Wudang
BOFH
Hmm, does Myriad mean that people experience it in the same way the experience centrifugal force? The idea conveys the human experience even though the reality is centripetal force.
Intelligent Design
- Thread starter Thor 2
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Hmm, does Myriad mean that people experience it in the same way the experience centrifugal force? The idea conveys the human experience even though the reality is centripetal force.
Thor 2
Philosopher
I'm cool with that.
Very diverse that God experience, from people writhing on the floor blathering nonsense, to others beating themselves up because of their unworthiness, and some getting full of the spirit and jumping over fences.
Delvo
Дэлво Δε&#
That's the point: that the true nature of their religion is something other than what it's cracked up to be.
PartSkeptic
Illuminator
Back to the thread.
God can be experienced. And his influence can be experienced. Just as my parents punished me for bad behavior and rewarded me for good behavior, and helped me when I needed it, so does God. That is an experience too.
When I tell you about my experience as a child, you can accept or reject what I have to say. Same with my experience with God. Your rejection does not falsify either my childhood or God.
God can be experienced. And his influence can be experienced. Just as my parents punished me for bad behavior and rewarded me for good behavior, and helped me when I needed it, so does God. That is an experience too.
When I tell you about my experience as a child, you can accept or reject what I have to say. Same with my experience with God. Your rejection does not falsify either my childhood or God.
Pixel42
Schrödinger's cat
Bad things happen to good people and good things to bad all the time. I could give examples all day, If good people had better luck than bad people that would be a measurable phenomenon. It has not been measured because it does not happen. The universe is not fair. Deal with it.
Hlafordlaes
Disorder of Kilopi
Subjective reality is seductive, agreed. I like objective reality more; in it we get practical things done.
Why do you think a god, theoretically concerned for all the people of the planet equally, pays particular attention to you whilst ignoring billions of others who might need (and deserve) his/her attention rather more than you do?
Porpoise of Life
Illuminator
- Joined
- Oct 5, 2014
- Messages
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Typical unwashed plebeian, not realizing you're talking to a Very Special Person here.
Why, God himself compared PS to Clooney by strategically showing a Nespresso add on TV, remember?
Pixel42
Schrödinger's cat
The idea that we get what we deserve is seductive but also pernicious because, of course, it can be used by the fortunate to justify not helping the unfortunate. The fortunate can smugly attribute their good luck to their (real or imagined) exceptionally good behaviour, and blame the unlucky for their bad luck.
If the world really was fair such an attitude would quickly result in a well deserved reversal in fortunes for the smug gits. But it isn't, so it doesn't.
Donn
Philosopher
How soon we forget!
PartSkeptic
Illuminator
Let me see. I try to find something and am about to give up. Perhaps prayer will help. Do so. Find the thing. It happens quite regularly.
Oh wait, must be confirmation bias. Well, hold on to your comfort blanket.
Of course. I have selective amnesia. I forget the times it did not work, and I forget that I forgot.
Poor, poor idiot believer. When will he learn, when will he learn. Shame.
(Adder: This prayer thing is recent. I used to be able to find things without prayer and could rely on it enough to tell others I could find what they lost. Or have you guys forgotten my anecdotes about this in a fit of confirmation bias?)
abaddon
Penultimate Amazing
This is quite a common thing, prayers to St. Anthony et. al.Let me see. I try to find something and am about to give up. Perhaps prayer will help. Do so. Find the thing. It happens quite regularly.
Oh wait, must be confirmation bias. Well, hold on to your comfort blanket.
Of course. I have selective amnesia. I forget the times it did not work, and I forget that I forgot.
Poor, poor idiot believer. When will he learn, when will he learn. Shame.
(Adder: This prayer thing is recent. I used to be able to find things without prayer and could rely on it enough to tell others I could find what they lost. Or have you guys forgotten my anecdotes about this in a fit of confirmation bias?)
I have observed in every case that immediately after the prayer, the believer simply engages in a methodical search just like anyone else.
If the object is found, give credit to the prayer. If not, ignore it.
Pixel42
Schrödinger's cat
Could be. As you've obviously never kept a careful record and have no control to compare against, that might be the explanation..
Or maybe praying just relaxes you enough to help you retrieve the information. As I've got older and my memory has worsened I've certainly found taking a moment to calm myself when trying to remember where I put something helps a lot.
Pixel42
Schrödinger's cat
If you continue to look for something you know is there somewhere you're pretty much bound to find it. So if the options are give up, or pray and then keep looking, such prayers are going to "work" nearly all the time.
It's the belief that God has bothered to answer such a trivial prayer despite the evidence that he ignores the desperate prayers of millions of good deserving people that boggles my mind.
Dave Rogers
Bandaged ice that stampedes inexpensively through
It's almost as if, the more likely things are to happen without divine intervention, the more likely God is to intervene mysteriously so that they happen.
Dave
Hlafordlaes
Disorder of Kilopi
Happy to agree, but not sure this has anything to do with my post. Not that I mind or anything; just found it curious. No prob.
Same thing with "Praying to get better."
Well if you get sick you either get better or you... ya know don't. And with serious diseases your options are often either "get better" or "die."
So yeah there's something of a built in confirmation bias in that.
Thor 2
Philosopher
Let me see. I try to find something and am about to give up. Perhaps prayer will help. Do so. Find the thing. It happens quite regularly.
Oh wait, must be confirmation bias. Well, hold on to your comfort blanket.
Of course. I have selective amnesia. I forget the times it did not work, and I forget that I forgot.
Poor, poor idiot believer. When will he learn, when will he learn. Shame.
(Adder: This prayer thing is recent. I used to be able to find things without prayer and could rely on it enough to tell others I could find what they lost. Or have you guys forgotten my anecdotes about this in a fit of confirmation bias?)
You do know that tests have been done to to determine the effectiveness of prayer ........ don't you? A few posts back you were drawing our attention to your brightness so I assume you can research this yourself.
On the other hand there is that famous line theists use that "God just doesn't like to be tested" so if you try and measure things like the effectiveness of prayer he keeps himself hidden.
He shies away from the big stuff also it seems, so thousands of people staving to death or being killed by storms etc, don't get a look in. Instead he gets involved with making parking spaces available, and other pressing matters of this kind, for the well to do faithful.
PartSkeptic
Illuminator
A logical answer. So now we have two possibilities. God or a relaxed mind.