This.. makes no sence what so ever. I guess where it's failing is that you're striving to dissaociate yourself from biology in a struggle to prove that you are more then the sum of your biological parts.

Yes, you are an individual. As am I, as is my husband, as is every other poster on these forums. However.. my pet water dragon is also an individual from other water dragons out there. The two labradors my mother has.. they are individual from eachother, with there own unique personalities and ways of doing things.

You may have the same genetic basics as a primate, yes, but you are an individual from a chimp or a gibbon, as they are from you and others in their correct species.

If your science teacher truely said you were from a shie.. then one must question either your sence of trying to make a point (which.. failed, mind you..) Or their teaching ability. However, I know that you were trying to make a point with it... though rather horribly.

God doesn't have t be a 100 percent "good guy." The creator is what defines good and evil-- We don't. We are mere nothings without his presense, that connection. IMO, and nevertheless, it is still mine. Who are we to say he's not right or just? When God {is} right and {is} just.

I control my own good and evil....I know right from wrong which I learned from my higher power, MY PARENTS.
I do not need to follow the teachings of a supreme being that was made up from an ancient novel and has never been seen.
That of course is my opinion....

then why model yourself after him???If he isn't a stellar example he is a lesser god IMO not worth the time of day....I do question the values of this deity and they are poor and I'm being gracious here....he's perfect remember???

The sum of my parts doesn't equal to an animal! Why use the term "animal" when the term 'human being" exist? What is this point, why is it so imperative to you that I am a human being, not a lion? That we are inside this "animal" kingdom? We are animals, therefore, we can't reason. Isn't every living creature that lives on this earth considered earthlings...? Soon, no human term will be used just either rationalizing animal or non.
You NEVER did answer, is the monkey an individual or NOT???????????? yes, it makes sense. After all, we are animals.
Seems to bereave the human being as a person, an individual, maybe that's the point, who knows!! I, particularly, don't see it that way, nor do I have to agree to adhere to it.
Yes, she believed we come from a shoe , and the other group of humans came from a boot !! But, that's b/t you and her now....good luck with that one.

Weeeeell Swamp, I knew you had to say something....Even though I don't agree with the "ancient novel" opinion stuff I think your folks did a fine job.

Welllllllll......thank you my fellow human animal Sunny!!!!!!

Human being... is a name, what we call the homo sapien animal. Much like how we call the felis concolor animal a cougar.

And I did answer it. Here, need to read my post again? I'll even bold my answer for you.



There now. Was that so hard? Ofcourse not. My dear.. each and every different animal out there is an individual. Each with their own mind, and own personality. I honestly don't see why it's so offensive to be concidered an animal.

I'm sorry, I've been reading this thread and I have just come to this- just one question:
What the hell does this mean?? This makes no sense whatsoever.

I cant believe the FACT that Homo Sapien is an animal is seriously being debated here. In what rational mind is there room to doubt this?

Set aside your ego for a minute and explain to me what this other, magical classification you have for us is?
We're animals. Very very very smart ones, but animals regarless. Whats so horrible about that?

One word:

BINGO

Times has an intresting article about all this...

It is well known that children’s activities are full of pretending and imagination, but it is less appreciated that animals can also show similar activities. This is the first book to focus on comparing and contrasting children’s and animals’ pretenses and imaginative activities.

cambridge.org

A hungry chimpanzee walking through his native rain forest comes upon a large Panda oleosa nut lying on the ground under one of the widely scattered Panda trees. He knows that these nuts are much too hard to open with his hands or teeth and that although he can use pieces of wood or relatively soft rocks to batter open the more abundant Coula edulis nuts, these tough Panda nuts can only be cracked by pounding them with a very hard piece of rock. Very few stones are available in the rain forest, but he walks 80 meters straight to another tree where several days ago he had cracked open a Panda nut with a large chunk of granite. He carries this rock back to the nut he has just found, places it in a crotch between two buttress roots, and cracks it open with a few well-aimed blows. (The loud noises of chimpanzees cracking nuts with rocks had led early European explorers to suspect that some unknown native tribe was forging metal tools in the depths of the rain forest.)

In a city park in Japan, a hungry green-backed heron picks up a twig, breaks it into small pieces, and carries one of these to the edge of a pond, where she drops it into the water. At first it drifts away, but she picks it up and brings it back. She watches the floating twig intently until small minnows swim up to it, and she then seizes one by a rapid thrusting grab with her long, sharp bill. Another green-backed heron from the same colony carries bits of material to a branch extending out over the pond and tosses the bait into the water below. When minnows approach this bait, he flies down and seizes one on the wing.

Must we reject, or repress, any suggestion that the chimpanzees or the herons think consciously about the tasty food they manage to obtain by these coordinated actions? Many animals adapt their behavior to the challenges they face either under natural conditions or in laboratory experiments. This has persuaded many scientists that some sort of cognition must be required to orchestrate such versatile behavior. For example, in other parts of Africa chimpanzees select suitable branches from which they break off twigs to produce a slender probe, which they carry some distance to poke it into a termite nest and eat the termites clinging to it as it is withdrawn. Apes have also learned to use artificial communication systems to ask for objects and activities they want and to answer simple questions about pictures of familiar things. Vervet monkeys employ different alarm calls to inform their companions about particular types of predator.

Tool use.....alarm system.....

press.uchicago.edu
Animals can reason out tool usage read the above link.

Also:

Experiments have been made on fishes, reptiles, birds and various mammals, notably dogs, cats, mice and monkeys, to see how they learned to do certain simple things in order [p. 283] to get food. All these animals manifest fundamentally the same sort of intellectual life. Their learning is after the same general type. What that type is can be seen best from a concrete instance. A monkey was kept in a large cage. Into the cage was put a box, the door of which was held closed by a wire fastened to a nail which was inserted in a hole in the top of the box. If the nail was pulled up out of the hole, the door could be pulled open. In this box was apiece of banana. The monkey, attracted by the new object, came down from the top of the cage and fussed over the box. He pulled at the wire, at the door, and at the bars in the front of the box. He pushed the box about and tipped it up and down. He played with the nail and finally pulled it out. When he happened to pull the door again, of course it opened. He reached in and got the food inside. It had taken him 36 minutes to get in. Another piece of food being put in and the door closed, the occurrences of the first trial were repeated, but there was less of the profitless pulling and tip-ping. He got in this time in 2 minutes and 20 seconds. With repeated trials the animal finally came to drop entirely the profitless acts and to take the nail out and open the door as soon as the box was put in his cage. He had, we should say, learned to get in.
...................................

Here we have the simplest and at the same time the most widespread sort of intellect or learning in the world. There is no reasoning, no process of inference or comparison; there is no thinking about things, no putting two and two together; there are no ideas -- the animal does not think of the box or of the food or of the act he is to perform. He simply comes after the learning to feel like doing a certain thing under certain circumstances which before the learning he did not feel like doing. Human beings are accustomed to think of intellect as the power of having and controlling ideas and of ability to learn as synonymous with ability to have ideas. But learning by having ideas is really one of the rare and isolated events in nature. There may be a few scattered ideas possessed by the higher animals, but the common form of intelligence with them, their habitual method of learning, is not by the acquisition of ideas, but by the selection of impulses.

Indeed this same type of learning is found in man. When we learn to drive a golf ball or play tennis or billiards, when we learn to tell the price of tea by tasting it or to strike a certain note exactly with the voice, we do not learn in the main by virtue of any ideas that are explained to us, by any inferences that we reason out. We learn by the gradual selection of the appropriate act or judgment, by its association with the circumstances or situation requiring it, in just the way that the animals do.

psychclassics.yorku.ca

That is the only thing that separates man from animal.....abstract thought.....but then how can we be sure of that?

You can't teach a monkey an abstract concept such as world peace, but you can teach it -- with much patience and effort -- to apply a general rule to different situations.

The researchers trained monkeys to identify whether hundreds of different pictures were the same or different. By recording signals from brain cells in the prefrontal cortex of monkeys as they perform cognitive tasks, scientists explore which circuits hold information "in mind," a skill necessary for information processing and thinking.

The monkeys were sometimes required to release a joystick if a picture was the same as the one shown before it and sometimes if the pictures were different. The monkeys could apply the rule to pictures they had never seen before, showing that they were really dealing with abstractions, Wallis said.

web.mit.edu


Two characteristics of an environment are necessary to support the evolution of tool behaviors in animals. First of all, the use of tools must be advantageous to the animal. The examples which follow illustrate the advantages of tool use for the Egyptian vultures, chimpanzees, hooded monkeys, woodpecker finches, and green herons. Secondly, animal tool use is constrained by the availability of objects in the environment which make feasible tools. Without access to stones, poles, pieces of wood, and cactus spines, these animals would not have been able to acquire the uses of tools which they have.

Source
More Info

More animal tools

The finding of a parrot with an almost unparalleled power to communicate with people has brought scientists up short.

The bird, a captive African grey called N'kisi, has a vocabulary of 950 words, and shows signs of a sense of humour.

He invents his own words and phrases if he is confronted with novel ideas with which his existing repertoire cannot cope - just as a human child would do.

N'kisi's remarkable abilities, which are said to include telepathy, feature in the latest BBC Wildlife Magazine.

N'kisi is believed to be one of the most advanced users of human language in the animal world.

About 100 words are needed for half of all reading in English, so if N'kisi could read he would be able to cope with a wide range of material.
Polished wordsmith

He uses words in context, with past, present and future tenses, and is often inventive.

One N'kisi-ism was "flied" for "flew", and another "pretty smell medicine" to describe the aromatherapy oils used by his owner, an artist based in New York.

When he first met Dr Jane Goodall, the renowned chimpanzee expert, after seeing her in a picture with apes, N'kisi said: "Got a chimp?"

He appears to fancy himself as a humourist. When another parrot hung upside down from its perch, he commented: "You got to put this bird on the camera."

Dr Goodall says N'kisi's verbal fireworks are an "outstanding example of interspecies communication".

In an experiment, the bird and his owner were put in separate rooms and filmed as the artist opened random envelopes containing picture cards.

Analysis showed the parrot had used appropriate keywords three times more often than would be likely by chance.

Captives' frustrations

This was despite the researchers discounting responses like "What ya doing on the phone?" when N'kisi saw a card of a man with a telephone, and "Can I give you a hug?" with one of a couple embracing.

Professor Donald Broom, of the University of Cambridge's School of Veterinary Medicine, said: "The more we look at the cognitive abilities of animals, the more advanced they appear, and the biggest leap of all has been with parrots."

Alison Hales, of the World Parrot Trust, told BBC News Online: "N'kisi's amazing vocabulary and sense of humour should make everyone who has a pet parrot consider whether they are meeting its needs.

"They may not be able to ask directly, but parrots are long-lived, and a bit of research now could mean an improved quality of life for years."

SOURCE


The heck with it....there was a thread done about this very subject..........28 page long thread as a matter of fact: Are human beings any different then animals?



This is also an easy one....

A new report argues that chimpanzees are so closely related to humans that they should be included in our branch of the tree of life. Chimpanzees and other apes have historically been separated from humans in classification schemes, with humans deemed the only living members of the hominid family of species.

Now, biologists at Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, Michigan, provide new genetic evidence that lineages of chimps (currently Pan troglodytes) and humans (Homo sapiens) diverged so recently that chimps should be reclassed as Homo troglodytes. The move would make chimps full members of our genus Homo, along with Neandertals, and all other human-like fossil species. "We humans appear as only slightly remodeled chimpanzee-like apes," says the study.

news.nationalgeographic.com

Nice find SC

Google homepage to win X)

I think I remember hearing about the parrot before and was rather keen on the whole thing. It's on of those.. if we can't learn to speak with them... it was only a matter of time before some of the other species would learn to talk with us. The other animals have always kept this.. other sence about them.. something that humans have all but evolved out of thanks to our technological growth.

It's like with say.. a natural desaster. We all know that the other animals can sence something that we can't anymore. Like with an earthquake. Birds will fly off in flocks, dogs will howl and get all antsy to run off.. cats will as well try to run off. Same with other animals. We rely on technology to tell us when something's about to happen, and sometimes that technology can't help us.

These so called sins are created by man. When it comes down to it, if you look at the primal instincts of mammal beings we are quite similar. We were also primitive at one time too. Any mammal can be domesticated through time and conditioning.
Animals don't worship gods because it's not normal. They do praise the alpha of the clan though.

The only surviving hominid; species to which modern man belongs; bipedal primate having language and ability to make and use complex tools; brain volume at least 1400 cc, the homo sapien....

Something you GOT to read Curiousity

TOPIC

Article

The only thing that makes us different from animals is are higher intelligence(arguably). Animals have all the traits we do, curiosity, fear, hope,
anger, love, etc. They even have a certain ethics system(good v.s. evil). They can build civilizations and use tools. They just do it all on a simpler level.

Thanx zandore. While reading the article all I could think of was taking a shower/bath when you're all hot and smelly and how good it feels. I've been known to do a little dance in the shower. Hasn't anyone sat quietly and relaxed after that shower/bath like they did in the article.
I would run and hide too if out of the blue something scared the crap out of me.
I don't see any reference to a spiritual ritual, a good bathing ritual maybe.
As for souls, that is another topic.

Do animals have souls orrrrr what?, Deja vu.....

It just keeps going around and around and around
You know kind of like a dog (animal) chasing its tail

Yeah....it's like beating a dead Hyracotherium.

Many of the religious people i have met that live near me think that going to church an praying will get them to heavan; and yet they slam the door in my face when im selling raffle tickets for charity.......

Do they worship God for the promise of salvation? if so isnt this entirely selfish?
if i was god and i had to choose between someone who prostates themselves before me so that they could be saved, and someone who denies my existence, burns my books,yet nevertheless leads a good, gracious life, i know which of them i would chose to honour.

so, Is obedience to the 'word of God' in all its various forms a free pass to salvation?

I know some folk who say they are satanists, they hate god, loathe jesus, have burned many holy books.....yet when they saw a girl drunk and bloodied in an alley instead of heaping more misfortune upon her by robbing her or raping her they helped her up, took her to her home, cleaned her face and left. they did not tell her who they were, didnt want reward or gratitude, and cant even remember where she lives....

is it true that from great evil can come good?.....or that from great good can come evil?....
if so noone can be labelled good or evil, an act of kindness could cause many ills......

please keep it clean, no low blows....if its any thing i cant tolerate its intolerance.....and keep to the point....dont want to end up talking about dragons, or ufo's.

You yourself have found your own answer. Great good is the greatest evil you will find, because those who think of good within set parameters commit great evil in achieving their perception of it. They create whole new class's of criminals so they can do their "good works" to make them feel happy and safe within their narrow perspective of those things.

To the average human they are oppressive, however peacefully they try to achieve what they wish. Because in the end, the religious realized that what they believe in is fabrication, so they had to create events in which they could make the majority of the populace believe they actually had credability.
The whole thingie about not being able to prove it etc...

The only pass you would recieve from the word of their nonexistant diety, would be a pass to the biggest torture fest you could ever imagine. The one's who generate this place have a dim view towards such things. And they will garantee pain to all who have pushed such a thought as if it were real.
I have hated them from the beginning, yet the empty one's needed a way to feed themselves with negative emotions, which abound with the religious.
Those who believe in such a humourous horrable thing called a god and enforce their view on others, either through peaceful or forceful means, will regret what they have done in this scenario world.

That is about the only thing they do that i can still laugh at.

People are trained through verbal, and these days still, some physical abuse to worship. Most of that you encounter as a child. The idea of worship was a way to allow them to expand themselves through peace or force as nessasary. Enforceing their idea of a divine and what that divinity expected of human behavior, which as we all know is the prejuces of a few, the one's leading the organization. Basicly a terrorist tactic.

Their heaven on earth idea, and again as we all know, the source of much of everyones pain, certainly to our ancestors.

You were right to use the word hoopla, as it was never nessasary.

I realized today after a bit of mental struggling that I don't believe in the bible to any extent anymore. I also realize that I really dislike most of it, especially the new testament.. Reading the forums only reinforces those feels (thanks guys you killed whatever faith was left lol ) Anyhow, I used to worship god. I was a Christian literalist. God was going to get me to heaven, and I thought the only way to get to heaven was to be "moral" go to church all the time and pray so many times a day. I was lucky enough to have decent christians around me-ones that were not too hypocritical, though there were exceptions to that of course. Anyhow, I prayed to get to heaven and I prayed because I was thankful to god. Though I believe a lot of that was out of fear. It's taken me so long to let go of my concept of god because of fear. I thought the fear of hell would never go away. Today, for some reason was different. I think about religion a lot, and today I decided that it didn't matter and that hell was not going to hurt me. Sort of off topic but I feel absolutely wonderful today

Anyhow there are still some things about the bible I like and I think Jesus was a swell guy, but I just can't take it seriously. It's not for me, sorry (well actually I'm not) .

Don't be, sorry that is. Never apoligize for being you, even if others are hurting you. The jesus myth is just that, a myth, taken from those storys millions of years ago. They were other people, and what happened was entirely different from the boondoggle you were fed for so long. At least you freed yourself from it. That in this scumpit of a religious world is a true achievement. Hello friend.

It's really the first time I've felt at ease in many many years! I'm not sorry that I don't believe the bible at all. I don't doubt that there is a possibility that somehow it's all true, but I just don't see it atleast. All the negativity against homosexuals, the concept of hell (and going to it for really stupid reasons), the gender roles..I just don't like any of it! Hey if you're a christian, good for you. I have no problem resepecting others beliefs just as long as they don't step on mine

Well, i've been forced down the same road more then once, and i can truthfully say that i am me, not christian, or anything else tagged with R.V.I.
That thing against homosexuals was a personal bias from the ugly ones of the apostles, because the prettyboys kept turning them down.

The only value of worship, imo, is its ability to assist us in transcendence. If it doesn't help us transcend this material world, it become a useless waste of time.

What do you mean by transendance RG? Your not really here you know, and if your not here, your already there.

That's a pretty general statement (bolded). No one "trained" or abused me to worship. I come from a family of non-believers, read the Bible on my own, met Jesus on my own. In fact, if you could say anything I have for years put up with being clowned by family and friends because in almost 10 years of being a Christian, I have not stopped believing, but believe even more now. I'm not sure if you have a group of specific reference points of what Christians are to you, like people you know or something, but that certainly is not true in my case. I am not sure whom you are speaking for, nor how you come by this knowledge and how it came to include "people" in general (which sounds like everybody, without exception) rather than just the incidences that you yourself know of firsthand.

Although I don't necessarily believe in gods (see the siggy) I would never worship one. At most a god would only get my respect.

None of our religious deities are "all good" and that alone gives me enough reason not to worship something.

I don't have a reason to worship anything. Others say that they worship God because he created everything...but I don't understand that reasoning either.

Any god that demands worship doesn't deserve it...any god that accepts worship isn't doing their job. Gods should be teachers and not rulers.

i think she was referring to some specific people, whilst trying to not draw attention to her past. as a good compassionate christian im sure you will respect that. and if you read previous posts youll get a better picture. Im glad your experience of christianity has been a pleasant one, but im sure you'll appreciate that it is not the same for everybody, to do so would be to generalise. Well done for sticking to your beliefs in adversity, but not all references have you in mind.

many find faith in hardship, others get pushed away. I think that finding love and peace of mind is important, If the lady has found some then let it be. waving the flag for christianity can be commendible, and insensitive sometimes.
im not a christian, but i know some lovely christian folk and some right idiots.
I practice zazen, and have done since a small child, and my girlfriend is Catholic. No problems arise from our diferences of opinion, and we talk often about doctrine, philosophy and such.
tell me did you restrict your search for god to the bible alone?....one of the fathers of christianity, St. Augustine of Hippo heard a voice inside telling him, 'Tele, lege' (pick up and read).....he read around and joined numerous faiths before he settled on his own (before christian doctrine was settled by Constantine's chairing of the councils, and Theodosius' censorship) He believes that god is to be found inside of us, and to approach him we must search through the caverns of our minds. (by this i mean that finding god is a result of internalising experience, and exploration of self- not that god only lives inside us) What he teaches us is that to limit meditation on the matter to one doctrine, and to accept it verbatim, without internalising it and measuring it against others, will lead us to only a partial understanding of God. Balance is essential, to adhere to one 'external' view too strongly implies that something is not right. Some people are driven to religion in reaction to trauma, or persecution, it gives the illusion of balance. Similarly some are driven away. The people i have met who have reached a balanced view, and relationship with god are rarely confined by 'doctrine' or percieved 'truth'.
sorry if this makes no sense, im tired and im orf to bed.

p.s the above ref to St Augustine stems from his book, The Confessions.....well worth a read. but dont stop there, try Boethius' Consolidation of Philosophy too....o o o o and and and well so many more, these are a good point to start tho.

I think the word 'worship' is a bit misconstrued here. What God asks, and the reason humanity was crreated, is that you love Him of your own free will. Is that so bad? That's why humans have free will, because unlike angels who are created with an inbuilt devotion to God and have no question of his existence, humans, a 'second kind of angel' originally were given the ability to CHOOOSE whether or not to love God, and in God's words to Adam when He told him of his free will 'I will see who among your race will love or abhor Me'. God has legions of angels for worship, what God wants is your love.

There's certainly a God. All this perfection in the universe could not have been without a highly superior being directing everything. Whatever It is, I thank and worship It.
Just look at the anatomy of your body. See how everything is effectively working in harmony. Scientists are trying to create independent humanoid robots and they haven't reached even 1/100 of a human's similarity.

Naming this God does not matter to me. However, being a Muslim, we name Him Allah.

There's a Koranic verse that I like a lot. It bears the meaning that Scientists do understand God and are aware of him and afraid of him more than any other person. That's because scientists know a lot about the universe and notice how perfect it is. There must be a mighty creator of all of this.

I don't honor the Gods out of fear, but because they make my life a little better. They are my teachers to become more than I can on my own. I respect and love them as I would a beloved teacher in return I receive love and respect back. Hail the Tuatha Dé Danann!

Transcendence is the quality of experience and understanding of the big picture, beyond the limitations of time, space, and matter. In other words, an experience of oneness with the universe and a unique perspective on life and living, and perhaps an experience of the transcendent divine.

Transcendence, to be everywhere in the Universe at once, because you are the Universe.

There is no divine or universe, except you. Already there.

Thank you darkwind.

Sounds deep, but what does it mean?

It means exactly what it says. Self.

Could you elaborate a little bit? For those of us who can not read your mind.

I'm sorry, but i can't be any clearer without distorting what it says.

I worship my Father and Creator because He made me out of love; keeps me next to Him in love, is the Creator of Love, He is in the midst of every atom of creation; I desire closeness with Him passionately; He teaches me when I choose to listen; and when I am foolish He corrects me in gentleness. He elicits my love the more I learn of Him, He is the Truth from which man deviates, and when I stop rebelling and deviating He is there to listen and Guide with knowing patience. I feel his fondness for me. He made me to be His. He is joy when nothing else is a joy in my life; He lays His hand on me and speaks to me when no one else can understand the thoughts going through my head. He infused me with life, real love for people that I did not have when I did not know Him, He consistently shows me that when I trust Him He will guide me to blessings that He has created for me. He holds my hand when I suffer. He increases my understanding and reveals mysteries to me. He created me for love, and I accepting that love, was given a transformation of my heart that was not superficial but permanent and alive. I regret that I did not worship Him sooner than I did. He is life and keeps me close to Him, He protects me daily, and He loves me a jillion times more than I even know how to love Him. He sacrificed a part of Himself to keep me alive. I do not cower in fear of Him, I fear Him as in healthy respect. He can impose consequences on me. He has the power, but I do not fear that He would harm me. Rather, I understand that if I do things that are not right there will be consequences. I defer to Him out of respect. The more I give to Him, the more He gives to me, creating more love and respect. Like a healthy marriage. I am out for Him, He is out for me. The sacrifices I make for Him are a joy, and increase the bond between us. These sacrifices do not take away from me, they add to me. He disciplines me because He wants the best for me. Because I was dead until He touched me. Because He loved me when I was bitter and ugly and strung out. He made me for love, why would I do anything but love Him every possible minute. He indulges me more than I deserve. I belong to Him and with Him. This is a small portion of the reasons that I love and worship Him.

It is not enough just to live well, because humans will vary their definition of "well" to conform to their egos, desires, lusts, etc... We have perverted hearts and living by our situational connotation of "well" would not glorify a cockroach, much less the Creator of the heavens and angels, and of all existence.

Perfection in the universe? What about all the hazards of Earth? Desert Wastelands, Natural Disasters, etc.

What about the thousands of stars and planets in the universe that do not hold a function or a purpose?

The human anatomy isn't perfect either...we have organs that we don't even use, we need clothing to keep warm where animals need only fur, etc.

Harmony? Just about everything in existence is competing against each other for dominance. Survival of the fittest.

Even if everything was perfect why does it mean a creator had to make everything? I never understood that.

I worship him without going to church or reading a bible of any kind. I just pray and talk to him...It's hard to explain, I guess I feel safer and more at ease in doing so....

I can't speak for the christians here, but I can only guess, that, they too feel more at ease when they pray, it brings them closer to God. They don't pray thinking they will score brownie points lol NO.. they just pray to feel right with God and with themselves.

I believe christians put a lot of their faith into worship, some believe it or not, dont go to church, but still pray a lot to God, they LOVE it, and I say............what's so wrong with that, if you love to do something, that makes you feel more at peace, then DO IT!!

why not worship god? if your not worshiping him then your worshiping something else..theres fringe benifits with god unlike the others.peace joy love healings confort understanding direction correction hope salvation...if the angels in heaven bow down before his throne worshipibg him and praising him crying Holy Holy Holy...and they do not have salvation why then should we not when we have recieved his mercy grace love...but it is not just something to be mishandled it sould be done out of the spirit of god and the light of his word . wonder how many ppl out there that go to a church set on the pews and dont know who they are worshiping..