THIS is the the crowd god chooses to talk to?

[kpete]

[RoccoR5955]

1. Nah. They are dyslexic

Their DOG speaks to them.

[vanlassie]

3. ...

[bigwillq]

7. Nope. Dogs are too smart for that group.

😛

[meow2u3]

2. It ain't God who's talking to those false prophets

It's the guy downstairs doing so, passing himself off as God. (religous rant)

[PJMcK]

4. There is no devil

That's God's sense of humor when He gets drunk. (Apologies to Mr. Waits)

[Fumesucker]

22. Yeah, but what happens when He gets stoned?

Ok, let's take a beaver...

[SheilaT]

5. I thought hearing voices was a clear sign of mental illness.

[uriel1972]

23. Nope..

There have been studies which show a non-trivial portion of society hear voices, but it doesn't hamper them in their daily lives.
Some even find them a comfort.

[SheilaT]

33. Really?

Any chance you can post a link?

What I will point out, is that those who hear voices (based on what you said) but that hearing voices doesn't hamper them in their daily lives, might be a bit different from those who claim God has called them to run for President. Or those who say God tells them that a hurricane happens because of gays. Or abortion. Or any such bullshit. Those people are quite clearly (in my so very humble opinion) simply making up what they want to believe. Because they think that their followers will buy whatever crap they decide to say.

Meanwhile, I'll go back to suggesting that hearing voices is a sign of mental illness. Although I'm quite willing to be demonstrated to be wrong.

[uriel1972]

34. This is a link to a report on the study I am thinking of:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/01/25/us-children-voices-idUSTRE60O3BE20100125

Hearing voices CAN be a symptom, but not always, according to this study.
It's the blanket statement that I disagree with.

[Gothmog]

6. Why would G-d talk to these idiots

[Hoppy]

11. If I was God, I would be chasing the girl with the far-away eyes -- (top, right photo).

She's hot.

[uriel1972]

31. Urm...

This is YMMV territory.
I would also say she looks like someone chasing after a God, so you wouldn't have to worry.
But then, being omnipresent, you could appear next to her anytime you like.
Then there was the time Zeus appeared to Perseus' mother as a golden shower. Those Greek Gods, always up to something strange.

[nruthie]

8. Ever notice that God only talks to crazy people?

That is a loud and clear warning signal to the rest of us.

[Scuba]

9. +1,000

[rbrnmw]

10. Well God told me they are crazy

He only talks to the least among us and not audbily

[DirkGently]

12. Because "god" is a voice inside their empty heads?

The convenient thing about appealing to the authority of an invisible deity is that it can be anything you want it to be. For Mike Huckabee, God is clearly a jowly Southern man who thinks women could only possibly need birth control because liberals are

making them believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing or them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government,

Rick Santorum's god is likewise obsessed with people's sex lives and doesn't want them being gay or using birth control.

Pat Robertson's god is a vengeful meteorologist, sending storms around the planet to punish everyone for not listening to Pat Robertson.

Ben Carson's god is okay with waging a war on "what's inside of" women.

I don't know what Sarah Palin's god wants. Probably more caribou meat and snow machine rides.

At bottom, though, it's always a pretty bizarre claim that people with really bad ideas are somehow simultaneously pious and good, because they say they are getting them from a magical being who is the boss of everyone. If they said they were taking these instructions from an invisible pink space monkey, or a hamster named Richard, we would laugh them off the national stage and perhaps suggest a sedative.

So why don't we?

[Aerows]

13. "Pat Robertson's god is a vengeful meteorologist"

OMG that is too funny!

[DirkGently]

14. He's hilarious, isn't he? But evil, of course.

I remember channel surfing to his program once years ago, during which a fairly normal looking news report with an anchor desk and everything was interrupted for a group prayer for THE DEATH OF THE SUPREME COURT JUSTICES. Robertson himself came and led a somber, hand-holding prayer circle, explaining why the justices needed to die, preferably in the next few minutes.

I forget which insufficiently-hateful ruling the Court had made. Probably upholding the equal treatment of gay people or something.

He once blamed a fairly devastating series of hurricanes that hit my hometown on the rainbow flags that had flown downtown for a gay pride celebration.

He's a laugh, but it's an uneasy laugh, knowing people are watching him and shipping him truckloads of cash to keep assigning various natural disasters to whomever we failed to properly abuse in his "god's" beady little eyes.

/

[L0oniX]

16. +1

[kpete]

29. "vengeful meteorologist"

grabbed me too!

[L0oniX]

15. 666

[GeorgeGist]

17. Ignorance comes from God.

[sarisataka]

18. He speaks to those

Who are most in need of His guidance.

Whether or not they actually listen is a different matter
An analogy:

[treestar]

19. lol

I remember that one!

[dickthegrouch]

21. Exactly /nt

Anyone hearing God should be VERY careful what they learn from the encounter. Most learn nothing

[Arugula Latte]

26. What evidence do you have that there is a supernatural being who communicates with homo sapiens?

[sarisataka]

28. None whatsoever

As an omnipotent being could, by definition, conceal any and all evidence of its existence as it chooses.

I do think love each other and treat everyone as your sister/brother is a good idea whether or not you choose to believe in such a being.

[uriel1972]

20. It's been a wile since I read the Bible...

but from memory there is a Jesus quote about "Confounding your learning".
My learning is totally confounded by his followers. Mission Accomplished Jesus.

[Arugula Latte]

24. These are adults with an imaginary friend.

[uriel1972]

27. I don't mind adults having imaginary friends...

but when they start letting the "friend" make public policy, weeeeell, I get a little nervous.

[rug]

25. These are the people who speak to God.

http://www.space4peace.org/articles/berrigandies.htm

[Le Taz Hot]

30. My all-time favorite is still the Jon Stewart line:

"Those voices in your head? Not always God."

[SwankyXomb]

32. Incredibly convenient

how what God wants always matches exactly what THEY want.

[LeftOfWest]

35. Bullies. They are all Bullies.

They always are.