[QUOTE=Sophistry and Illusion]
Just so you know, I prayed for a doublepost.
[/QUOTE]
Halleluiah! Praise the Lord! Praise - um, who am I praising?
(Just so you know, I had to look up the spelling of halleluiah. I don’t think I’ve ever had cause to spell it before. But I had it right except I left off the last ‘h’.
[QUOTE=Wee Bairn]
When someone prays for snow in Phoenix in July and it comes, then I’ll take note.
[/QUOTE]
Dopefest experiment! Next summer we all gather in Phoenix for a big Independence Day weekend test to see if the collective will of the teeming masses can create snow. We start on Friday praying and blowing up things (explosives really impress the Almighty). If it doesn’t snow that night, on Saturday we pray some more, blow up more things and burn Charles Darwin in effigy. If nothing still happens then on Sunday we do all of the above plus a burnt offering of animals and plants (commonly referred to as a cookout). It goes without saying that there will be the ritualistic imbibing of many adult beverages throughout this prayer vigil.
Of course, if it does snow at any time then Der trihs must flagellate himself with a wet noodle while singing I’m a Believer.
[QUOTE=erie774]
Dopefest experiment! Next summer we all gather in Phoenix for a big Independence Day weekend test to see if the collective will of the teeming masses can create snow.
[/QUOTE]
A similar attempt to *halt *rain proved fruitless at Woodstock.
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
A similar attempt to *halt *rain proved fruitless at Woodstock.
[/QUOTE]
Yeah but they were a different type of doper.
[QUOTE=Anaamika]
Halleluiah! Praise the Lord! Praise - um, who am I praising?
[/QUOTE]
Og. Duh. 
Isn’t it just possible that the proof they seek is in NOT getting rain? In Matthew 6:5-6 it says not to pray in public, but to entreat God in private. Maybe the governor’s first prayer vigil actually delayed the rain, and this new one will only make the delay longer. Just a thought . . . from an atheist.
It is easy to prove God exists.
One Christian prays for rain and another one prays there won’t be any.
God will answer precisely one prayer, proving he exists.
Having got that out the way, why not ask God to feed everybody in the World? Why should an American politican get his prayer answered, but not starving people elsewhere?
And which political party does God support?
[QUOTE=Don’t Call Me Shirley]
If they are expecting rain tonight, I would guess that showers were in the extended forecast yesterday. Pretty convenient time to hold a prayer vigil, wouldn’t you say?
Reminds me of the Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s court.
[/QUOTE]
The governor is…
from the future?
-FrL-
[QUOTE=glee]
It is easy to prove God exists.
One Christian prays for rain and another one prays there won’t be any.
God will answer precisely one prayer, proving he exists.
Having got that out the way, why not ask God to feed everybody in the World? Why should an American politican get his prayer answered, but not starving people elsewhere?
And which political party does God support?
[/QUOTE]
Because the starving people are third world heathens, of course!
As for political party, it depends on which part of the trinity you choose. OT God is definitely republican (smiting, striking down non-believers, vengeful and full of wrath). Jesus is a Democrat (gives away food, doesn’t want money lenders around, tries to heal everyone and spread a message of love and acceptance). I don’t know how the Holy Spirit would vote. Libertarian?
Wow. If Jesus acts like a Dem, that should really piss of the Christian Conservatives with the WWJD bumper stickers and fish decals.
[QUOTE=Frylock]
The governor is…
from the future?
-FrL-
[/QUOTE]
No, that’s only in California.
[QUOTE=Slypork]
Americans have seen the news story about the governor of Georgia hosting a prayer vigilto ask God for rain to help the drought stricken state.
They prayed yesterday and they are expecting showers tonight. Not exactly a speedy response on the part of the almighty.
Ignoring the whole “separation of church and state” bit here, I would like an answer to this one:
Suppose they held the prayer vigil on a warm cloudless day, just like they had yesterday, with the satellite images and radar and meteorologists all saying there was no chance of rain coming for the next 5 days. Right as they finished clouds rolled in and the rain started coming down. I don’t mean a little mist but a real downpour. Would that be considered proof that there is a God or would it still be chalked up to a coincidence and fluke weather pattern creating an unprecedented meteorological event?
[/QUOTE]
Easy answer: believers would say God did it, and non-believers would say it was a fluke.
[QUOTE=9thFloor]
Well, what I would say is that it would be intriguing.
Radio waves, for example, would seem like divine communication to someone who didn’t know about them if you traveled back in time.
The idea of human minds collectively ‘wishing’ something and then it coming to pass isn’t something I’d dismiss as impossible, just not currently explainable.
**Leaping **to “god,” however, would be as baseless as primitives doing so @ a radio.
[/QUOTE]
Yes, but a lot of people think leaping to “accident” is equally baseless.
[QUOTE=lekatt]
Yes, but a lot of people think leaping to “accident” is equally baseless.
[/QUOTE]
Then don’t leap. Do a controlled experiment.
As a scientist, if I get a result, until that result is repeated enough times to reach statistical significance, “accident” is exactly how it is classified.
On the same day that the Governor of Georgia prayed for rain, I and a group of friends prayed to the Hindu God Ganesh to send rain to Georgia. So how do you know it was not our prayers that did it? This is NOT ridiculous. Hundreds of millions of intelligent, rational and sincere people believe in Ganesh.
If you are going to claim a particular effect is due to a particular cause, it seems to me that you have to first show the link between the claimed cause and the effect.
We know it rained the next day. Fine. That is the effect. Now, what proof do you have of which supernatural being “caused” the rain?
[QUOTE=Valteron]
On the same day that the Governor of Georgia prayed for rain, I and a group of friends prayed to the Hindu God Ganesh to send rain to Georgia. So how do you know it was not our prayers that did it? This is NOT ridiculous. Hundreds of millions of intelligent, rational and sincere people believe in Ganesh.
If you are going to claim a particular effect is due to a particular cause, it seems to me that you have to first show the link between the claimed cause and the effect.
We know it rained the next day. Fine. That is the effect. Now, what proof do you have of which supernatural being “caused” the rain?
[/QUOTE]
It’s ok, you both prayed to the same God, just different names.
What was the weather forecast issued the day before the Governor prayed, specifically concerning the chance of rain the day after? If it rained the day after the prayer, then we are talking about a 48-hour to 60-hour forecast. These are generally reliable.
Did the forecast say there was NO chance of showers? If so, that is an interesting result that would SUGGEST a possibilkity of another force outside the normal weather patterns and physical laws. But you would have to repeat the experiment to form conclusions.
Was the rain that fell on Georgia after the Governor prayed sufficient to relieve the drought and its effects? How much rain fell? Did it fall everywhere in the state?
Did it also fall on other states whose governor did NOT pray?
Is there ever a serious drought in which SOMEONE does not pray for rain? Do prayers of Governors and high-placed officials count for more than the prayers of a poor dirt farmer, for example?
I bliev Georgia is more populous than most of its neighbours. Does the number of prayers have an effect?
[QUOTE=Merkwurdigliebe]
This is what I never got about prayer. Isn’t god supposed to have some kind of divine plan for everyone and everything? If so, what difference does it make if He already has a plan? If God’s divine plan was to dry out Georgia, it always has and always will be, so what difference does it even make?
[/QUOTE]
That’s how I was raised; prayer is an act of worship. Then ONLY thing it is acceptable to ask of God is faith, and maybe, for the strength to accept His will.
Intercessory prayer to the saints was fine, though.
[QUOTE=lekatt]
It’s ok, you both prayed to the same God, just different names.
[/QUOTE]
How do you know it’s the same god?
[QUOTE=Flyhalf]
How do you know it’s the same god?
[/QUOTE]
Easy, there is only one God, which people call by many, many different names. They also attribute many different characterists to God, but God is only love.
[QUOTE=lekatt]
Easy, there is only one God, which people call by many, many different names.
[/quote]
And how do you know there is only one, or any gods at all ? You don’t. IF there are gods, you have no way to tell if there’s just one or an infinity of them.
[QUOTE=lekatt]
They also attribute many different characterists to God, but God is only love.
[/QUOTE]
Then God is worthless and should be ignored.
You know, I’ve never been a romantically inclined person, but people with rhetoric like yours have gotten me to the point where the word “love” makes my skin crawl.