It truly is a blind and sad state-of-affairs when anyone wants to claim or support a claim which suggests that the justification for prayers not being answered could or would be as a result of the person who is praying not having the right type of relationship with 'God'...

Especially when that assumption is blatently not true.

How can such a little child who is being repeatedly raped, completely against it's will, have the wrong kind of relationship with this 'God'?

Deeply considering these type of questions will do one of two things...

1.)Allow one to seek a more accurate sight...

OR

2.)Cause a greater blindness...



Now, don't get me wrong...

It is supported by various scriptures, and is also completely plausible, according to some religions, for a person to not have the right kind of relationship with 'God'. That, in and of itself, is not problematic when considering an emotional 'God' who wants to be worshiped, and will punish those who do not.

The biggest problem with this notion lies in the further consideration(s) regarding the all-knowing, all-good, all-powerful attributes which are most commonly associated with the 'God' of Abraham.

Something has to give.

This type of unneccessary evil cannot exist if the afore-mentioned attributes do, in fact, belong to this 'God', and this 'God' answers prayers based on priority concerning the health and well-being of it's children. This must be a consideration of an omni-god which would answer any prayers.

Something has to give.

Unneccessary evil does exist.

Personally, I do not believe in the personification of a 'God' who meddles in human affairs. One who helps humans to win a war against non-believers, one who helps someone find a new job, one who helps another avoid an accident, so on and so forth, but cannot find the compassion required to stop repeated incestual rape which permanently scars it's victim. And to top it all off, this omni-god actually watches it happen, or better yet... planned it for the child's own good?

It is a sickening proposition, in my opinion... demented beyond belief...

'God' works in mysterious ways...

Yeah... whatever!

Empathetically retarded, by sheer will... not free, mind you...

And so often the claim is that others have hard hearts...

Pearls to swine...

Okay divine intervention. As you know I do not believe in an all powerful being playing chess with our lives but for conjecture I will consider this concept.

If god shows prejudice favor to one person over another would this not make him at best human at worst evil? Staying with this thought, god having been created by man, it would make sense that he will come off with all of the human complexities of bad and good.

If there would be a god or all powerful being in this universe who for some unknown reason favors man as his favorite creation, which is presumptuous to think, but if he/she/it would, then we all should be allowed all of his favor, not the select few, right?

hmmmm

I fail to see anything here that cannot also be attributed to the power of mind and the law of attraction.


Morris Goodman - The Miracle Man ... by all accounts should not be alive. For those unfamiliar with his story, he crashed a small plane in 1981.

His 1st and 2nd cervical vertebrae were broken ... 'no one had survived a break in this area'

His spinal chord was crushed... 'he would never walk again'

His larynx was severely damaged and 'would never speak again'

There was permanent nerve damage that affected his liver, bladder, kidneys and diaphragm ... he 'would never breathe on his own again'

His swallow reflex was damaged so badly he couldn't swallow and 'would never eat again'


He believed that with the power of his mind that he could heal his body ... and he did. He lives a normal life...is a motivational speaker and a pioneer in exploring what is possible...

He was able to push through all of 'our' programming ... all of our limiting beliefs about what is possible for us ... and he showed us a new vision ...


On a different scale ... there was a time when scientists said that it was a physical impossibility for a human to run a 4-minute mile. With our physiology it just was not going to happen and if it did, it would be extremely dangerous. This was the thinking until, of course, someone did it ... and as soon as Roger Bannister did it ... many others did it too. Once we see something as possible ... it becomes possible...for us...



So back to Morris Goodman. The fact that he can breathe on his own, that his brain function is strong, that he can walk and talk and live a normal life ... all can be considered miracles.

But they are not, I don't believe, the kind that are bestowed upon some and not upon others by some invisible man. The miracle to me is that he has stretched our understanding of what the human mind is capable of... and if the power of the mind can do that ... what else can it do?


Some will deem it divine intervention ... some will see a more causal relationship. In the end, perhaps it matters not. What we focus on does indeed grow.


If I seek an answer to a question or ask for a sign that I am on the right track ... and a butterfly lands on my finger ... is that an answer from God ... or is that me manifesting something that would get my attention to affirm my direction ... or is it pure coincidence?

In the end, does it even matter. All that matters is that it is meaningful to me. We experience this existence through our own layers of perception ... and that shifts ...

A God that chooses favourites to bless does not resonate as truth for me. The operative words being 'for me'. All will define their experiences within the context of their personal belief structures.

I love human beings ... we are all so fascinating ...

what we pursue brings fortuity to bear causally.

what we affect, effects.

what we harbor, stores within.

what we relinguish, flees our attention.

what we apprehend, draws near.

what we refute, alienates.

we choose.





But I believe intervention to be personal, not universal; because of choices.
The interactive relationship one has with one's environment gives texture to the environment.
The environment influences its own content with the limitations imposed by the environment itself.

For intervention to exist, there must also exist a causal influence providing the environment and its selfsame limitations.

Perfection then seems to be subjective to harmony within the environment, assuming that the environment is perfect.

Were man's environment perfect, no strife and contention would exist.

Why a caterpillar finds it necessary to metamorphisize into a butterfly seems to question perfection and offer a causal metaphor all its own. "Why is there a womb within a womb?"

The same can be said for a maggot. Under the skin, it becomes a different adult creature than one one that pupates and renders the fly. The creature manifested under the skin does not reproduce due to a lack of breeding capacity with a fly.
The environment has alternative possibilities within the environment.

Our own environment has been altered from that which was given, to be that which is more suitable to pleasure.

Pleasure, it seems, is neither universal nor incumbent in form and texture for every individual, but rather personal.

So, I ponder covetousness as being subjective to personal pleasure and not always a personal objectivity.

I observe, then, that covetousness and pleasure and personal needs are causal to personal endeavor and advantage. The privelege of such pursuits breeds strife and contention where endeavor has not produced advantage to others.


As we look out over our environment and witness the advantages and disadvantages due to our abundance and lack, we can all see that covetousness and pleasure are influencing our choices and establishing strife and contention within; a tension that seeks intervention from without where hardship and struggle within are become an environmental conundrum.

Divine intervention may very well be a tool of the metaphor of for the metamorphisis given upon our human condition and available upon request to better cope with life's challenges as given equally to all in opportunity.




" He was too open and direct in his conduct, and possessed too little management---to cope with so cool and skilful an adversary." Wirt.


"Host cop'd with host, dire was the din of war." Phillips.


" The tender heart is peace, and kindly pours its copious treasures forth in various converse." Thomson.


"The redemption of man is a copious subject of contemplation.
Hail, Son of God, Savior of men! thy name shall be the copious matter of my song." Milton.

There is a huge difference between reasons that sound good and good sound reasons...

This world is not what it was, in terms of knowledge, when the descriptions were written that are attributed to 'God'...

I cannot and will not claim to know what is, but with a little deductive reasoning, we can remove that which cannot be the case, as described...

The removal of what cannot be true renders that which remains to have the possibility of what could be...

Unlearning teaches more...

the strength of your faith plays a part-if it is the plan of God for you to be healed.
where prayers of that nature sometimes err, is that we are often very selfish about them.
everything has a reason...sickness, death, etc.
sometimes one must be ill or pass away in order to re-unite a family again, to save some one else, to stop something worse from happening.
sometimes one must be healed completely to teach another something very important.
but when our time is up, no amount of prayer will change that.

God (and Christ as well) have taught us the way to pray.
anything else is just 'me, i, we, mine'...selfishness

God is supposely all-knowing which means he has already scripted everyone's life to fit his divine plan..so to pray to God to change that plan just for one's own personal gain is practicely telling God "forgive yourself God for you knows not what you do" so to pray to god is lack of faith

Good point funches...

Unless of course the believer does not believe that the plan is already in place, or that the plan is an ever-evolving one...

Who knows?

It makes no sense to me... but to another???

Do whatcha like, I suppose...

I've often wondered why the Lord doesn't perform more miracles on the earth these days. I think he CAN do them, but sometimes he WON'T do them.

I can't prove this of course, but it's just my line of thought.

I think what he HAS done is that he has given us the ability to learn, to develop things and to deduct reasoning and such. He has given us wonderful medical tools that provide prosthetic devices to help people.

Now, he hasn't created an artificial retina good enough to help people like me, yet, but that's in the works. Ditto cures for cancer and Alzheimers (which was in part, reportedly, responsible for the death of my wife).

I feel that the Lord works for good even in evil situations. Witness the story of a guy from Texas at Walter Reed to get an amputation. His friend from California had flown there at his own expense. A chaplain came upon them in the Pentagon chapel or somewhere and said, How lucky you are to have a friend like this who will come to you at your hour of need.

Oh, no, said the Amputee. I am lucky that I can draw my friend to me like this. I have one more opportunity because of this to tell him about the Lord.

The lord may not be around for you and me and others, Peccy, but for that amputee, I think he was there that day.

Geo.

believer ahorde any idea that anything could "evolve" so believers had to know that God's Divine Plan was set in motion once creation started ..so that plan has supposely been in progess for eons so for believers to ask God for things of self-gain is the same as questioning God's judgement

If 'God' has any plan in place that is what will happen... it then negates the free will concept... we are all just supporting actors/actresses to the plot.

It is all already determined.... by 'God' none-the-less... It would have to be in order to say that an all-knowing, and all-powerful 'God' has a plan in place.

If this is believed, then 'God' cannot be all-loving though... obviously so... look around at the plan, with 'God' in control of it all...

WOW! COOL! Kinda taxed my brain cell but if I was a little (okay, a lot) smarter I would have said the same thing as eloquently as you did.

Even if God is pulling all the strings, I'd rather be part of his plan and under his control than not. Personal choice thing, I guess.

Geo.

As I understand it, its not that God has a plan in place but it is that God knows what will be. He knows the choices we will make. Can we change our paths that are already known by God? I believe so but not by going it alone.

the puppet has "No Choice" but to be please as to what the puppet master does....out of fear

You are never under his control. You can follow if you wish, but you are always free to leave as well. Its not the act of following so much that he wants, its the choice to.

"Chazster"...God created you in such a way that "IF YOU WANT TO LIVE" have "NO CHOICE" but to eat food and drink water ...but if you don't want to live and decide to starve yourself then you would be commtting the sin of suicide and will burn in hell forever ....sounds like control to me

Where did you read that? I can't find it anywhere.

"Zapchaser" why would you need to read something that is so obvious ...

are you saying that you don't have to eat food and drink water to help sustain your existence?

are you saying that if you don't eat food or drink water that you won't starve

are you saying that by starving yourself when food is plentiful that it is not considered as being suicide and therefore not a sin?

and last but not least...are you saying that God didn't create you this way to need food and water to help sustain your life