Your thoughts on prayer

Diana said:

As Ruth has stated; I can't prove there is a god, but it seems to me that the very fact that I can form the question, "Does God exist?" is a sort of proof that he must exist.

I know that's one of the ancient arguments, Diana - but it doesn't really make much sense, does it? After all, we can both form the question 'do fairies exist?' - but does the fact that we can speak those words make living, breathing fairies more likely?

 OK, we all pray that God will give John an "thump on the head", but if he choses not to beleive, he may see God as the acorn laying on the side of the road and say it was responsible. John, if your in an "void"...how you get time out of it and direction?...you know the answer to that one? I should let you think on it a bit,.... time  wants me to move on...you mark where your at.. walk away from that marker...that is the begining of direction, and then you make an measurement of some type as to from point A to point B...that gives you time. You believe this because there was an action connected to it in physical. Your trying to tell me that because you can't touch "God" in your physical...how do you know he exists. You have to have an special awareness of the "change" in something. then you have an tangable "physical" movement and suddenly "God exists". In the meantime you can try an expereiment I tried out when I was going to write an book...take your "aura" camera with you...they have them out to record Kurlian Photography. Get someone to take an picture of you and see what you on the picture. Don't say anything to the photographer either, just smile nicely. Now, go to an "healer" and have the both of you say an "prayer" and ask for the"Christ-White" light of protection to surround you.  Immediately go back and have another "aura" picture taken. Now she'll most likely develope them both right there as you wait for them in front of you if she's liget. I'll tell what I came up with, the first photograph I had like an blue shadow next to me, she said that was someone that I knew that had recently passed on in the family, since she didn't know me beforehand, she was very correct, my grandfather had died not to long prior to this going there. Then she pointed out an wispy looking "W"  slightly above my head and told me that was my guardian angel. So I left and returned within the 1/2 hour from the prayer and I didn't tell where I had been or with whom and asked for another aura picture, see if I got the same thing, this time the picture turned out to where you could barely see me for the white light radianting all around me...you could though see my face enough to know that it was me. Interesting little experiment. I would suppose if you had to say something about this it would be that you have to beleive somethings that you don't physically see, in this case the "prayer". Maybe God does exist John.

Shirley, to understand the nature of space and time we need to do some deep thinking. Here's a useful link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time

As for using Kirlian photography to indicate the existence of God - that's a little like using the word abracadabra to indicate the existence of magic.

'Maybe God does exist John...'

He may do, Shirley - but my reason tells me he's very, very unlikely.

Shirley, to understand the nature of space and time we need to do some deep thinking. Here's a useful link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_space_and_time

As for using Kirlian photography to indicate the existence of God - that's a little like using the word abracadabra to indicate the existence of magic.

'Maybe God does exist John...'

He may do, Shirley - but my reason tells me he's very, very unlikely.

I think you'll find most scientists become atheists or agnostics, Alan.

The latest survey on religious belief amongst scientists involved 517 members of the National Academy of Sciences.

When queried about belief in "personal god," only 7% responded in the affirmative, while 72.2% expressed "personal disbelief," and 20.8% expressed "doubt or agnosticism."

Belief in the concept of human immortality, i.e. life after death declined from the 35.2% measured in 1914 to just 7.9%.

76.7% reject the "human immortality" tenet, compared with 25.4% in 1914, and 23.2% claimed "doubt or agnosticism" on the question, compared with 43.7% in Leuba's original measurement.

Again, though, the highest rate of belief in a god was found among mathematicians (14.3%), while the lowest was found among those in the life sciences fields -- only 5.5%.
 

Hmmm... looks like God has stolen my avatar!

Thanks for posting that Diana.  What you posted here and what John mentioned about our quest for God being hard wired into our genes sort of reminds me what St. Augustine said about the "God-shaped hole" that we have in our souls that only God can fill.  We try to stuff everything else into it - money, prestige, power, career, relationships. pleasure, stuff, you name it, but those who have achieved any and/or all of this still testify to feeling strangely empty.  I don't think anyone, believer or not ever sees that longing fully satisfied.

Who said I was higly intelligent?  LOL.  But thanks, John.

I still stand by my "choice to believe" and your "choice not to believe," John, and here's why.  All the concrete evidence you spoke about - yes, that's how we adapt to the world and learn to survive in it.  But I choose not to limit myself to what can be perceived by the five senses.  Or what can be scientifically proven.  That's where you hit the wall, John, and frankly,  I believe you limit your understanding of what your asking about here by not being open to other possibilities.  And yes, the most important of my beliefs as you state it (God exists) fits into this category.  Logic and reason have their place, but they aren't the whole picture picture here.  In fact, they defy logic.