Posts: 863
Threads: 49
Joined: January 2, 2021
Reputation:
11
How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 2:22 pm
I thought of something on my walk today.
So, have you ever heard a believer tell a story about saying a prayer and then someone shows up right when they needed and they equate this to God answering their prayer? ...how'd he do that? Does God have influence over certain people? Can he puppeteer us to bring blessings to others? What if I am close enough to help someone (not even knowing they are there yet) but I ignore whatever spiritual prompting that God is using to influence me to go answer someone's prayer for him? Does he have a roledex of people that he tries to urge into doing his bidding? And does he just try each person until he finds someone who'll listen?
I thought agency was important to Christians, so, I'm assuming it's a prompting and not just outright possession.
Posts: 15125
Threads: 115
Joined: July 10, 2013
Reputation:
65
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 2:26 pm
Coincidences are often credited to god by believers. Sometimes the link is as vague as a horoscope. You can retrofit just about anything to align with your beliefs.
God's too busy helping football teams win to do other such mundane stuff.
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” — Confucius
Posts: 43953
Threads: 528
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 2:29 pm
(August 31, 2021 at 2:22 pm)Ten Wrote: I thought of something on my walk today.
So, have you ever heard a believer tell a story about saying a prayer and then someone shows up right when they needed and they equate this to God answering their prayer? ...how'd he do that? Does God have influence over certain people? Can he puppeteer us to bring blessings to others? What if I am close enough to help someone (not even knowing they are there yet) but I ignore whatever spiritual prompting that God is using to influence me to go answer someone's prayer for him? Does he have a roledex of people that he tries to urge into doing his bidding? And does he just try each person until he finds someone who'll listen?
I thought agency was important to Christians, so, I'm assuming it's a prompting and not just outright possession.
Post hoc ergo propter hoc. Simply because someone prayed and got a hoped-for result doesn’t mean that the prayer was responsible for the outcome. Since prayer more often fails than succeeds (I’m sure plenty of people in Louisiana prayed for the recent hurricane to pass them by), the obvious conclusion is that results are what they are, irrespective of prayer.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 4446
Threads: 87
Joined: December 2, 2009
Reputation:
47
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 2:34 pm
To answer the Op's underlying question. Yes you.. as an atheist could be used to fulfill God's will in a believers life. Typically that's covered in Ephesians 1:11-12 or more commonly Romans 8:28
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
always working on cleaning my windows- me regarding Johari
Posts: 43953
Threads: 528
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 3:16 pm
(August 31, 2021 at 2:34 pm)tackattack Wrote: To answer the Op's underlying question. Yes you.. as an atheist could be used to fulfill God's will in a believers life. Typically that's covered in Ephesians 1:11-12 or more commonly Romans 8:28
So much for free will.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
Posts: 3631
Threads: 41
Joined: August 15, 2021
Reputation:
7
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 5:06 pm
(August 31, 2021 at 2:26 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Coincidences are often credited to god by believers. Sometimes the link is as vague as a horoscope. You can retrofit just about anything to align with your beliefs.
God's too busy helping football teams win to do other such mundane stuff.
God doesn't care about football teams winning games.
"Imagination, life is your creation"
Posts: 15125
Threads: 115
Joined: July 10, 2013
Reputation:
65
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 5:09 pm
(August 31, 2021 at 5:06 pm)Ahriman Wrote: (August 31, 2021 at 2:26 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Coincidences are often credited to god by believers. Sometimes the link is as vague as a horoscope. You can retrofit just about anything to align with your beliefs.
God's too busy helping football teams win to do other such mundane stuff.
God doesn't care about football teams winning games.
Shut up.
“If you are the smartest person in the room, then you are in the wrong room.” — Confucius
Posts: 27193
Threads: 519
Joined: June 16, 2015
Reputation:
90
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 5:11 pm
This makes me think of Jung and synchronicity.........
.... and place kickers.
I don't have an anger problem, I have an idiot problem.
Posts: 43953
Threads: 528
Joined: July 24, 2013
Reputation:
109
RE: How much influence does he have?
August 31, 2021 at 5:14 pm
(This post was last modified: August 31, 2021 at 5:17 pm by BrianSoddingBoru4.)
(August 31, 2021 at 5:06 pm)Ahriman Wrote: (August 31, 2021 at 2:26 pm)arewethereyet Wrote: Coincidences are often credited to god by believers. Sometimes the link is as vague as a horoscope. You can retrofit just about anything to align with your beliefs.
God's too busy helping football teams win to do other such mundane stuff.
God doesn't care about football teams winning games.
You can’t possibly know that. Particular teams winning particular games may be God’s chief concern.
Think about it - in every American football game ever played, one team or the other always wins. The odds of that happening by random chance are too infinitesimal to bear thinking about.
Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
![[Image: Canada_Flag.jpg?v=1646203843]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=cdn.shopify.com%2Fs%2Ffiles%2F1%2F0630%2F5310%2F3332%2Fproducts%2FCanada_Flag.jpg%3Fv%3D1646203843)
