God working on the SDMB who would have thought of such a thing. There have been miracle witnessing reporting threads, and this is along those lines.
Sometimes in the morning I will read scriptures, I have been in Psalms for quite some time, reading them in order. One morning I felt I should just open up the book ‘randomly’ but in the NT. I have had leading to open the book at ‘random’ before, but they don’t happen often. When I did and opened directly to John 19, which is Jesus sentenced to be crucified.
Then opening the SDMB I see a response to my post in Atheists in foxholes thread by The Other Waldo Pepper stating:
Which I responded with John 19 which shows to me that Jesus was found ‘not guilty’ and only executed to please the crowd.
Also that the Mod requested to take such things to a new thread.
So following all that, my take is 1: God wanted to state His case to The Other Waldo Pepper and/or others here and 2: God used me for this, and also 3: God used the Mod to start a new thread on it which this is (regardless of the Marley23 intentions for posting).
So any other explanations that can possibly explain this?
Your ego has blinded you to any other interpretation of what is clearly a simple coincidence. My guess is because it’s addicted to this; ‘God used me…’!
Why wouldn’t God just instill the interest into The Other Waldo Pepper so that he cracked open the Bible to read it himself?
I mean, for all we know, The Other Waldo Pepper is taking a break from the boards and will never see your post, never receive this information, etc. Maybe he will view your post and not even find it interesting and therefore hand wave it away.
I don’t know, I guess my point is that if God was attempting to contact The Other Waldo Pepper, why would he contact you? Shoot, why wouldn’t God instill you with the desire (not sure if that’s the right word) to emailThe Other Waldo Pepper to make sure he gets the information?
Well, it’s Jesus, isn’t it? A Good chunk of the Bible is devoted to him. A bit like opening a Harry Potter book at random and suddenly reading something about him that helps you win an argument on muggles.net or something. It’s bound to happen.
Just the other day I was looking at Albert Pujols Baseball Reference site (to determine how much I’d be comfortable with the Cardinals paying him). I took note of the fact that his given name was Jose.
Later that day, in the “MLB: Create your best team based on first name” thread, someone made a team from players named Jose, but didn’t include Pujols. I was able to immediately respond by adding Pujols to his team, greatly increasing the quality of his list.
From this I can only conclude that Albert Pujols is God, and I am but his tool in pointing out his greatness.
And, as I said at the time, John 19 shows to me that he was executed because “we have a law, and according to our law He ought to die, because He made Himself the Son of God.” If you want another explanation for why you read it wrong and got corrected, why, then, feel free to assume God is working through me to make you realize the guy who then cried out that God had forsaken him was not in fact affiliated with God and was executed for falsely claiming otherwise.
I haven’t read that thread, so I don’t know the chronology. So if The Other Waldo Pepper was already the type to check his facts, then why didn’t God just go directly to him? It still seems to make more sense for God to instill a little ‘bug’ in The Other Waldo Pepper’s mind that would make him go check the facts.
Why are you the middleman here?
In any event, it seems that the whole thing was already on your mind. You decided to crack open the New Testament and it landed on the passage in John. Had you been already discussing John, in particular? I can’t tell from your initial post.
It seems like a coincidence, to be honest. You narrowed down your ‘target range’. Strange, yes. Miraculous? It’s not immediately apparent that it is.
Just now! I was talking to a co-worker who was a bit chilly and she whipped out her pashmina. Yesterday, I watched a re-run of Friends where Rachel’s sister bought a … you guessed it … pashmina!
Do you know how often I’ve even heard the word pashmina in the last decade? Twice. Yesterday and today.
So I guess that puts Jennifer Aniston, or possibly David Schwimmer, on the short list for potential Gods now.
Anybody else got any interesting coincidence … oops, I mean miracles … to share?
Cognitive bias, such as confirmation bias, in which one is led to interpret information which agrees with one’s established beliefs. (Wiki link: confirmation bias) or subjective validation (Wiki link) in which the information seems pertinent simply because it has some personal significance to you.
Cognitive bias is the same function at play when astrological profiles or forecasts seem to contain a kernal of truth to believers: the tendeny of the mind to favor information which confirms one’s beliefs about oneself while ignoring information that is not a good fit. In a thick book filled with cryptic and vague assertions and claims, it would be a simple to interpret any or all of the phrases in multiple ways, and in fact, we do, as evidenced by the numerous translations available. Sometimes these translations vary by subtle nuance, sometimes by radical deviation. Compare verses in the New World Translation to King James, for instance. There is a reason that different demoninatons and different sects of Christianity study different versions of The Bible: it is because a particular translation supports church leaders’ directives. And your personal reading of any random verse is subject to the very same bias.
Here is a comparison of John 19:6. Note how Pilate’s statement varies from “I find no basis for a charge against him” to “I find him not guilty.” These are vastly different claims. I bet you lean more towards one of the statements than the other.
Thing is, if randomly chosen verses in The Bible or in astrological forecasts hold some personal meaning to you or provide comfort, that’s great. But expecting others to cling to the exact same translation and meaning as you is unrealistic.
Kanicbird - how often would you say that this sort of coincidence happens to you? Do you keep track?
If not, why not? Were I in your shoes, I think I would keep track. I’d write down the dates and the ‘message’. Perhaps there is a ‘bigger picture’ that you are supposed to be getting.
This goes along with what I’ve previously said - it seems to me that if God was attempting to reach The Other Waldo Pepper, he’d just do it directly. In your opinion, he does that with you already - right? So perhaps God is trying to get your attention with a message that is bigger than the message to The Other Waldo Pepper, at first blush, seems. If this train of thought is good and you’ve thought about this, then what do you think God is trying to tell you?
The “coincidence” offered by kanicbird is so mind-bendingly lame, that it just has to be the work of Thor, who’s really pissed off that there are suckers out there still worshiping this false god Jesus. Thor decided to mock this whole Jesus-worshiping cult by having one of them post something so ridiculous, that everyone who sees it will be turned away from Jesus.
That’s the only explanation that makes sense here.
And, of course, the real point – suggested, but not quite stated, a number of times thus far – is that if you start off your day enough times by reading a Bible verse at random, you’ll occasionally have a day where it seems unusually relevant. And if you start off your day enough times by reading a horoscope prediction, you’ll occasionally get one that’s spot-on. And if you choose stocks by throwing darts, you’ll occasionally pick a winner. The question is, how many times doesn’t it work?
Why? Why should God work the way you expect Him to instead of the way He wants to? Why are you dictating terms for God?
God works through us all the time, that’s part of the deal 'God with us" (meaning of Emanuel), we are just as valid a way of God working then God working directly (which usually means angels which are another being - and I believe God used angles to select that passage, so God did work ‘directly’ also).
I believe He is trying to get my attention. First those who accuse are usually projecting their faults, so saying God is trying to get my attention to see the bigger picture is most likely what God is trying to do with those who say that. And the message for me was to post this, to help those see the hand of God working in the SDMB, even through non-believers, even in those of other faiths.
This story of Sam’s has but a single explanation:
A surgical God who digs on magic operations
No, it couldn’t be mistaken attribution of causation
Born of a coincidental temporal correlation
Exacerbated by a general lack of education
Vis-a-vis physics in Sam’s parish congregation
And it couldn’t be that all these pious people are liars
It couldn’t be an artefact of confirmation bias
A product of groupthink,
A mass delusion,
An Emperor’s New Clothes-style fear of exclusion
No, it’s more likely to be an all-powerful magician
Than the misdiagnosis of the initial condition,
Or one of many cases of spontaneous remission,
Or a record-keeping glitch by the local physician
No, the only explanation for Sam’s mum’s seeing:
They prayed to an all-knowing superbeing,
To the omnipresent master of the universe,
And he quite liked the sound of their muttered verse.
So for a bit of a change from his usual stunt
Of being a sexist, racist, murderous c*nt
He popped down to Dandenong and just like that
Used his powers to heal the cataracts of Sam’s mum
Of Sam’s mum
I am curious–is there a set of circumstances where someone might witness a ‘miracle’ where you would not conclude “confirmation bias?”
They are only different in a small way, at least in our modern American understanding of law. Both would say “there is no evidence of this.” One would come before trial if no reasonable proffer of evidence is made; one after hearing any evidence and concluding it is not quite what one was told it was.