For non believers... Would you.....?

Question

If you thought there was perhaps just a small chance of getting in a car-crash and dieing would you go out on the highway?

If you knew there was just a teeny-weeny minute chance of being murdered would you leave your house?

Just some food for thought.

Answer 1

In those two examples I wouldn't be worried about it. But when it comes to my eternal destiny I'm not taking any chances. I've put my trust in Jesus and on this rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand!

Matthew 7:24 "Therefore, everyone who hears these words of Mine and does them, I will compare him to a wise man who built his house upon the rock: 25 and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and fell against that house; and it did not fall, for it had been founded upon the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not do them, will be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand: 27 and the rain came down, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And its fall was great."

Answer 2

No.

There is a chance every time you get into a car you will be killed in a car crash. There is a chance you could be killed at any time. People in this country get shot at school, does this mean you should stop going to school? Planes crash, does this mean no one should fly?

These fears are irrational. Just because something could happen doesn't mean it will. Just imagine if tomorrow the laws of physics fell apart and the gravitational force was suddenly stronger than the electromagnetic force. That would be a horrible way to die. Does that mean you should be afraid it might happen?

Answer 3

My friend Jim is in extremis and not expected to make it through the night. Juanita went to see him and thought he seemed to recognize her.

There just seems to be a lot of death around. My friend Tom is going through it with his mother, and is rather upset. She is dying of emphysema and CHF, the result of 60 years of heavy smoking. I don't suppose one could ask for a longer life for a smoker, but she could have made this time easier for herself.

Jeff Davis luckily survived the gunshot wound and is now home, but can't work the job he wanted. He has a plate and screws in his arm. One of the perpetrators, a man already wanted for murder, was apprehended; the other remains on the loose.

We die in the night. We say our prayers if we can, and hope for the best. It will be wonderful if there is a far shore where we will meet again. What will Mozart have come up with between then and now? Will Muffin be there to greet me with barks and kisses?

A friend who had finished his PhD in philosophy at Chapel Hill and was leaving for his teaching job on the west coast stuck out his hand and said, "Goodbye forever." Probably true, though we might have run into each other somewhere, someday. But I returned the sentiment, and I don't worry about him often.

An ancient and wizened Shinto priest climbed slowly up a long flight of stairs to a small rustic shrine among very old hillside trees; there he set about lighting eight hundred candles. As the night gathered about him, he sat before that carpet of flickering lights, keeping watch. He became one with the night and the sea of candles, and kept to his work, which was only to be glad to have been able to see a thing of such beauty and rarity.

He watched, and was glad. Maybe he slept a little, and the candles made their silent song under the ancient trees in the faint hillside breeze. The priest's lights repeated the manner of the stars that filled the inaccessible part of the night, far away but visible.

In the first light of day, the candles, imitating the stars, began to flicker and go out, one by one, until the room was a place of shadows and outlines and the aged priest was finally all alone.

Slowly he rose and returned down the long stairs to his hut, where he took a little porridge and lay down to sleep. Later in the day, he would teach.


Job’s Physics

So I went forth into the bitterness of morning
My heart bowed low and full of edges
By reason of the chastisement of Holy Job

To wonder if it matters whether the spider
Spinning its web knows what it is doing
Or if the quantum nature of light argues

For or against divine mercy


--June 25, 2000

Spiritually mature people know about the void out there. Spiritually mature people know that prayer is the time to become quiet and set aside the pressures and furies of the moment, so that you can become attuned, at least temporarily, to the reality that is inside yourself.

Contemplate what can be known. All atoms are made of empty space and electric charges. That is, nothing. Reality exists on a scale we cannot comprehend, and in quantum physical terms, matter does not exist at all.

Thus it is true that we are created in God's image. God is made of empty space and electric charges, and so are we. Thus we are the same as God. Listen to that reality inside your mind. When you have done so, you have become spiritually mature, your expectations have become realistic, and you have engaged in true prayer.

Answer 4

Sorry candi k but we atheists like you christians know that any time we go out on the highways there is a good chance we can get killed but go anyway.
We know any time we leave our homes there is a good chance that last stop at the local indian store can get us killed by some crazy gun man or he could well be waiting outside our houses right now.

Answer 5

Every time I get on the highway I know there's a small chance I'll die. In fact, it's an even bigger chance than that I'll get murdered, but I know there's a small chance of that too. So what's your point?

Answer 6

There's ALWAYS a chance that I'll get in a car crash and there's ALWAYS a chance I'll be murdered. But I'm still going to have a life. Blessed be.

Answer 7

There's more than a miniscule chance of both of these happening, yet we continue going out and driving each day. Well, not me I guess. I don't have a car here. But I do cross some fairly busy streets.

Thanks for the hors d'oeuvre. I hope there's something more substantial coming soon.

Answer 8

There is a pretty decent chance of getting in a car crash everytime I pull out of my driveway, but I still go to work, pick up my daughter, etc. Every time I leave my house or hell, unlock my doors, there is a chance (getting larger all the time, seems like) there is a maniac waiting for me, but I still go outside and enjoy my life.
All of life is about taking risks. If I were so afraid I couldn't go outside or get in my car, my life wouldn't be worth living.
I know what you are trying to get at, and in my opinion, the odds of my getting killed in a car crash by a homicidal maniac who was out to kill my neighbor but was struck by lightning and went out of control and slammed me instead are better than the odds that there is a god who is going to send me to hell.

Answer 9

wow, yet another form of pascals wager. i have lost count of how many of you idiotic theist have dragged this out. oh and just so you know. there is a chance that every time you go out on the highway you will get into an accident, and there is a chance you may get murdered. so you go ahead and live your life in fear, i will just go ahead and live.

Answer 10

If there was just a teeny-weeny chance that Mithras or Thor is our only Savior, why don't you believe in them?