Oh my God!

[Gary Wassner]

"God can revive the dying."

This was in one of NYC's morning papers:

"When it comes to saving lives, God trumps doctors for many Americans. An eye-opening survey reveals widespread belief that divine intervention can revive dying patients. And, researchers said, doctors 'need to be prepared to deal with families who are waiting for a miracle.'"

"More than half of the randomly surveyed adults -57 percent- said God's intervention could save a family member even if physicians declared treatment would be futile..."

Oh my God!!

[Hereford Eye]

This from a guy who writes fantasy novels.

Do you suppose the same 57% would accept that God is responsible for the fact the patient is dying?

[Gary Wassner]

Sin is responsible for that HE. You know that guy, right?

[Hereford Eye]

Yep. As A.C.C. would point out, it's one of the nine billion names.

Consider this further problem: the guy dies. Was it because god was pissed at (1) the patient, (2) at the petitioners, (3) at the quality of the prayers or was it because she considered the dying a learning experience for (1) the patient and/or (2) the petitioners?

[Rob B]

How does this apply to the theory that we all, in each of us, has a part of God?

God is simply what we call those collective powers we can't describe, isn't it?

[Gary Wassner]

Pantheism isn't really the same now, is it? We don't mean God when we say we each have a part of Him in us, do we? I think that's more of a generic way of saying we're all a part of the whole, or the hole, depending upon whether you're an existentialist or not.

[Bengoshi-San]

The topic is Religion... hmmm, where should I begin? Better yet.. once I begin.. where can I end?

In the end the conversations always comes down to ... "to each his own" or "live and let live".

[Gary Wassner]

I just never cease to be amazed at how easily we accept fantasy scenarios in our real lives. Miracles, healers, people who can walk on water! And then we read fantasy novels and understand that everything's all made up?

[Bengoshi-San]

If you give people a cure (in this example faith), with no solid reason to believe in it, they will choose that over even the most tried and true solutions.

Why?

Basic human psychology. We take what we do not have reason to believe.. and put our own personal feelings and faith into it, giving it as much or as little value as WE have for it in our minds. Thus making it as powerful as we want to, and as legitimate a cure as any.

[Bengoshi-San]

I just never cease to be amazed at how easily we accept fantasy scenarios in our real lives. Miracles, healers, people who can walk on water! And then we read fantasy novels and understand that everything's all made up?

The same applies to the comparison between religious texts and fantasy fiction. There are a lot of similarities, yet one is taken literally by many people and used as the basis for how they live their life and what they believe in and the other form is ridiculed and considered childish imagination.

[Bengoshi-San]

I wonder who all of these people blame if an ill family member dies.

I'm sure it's not god.

lol. The irony amongst religion is bewildering.

[Obtuse]

I wonder who all of these people blame if an ill family member dies.

I'm sure it's not god.

lol. The irony amongst religion is bewildering.

Perhaps "all these people" don't blame anyone and realize that death is just part of life.

Personally, I find generalizations bewildering.

[Gary Wassner]

You're right Godmage. 'All these people' are just lots of individuals. But this thread did begin with a consolidation of that into a statistic - 57% of polled Americans...etc etc.

So we have limited ability to discuss this without referring to 'them'.

[Obtuse]

There is no mention of that 57% blaming anyone, however. So how can Bengoshi-San's statement about blame be attributed to that group? We would have to make the assumption that just because someone believes in miracles, they would also need to blame someone or something for the death of a loved one. That just doesn't track, so his statement doesn't get the benefit of the context defined by the original post.

[Hereford Eye]

Seems to me that to assign blame is to hold someone or something responsible. Inherent in the act of prayer is belief in the responsibility of the person to whom the prayer is addressed.
To say that death is a part of life infers that life is an entity in and of itself. The familiar relationship between life and god is that the latter is responsible for the former. In other words, life is god's fault. Ergo, so, too, is death.