" "God help us" "

[AllHereTruth]

I recently wrote the phrase "God help us." After posting my message i had second thoughts as to what it said about me.
As an Atheist i would like to refrain from using the said phrase but can never think of alternative. So i write/say "God help us" or "Only god can help us now" and the like. Can i get some feedback on the use of this phrase.

Is it religious? or just a common saying.
Does it imply i worship a higher being? or just imply help needs to come in a desperate way.

Any thoughts or feedback from the religious community or non-believing type is gladly accepted.

Thanks in advance guys.

My exact quote was "Let us hope this is the end of a crisis and not the beginning. God help us if it has only just begun..."

[Heidi]

1. As an alternative, how about, "We're in deep trouble if ..."? (nt)

[begin_within]

2. As Criswell said at the end of "Plan 9 From Outer Space,"

"God help us in the future."

[Az]

3. Well it does imply acceptance of the idea

Even if you are using it as an expletive. If you wish to use something like it while not giving the impression that you are a theist you could substitute one of the mock gods (ie IPU, Eris, Cthulhu, Bob, FSM, etc). Or you could go with a deity no longer worshiped by large numbers. The most popular sub I have heard is Thor help us. Or you could sub in a philosopher you admire like Socrates help us or Darwin help us (this one has a particularly nice twist on it as it will rile any creationists). Lots of possibilities.

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. I don't see how invoking Eris or Cthulhu would do any good

As a science fiction reader, I'm familiar with the use of "Bog" ("god" in many Slavic languages) as the capricious deity of those who work in space for a living. He might be a better choice. Then again, if you are going to invoke an imaginary deity, "God" works just fine, too.

[cosmik debris]

4. Use a lower case "g" n/t

[Evoman]

6. I don't know..I've heard atheists use it. I myself often use the phrase, "By the gods!"

I usually say it in an overly dramatic way in the voice of Charlton Heston myself.

I also have a tendency to use Jesus * Christ, where * is a short or long string of expletives.

[Meshuga]

7. "God help us" is just a popular expression. Not a declaration of faith

I'm a Jew and I say "Jesus!" all the time. It's not that I believe in Jesus. I use it just because it is an expression. When you say "God help us" I don't assume any religious connotations. I only assume that you are using it in a "Holy fuck!" kind of way. :-)

[heidler1]

8. I like Little Johnie's way of looking at it.

Little Johnie was playing marbles and right after a winning shot he said, " By god I won".
A preacher happened to over hear the remark and stopped to scold Little Johnie about using Gods name in vain. Little Johnie said, "One time, in church, I heard you swear just like I did."

The preacher offered Little Johnie an apple pie if he,d came to church, next Sunday, and caught him using even one swear word.

That next Sunday Little Johnie got up early and went to church, he did love apple pie. He listened real close through the whole sermon and the preacher was just winding it up and said, "By god we live and by god we die."

Little Johnie jumped to his feet and yelled, "Yes, and by god you lost your apple pie!"

[rrneck]

13. Ga! Thanks! I needed that!

:rofl:

[frogmarch]

9. It's not religious. It's like

saying "holy crap!" which I don't consider to be religious either.

[Azooz]

10. Mind Your Language

That's the title of one of my favorite British sitcoms - many of the best episodes played with the concepts of the English language, and how to misuse it properly.

When a non-Christian like me is angry they might say "Jeez-us!", we got that bad habit from watching Christians using their Lord's name in vain. Sit around with a few young French or German guys and you will pick up a lot of things you really should not say, but will.

"God help us" is also a lot "better" than a few other phrases that would get your post deleted :)

Arabic speaking atheists have a harder time with this problem, they call it "Lagho". Words and phrases that are not important and mean nothing certain - just things they hear then say, but it is also the origin of the word "Language" but might not be originally Arabic, just another word Arabs picked up - that's how it works. Languages develop and grow from the human habit of copying speech patterns of others, if a lot of people do it it becomes a normal part of their language.

[AllHereTruth]

11. I think i tend to agree with you on this.

Makes alot (a lot) of sense :)

[Calmador]

12. My Subject

Hey people could take it either way... that you believe in G-d or your just saying a common phrase with no meaning. Depends on who hears it and what tone of voice your using.

[pokerfan]

14. "We're boned."