@FishPreferred
No, it couldn't. Coincidence would require some temporo-spatial overlap between the two events. What you should be asking yourself is whether this is a case of confirmation bias
Temporo-spatiol overlap! Howah! No idea what that is but I'll take your word for it as you seem to know what your talking about. As far as it being confirmation bias, it very well could be and I have no scientific evidence to say that it is not. However, I highly doubt it. Like I stated, I feel that I have a relationship with God. Can't really describe how that feels like but it's a great feeling nonetheless. If it actually is just a case of confirmation bias, then so be it.. I'm living a great and happy life because of it.
Why should the number of coincident events pertaining to anything be finite?
Say that there was a family of farmers back in the.. Say.. 1800's. They were experiencing a very long and devastating drought. All of the families crops were destroyed and the family was barely living off of rationed water. To make matters worse, one of the farmers children became incredibly ill just before the drought occurred. They had a doctor come by and he said that there was nothing he could do for him at the moment. Now, the father of this family was not a very religious man. He believed in God, but he was extremely mad at Him for all of the bad things that happen in life. Now, more than ever, he was raging mad because the drought has ruined all of his crops, his son is dying, and if it doesn't rain soon, the whole family might die from dehydration (all the lakes/rivers/wells have dried up). One day, when his family completely ran out of water and he didn't know what to do. Crying, he sat down and prayed to God about everything. As he is praying, he all of a sudden quickly jumps up, startled from an extremely loud noise-thunder. It begins to downpour, and the family rejoices all day. A day later, the doctor comes back incredibly excited. The father asks why he is so excited.. Especially because his child is doing terrible and he didn't think that he was going to make it. The doctor whips out a cure for the illness and treats the child. The father asks why he didn't treat him with the cure earlier. The doctor stated that the cure came from an extremely rare plant, one that only ever grows during a drought.
Now, I don't completely understand what you are asking.. But I was just stating that it would be hard for me to believe that a series of "coincidences" such as the ones that happened in that story I just made up (pretty great story eh? Eh? No?) had nothing to do with the father praying. Especially when there is a lot more that just a few coincidences and those things happen in my own life and I experience them first hand (maybe not quite as dramatic as in my story).
No, because it really isn't. Any mission which uses indoctrination to propagate willful ignorance and superstition can only be a detriment to society as a whole.
So.. You are saying that no matter what the mission is, if the mission has to do with religion than it is a terrible mission and that people trying to complete the mission will be a detriment to society? I have to disagree with this. Example: 'Christians want to stop Hitler because God says that what Hitler is doing, is wrong'. Therefore, one of their missions is to help stop Hitler. Just because the reason for a mission is different from other peoples reason for a mission, does not mean that the mission itself will be a detriment to society.
Consider what it would be like if everyone followed the principles of Epicurean hedonism, rather than a set of vague, overgeneralized, decrees demanding blind obedience.
Well, based off of the very quick research I just did on Epicurean hedonism, I think that the world would be a much better place. Which is all I was really trying to get through with the ten commandments. The world wouldn't necessarily be perfect, but it would be much better than it is right now.
@popington
i never experienced God in my life, so when i hear all these religious people saying they just "feel God in their life all the time" it does not relate to me at all.
Christians don't necessarily "feel God in their life all of the time". I know how you feel like on that aspect man. I wasn't always a Christian and when I did become one, it wasn't an all of a sudden "Woah! I feel like Superman! I feel like God just entered into my body!" feeling like some people make it sound like. You will feel different in a good way, but not like that. When you become a Christian its not like a million miracles happen in your life every week. When you become a Christian, that is just the first step. You can't just stop there though. You don't step onto the first step of a staircase and feel like you made it to the top. There are a series of steps to really feel God in your life.. I'm not about to cram down your throat what you should and should not do and how you should go about "taking the next step", but if you are interested in making a relationship with God.. Just let me know.
As far as homosexuality, yes that is a sin. Does that mean that you shouldn't become a Christian? Not at all. But understand that being a Christian involves fighting against sin. I know multiple different people who were homosexual, became Christians, and then a few years later, they are not homosexual anymore. A few of them have very nice wives now too. Even if you don't have any intention of becoming heterosexual, don't let that scare you out of anything. Yes, many so called "Christians" may mess with you, but if they are messing with you, then they are no better themselves.. "Hypocrite! First get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend's eye". A real Christian won't look down upon you if you tell them that your homosexual. Everyone is a sinner and as the Bible stats; no sin is greater than any other in Gods eyes.
@HahiHa
The problem I see with God answering people's prayers is that it makes no sense to me. If it was the case, it would seem he is very, very picky about which prayers he grants. For example, why would he help you with (as I assume) your relatively mundane day-to-day problems (no offense meant), but ignore all the pleas to cure a beloved one's illness?
I understand that. And honestly I couldn't really tell you how He picks which prayers he will answer and which prayers He won't. Or how quickly He answers those prayers. The way that I see it, is that God is all knowing and that everything happens for a reason. So, if you can imagine someone who knows absolutely everything and is extremely loving (as the Bible describes) and is in control of everything.. Then when something terrible does happen (or when something great doesn't happen) , then it has to be for a very good reason. Some reasons, we may not find out until later (like the drought in my above (undeniably amazing) story, if you read it), and some reasons that we may never find out.
It is this feeling of duty some have to "deliver the good news" to the seemingly lost people. Yes, I am talking about missionaries and proselytizing (as opposed to a genuine discussion, which I tend to enjoy). I find it very arrogant and condescending, to be honest.
One of the missions Christians have is to "deliver the good news" to people who haven't heard it yet. But, yes I completely understand when someone is too pushy when it comes to their beliefs. Many Christians (other religious people do also, maybe not as commonly though) wake up in the morning and seem to only have one thing on their mind; "Convert as many people as possible into Christians within the next 24 hours". What happens is then obvious, they become extremely pushy and try to shove verses and sayings that you really don't want to hear into your eardrums making them bleed and then you get ticked off at them because they won't leave you alone. My father had two Jehovah witnesses essentially barge into his house when he was in high school. His mother (my grandmother) was laying on the couch (she was dying) and the two Jehovah witnesses would not shut up about how she needed to convert before she dies.. My father almost literally had to push them out the door.. As you can imagine, my father now has an extremely short temper when it comes to Jehovah witnesses. The way that I see it, is if someone is confused about Christianity, has questions about it, wants to become a Christian, or just wants to discuss it, then I will definitely discuss it. But if they don't, by no means am I going to keep yapping on about how great Jesus is or start harping on them to "convert". Thats how I feel all Christians (everyone for that matter) should be. Unfortunately, not everyone is.
@BalkanRenegades
Lol, it sometimes knows to be true.
?
Almost every day I find articles in online news about people who "visited God" and "experienced death". I am very suspicious about those, but there are even more stories with proof.
Yes, there are quite a few stories of how people have "died" and then defibrillated back to life and then they have a wild story of going to heaven and seeing the deceased and stuff like that. There actually is a movie on it too if I'm not mistaken.. Yes, I am also very suspicious about those. Could it of actually happened? Yes, I personally believe so. However, there is a lot of science behind what it could actually be. Basically a dream that seems real that may happen when the brain is incredibly low on oxygen.. Thats what I understand from it anyway. And of course they could just be making it up.. But then again, maybe it does actually happen occasionally, theres not really any way of knowing for sure at the moment (that I know of).
Howah.. This got long..
