Guest free to think Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Weird things have been happening lately. I'm not sure what it would be called and many would probablty think it's all just a coinsedence. Like for example, I was on my way to work the other day and I was on my way to work and I was questioning the exsisitance of god and I has thought about this particular girl at work that I havn't worked with in a long time. I mockingly said to myself, "Maybe the spirit will lead me to her" then as I pulled into the parking lot I pulled up, unknowingly, right next to her. So I felt that I had to get in and talk about what I was thinking. Then today my former pastor's wife sent me a message on FB and there was a scripture in it and then my sister pops up with the same scripture. The one about jesus/god standing at the door and knocking... Coinsicdence or not this kind of thing really makes me wonder if god is trying to "call me back to him" I put it in quotes because I am mocking, but I'm also serious. There are certain things I could never believe again. I think I would have more of a deist or pantheistic viewpoint. Not sure though cause I havn't looked into that too much. Ok so I'm probably making too much of this. Anyone else have issues like this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hollygolightly Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 I don't know about pulling up to the lady in the parking lot, but as for the scripture I have a reasonable explanation .... Ok so you have "fallen away" in the eyes of both your former pastor and your sister, and the objective for both of them is to try to get you back. Considering that fact you would have to massively narrow down the bible to pertinent biblical verses ... then popular, pertinent biblical verses (little hint: I have heard people come at me with that same verse on more than one occasion). Examine, as objectively as you can, all the available facts. Are they from the same church? I could've been last weeks sermon. Do they know one another? Perhaps the verse, or you particularly, could have come up in conversation. I am not saying that these are definitely the case. Hell, it could just be popular apologetics. It's not that rare to hear the same thing from that corner of the world over and over and over again. They only have so much material to work with in the first place. It's all just coincidence, but I'm trying to illustrate that these sorts of coincidences are a lot less mystical than they appear at first glance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Richard_Webb Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Weird things have been happening lately. I'm not sure what it would be called and many would probablty think it's all just a coinsedence. Like for example, I was on my way to work the other day and I was on my way to work and I was questioning the exsisitance of god and I has thought about this particular girl at work that I havn't worked with in a long time. I mockingly said to myself, "Maybe the spirit will lead me to her" then as I pulled into the parking lot I pulled up, unknowingly, right next to her. So I felt that I had to get in and talk about what I was thinking. Then today my former pastor's wife sent me a message on FB and there was a scripture in it and then my sister pops up with the same scripture. The one about jesus/god standing at the door and knocking... Coinsicdence or not this kind of thing really makes me wonder if god is trying to "call me back to him" I put it in quotes because I am mocking, but I'm also serious. There are certain things I could never believe again. I think I would have more of a deist or pantheistic viewpoint. Not sure though cause I havn't looked into that too much. Ok so I'm probably making too much of this. Anyone else have issues like this? Interesting - Have you ever concidered the collective unconscious as a possible explanation for these 'coinciences'? I believe that the collective unconscious is a component of 'Divine Mind' - it is not an intelligent entity in and of itself, however it is a common mental bond that we all share - at times in ones life very strange things seem to lead to bizarre coincidences, I think that it is important to realize that nothing is random, everything is evidence of that which came before it - with that said, I think that it is quite possible that past events experienced by two different people sometimes leads the subconscious to reveal things to the conscious mind and leads us to do things that inadvertantly end up coordinating our own actions with that of another. -SRW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Most people would say that the chances of the lottery's pick3 any given draw being 666 is strangely rare, but in truth its the same as 960 or any other number. Coincidence, nothing else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Richard_Webb Posted May 18, 2009 Share Posted May 18, 2009 Weird things have been happening lately. I'm not sure what it would be called and many would probablty think it's all just a coinsedence. Like for example, I was on my way to work the other day and I was on my way to work and I was questioning the exsisitance of god and I has thought about this particular girl at work that I havn't worked with in a long time. I mockingly said to myself, "Maybe the spirit will lead me to her" then as I pulled into the parking lot I pulled up, unknowingly, right next to her. So I felt that I had to get in and talk about what I was thinking. Then today my former pastor's wife sent me a message on FB and there was a scripture in it and then my sister pops up with the same scripture. The one about jesus/god standing at the door and knocking... Coinsicdence or not this kind of thing really makes me wonder if god is trying to "call me back to him" I put it in quotes because I am mocking, but I'm also serious. There are certain things I could never believe again. I think I would have more of a deist or pantheistic viewpoint. Not sure though cause I havn't looked into that too much. Ok so I'm probably making too much of this. Anyone else have issues like this? It could also be that scripture was on a popular television show that week. Who knows! I was complaining about this very thing not long ago to my atheist best friend, who told me I would be less impressed with such things if I joined a statistics class. I have always thought horoscopes were B.S. that anyone can interpret as applying to them, as are many so-called personality tests. We are inundated with millions and billions and catrillions of bits of input every day, and we unconsciously block out tons of things that would seem significantly related to us if they came into our conscious perception. This unconscious filtering is so strong! I became first aware of its unconscious power when I was whistling some song and my companion laughed and commented on it. I mentioned it was a song I liked, but I didn't know why I was whistling it at that moment. He/she told me that it had just been playing on the radio in the restaurant or store we had been in a few minutes earlier. When we put our minds to something, like some exciting new artist, or getting called back to the Lord, we are choosing to put our mind to making that connection, thus we are more likely to notice stuff that was alla round us all along. Here is an article about human pattern-seeking and lack of feeling in control, which explains why people are drawn to the more superstitious forms of Christianity during periods of deep fear and personal crisis: Patterns & Control and on NPR: Study: 'Lack Of Control' Plays With Our Minds I haven't read the study itself yet. Phanta A very interesting atricle indeed. Thank you for that link 8). However there is still one major point that needs to be addressed, that of free will. Personally I do not believe that we have a free will, and numerous neurological studies are revealing that we don;t have free will, instead, the idea of a free will itself is an illusion, one conjured up by our ego and the catalyst for this illusion is the complexity of our minds. It is easy to say that everyone has a choice when presented with many options, but only one will be chosen, but why? Well, this is determined by knowledge and preferences both of which are imposed by the external world to which we react. Our biological makeup determines how we will react to given situations and not one of us determines our biological makeup, that notion is just plain silly. So many people have argued that we all have a free will, but then thats where they stop, because the argument doesn't hold up very well. One time I played a game with a friend who believed in free will, and he would often say 'See look, I chose the one I wanted.' My reply was, 'but why did you choose it?' Simply replying 'because I wanted to' doesn't realy get us anywhere, it serves no purpose and does not answer the question. Then I began to explain to him how his choice was already determined by a preference which is the result of some learned experience - the source of the experience is found externally then has an effect either desirable or not, which is dertermined by our biological makeup...it's simple really. So how is it then that this study has any basis in reality when we don't have truley have any power over our biological makeup which determines our actions anyhow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen_Richard_Webb Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 explain to him how his choice was already determined by a preference which is the result of some learned experience - the source of the experience is found externally then has an effect either desirable or not, which is dertermined by our biological makeup...it's simple really. Preference would certainly influence a decision. But I don't always pick my favorite color, flavor, and what not. I see it as more of a statistical likelihood, than a determined absolute. There are no apparent determined absolutes, however our cells on the individual stimulae level have no free will to do as they please, and the coalescence of these very same cells create 'higher level' functions and structures such as the mind and our will. [note that I did not say free will] The point I am and was trying to make is that our will is determined by factors other than our 'choosing', our 'choosing' is the result of our biological makeup and our unique reactions to external stimulae [situations]. -SRW Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Weird things have been happening lately. I'm not sure what it would be called and many would probablty think it's all just a coinsedence. Like for example, I was on my way to work the other day and I was on my way to work and I was questioning the exsisitance of god and I has thought about this particular girl at work that I havn't worked with in a long time. I mockingly said to myself, "Maybe the spirit will lead me to her" then as I pulled into the parking lot I pulled up, unknowingly, right next to her. So I felt that I had to get in and talk about what I was thinking. Then today my former pastor's wife sent me a message on FB and there was a scripture in it and then my sister pops up with the same scripture. The one about jesus/god standing at the door and knocking... Coinsicdence or not this kind of thing really makes me wonder if god is trying to "call me back to him" I put it in quotes because I am mocking, but I'm also serious. There are certain things I could never believe again. I think I would have more of a deist or pantheistic viewpoint. Not sure though cause I havn't looked into that too much. Ok so I'm probably making too much of this. Anyone else have issues like this? Within a day or two of my very sudden and traumatic deconversion moment, my new debit card came in the mail. The safety number on the back of it? 777. I nearly shit my pants. That same fucking day, I purchased an international calling card. What were the first three digits after 1-800? You guessed it, 777. I might've shat my pants then, because I panicked so badly that I probably blacked out. I had already discovered this site, and I started a "holy shit please help me please help me oh shit oh shit" thread. If it wasn't for the people here with all their reason and ration being so at the ready, I would've jumped off the parking garage at Caesar's Palace or some shit like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 one will be chosen, but why? Well, this is determined by knowledge and preferences both of which are imposed by the external world to which we react. Our biological makeup determines how we will react to given situations and not one of us determines This doesn't fully explain away individual idiosyncrasies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Anyone else have issues like this? Not an "issue" for me because fortunately I never was a morontheist, but just to inject a dose of reality... the exact thing happens to people of other faiths (and also to atheists I trust) too - only that the latter will hardly call it a proof for any "higher power". I've personally once watched a thunderstorm far to the South, spontaneously said a toast to Thor, and immediately after that I got a single chain of cloud-to-cloud lightning directly over my head, after which it all continued in the South. Makes you go "hmmmmm"... so if the things you describe would be "proof" for the judeo-christian monster then my experience would just as well be "proof" that the Aesir and Vanir Gods exist. Let's search on for a while and I guarantee to you we'll find the same kind of "proof" for every single higher power humans ever believed in. The trick is, the times where it did NOT work aren't remembered by us (normally). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator buffettphan Posted May 19, 2009 Super Moderator Share Posted May 19, 2009 Within a day or two of my very sudden and traumatic deconversion moment, my new debit card came in the mail. The safety number on the back of it? 777. I nearly shit my pants. Your comment brought back memories. I got a credit card in the mail with the safety number of 666. Then I rented a post office box---the number was 4666. Within another day or so, I had to page one of my kids... "Call Mom".... guess what.... MOM is 666 on the phone dial. For some reason, I had never noticed that before. LOL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chefranden Posted May 19, 2009 Share Posted May 19, 2009 Weird things have been happening lately. ... Ok so I'm probably making too much of this. Anyone else have issues like this? Confirmation Bias In psychology and cognitive science, confirmation bias is a tendency to search for or interpret new information in a way that confirms one's preconceptions and to avoid information and interpretations which contradict prior beliefs. It is a type of cognitive bias and represents an error of inductive inference, or as a form of selection bias toward confirmation of the hypothesis under study or disconfirmation of an alternative hypothesis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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