Posted by Gremlin [12.254.24.80 - 12-254-24-80.client.attbi.com] on 08 January 2002 at 00.13.36 ZuluTime:
So this is news....
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: if you pointed at someone and said 'bang', and they died of a heart attack, would you assume that you'd killed them? Or that you could kill others the same way?
Admonished_Revellings says, Gremlin, I would ascribe it to heart attack and coincidence, maybe fright, if the person were frail. nothing more.
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: but if you'd prayed for them to return to life, and they did?
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: better yet, if you prayed for someone to die, and they did, woud that be a coincidence?
Admonished_Revellings says, Gremlin, It would be conincidence.
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: so when do prayers become prayers and not coincidences?
Admonished_Revellings says, Gremlin, I don't know. whenever the prayers aren't selfish I guess. you got me there.
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: prayers are definitively selfish. You assert to follow a deity who has a divine plan, and then ask for things outside of that plan.
Admonished_Revellings says, Gremlin, I can't explain to you how it works.
Admonished_Revellings says, I think that the prayer will be answered, just not in the way that you think.
GremlinDotNet says, Admonished_Revellings: ah. So...you pray for something, pretend it's not selfish, and then something unexpected happens. So prayer works?
Admonished_Revellings says, Gremlin, as I said, I can't explain. I don't know God's plan.
--Gremlin