3 Questions For Believers (A work in progress.)

[LostLocke]

Sorry, but saying that there's not a need to determine if it's true is not the same as saying that it's true.

If you don't need to determine if something is true to accept it (which is what you said), then it doesn't matter if it's true.

[John V]

If you don't need to determine if something is true to accept it (which is what you said), then it doesn't matter if it's true.

Er, yes, that's the "no" part in my response to OP question 1. And?

[GrandizerII]

What about other occasions when your posts failed to go through the first time? Did the resubmission end up working anyway (regardless of any changes to your post)?

This also assumes you ended up making the correct changes to your statements. You may have made some changes that were erroneous or were negligible regarding the content of the doctrine.

Finally, it's just two incidents so far, so even in the absence of contrary incidents, it is an extremely small sample of incidents to come to such a conclusion.

How many times does it have to happen? Also it's just a couple incidents combined with others. Most people would probably just say it was coincidence, but these experiences are not the only reason I believe in God, but rather part of the whole package.

But it's very probable you're employing confirmation bias in this regard and ignoring all evidence contrary to what you want to believe in.

You didn't even address how you know they were doctrinally correct changes to what you initially tried to submit. And it's not like this hasn't happened to me as an atheist when I try to submit a post the first time but fail. In a couple other forums, there were times I had to get rid of some smilies or reduce the number of words in order to get my post accepted. It doesn't mean God was involved.

[Jenny A]

On two different occasions when I was replying to a post in a thread on this forum, I was making a statement about a particular christian doctrine and I unintentionally deleted my whole statement. I was upset, but started again and when I was nearly through I unintentionally deleted again. On the third try I made some changes pertaining to the doctrine I was referencing and it worked. Before I go on this forum I always pray for God to lead me and keep from misrepresenting him. I believe that both times God was intervening.

What interests me about this statement is not whether you are telling a fib. What interests me is how you think you receive god's guidance.

Neurologists have done a number of studies watching which parts of the brain light up when we consider various types of problems. The part of the brain we use in deciding what think, is quite different from the part we use to decide what others think. Would it disconcert you to know that when people consult god they use the same part of the brain they use to decide what they themselves think? If it doesn't it should.

[fr0d0]

I concur with lek, I think like that sometimes too. It's not something that's done to you, it's a perspective that you choose to take. Everything that happens was God's will. I think after something happens that it was either something God did or did not want to happen, and I'll roll with that. I think it's a positive thing in that I don't get hung up on circumstance. I just make the most of what happens.

[Mudhammam]

Scientism - searching for truth in reality by testing the limits of reality.
Religious belief / revelation / faith - trusting your gut that what humans tell themselves and one another about elaborate other worldly dramas connected with the good feels they get are infallible truths.

[IAmTheeWallrus]

I really liked a thing I saw recently where the guy suggested that when theist use the old "you can't prove it's not true" you call them a murderer. They say "what?". You say "you go around murdering people".
They say "No" and you say "I don't believer you".
Hopefully they say "You have no proof that I'm a murderer".

[Lek]

On two different occasions when I was replying to a post in a thread on this forum, I was making a statement about a particular christian doctrine and I unintentionally deleted my whole statement. I was upset, but started again and when I was nearly through I unintentionally deleted again. On the third try I made some changes pertaining to the doctrine I was referencing and it worked. Before I go on this forum I always pray for God to lead me and keep from misrepresenting him. I believe that both times God was intervening.

So..everything that you do post is tacitly endorsed by God, since he allows you to post it?

I was stationed at Ellsworth AFB in South Dakota after a few years of living in drunkenness and sexual promiscuity while I was overseas. While there I began hanging out with some christian guys and eventually decided to follow Christ and also got married. When my enlistment ended we decided to drive back to my home in Pennsylvania and "see the country." Well, we were young and, I admit, not very bright and we set off in an old car I had bought there - a French Simca. The wheels were a weird, small size, and I had no spare tire and no extra money.

It was nighttime somewhere in Nebraska when I had my first flat. We were just standing along highway wondering what we would do when a guy pulled up behind us and offered his help. We removed the flat tire and he drove us to a garage where he bought us coffee while they fixed tire. We drove back and put the tire on and he gave us his flashlight because we didn't have one.

We were somewhere in Illinois, I believe, when we had the second flat - the rear right. Again, we were standing beside the highway wondering what to do when a state cop pulled up behind us. I told him the situation and about the weird size tires. Try to find a tire for a Simca in the midwest! He took us to a junkyard and the guy went into a large barn type structure, fished around for awhile, and came out with two used tires on rims, just the right size. The cop drive us back to the car where I replaced the tire and we took off.

I think it was somewhere in Indiana or Ohio where we had the third flat tire. It had blown out on the sidewall, the same as the second flat and I was concerned that something was causing the rim to heat up and cause the tire to blow. We had been on the road for two days and had spent most of our money, so all we could do was to drive straight through. I don't know if the rim was actually heating up and causing the tires to blow or not, but soon it started pouring the rain and continued to rain from wherever we were in Ohio until we pulled into my parents driveway in Pennsylvania.
We ate something and went to bed because we had driven all night. After I woke up, I went downstairs and looked out and saw that the right rear tire had gone flat in the driveway while we had slept.

I've always believed that God wanted to show that he would be with me and he always has been. That was God with me.

[LostLocke]

[The Grand Nudger]

I concur with lek, I think like that sometimes too. It's not something that's done to you, it's a perspective that you choose to take. Everything that happens was God's will. I think after something happens that it was either something God did or did not want to happen, and I'll roll with that. I think it's a positive thing in that I don't get hung up on circumstance. I just make the most of what happens.

Curious. So, just for shits and giggles, what would be the difference between something that happens -because it was gods will- and something that happens -just because-? Simply the act of your choosing? Do we really need to invoke "god's will" for everything, or might there be some things we'd rather go ahead and leave outside of that set?

@Lek, am not sure that I, personally, would be willing to believe that god was with me when I got flat tires, got flat tires repaired, and paid for those repairs - all through human agents. I might be willing to concede that I didn't take care of my car all that well though. Maybe the consequences of negligence where with you, rather than a divine presence? Just my two cents. It is fascinating, of course, that you had such an experience tied to such a mundane series of events as flat tires. Lends credence to the idea that one can have this sort of experience anywhere, anytime, with regards to just about anything. I bet I've had similar experiences.