Religion and scuba

[Eric Sedletzky]

Sometimes I think the politics of diving with the gear, the styles, the agency affiliation, and the religious fervor some have developed with their ideals, diving IS it's own religion.
When I read the first post that's what I thought he was talking about.

 

[Maverick17]

I'm a Mormon, and we believe in Jesus Christ although some that have only heard bits and pieces of my religion do not understand that about us. I find diving and science completely complement my religious views.

 

[chillyinCanada]

So how do you know which parts you should pay attention to, which parts teach you the good stuff, and which parts are supposed to be taken metaphorically only, and which parts to ignore altogether because they're outright atrocious?

First of all, let's take Paul out and move on from there. That to me, would be a good start.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2015 at 03:34 AM ----------

We had some Baha'i folks staying the weekend, where we had scheduled a pig roast. If you didn't know already, the Baha'i recognize all the prophets (including Mohamed), but can eat pork because even though Mohamed said it was forbidden, he didn't say why. . .

To paraphrase RJP, it's all marketing. . .

At the time that eating pork was "forbidden", it was just a very healthy choice not to do so; ergo very good advice. One wonders if the Second Testament might be more clear on a few points.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2015 at 03:55 AM ----------

I disagree. Jesus was not promoting communism, democracy, a republic, liberalism, conservatism or any of the things that have been mentioned. He was promoting his fathers kingdom, governed by his father a wise king. Those that follow Jesus' teachings will not be doing any of the things that give Christianity a bad name. Those that do those things are not in his kingdom, regardless of what they claim.

Ah, like DIR back in the day.

---------- Post added July 15th, 2015 at 04:17 AM ----------

On my last dive trip, it happened that the captain was "saved". I was suffering an injury and it's questionable whether I should have been diving or not <--'not for discussion in this thread. In any event, not only did he attempt to "save" me, he told me God would heal my pain. All I had to do to be pain free was to pray to Jesus Christ our Lord and the captain was willing to help me with that. I just looked at the captain and replied, "I'm sorry but you KNOW it doesn't work that way "

Fortunately, he didn't want to get into that and so I went diving and was temporarily pain free.

^^^^^
This for the poster who wondered why God or religion etc. would come up on a dive boat.

 

[doctormike]

On my last dive trip, it happened that the captain was "saved". I was suffering an injury and it's questionable whether I should have been diving or not <--'not for discussion in this thread. In any event, not only did he attempt to "save" me, he told me God would heal my pain. All I had to do to be pain free was to pray to Jesus Christ our Lord and the captain was willing to help me with that. I just looked at the captain and replied, "I'm sorry but you KNOW it doesn't work that way "

Fortunately, he didn't want to get into that and so I went diving and was temporarily pain free.

^^^^^
This for the poster who wondered why God or religion etc. would come up on a dive boat.

God works in mysterious ways. In this case, he recompressed your bubbles and healed you with a little IWR!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Maybe . . .but I was at the end of a month long dive trip on 3 different islands. Diving was the only time I wasn't in pain. That said, the pain and its crippling nature reduced every couple of days over the course of the trip. Perhaps that was God's plan. The captain trying to get me to pray with him for deliverance from my pain, was offering that to me on my last dive day before returning home.

Where was he when I really needed him?

 

[Sonnylynnvick75]

Holy crap, I did not expect 10 pages in 2 days. Thank you to everyone who has contributed, Negatively and supportitively. For those who don't understand why I see a correlation, I live in Chattanooga, Tn. which is at the corner of Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. I live in the belt buckle of the bible belt and see a variation between diving and religion. Knowing most of the local divers and their religous affiliation if any can only help me to ponder whether or not there is a correlation.

In my observation using the small sample of people in my area, it seems that most people are raised Christian and begin diving as a Christian but alot of divers I know who have been diving for a long time and who have a huge amount of dives have transitioned to agnostic or deist. I'm trying to figure out, based on my small sample, if there was something that occured to people after a point in diving that they might change their beliefs.

 

[doctormike]

I'm in Manhattan. We probably have more good upstanding atheist divers that you do in your local club. But we haven't organized our diving to the level that these guys have.

 

[dlofting]

In my observation using the small sample of people in my area, it seems that most people are raised Christian and begin diving as a Christian but alot of divers I know who have been diving for a long time and who have a huge amount of dives have transitioned to agnostic or deist. I'm trying to figure out, based on my small sample, if there was something that occured to people after a point in diving that they might change their beliefs.

Since those with a "huge amount of dives" are often older people it's also possible that their views changed as they matured, moved away from their childhood teachings and learned more about life and the rest of the world.

 

[Sonnylynnvick75]

Since those with a "huge amount of dives" are often older people it's also possible that their views changed as they matured, moved away from their childhood teachings and learned more about life and the rest of the world.

Heres my problem with that assumption, if that were true then most older people in the south would have come to this realization as well instead of becoming more founded in religion which is the primary case.

But as I'm looking, I'm noticing that the transition is more prevalent in divers.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I had coffee with a pastor once. Incredibly intelligent man, far more knowledgeable in STEM than me and my friends and colleagues whom are in STEM. He had one of those epiphany moments and found God. We had a calm and respectful discussion on his belief and belief in general. Did not try to convert me (well not annoyingly so at least) and is a Pastor as a volunteer. Considering his background I would have been surprised to find out he was religious. Being able to truly believe in such things when you know both sides of the argument and being a "good" person is quite impressive.

Sounds like a friend of mine. I've met very few who call themselves "Christian" that I believe follow the teachings of Christ. I admire those who do, because it's not an easy path to follow.

On the other hand, I have nothing but contempt for those who use their religious beliefs to put themselves out there as somehow better than those who don't follow the same religious practices they do, or who through an accident of birth are somehow different than they are. That would be the vast majority of those I've known in my lifetime who claim to one religious belief or another (not all Christian) ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

---------- Post added July 15th, 2015 at 07:15 AM ----------

Dr. Mike, the quote you shared makes another point. It's an example that what from a religious perspective had been a matter or moral right & wrong, judged from an omniscient holy God, becoming from an atheistic perspective a matter of personal preference. He doesn't want to rape or murder. Much like I don't want to go deer hunting or take up tennis. But it he did want to, for some reason, & saw an opportunity to do so & get away with it, there'd be little stopping him.

A diminished Christian influence in society probably won't quickly generate legions of psychopaths, serial killers & sadists, but it may well legitimize sociopathy.

Richard.

... and hence the whole point of religion isn't to promote a theology so much as it is to use the threat of eternal damnation to promote a social order. One does not need a belief in God to do this ... one only needs the ability to make others believe in God ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)