Why do religious people give God credit for things they do themselves?

[tomspug]

I think a good way to put it is that God gives us the tools to do great things, but it's up to us whether or not we do them. God doesn't get the credit for the work, but he's the one that's ultimately responsible for the work being possible.

You notice when they give Academy Awards for best picture, who gets to take it home...

 

[Storm]

God helps those who help themselves.....
Just think a bad situation could have been even worse if God wasn't helping....

The phrase "God helps those who help themselves" is another way of saying that God doesn't really help anybody.

I much prefer the Battlestar Galactica version: "The Gods lift those who lift each other."

 

[tumbleweed41]

I think a good way to put it is that God gives us the tools to do great things, but it's up to us whether or not we do them. God doesn't get the credit for the work, but he's the one that's ultimately responsible for the work being possible.

You notice when they give Academy Awards for best picture, who gets to take it home...

Still does not answer my questions...

Where does personal responsibility come into all this? Every person is responsible for his or her actions. If I fail, or do a misdeed, I am solely responsible. However, if I succeed, I am not? Is this not counter to freewill? What of when a person who does not believe in an interpersonal God succeeds? Was God helping him/her anyway? Does God only help the believer? And if the believer works hard, using all of his/her abilities, but fails...who is responsible then?

 

[Beaudreaux]

I think a good way to put it is that God gives us the tools to do great things, but it's up to us whether or not we do them. God doesn't get the credit for the work, but he's the one that's ultimately responsible for the work being possible.

Does God give everyone these tools or just the faithful?

You notice when they give Academy Awards for best picture, who gets to take it home...

Not God, that's for sure....

 

[tomspug]

Obviously, the view is incorrect. People are equally responsible for their successes as their failures. What I was trying to say is that we deserve credit for that which we deserve. But we don't deserve credit for things over which we have no control. Say you win a marathon... Yes, the racer himself gets the medal, but doesn't the trainer, the racer's family, etc. SHARE the trophy, depending on how much they contribute to the success of that individual.

If it is true that God is an active, concerned part of each of our lives, then he absolutely deserves credit.

 

[Beaudreaux]

Obviously, the view is incorrect. People are equally responsible for their successes as their failures. What I was trying to say is that we deserve credit for that which we deserve. But we don't deserve credit for things over which we have no control. Say you win a marathon... Yes, the racer himself gets the medal, but doesn't the trainer, the racer's family, etc. SHARE the trophy, depending on how much they contribute to the success of that individual.

I see what you are saying, but I am hard pressed to think of ANYthing that people accomplish solely on their own. Bill Gates founded Microsoft, but do his high school teachers share the credit because they educated him? I guess there's a continuum these things fall on, but I'm more comfortable recognizing individual achievement.

If it is true that God is an active, concerned part of each of our lives, then he absolutely deserves credit.

Ah, there's the rub. How do you imagine such a God is "an active, concerned part of each of our lives"? How does he intervene to change the course of events in our favor?

 

[tomspug]

Well, that's debatable, isn't it? If you believe in predestination, than it is actually God who deserves EQUAL credit for good and bad. If you take the popular view that God has a "plan" and that we choose whether or not to follow it, than God gets all the credit for the good things and not the bad. If God is 100% free will (deist view), than God deserves practically no credit at all, the equivalent of a man who inseminates a woman and ditches her and the child, who becomes an historical figure. The man contributed nothing to that child's development (other than the gene donation).

 

[tumbleweed41]

Well, that's debatable, isn't it? If you believe in predestination, than it is actually God who deserves EQUAL credit for good and bad. If you take the popular view that God has a "plan" and that we choose whether or not to follow it, than God gets all the credit for the good things and not the bad. If God is 100% free will (deist view), than God deserves practically no credit at all, the equivalent of a man who inseminates a woman and ditches her and the child, who becomes an historical figure. The man contributed nothing to that child's development (other than the gene donation).

So what do you believe?

 

[Kellbell]

This subject fascinates me . Why otherwise intelligent people will give credit for hard work they and only they have done to an imaginary man in the sky .

 

[LuisDantas]

About the question asked in the OP and in the thread title:

(..)
Why do the religious sometimes feel the need to claim that God should get the credit for their hard work?

Several likely reasons occur to me.

1. It may be self-aggrandizement under a guise of humility, "I have God as my allye"-style.

2. It may be simple emulation of the required ritual of some social circles.

3. It may be a misguided way of seeking a sense of security. "Whatever happens God will watch over me"-style.

4. It may be an attempt at placating feelings of guilt. If one feels that he or she cheated in some way while doing the work that is being praised, it is often possible to feel justified by convincing oneself that it is "for the greater good", perhaps "by mysterious ways".

 

[NathanShepard8888]

Ronald Reagan once told a fantastic joke. To paraphrase:


A great joke (Gosh sometimes I miss Reagan) and one that resonates with me. There are other examples from real life. When a professional basketball player, who has spent his life training and working to hone his skills, makes a great shot, I will often see them point to the sky to "give the glory to God." Why? Clearly their success has come from their own hard work. Why do the religious sometimes feel the need to claim that God should get the credit for their hard work?

All things come from God. The Creator has a blank sheet and a pencil. We are the result. He is the one controlling everything.

 

[Estro Felino]

Ronald Reagan once told a fantastic joke. To paraphrase:


A great joke (Gosh sometimes I miss Reagan) and one that resonates with me. There are other examples from real life. When a professional basketball player, who has spent his life training and working to hone his skills, makes a great shot, I will often see them point to the sky to "give the glory to God." Why? Clearly their success has come from their own hard work. Why do the religious sometimes feel the need to claim that God should get the credit for their hard work?

...Or when these religious people tell you I am supposed to thank God because He gave me life. Well...actually I was born because my parents decided to conceive me that night...not because of God's decision.
But...of course all of our merits are ours. I had the worst nightmares and slaved away lots of years just to get a law degree, studying very complicated stuff. God didn't certainly help me....because if i hadn't studied so hard, I wouldn't have passed the exams.