I'd have thought he'd be too busy watching everyone have sex and making sure they're using the pre-approved holes to be getting involved in any of that nonsense. Maybe he delegates the voyeurism to Jesus.

Yeah, I've heard God is quite ripped.



[size=6Ah, is that my coat?[/size

I might be going out on a limb here, but I don't think Rock God X believes in God.

Last year I went to a talk at my local "Skeptics in the pub" by [url=http://www.standupmaths.com/Matt Parker[/url which, was on the topic of how seemingly incredible results can actually be meaningless random patterns. An example IIRC, was of a young woman who was showing some childhood photographs of herself at disney world to her fiance when, he saw himself as a child standing quite close by in the same photo. To draw a parallel with your own situation, from the individual's perspective it seems miraculous but with six plus billion people in the world, it's not supprising that such events happen to someone somewhere.

I do. Zeus is the only true God - all others are false idols.

No way!



Thor!

When I was a kid I spent years praying for a new bike without my prayers being answered. So I went and nicked a bike and prayed for forgiveness, that worked

Pah! Zeus s on Thor!







I don't think Thor is even immortal, is he? I can't check, because Wikipedia is down today.

When schizophrenics kill people and tell the Police God told me to do what's the difference to when a President/Prime Minister kills thousands and tells the world God told me to do it?

That's a Thor point...

One's suffering from a severe form of mental illness, in many cases unable to recognise the consequences of their actions or disassociate fact from fantasy. The other is a schizophrenic.

Loki did it ...

Open the page you want. CTRL+SHIFT+K (Firefox) or CTRL+SHIFT+J (Chrome).



Paste this in the window:



[code$("#content, #mw-page-base, #mw-head-base, #mw-head, #mw-panel, #footer"icon_wink.gif.show(); $("#mw-sopaOverlay"icon_wink.gif.hide();[/code



Disco.

You seem to have missed this bit,







the bit where I say that I don’t think it is Gods work but I do understand when people have reached a point of desperation with little or no hope. Some people believe they will solve all their problems when they win the lottery on a Saturday some put their faith in a God. Everybody has a choice. (some better odds than others)

I am certainly not arrogant thinking I am special, I am walking through self determination and the care of my wife. I have not said that “God” saved me, perhaps if you read my post correctly instead of building yourself up for a misguided rant you would have understood what had been written.

I have asked many religious people the very same questions you state in your rant. Nobody can provide the answers.

I was removed from Religious Education classes at school because I was a constant disruption in class asking similar questions as yourself.

Would you consider Brian Cox "uninspirational, low-grade and slovenly"?



He gave the most succinct debunking of religion I have yet heard on (of all places) the Jonathan Ross show. Christianity in the west has for a long time reconciled the idea of creation in 7 days with the evidence the World and Universe took billions to years to form as the former being a convenient parable to keep things simple. Yes it did take billions of years says the Church but just because the Bible says it took 7 days doesn't mean God didn't do it. This is often taken further when the big bang theory is put forward as where it all began by saying it was God that did that. This implies there was something before the big bang itself which Prof Cox debunked by the simple statement that there can't of been anything before the big bang as before the big bang the Universes did not exist so neither did time. Case closed.

It was you who said your 'heart is confused'. It was you who said that you prayed to God. Why pray to someone/something you don't believe is there? Do you make a habit of talking to yourself? Why would you heart be 'confused' if you didn't think there was at least the possibility that your recovery could be "God's work"?

Wow, I take it all back. vbfg is the only true god.

Because in certain times of desperation, you'll give anything a go.



And I suspect it's also a cultural response – it's embedded so deeply in our collective experience that we think: 'what harm can it do?'



There is, however, a slightly interesting point in that meditation and prayer have been shown to be beneficial – boosting certain hormones etc. So perhaps they do very seriously help people, but just in the way some might think of hope? And indeed, that's without looking into the psychological aspect simply of saying/thinking something to 'someone'.



On this level, I understand it.

I meditate when i have a headache, it works but it's not God curing me, it's my own focus and relaxation.

Ah, well, y'see ... God moves in mysterious ways ... there are things he knows that we don't.

A lovely catch-all, that one.



No basis for it but, hey, let's not quibble.

I have made it a little larger for you, not sure if you under stood the first or second time perhaps third time lucky. People do irrational things out of desperation, confusion and fear.



I also said





The prospect of death made me desperate and confused. I could have told him to Ferk off but what was the point "what harm can it do"?



For all we know (and we don't) there may be a God of Heaven and Earth just as much as there is a God of Rock?

I disagree. I'd be no more likely to pray to God than I would Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, desperate or not.







Most (all, I think) of the information I've read on the benefits of prayer, states that in properly-controlled experiments it's been shown to make no difference whatsoever. And I would have thought that the psychological aspect of saying 'something to someone' would be greatly improved if the person you were saying it to was real.

Ok, let [ime[/i make it easier for [iyou[/i. You said 'my heart is confused'. Not I was confused at the time, but now I am not. My heart [iis[/i confused.







And there we have it.

I think there are tremendous benefits to meditation, contemplation and the like. I can point to two friends who went from severely depressed to being in control of their lives by going down this route. It was meditation rather than an acceptance of prayer in both cases, but functionally I'm not sure there's much difference. If there is benefit for you then you should do it. I suspect cultural conditioning is going to be a major factor in what form feels most natural to you, whether that be acceptance or rejection of what you grew up with.



It's not as [url=http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/2009/07/swearing_increases_pain_tolerance.phpgood as swearing though[/url. That helps a fsck-ton.

If my geek memory serves, according to the Offical Handbook Of The Marvel Universe, Thor and the other Asgardians aren't immortal, just incredibly long lived.