Why does God NEVER answer the prayers of amputees?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 17 2007, 01:30 AM) [snapback]407235[/snapback]</div>

Daniel, your constant effort to make Christians "sound" foolish....only makes you sound even more foolish. Give it a rest.

In Christ

Karl

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(zapranoth @ Mar 17 2007, 04:10 AM) [snapback]407309[/snapback]</div>

God works in mysterious (to us) ways. Yes, I believe God can work through an internet forum.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daronspicher @ Mar 18 2007, 10:14 AM) [snapback]407915[/snapback]</div>

That "god" did it or that something entirely natural occurred? To my mind the latter, every time. Assuming the first requires ignoring ALL the evidence of natural science.

Think about how silly it is to regard the world this way: Event A happens; I can explain it because I understand all the factors involved. Event B happens, I can't explain it, so "god" must have done it. Just because you haven't the knowledge to explain something doesn't mean "god" did it, it just means you haven't got sufficient knowledge yet. And if you REJECT that "god" did it, you'll dig in and FIND OUT what explains Event B, because you can't stand the prospect of Event B possibly derailing your life in the future, whereas if you just shrug your shoulders and keep thinking "god" did it, you'll NEVER be able to explain Event B, and you'll remain POWERLESS to control your fate when Event B comes around and derails your life.

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 17 2007, 02:15 PM) [snapback]407571[/snapback]</div>

Well, we're getting far afield of where I thought you were going. If its the Creationist/ID crowd you're talking about, they view "evolution" as part of the culture war they think is trying to vanquish Christianity and drive God out of the public square. In that respect, they hold some pretty surprising views from a theological standpoint ... to your point, an ID person really doesn't take Genesis as a literal, 6 day creation period, but rather as allegory over millions of years. At that point, I don't know why they bother, other than to try and hold the idea that "creation" no longer happens.

I may have confused the issue with my "period of special creation" phrase that led to the discussion of ID. Its the explanation I've heard used for belief in miracles, even if unlimited God is somehow limited to unprovable miracles, but it is not really related directly to the ID folks.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 17 2007, 03:01 PM) [snapback]407605[/snapback]</div>

I think it is a problem for those that want to use miracles as proof of God. We have plenty of passages in the Bible where truly astounding things happened, but it did not convert those against God ... the parting of the Red Sea and the related instances up to that point. I suspect seeing the waters of the sea part would be pretty definitive proof for most of us today, although all of us would look for a natural explanation first.

Limb regeneration really wouldn't prove anything to you, would it? After all, lizards do it with their tail, so perhaps the person who is praying is really just a new and sudden mutation. We would want to study his DNA for sure.

Now, if every person, on becoming a Christian, was instantly healed of all manner of infirmity without fail, then the vast majority of people would convert as soon as they had something go wrong.



<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 18 2007, 01:20 PM) [snapback]407994[/snapback]</div>

Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe they are worshipping the same God, and that there are no other gods that exist beside the one true God.

I believe both Jews and Muslims to be in error in not believing that Jesus was the son of God and rejecting the belief that Jesus' death was a substitute for our own punishment.

Those that say Muslims are not worshipping the same God are technically in error; they may mean that the Muslims misunderstand the true nature of God, and therefore are in error in the way they worship Him.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Mar 18 2007, 02:20 PM) [snapback]408018[/snapback]</div>

Bingo. And therein lies the rub. At what point does one, observing what appears to be a miracle, start out looking for a natural explanation, and then decide he's looked far enough? Until the natural answer is discovered, most of us would conclude "we still don't know yet, but we'll keep looking"; only the religious would give up the search and say "god did it." Some (many, most?) religious may not even begin looking for a natural explanation, but immediately say "god did it." (And there are many devout who believe "god did it" anytime anything significant happens with respect to how deeply it affects them personally, no matter how commonplace the event in natural terms, but that's another discussion).

If a sudden rift appeared in the Pacific Ocean from San Francisco to Hawaii, and was sustained, it would overturn much of what we believe we understand about how physics truly works, and science would be scrambling like mad to study the phenomenon and recast its assumptions. Many scientific theories would be put forth, most of them conflicting with each other, but NONE would say "it's god's doing." And over time different theories would begin to converge around a common idea, until, finally, the problem would be solved, perhaps solved so well we would know how to create such rifts deliberately, and not have to wait for them to happen by natural accident.

In the meantime, knowing us Californians, we'd've built an eight lane superfreeway on the seabed between San Francisco and Honolulu, complete with scenic rest stops and trucked in gasoline for refueling along the way, knowing that the risk of collapse might be imminent, but having become comfortable with the unpredictability of earthquakes, it would be a risk we'd take in stride on our way to get lei'd.

Mark Baird
Alameda CA

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 18 2007, 02:20 PM) [snapback]407994[/snapback]</div>

Actually both are the same.

The differences exist in the "believers" minds.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 18 2007, 08:01 PM) [snapback]408069[/snapback]</div>

Nah. We don't worship Buddha or think he's a God. Just a really cool guide, teacher, etc.

And there are at least two fundamentalist Christians on PC that do NOT believe they worship the same God as Muslims (loveit and windstrings). It's been mightily discussed in a few other threads. Please refer to them for the answers to these type of questions.

 

Burrito,
Do you know of an amputee who has prayed specifically for regrowth of a limb? Was it sincere? I believe that God could do just that if he chose to. You pose the question as though it occurs everyday many times. When in reality most people just pray for a speedy recovery. Doesn't it seem a little nitpicky to say " God thank you for sparing my life but I want a new arm."

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Schmika @ Mar 18 2007, 02:34 PM) [snapback]407922[/snapback]</div>

Does god have dial-up, DSL or cable? :lol:
Sorry, not trying to inflame, but this was just too tempting to my sense of humor.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(fshagan @ Mar 18 2007, 06:20 PM) [snapback]408018[/snapback]</div>

I've always perceived conversion of the "ignorant unbelievers" to be one of the primary dictates (written or unwritten) of many of the "major" religions. Assuming I'm right, and based on your statement, wouldn't this be a highly effective way to increase the ranks of the believers, without much I can see in the way of a downside?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Mar 18 2007, 06:49 PM) [snapback]408039[/snapback]</div>

Will it have an HOV lane? :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 18 2007, 05:01 PM) [snapback]408069[/snapback]</div>

Buddhists believe in a lot of supernatural stuff, but I don't think they believe in a "god" as such. There are, of course, many different flavors of Buddhism. I don't believe any of it myself, but it's very interesting. Lots of good stuff about being nice to people. Of course, in Tibet, where the Dalai Lamas ruled before the Chinese invaded, the peasants were among the most destitute and abjectly-poor people on the facee of the earth, while the Lamas lived high on the hog (figuratively speaking) off of the donations of the superstitious masses.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(ZenCruiser @ Mar 18 2007, 09:07 PM) [snapback]408187[/snapback]</div>

God would definitely have a full T-1 fiber-optic line, and his own dedicated Unix server with Unix workstations for each of the archangels and Linux terminals for the lesser angels. Satan, on the other hand, has to run Windows ME on an 80486 with a dial-up line.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 19 2007, 02:40 AM) [snapback]408249[/snapback]</div>

Well, no wonder he's so angry.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Mar 18 2007, 02:58 PM) [snapback]407908[/snapback]</div>

Okay, I will correct ya, since you said I could...I said it was 11 years ago...I am 42 now...so, I was 31 then...and had been examined by many an ear doc before that...and since.

I'm fine with it being what I think is a miracle. And I would also be fine with you not believing it is.

All I know, is I can hear where I could not hear before, and that the same busted (medical term, that), busted bones is still busted.

I have also heard of the blind seeing again, and the mute talking, and the paralyzed walking again...and a lot of that can, indeed, be explained by science...Of course, I just got inspired...

I don't believe in the earth being 7 days to complete. I think each day = 1 million years, maybe more...who knows...but who is to say, that God planed it that way? To make it appear as if that it was millions of years to create the earth, but He really did it in 7 days? And, if you follow that, who is to say that what doctors fixed, weren't given 'the tools' by God?

Now, I know, I know. You got to buy the whole God thing for that to work...but what if that was the case?

Just thinking....

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Mar 18 2007, 03:18 PM) [snapback]407916[/snapback]</div>

Well, one doctor who examined me, after it happened, said it sometimes works that way...that the ear suddenly can hear. Just like that.

Another thought that I was perhaps lying all those years, and had been able to hear all along. One doctor thought that I was merely hearing through my skull, from my right ear (something about vibrations and all).

Since it happened, and after visiting some doctors, I just gave up trying to figure it out. I am pleased with the results, and can hear fine.

I never let it bother me too much in the first place. In a way, it was cool, being partially deaf. I learned, without even trying, to read lips. And I also never had it be an obstacle with me being a sound engineer, which I was, or being a radio DJ, which I did as well. I even got into the Navy back when I was 17, with a special exception, (I often wonder if they just did not pencil whip me through; they needed volunteers a lot back then...)

I used to say, that my right ear over compensated for my other ear. Maybe it still is, but I know that I can hear crystal clear stereo, and other sounds, so much better now.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 18 2007, 11:40 PM) [snapback]408249[/snapback]</div>

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(hyo silver @ Mar 18 2007, 11:46 PM) [snapback]408250[/snapback]</div>

I'll bet if god would just let him have a decent Playstation he'd leave us all alone. But that damn Windows ME crashes so much, and his dial-up connection is so slow, that he's got nothing better to do than to go out walking to and fro on the Earth and going up and down in it and making a general nuisance of himself.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(daniel @ Mar 19 2007, 11:44 AM) [snapback]408354[/snapback]</div>

Well, let's get him a PSP then - anybody I've ever seen on one of those could walk through a burning building and not notice.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(burritos @ Mar 18 2007, 04:01 PM) [snapback]408069[/snapback]</div>

No, the Buddhists would say they do not believe only in the monotheistic God of Abraham, as Jews, Christians and Muslims do. (My understanding of Buddhism is that a Buddhist could believe in the god of Abraham, but would have to disagree that there are no other gods. Perhaps a Buddhist will intervene here and set us straight).

For instance, the Baha'i believe in the monotheistic God of Abraham too, but believe that he is manifested different ways, with the most recent manifestation being the Bab (but Mohammad, Jesus and all the OT prophets are included in that category too, IIRC.)