Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Not sure if this the right forum, but here goes --
I am an agnostic, but it seems to me in looking over my 63-years-so-far life, that is something is meant to be, achieving or getting it is easy, and if it not meant to be, there are obstacles put in my path.
To give an example of something bad: If I am about to go on a vacation, but then I have trouble getting time off, I have an unexpected large repair bill the week before I am set to go (meaning less spending money), and then I develop a bad headache at the last minute, but I decide to go anyway -- I will end up having a lousy time and being sorry I went.
To give an example of something good: if I am just thinking about getting a puppy and on the way home from work the next day, I see a "Free Puppies" sign by a large cage with puppies in it, I fall in love with one of them, and she turns out to be the best non-human companion of my entire life.
So, do you thinks things like that are just coincidence or not?
P.S. The reason I asked for the opinions of atheists and agnostics is because it seems to me that many Christians say that Jesus/God is ALWAYS personally responsible for one's good luck or bad, and I personally just don't believe that.
Last edited by katharsis; 10-27-2016 at 05:07 PM..
Not sure if this the right forum, but here goes --
I am an agnostic, but it seems to me in looking over my 63-years-so-far life, that is something is meant to be, achieving or getting it is easy, and if it not meant to be, there are obstacles put in my path.
To give an example of something bad: If I am about to go on a vacation, but then I have trouble getting time off, I have an unexpected large repair bill the week before I am set to go (meaning less spending money), and then I develop a bad headache at the last minute, but I decide to go anyway -- I will end up having a lousy time and being sorry I went.
To give an example of something good: if I am just thinking about getting a puppy and on the way home from work the next day, I see a "Free Puppies" sign by a large cage with puppies in it, I fall in love with one of them, and she turns out to be the best non-human companion of my entire life.
So, do you thinks things like that are just coincidence or not?
P.S. The reaason I asked for the opinions of atheists and agnostics is because it seems to me that many Christians say that Jesus/God is ALWAYS personally responsible for one's good luck or bad, and I personally just don't believe that.
Once is chance. Twice is a coincidence. Three or more times means Someone is knocking at your door.
I am sure the atheists here will say even if it happens a 1000 times it means nothing.
Even when I was a hard-core evangelical Christian I never saw trivial coincidences like that as the work of the Christian God or other supernatural agents.
Improbable things happen.
Having trouble getting time off from work before getting sick right before a vacation isn't even that improbable.
Of course we notice the one or two "impossible" or "extraordinary" events in our lives and don't notice the millions of ordinary events in our lives. There's a semi-serious term for this phenomenon: Littlewood's Law. Read more about it here, if you'd like: Huffington Post: Littlewood's Law
There's also some survivorship bias at work here: for example, the people who pray for deliverance from a disaster and die anyway are no longer alive to tell their side of the story. For more information: Survivorship Bias
No. Even as a Christian, I thought it was silly to think God would micromanage life to this level. What all powerful, all knowing force could possibly give a **** if I go on a vacation? That does't make any sense at all.
So no. I think life is just full of random events, but they aren't even that random. You couldn't get time off for work, so you started getting sick. Why might that happen? Perhaps you didn't get time off because there was a particularly big project you were apart of. Stress wore you down and you fell ill as a result. That's not some magic life force at play, that's just biology. Stress is bad for the body. Thinking about puppies then seeing a sign for free puppies? Chance. Plain and simple. Think of all the times you were thinking about pizza but didn't drive by any pizza places. Those sort of things vastly outnumber the random coincidences like that. To me, this says they're just coincidences. And frankly, I fail to see why that's a bad thing.
I've never had anything like what you're talking about happen.
Closest I've been was during an addiction to gambling, I had just blown through almost all of my money leaving me with $10 to eat and get to and from work for a week. Quite literally within a half hour of doing that, a friend's mom showed up to give me a decent amount of money as a graduation gift.
I could have decided "it was God watching out for me, I'm blessed!"
But instead I recognized that I got exceedingly lucky this time and it's unlikely that it would happen again, so it's time to quit.
Jesus Christ spirit does not lead people into agnostics or atheisms , were some Calvinist Christians may be think that only the elect will be saved which is error on their part ..........Where the spirit of the world which is not of Jesus Christ spirit will lead people away from believing in God as these spirit hates God , so if people are offended by the gospel of Christ , and oppose people talking about God , than the spirit of the world will be part of opposition ......... See Christian are all called to resist these spirits of the world and their opposition to the gospel and not to be ashamed of the gospel
To clarify, yes, I know that random things and coincidences happen to most people every day, but what I am talking about is when things happen in such a way that in hindsight, someone might think that something was just meant or not meant to be -- similar to "intuition in hindsight", but not exactly.
And, also, yes, I do know that not ALL Christians think that God/Jesus is personally responsible for someone's trivial life events, but as the saying, goes, I wish I had a dollar for every time I have heard, "Well, God meant for that to happen."
Also, re: Littlewood. I am not talking about miracles, but only about things that appear, in hindsight, to have happened for a reason. Although I have read many accounts of so-called miracles, I am always skeptical and often at least a little bit cynical, too.
And, finally, I am not offended by gospel -- although, admittedly, I am offended by people who insist their religion and what they believe is the only truth. And, btw, how can someone hate something that they deny (or at least very strongly doubt) even exists?
Last edited by katharsis; 10-28-2016 at 07:00 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
