Psychology vs. Religion

[Splendour]

Does the psychological make-up of people in the poker world pre-dispose them towards denying the existence of God...As I read so many posts posted on various poker forums it seems there are so many Narcissists and Obsessive Compulsive personalities...Personalities are like ingrained tracks in our own minds...If you're a narcissist you can't love anybody but yourself so you certainly can't love God and if you're an Obsessive Compulsive then you could be so obsessed that the obsession can get in the way of any religious pursuits...Don't you have to get over yourself then to be able to get to God?

[MidGe]

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Does the psychological make-up of people in the poker world pre-dispose them towards denying the existence of God...

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No, the psychological make-up of most people, poker players or not, gets them to imagine a god to alleviate their fears. Once you deal with your fears (that somehow drives you), you can see the world as it is. It maybe that poker players having to deal a lot with variances and other facts, come to recognize what is imagination, wishful thinking, etc. and what is not.

[Splendour]

It seems to me that people never seem to examine all the evidence on the existence of God...Since their natural bent is to be self absorbed and deny him they never do all the work necessary to find him...Some of them are afraid of finding him because then they might have to change something they don't want to change...and some people are really sneaky...they say I'll do what I want right now and find him later...

[Paragon]

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It seems to me that people never seem to examine all the evidence on the existence of God...Since their natural bent is to be self absorbed and deny him

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Is this really accurate? I'm a devout atheist, but don't really talk to my friends about it, so I have no sample size. To me, it seems like it would be sweet if there was an actual benevolent god... But there's no evidence supporting it, while there are plenty of theories that can explain why religion was invented by man. I mean, I also wish there was a soul, free will, life after death, etc. but have yet to see anything supporting these possibilities (in my view) so I refuse to believe in them.

[Splendour]

I'm a Christian, but not the most knowledgable Christian in the world...I read the Bible, but not as much recently as I should be...Nevertheless, when I read the New Testament I recognized the divinity of Jesus through the truth of his words...that is what gave me my personal conviction that he is the Son of God...there's no one else I've ever read that ever came as close to being as right or as good as he is in the New Testament...The reason there are 4 gospels is because they are eye witness accounts of his life...As any lawyer can tell you its very hard for witnesses to an event to give the same testimony, but these 4 accounts are remarkable for their similarity...So I say why be lazy about God...you have to read the Bible first...I also had the good fortune to read THE CASE FOR CHRIST...Reading the whole Bible is important, but I would start with the New Testament first...

[MidGe]

I have read the whole bible a number of times. I am not going to read it again. It never had the weight of what I see in the world!


A non-benevolent god which is the only possible god given what I see, is of no import to me at all. I could never trust it, worship it, or whatever else you may wish to do with it!

[tame_deuces]

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Does the psychological make-up of people in the poker world pre-dispose them towards denying the existence of God.

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The majority of people are probably religious in some slight form, if you are to believe the statistics so no. I can't imagine there being a big part of the remainders that use their sparetime denying god either.

Your statement on personality is at best slightly flawed, and it is exctremely doubtful that psychological disorders you mentioned - even if you could diagnose them based on internet forum posts - creates some sort of predisposition for atheism. If one were to interpret the statement in an extremely negative light, it almost seems as though you wish to see atheism as a form of disease, and I can promise you it isn't.

[Splendour]

It hit me recently and I will share it with anyone that's interested:
I am an avid poker player...It's my dream to be a winning player...It's my dream to win a major tournament...but the truth is I may never do it...But then I realized...that just doesn't matter...I've already won the lottery...more than a million WSOP bracelets...if I've got the big JC then I'm a shoe-in for heaven...I've only got to survive the mire of this world and I'm in...That's the big secret...Now those of you lucky enough to read this post know...Love to all of you out there...just do your homework and you're in too!!!

[MidGe]

Yes, and you keep on playing poker! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]