For example. My father who just discovered he has prostate cancer is shooked. Throughout his whole life he has emotionally assaulted my mother, gambled away most of our family savings and was an alcoholic. He was never religious until now. I find it so funny that he caused us so much pain and sorrow yet in his mind he thinks he can magically pray the cancer away. girl bye.

Because people believe praying to god will help them.

Fear of the unknown. The people who were never religious in life start wondering if they made the wrong decision, the people who were religious start questioning if God is really what the church told them He's supposed to be like, people start wondering if they chose the wrong religion from the "true" one and suddenly all those little differences they condemned, shamed and killed others for believing in become "beautiful expressions of faith"

Basically as your clock ticks down everyone goes through an "Oh crap, who am I supposed to pray to so I can instantly be forgiven for all the evil **** I've done to the people around me?" moment and they finally see that whole myth of being faithful to your own religion turns into the bull**** it always was.

omg i totally agree with u on that. you are so wise. !!

I really do hate how they acknowledge they screwed up in life but after say what? 60 years? Its kinda to late to fix any of it. I guess some people will have to learn into the next life.

I find it funnier when they have bouts of religiousness between months of not praying or caring about it at all, then go on to preach at you that this life is short and we'll all meet God in the end and pay for what we've done and all that. Like do you even believe what you're saying? Or are you guilty for your own life and want to make sure I don't make the same mistakes?

But I agree finding God does not make you a good person, I have met plenty of evil devout people and we shouldn't have to automatically forgive them for everything they've done

Afraid of death. It's quite sad when you think about it considering death is a natural process of life.

Excuse me but after 21 years of living with this man and seeing how much of a bully he is, it is time for him to take a last breathe and go Its disgusting how he has treated my whole family as if we were trash. I don't care if he believes in god or whatever buddah he prays to every night. I just want him to not do what he did to us in his next life. I feel bad for the next family he has to torture

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he still is the same person other than the fact he prays more than john boehner. what do you know anyways?

I do understand where you're coming from, i've had abusive father myself. But you should really try to forgive him. He's dying, and that's really scary. Be a better person than he was. It's sad when people die alone.

Well, someone's relationship with God generally isn't an overnight event. It's pretty much a journey, and even then I think one of the major things ATRL fails to understand is that calling yourself a Christian, Muslim, etc. isn't saying that you're free of sin or any wrongdoing, but rather that you're committed to growing in Christ/Allah and becoming a better person even though you're going to stumble.

I haven't experienced your situation, but my advice to you is to let go of the anger and resentment because all it'll do is consume you. Forgive him not for him, but so you can take that burden off of your own sanity.

Because they need hope and faith in a scary time in their lives.
it's tragedies that turn most people to faith.

I agree with this. We all make mistakes in this life and no one gets through it perfectly. Forgive but never forget.

lol what's there to educate ourselves on? According to those who believe, every bad thing to ever happen is part of some huge plan he has, and no matter how many people have suffered and died, the person who caused all the carnage can find forgiveness no matter what because it's never too late.

here's a newsflash for you to educate yourself about: God doesn't live in this world. He doesn't have to deal with the consequences of his "devout followers" evil whims. He doesn't have to bury dead bodies or clean blood off the streets. Therefore, whatever forgiveness he gives them in another world doesn't mean jack **** in this world because the damage is already done.

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Wrong.

People turn to religion out of fear and it helps them cope. I see nothing wrong as long as they aren't pushing their beliefs on me.