when you read scripture as do Harley and most other folks.
Doesn't make you right and Harley wrong or vice versa.
This post has been removed by the author.
Ron, that is my problem about scripture, you can can take sections of it and it conflicts with other sections which is why I just gave it all up for it truly doesn't make any sense to me.
But for those who believe in it whole heartedly, you can't take away what I said is incorrect, for indeed I just didn't make it up, it is indeed scripture.
Personally, I needed something more than scripture that I could always depend on and I found that connection within myself.
"God loves you. He loves you so much that he might take everything from you, kill all your children and infect you with painful boils." - Ron
The one thing I do know is that my God is not evil, my God is "love" and I mean that with absolute deep sincerity.
.....and to take it a step further, in my experience, evil is the result of being "disconnected".
Ron, that is my problem about scripture, you can can take sections of it and it conflicts with other sections which is why I just gave it all up for it truly doesn't make any sense to me.
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I'll take clarity over confusion, thank you very much!
Rubytuesday
I think giving up trying to figure it out is not a bad strategy.
It was my dad, cheese, and he was not far off.
I do not have HBO, BTW, nor any of the add on channels. I only have cable TV because that's the only way I can get reliable high speed internet access, which is a necessity of my husband's job. Also, I live far enough in the country that reception on PBS is poor here without cable. But I noted when Brooke was talking about Big Love, that lots of fundamentalists who criticize the evil American culture DID have HBO and had watched Big Love.
What about you, cheese? Do you have HBO?
"But I noted when Brooke was talking about Big Love, that lots of fundamentalists who criticize the evil American culture DID have HBO and had watched Big Love."
I doubt it was "lots" and I got the distinct impression that most who did were in the Centennial group rather than the FLDS.
I have basic cable for the same reasons you list, but we can't afford the next higher package which would allow us to watch "Big Love". I suspect that the majority of the FLDS don't have televisions, much less cable.
Rubytuesday
I think giving up trying to figure it out is not a bad strategy.- Ron
---------
I never gave up developing spiritually. Christianity along with all main patriarchal religions just happened to fall to the wayside along the path.
Hey Ruby,
You got a reading list? I'm kind of starting over right now so I'm interested. ;)
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