A Little Practice in Faith

It seems like almost every day things happen in which I see the hand of God. I know atheists tend to chalk them up to coincidences, and I always wish they could see our life here in Rose Creek Village, as our village is called. It's hard not to believe here.So I thought I'd start a thread for those that would like to detail some of the "coincidences" (miracles in which God remains anonymous) they've experienced.Today, I was completing an ebay transaction, and I didn't realize that I was on my "personal" hotmail account, which is set at exclusive, so that only those in my address book can email me (ends spam). I have a "business" account that I'll change if it starts getting spammed, though I've been careful with it so far.Anyway, it wasn't until I sent the message and got the "your account is set to exclusive" note that I realized I sent the message from the wrong account. Oh, well. I had to add the recipient to my address book in case he emailed me back.I was happy to find that the email didn't get there. I left an "s" out of the address, so it didn't arrive. I switched to the correct account and resent the email. Just as I sent it, I realized I didn't save it. Rats! I like to keep my ebay correspondence.This time I accidentally used "hotmail.com" for the recipients address, instead of his real domain. Hotmail caught that there was no such hotmail address, so it sent me back to the email with everything saved. I simply clicked the "save to sent folder" and resent the email.Everything wonderful because of two mistakes.I once had the same thing happen when in anger I sent an email to one of the most awful people I have ever met. It had a real underhanded blow in it, and I felt awful for sending it. I could hardly live with myself.That email came back undelivered the next day for no known reason. I can't tell you the relief it brought me.Coincidence? Sure. I have a lot of them, though.

You are a deluded individual!

See, I guess the problem I have here is that over three million people have died in the Congo over the past several years, but God stepped in to prevent you from getting spam.If God is going to intervene for... no offense intended... your piddling crap, and not for people who really need it, wouldn't that paint God in a rather unflattering light?-----------
Dan Carroll[This message has been edited by Dan Carroll, 06-24-2003]

I wonder if you keep an equally careful record of every time such beneficial happenstances don't happen, so that you can address the issue objectively - or is it only the beneficial quirks which stick in your mind?

I don't think that it was just coincidence.The fact is that you made a whole string of mistakes. And when you look at it the "helpful" mistakes are probably easier to make than the ones that cause the minor problems.So it seems to me that there was an underlying reason that you were making mistakes - distraction, tiredness or whatever - and given that, getting the email addresses wrong is just too likely to even be an impressive coincidence.

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If God is going to intervene for... no offense intended... your piddling crap, and not for people who really need it, wouldn't that paint God in a rather unflattering light?

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Any twentieth century American would definitely have to ask themselves exactly this question. Not all of us come up with the same answer you did, that this paints God in an rather unflattering light.Since I don't get to decree how things are, I'm stuck with the way they are, whether I like it or don't like it. I would hardly use my original post as a basis for believing in God, and I didn't start this topic to provide evidence for God. However, I find the evidence for God too overwhelming to deny, yet I have no explanation for suffering in the world, whether it be three million people in the Congo, a kidnapped/molested child, or the monkey I saw on video being torn apart while alive, then eaten by chimpanzees. I can't change it; I can't make God change it; nor can I make the experience of God go away.Sometimes being consumed with a big picture you can do nothing about makes you miss the little pictures you can do something about every day.For the rest of those who responded, the above was not written as an apologetic or proof for God. I have started a thread before on that topic, and no one really picked it up, not even y'all. Thus, I wasn't asking for, nor am I really interested in your arguments against it as a proof for God.I do apologize for adding the note about coincidences at the end of my OP. It did sound like a challenge. It wasn't meant to be.

Interesting. I think god is taking your bad luck with computers and transferring it to me.The other day I was using Windows, and I needed to make a shortcut to a file to put on the desktop for a friend of mine to access easily (she's not good with computers). I right-clicked and brought up the menu and moused down to "Make shortcut." Of course, Microsoft in their wisdom puts that right over "Delete" in the menu, and of course, a blip in the mouse mechanism caused the pointer to move right as I let go of the button, deleting the file.So, does god hate me? Does windows suck? (Can't both be true? )Anyway, this sounds like selective memory. People remember when it goes their way, or appears to proves something they already believe to be true. They're much, much less likely to remember when things contradict their beliefs.

'So, does god hate me? Does windows suck? (Can't both be true? )'did you go to the recycle bin and restore lol.

It was actually a dial-up settings file, which don't go to the recycle bin. They just get erased.

Crash,Like I said, I wasn't trying to prove something with my original post, and there are things I call coincidence. Other things I feel are reminders from God. I thought today was one.If someone really wanted to get on me for using the incident in my OP, they could have gone to my lists of posts (I'm not saying it would have been worth it) and found out that just today I posted to Schrafinator in another post telling her that the Dvorak keyboard has ctrl-v (the "paste" shortcut in windows) right next to ctrl-w, which I found out recently is the "close window" shortcut, and a miskey caused me to lose about four or five paragraphs I'd typed to her.Of course, I just figure there was something wrong with the post, so I wrote it completely differently. I take almost nothing as an accident.

Well, I wasn't trying to disprove you with my post - I was actually griping about that stupid menu thing because I'm still mad about it. But your post does suggest to me that the "God hypothesis" is the kind of thing that informs one's entire worldview. That's a little scary, to me. Like a weird kind of cognitive dissonance. I mean, how can any of that god stuff actually make sense to you? That's more of a rhetorical question, by the way. I suspect the answer has something to do with the ineffability of god, perhaps?

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But your post does suggest to me that the "God hypothesis" is the kind of thing that informs one's entire worldview. That's a little scary, to me. Like a weird kind of cognitive dissonance. I mean, how can any of that god stuff actually make sense to you? That's more of a rhetorical question, by the way. I suspect the answer has something to do with the ineffability of god, perhaps?

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Gee, Crash, I don't understand what you're asking me at all. I understand all the words, but you must be thinking some way I just don't think.Why does something that informs one's entire worldview scare you? Why is what I said cognitive dissonance? Is it that I took both the good and the bad as the intervention of God? Is it that I think God is intervening, but I can't explain why he doesn't stop starvation in Africa? I just don't know what you're getting at.

That's kind of it. Like, what is it that causes you to see divine intervention in the things that, in my view, happen to everybody regardless of creed or sin or anything? If god is intervening, but the result is the same as if he'd done nothing, then what has god really done?I don't think you're a dumb guy or anything; it's just that it's these kind of questions that for me, led to atheism. They were just too burning for me to dismiss with something like "it's the mystery of god." And, if a person can so easily dismiss this kind of illogic, what else can they wave away? I'm not scared of your beliefs, because you've made it clear that you're a responsible, moral person who respects the rights and dignity of others. But not everybody is like you.[This message has been edited by crashfrog, 06-24-2003]

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Interesting. I think god is taking your bad luck with computers and transferring it to me.

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Funny, I almost never have any kind of problem with e-mail, files, etc. like those described, and I'm not even that computer literate, to say the least.I do not believe in God, either, so what does that mean?

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I take almost nothing as an accident.

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So, there's no such things as accidents or random occurrences?I mean, when you give yourself a paper cut it's supposed to have greater philosophical "meaning" and "happened for a deep, hidden reason"?Wow, you must spend your entire life instilling tremendous meaning and import to things like hangnails and stepping in dog crap.(Sorry, couldn't resist this line of reasoning.)