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Signs From God

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Anonymous

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I remember watching Fortean tv a few years ago and seeing that the virgin mary had made herself known to a man in the form of a pork scratching, another story when a house wife found Jesus's image formed on her wall in dust - you get the idea.
Surley if god, Jesus and the rest of the crew are up there and want to make themselves known to all of mankind they would choose more credible ways of doing it? If god has the power to create the universe and everything in it i dont think that this would prove to be to much of a problem for him. If it is the case that he wants people to make up their own minds and decisions about him, why do i get Jehovas Whitnesses disturbing my morning Kilory watching and informing me that it is now wrong to skateboard amongst other things?
 
This has always been my view . If there is a god why does he play cat-and-mouse with us?? If he suddenly appeared in a cloud of flame and told us all to stop sinning surely that would be more effective than appearing on a tortillia or on a hens egg. Yeah, I know about free will but it all seems so long-winded to just leave us clues when a personal appearance would be so much more effective....

Must go, i think i can hear them stoking up my own personal bonfire in hell.:eek:

BTW, is it really a sin to skateboard now!
 
Blueswidow said:
BTW, is it really a sin to skateboard now!
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Skateboarding isn't a sin. Those baggy pants that show skateboarders' skinny butts - now those are a sin.

Nonny
 
The cartoon "Futurama" just did their own take on God's handiwork. The final quote from The Big Guy was about that very subject:

"When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all"
 
Now, why would a good jewish girl like the BVM want to be associated with a PORK scratching?????

It's distinctly non kosher!!!!!:(
 
Bisto said:
why do i get Jehovas Whitnesses disturbing my morning Kilroy watching and informing me that it is now wrong to skateboard amongst other things?
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Surely watching Kilroy is a worse sin than skateboarding? ;)
 
Re: Re: signs from god

Sally said:
Surely watching Kilroy is a worse sin than skateboarding? ;)
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For those of us in the States, what's a Kilroy, as regards the telly? (I know of the original "Kilroy was here" story.) And why is it worse than damn fool teenagers trying to injure themselves and others?

PS: It's properly spelled "Jovial Witlesses".
 
It's like Ricky Lake or Jerry Springer, but worse. They recently had a bit on another show where they showed him sitting on guests (by accident), cutting them mid-sentence, etc.
 
When Bisto wrote of witnesses disturbing his Morning Kilory, I read it as
Morning Glory and imagined worse than tv interruptus! :eek:
 
I always find it stupid when people write God as being a "she". It should be pretty obvious from the Bible that God is a male, and a misogynist as well.
 
I always find it stupid when people write God as being a "she". It should be pretty obvious from the Bible that God is a male, and a misogynist as well.
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Not necessarily. As far as we know, the bible was written by men in a male dominated society. They were the misogynists, not God. Something may have got lost in the translation of the oral tradition the bible sprang from. How do you know for sure that, if there is a God, it's a 'he'? Do you have some primary evidence of this?

There's plenty of female deities elsewhere (such as Pachamama). Christianity took on bits from lots of the religions that predated it -and alot of the female deity stuff got lumped together into the form of the Virgin Mary. This has more to do with sexual politics than anything else, if you ask me. :)
 
hehe

Xanatic said:
I always find it stupid when people write God as being a "she". It should be pretty obvious from the Bible that God is a male, and a misogynist as well.
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That is of course if you:

a) Believe everything you read

b) Regard Christianity as THE ONE religion

However I do agree with your view that the Christian God may well be a misogynist.

It says as much in the Bible, so it MUST be true, right?

Hmmmmm..................

Oh, bye the way, the whole 'Maybe She's scared' thing was intended as a bit of light relief - some people tend to be too serious about themselves all the time.
 
Religious manifestation is in the eye of the beholder (literally!) If you are a person of simple beliefs, it makes sense that you would see Jesus or the BVM in a commonplace object or "food" as the case may be. It's hardly more believable to see a likeness in a pillar of fire than in a tortilla!
As to the whole he/she thing; many pre Christian religions worshipped the Great Mother as their primary deity and the Christians among others corrupted that notion and threw the BVM in there as sort of a sop to the hold outs. I don't think substituting "she" for "he" is any sillier than assigning gender to "god" in the first place!
 
Well.... the one and only god wouldn't need a mate would He/She It and is probaly asexual. If not, then it mut be bloody lonely!
 
Im thinking if I was thee God and transcended all time etc etc, that life or existence would get very boring. Im sure he walks among us now and again the same way victoria and albert used to do with the commoners so many years ago.(blackadder said they did so it must be true)
 
Originally posted by Blueswidow
I know about free will but it all seems so long-winded to just leave us clues when a personal appearance would be so much more effective....
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Well, some people believe this has already happened once; however, he message didn't take. Even with eye-witness testimony suggesting He performed incredible feats, the populace didn't really care for Him that much. Back then, He was too liberal, now He's too conservative. Like Brian said, "There's no pleasing some people."
BTW, is it really a sin to skateboard now!
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Not as long as you don't worship Chad Muska. He's great at stair-jumping, but it's hardly miraculous. Now, if he could pull off a 900° with a benihana without a board, I'd think it would merit looking into.
 
Signs are where you find them. Some people find all the signs of divinity they need in nature, or in music. Other people seem to need something more direct and individualized.

God gets God's message in whatever way a person can perceive it. (Notice the avoidance of that pronoun, eh?)

Whether a person chooses to listen is something else again.
 
With signs I think its very much a case of interpretation. ie in the case of the porky scratching, if you're religious you might see the BVM, if not you might not notice anything in particular. In which case the signs and portents only reveal themselves to the converted - so what's the point. In other words I don't think they come from God at all. They originate in the imagination of the beholder.;)
I wonder where skateboarding ranks in the sins league. I mean is it worse than adultery but not quite so bad as murder?
I once had a discussion with Jehovah's Witnesses about the use of motor vehicles. They disagreed with my cigarette smoking and I said that at least I'm not polluting the atmosphere as severely as drivers of motor vehicles. Their reply? God can forgive the use of motor vehicles as it allows them(the witnesses) the opportunity to witness to more people in one day than if they rode pushbikes.:confused:
 
It's in the eye of the beholder IMHO. That or one has to question the logic of the deity that created everything ;)

To me, this is sort of the same thing that bugs me about ghosts, seances, etc. - why are the dead apparently buggering about in such daft ways? I'm sure lifting a table is all fine and dandy, but I can do that myself.

If there are sentient forces outside of everyday existence, they seem to be either the spirits of dead circus clowns or have run out of ideas ;)
 
Fortean Scratchings

I saw the episode of FTV with the pork scratching on one of the late night repeats, when me and a mate were at a party (we were the boring ones that watched TV while everyone else had fun...). The following morning my mate bought a packet of pork scratchings to see if he could get a BVM in it, and lo and behold the first one he got was a Madonna-esque image at least as good as the one on TV!

He still ate it, though.
 
Here are some interesting statistics of the frequency of miracles!
You may put this in another thread if appropriate ...

Most miracles are reported from the Dutch province of Utrecht

In comparison with other Dutchmen the inhabitants of Utrecht province experience the most miracles. This was demonstrated by an unofficial poll of the KRO (Catholic TV Organization) TV-programme "Miracles do exist" (Wonderen Bestaan).

The editors of the programme used the 1200 stories that the programme has received since it's first airing.

This showed that in the Netherlands approximately 7,3 miracles happen per 100.000 inhabitants. But in the province of Utrecht there are 10,4 per 100.000. This is 43% higher than the country-average. The province of Drenthe has the least miracles per inhabitant.

Programme link

Analysis link (in Dutch)

The most frequently reported type of miracle is being saved from imminent danger. Other frequent types are:
- recovery from illness and good outcome of pregnancy
- finding consolation after the death of loved-ones
- finding dear objects or persons
- the fulfillment of a deep wish.

Personally I'm a (relatively progressive) Catholic and I'm a bit confused by these data. Formally I should believe in miracles (I think), but I know that even the Catholic church itself is very careful in officially recognizing a miracle.

My personal opinion is that God performs his miracles through other people, and not like a "deus ex machina". But reading the analysis, most of the reported miracles seem to fall in this category.
 
Xanatic said:
I always find it stupid when people write God as being a "she". It should be pretty obvious from the Bible that God is a male, and a misogynist as well.
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:lol:

If God is male, surely there must be a Mrs God?
Otherwise, what would God do with those male genitalia?
Heck, we've had the Son of God, so how did he exist without a Mrs God?
 
Let me sound a bit pedantic ...

According to common opinion in both Protestant and Catholic circles God is BOTH male and female (and also above all those categories). Usually Genesis is quoted which states that "God made humanity in his own image" which implies both men and women.

I respect everyone's right to be atheistic and to think that religion is load of ****, but I'm always saddened when the people who criticize don't know the basic facts of the thing they criticize ...

Byron Cac said:
Maybe "It" enjoys a good belly laugh!
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On another note - of this whole gender discussion this one is seems closest to the facts :)
 
Mythopoeika said:
Xanatic said:
I always find it stupid when people write God as being a "she". It should be pretty obvious from the Bible that God is a male, and a misogynist as well.
Click to expand...

:lol:

If God is male, surely there must be a Mrs God?
Otherwise, what would God do with those male genitalia?
Heck, we've had the Son of God, so how did he exist without a Mrs God?
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It's claimed by some people that Wisdom, which is personified in some passages in the Bible is in fact a Goddess whose role was edited to an abstatction when the idea of monotheism came along.

So Hagia Sophia - Holy Wisdom - is probably Mrs God...

BTW: I vaguely remember some suggestion a few years back that the Holy Ghost was the female principle in God (can't remember which denomination it was, sounds like the concilatory end of the CoE, or some blue sky thinking by the Catholic Church)
 
Timble said:
It's claimed by some people that Wisdom, which is personified in some passages in the Bible is in fact a Goddess whose role was edited to an abstatction when the idea of monotheism came along.
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My wife is reading and discussing the whole bible with a (relatively progressive) study group. The've just been through "Proverbs" where this "Lady Wisdom" appears. According to one theory Proverbs was aimed at a male audience - and a female character was chosen to make a bigger impression upon the audience. But according to my wife this can't be correct, because parts of Proverbs are clearly aimed at a female audience.

She will take your theory into the next meeting, and we'll see what comes out.
 
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