I spend more time outside than I do inside. My wife and I do a lot of hiking and end up off the beaten Trail and a few times we've even become lost. I decided to buy a survival knife that came with a fire starter and a rescue whistle. The knife also comes with a waterproof survival pamphlet that is tucked away in the sheath of the knife in case you run into trouble. When you open up the pamphlet it tells you how to tie knots build shelters start fires signal for help Etc. But what I was surprised to find was the man whose name is on this knife, Bear Grylls, is probably a Christian. The beginning of the pamphlet says so you're in a spot of trouble. It goes on to say,"have faith and keep your hope up." At the end of the pamphlet It also says," keep faith in yourself and faith in the Almighty they can be your greatest Ally and strength Godspeed."
By the way I love the knife and the sheath; excellent quality highly recommend the Gerber Bear Grylls Ultimate Pro survival knife. But I'm starting to wonder whether I even need it. Because according to the pamphlet in here all I really have to do is have faith and pray to the almighty and I should be fine. Was this a waste of money?
It's incredible to see how God could enter every aspect of Our Lives. We are saturated in it. We have been steeped in religion for so long and in so many ways that it seems normal. It is not normal to rely on any God to help you out especially if it's a survival situation. I don't think I would ever give up ,AKA praying for a God to rescue me. I'm on my own and I'm stronger than I think. We are all on our own and stronger than we think.
I recommend to anyone who goes into the backcountry to educate yourself the best you can. Go in prepared. And carry a Bear Grylls Survival Knife but leave the pamphlet at home.
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The message is never to give up, to always push forward. He wraps religion around his message, but you don't need god to keep on keeping on.
Bernhard, I trust this guy more than Grylls
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0iwAzEm96A
Hey there, Bernhard! Good to see you again. I can definitely relate to the outdoors activities. The wife and I enjoy getting out on the trails as much as we can. She (a.k.a.: we... *chuckle*) has also started learning gardening over the last two or three years, so that also keeps us ouside quite a bit. Amazing.... I never knew there was sooooo much involved in just trying to grow a few vegetables. Yikes!... lol
I use to love watching Bear's show. Granted, there's no doubt many of those situations were staged and "over dramatized" for the sake of ratings, but some of the tips he gave and demonstrated were actually fairly useful. Which brings us to the instruction pamphlet....
Got to thinking about it, and perhaps leaving it home is not the best idea. Maybe - juuuust maybe - there is a "secret message" hidden in his statement, "Keep faith in yourself and faith in the Almighty they can be your greatest Ally and strength Godspeed." For instance, you are in the middle of nowhere, disoriented, totally overcast sky, thick tree canopies overhead, no way of getting your bearings. Nightfall is quickly approaching, and temperature is starting to drop. You decide to set up camp/shelter for the night. You want to build a fire, but most everything is damp/wet...... except for the pamphlet! Ah-ha! Yes! So you gather a small bundle of the driest twigs/leaves you can find and use the pamphlet to get a small fire started, allowing you to add some of the smaller pieces of material until the fire is big enough to add larger sticks. Pretty straightforward, right? Here's the best part, though! (This is where The Almighty steps in to help.)
Once the fire is finally easily sustainable, you are sitting there exhausted and wondering, "How the hell am I going to determine which direction to go tomorrow?" Suddenly, the fire flares brightly, and there comes a powerful voice from it telling you, "Bernhard! Heed my words! The direction of north is directly to your left! Mark it now, lest ye forget!" Then the fire subsides just as suddenly and almost goes out completely and you have to frantically scramble to keep it going. And, of course, during all the confusion you totally lost track of where you had been sitting and therefore still have no idea which way to go....
Hmmm... Ya know, on second thought - yeah - leave the pamphlet at home. Take a compass instead. lol
Tin man. You forgot part. Burning bushes (or possessed campfires) always begin with " put off thine shoes from on thy feet for this is holy ground". Then if you're a good boy god will later let you see his backside.
Lots of tv stars will throw in a few 'faith' lines to applease that portion of viewership. Always very broad statements like faith in god, so it fits to almost any religion. And they know most of us atheist will just roll our eyes and use it anyways.
It seems strange to have faith in the God that let you get lost in the first place. Or maybe he just got distracted and needs you to give him a holler. Maybe with that rescue whistle.
I'm a Canadian, and I believe America is worse, when it comes to being surrounded by religion. It seems every song on the radio mentions god, every phrase has religious roots, and even our laws were developed by religiously biased people. Did you know, in Canada, committing a homosexual act got you put in jail until 1967?
Now, Christian's call us "angry atheists ". They say, " Just shut up and leave us alone." Really? After thousands of years of torture, murder and persecution, you want us to stay silent?
Shame on them ! How dare they?
Needless to say, I'm not quiet anymore, and yes I'm angry.
Hello Bernhardt. Fellow Canuck here, Toronto.
When I was serving my three years in the air force, I was attached to a search and rescue squadron. I was fortunate that I was able to have a few talks with genuine trackers, the kind of people who could actually track a person through the deep woods. Needless to say I got a lot of good info, which later served me well when I lived for a year in a log cabin miles and miles from human contact.
The best advice I ever got is that, if you are lost, go downhill. Downhill always leads to streams, the shoreline, and eventually civilization. And of course, if you see power lines, railroad tracks, or a road, follow them, they always lead to rescue.
@ Bernhard
Foremost: Welcome to our little corner of the WWW Hell. C'mon in. The temperature is a nice 15,845°C. Just ask any theist. Peruse the boards and dive right in. But remember, it is "at your own risk." Since we had to fire Tin-Man as the lifeguard (because he tends to sink), we don't have anymore lifeguards.
Again, welcome.
First thing that shocked me about your OP was, "even become lost." Guess I should not ask this question, but... How do you become lost? Reason I should not ask that question is because I was taught survival skills by me dad who learned them in the USAF and Boy Scouts. I also spent my whole childhood as a Scout from 5 to 17 years old. So forgive me for asking, but it was my first thought.
How can anyone get lost? The first lesson me dad taught me was how to determine the Four Cardinal Directions of North, South, East, West. In fact, the main lesson he taught me was how to learn which way was North. Once you know North and face that direction, South is behind you, East is to the right, West is to the left. Mainly, as long as you can determine North, you already have all other directions. In the other hemisphere, it would be best learning South, then North behind you, West is right, East is left.
If this is offensive or condescending in way, I apologize. I guess it is because I have known how to determine directions for over 52 years. It is now almost impossible for me conceive of someone actually getting lost.
Bernhard: "I'm a Canadian, and I believe America is worse, when it comes to being surrounded by religion."
Ain't that the god damned truth. That is also the main reason I want to retire to New Zealand. It seems to get me the furthest distance away from those worthless, useless, inane, asinine, and retarded Religious Absolutists.
Where at in Canada? I have been all over Canada except the NWT and Nunavut. As far as my opinion, Vancouver Island has some of the most beautiful forests to hike through. My absolute favorite is Olympia National Park in the State of Washington. Both are almost other-worldly being temperate rain forests.
BTW: Do you also do some rock climbing like my wife and I used to do?
rmfr
Arakish, I live north of Toronto, near Uxbridge. Thanks for the kind words and no, you're not condescending. Man, I've gotten myself lost too many times, and fortunately I've made it out without too much suffering.
One of the easiest times I was lost was for a boat 4 hours on a 1 hour hike in Durham Forest. No GPS no Compass no sun thought I knew Which Way North was by observing the trees but I misguided myself. Soon I just started bushwhacking a straight As I could till I hit a road and then had to walk back from that road 6km to where I parked. No big deal. The scariest time was in the Pacific Ocean. I broke a cardinal rule and went scuba diving by myself. My uncle and Aunt are in the 35 foot cabin cruiser I went overboard with some gear to go spearfishing. After about 40 minutes I came to the surface but the current had separated us and when I came up all I saw was ocean! Ocean everywhere not a single boat in sight. No land nothing! I inflated my buoyancy compensator to the maximum so I would Bob like a cork. I took my spear and attached my yellow dive bag for collecting fish and used it as a flag and held it above the surface about 7 feet and kept waving it. An hour later I saw a boat coming in the distance luckily it was my uncle. That was scary. Another time in Algonquin Park I was on the 10 day canoe trip during the off-season. I haven't seen a soul in 7 days. Late at night I ran into a camp that look messy. We set up the tent hunger packs in the air and went to sleep we were very tired. That night hungry black bear came down to visit us. Long story short we ran for the canoe get the water and stayed in the canoe for about an hour to the bear left. I stayed up all night with fire and a knife. It sounds like you've had a great life. Being with the USAF and a Boy Scout for so many years and a great dad. I lived in British Columbia Ben by Mount Washington and have climbed some very small mountains but have not done any actual mountain climbing or rock climbing. I'm too big for that sport. I'm 200 and 50 lb at 10% body fat in 6 ft 4. I recently crashed my bike during an Ironman event and my body went haywire on me and I gained 30 lb. Where do you live now? Do you still come up to Canada to visit? If you're ever near the Toronto area I would like to go out for coffee with you.
Don't start a fire in the woods unless you want to burn the forest down.
@ Bernhard
No. I don't around much anymore. I am kind of tied down having to help my brother's son have a home to live in. Long story. Currently, I trying to save money so I can move to New Zealand when I retire. Form my many decades of previous travels, New Zealand seems to be the least zealous about religion. Canada is another place I'd like to retire to because they are also less zealous about religion. Right now, my next plans for vacation may be to go visit Tin-Man who is not only a brother in atheism, but also a brother in arms since we both served in the military. Another one I would like to visit is Old Man down in Aussie land. If I ever do decide to visit Toronto, I would definitely enjoy having that coffee with you. Any person who likes nature and hiking is basically a brother to me. Ever thought of hiking the Appalachian Trail? Me wife and I did it twice. Plan for at least three months.
Currently I live near some woods; however, there are also lots of coyotes, wolves, and bears. I'd dare not go hiking through them without a gun. And since I do not enjoy killing animals just because they are what they are, I don't go hiking. I will ONLY kill an animal if I plan on eating it. Now days, I just go to work when I am needed. Otherwise, I work from home compiling data into geodatabases and other databases. Run analyses. Deliver the results. It is a nice job. May not pay the best but it is enough.
Stay safe and continue those hikes. Have one for me in my old age.
rmfr
Theists like to stack the deck, so they create an a priori advantage for their selection bias. You pray in the event of some calamity or disaster and when it turns out ok you get to believe the creator of everything let's millions die in agony without a second thought, even babies and children, but stepped in to save you from harm.
This bizarre ability theists have to ignore the failure rates of prayer perfectly matching random events is never more manifest than them ignoring that intercessory prayer has been subjected to double blind clinical trial and failed to produce any discernible result. Not only have they extirpated this research from their memories, some actually claim it proved prayer works, though become reticent when impertinent atheists ask for links to the research, and offer links to the actual research showing it does not work.
They also use a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, after this therefore because of this, because theistic reasoning abounds with common logical fallacies of every type.
I have a BG knife in work as well, they are good blades. I like a good knife, but sadly in recent years knife crime in the UK has lent a more sinister aspect to knife ownership, which is tragic for many reasons. As a child I vividly remember how excited I was to own my first pen knife, but then it would never have occurred to me that is was a weapon. Anyway enough of memory lane, I digress.
My favourite bit of irony is when theists justify such their all pervasive interference forcing their beliefs on anyone and everyone, with pithy rejoinders like "it can't do any harm". I'd have thought everyone would be intelligent enough to see how dangerous it is to waste time and energy on superstition in a life threatening survival situation, especially Bear Grylls. The important thing is they're promoting their facile beliefs, so what are a few deaths in the wilderness when compared to that.
I forgot to say that all my outdoorsman knives are authentic Bowie knives. Even have one that is a machete with an 82cm blade.
Never heard of Gear Grylls. Who is he?
rmfr
Never mind. I looked up Bear Grylls. I now remember watching one of his shows and my first thought was, "What a fucking dweeb. Everything is staged and over-dramatized. Not worth my time." And thus, his data was deleted from my hard drive...
rmfr
My brother had the perfect job. He was in the Ontario Provincial Police canine unit. To put it neatly, he was paid well to drive around in a huge Chevy Suburban with his dog, and take long walks in the woods. His territory was extensive, including Algonquin Park.
It's the ole "God helps those who help themselves." bullshit. If I am doing it myself what in the fuck do I need god for?