Your Bible and your dictionary: Would you like to try an experiment?

Question

1. Flip through your Bible, or your dictionary, or your favorite novel.
2. Select a page at random.
3. Read that page, and then tell us if it mentioned something about one of your recent experiences.

Dear Johnny, Read the randomly selected page, and see if anything on that page related to one of your recent experiences. - smiles

Dear "rhs" -- you can choose your Bible -- or your dictionary -- or your favorite novel --- for this experiment. -

Dear "pink" - what a cruel thing to say.

Dear "sailcat" - lol -- any recent experiences alluded to on that page? examples: car repair, trouble with noisy neighbor, fleas, whatever type experiences?

sorry "sailcat" - I am slow, I guess you recently did have an experience related to silliness,--- sorry -- chagrin .

I am laughing at my own senility - but I appreciate most of you being nice to me. -

Dear "Got Air" - thanks

Answer 1

I went straight to my favorite novel, James Agee's "A Death In The Family". A brilliant novel, pure poetry. It doesn't necessarily "fit" any recent experiences I have had but it does make me think of the drunk driver who nearly killed my mate's nephew a couple of years ago, and the boy, a senior in high school, recently killed in my town by another drunk driver. The students stayed outside for a week in the evenings. They lit candles and grieved in any way they could. The males were mostly quiet, the females crying and every evening they stood there on his block in memory of him and in honor of his mother, who was beyond inconsolable. I drove to where I heard they were and got out of the car to pay my respects. They asked me to sign a huge card to his mother, which already had tons of comforting words on it, or even just signatures. I told one of them "I am so sorry. This was a horrible thing that happened," and, crying, she threw her arms around me and told me "It's OK. He's OK now. He's in heaven." I couldn't believe she was comforting me. I learned so much that night. I have always had a distrust of teens hearkening back to school days. I realized that some of them are so amazing they would comfort YOU after a friend's death even though you never knew him. I learned, because many of the students were religious and had made a lovely altar, what true Christianity was and who the truest Christians are. They show no contempt, they don't judge others, they are compassionate and empathic to all. I have met many non-Christians like that, but it's been rarer that I've found Christians who could love their God without condeming others. I learned what a group of young people can do for the world, even if the impact was only on half the town. The passage, aw heck, I'll just write it out. Mary's husband has died in a car wreck (I hope this doesn't spoil the book for anyone, as it is written right on the back of the novel). Mary is the wife of the deceased. She falls back on her faith but can never really be comforted. Andrew is her brother, angry, disgusted by this horrific tragedy but trying to keep calm for her. They have just learned of Jay's death hours before. This is for anyone out there who drinks and gets into a car to drive afterward:

M: "You were going to continue, with what the doctor said."
A: "Yes I was. I will. He told me a number of things and I can assure -everybody- that such as they are, at least they're some kind of cold comfort. He said that if there had to be such an accident, this was pretty certainly the best way. That with such a thing, a concussion, he might quite possibly been left a hopeless imbecile."
"Oh, Andrew," Mary burst out.
"The rest of his life, and that could have been another forty years as easily as not. Or maybe only a semi-invalid, laid up just now and then, with terrific recurrent headaches, or spells of amnesia, or feeble-mindedness. Those are the things that DIDN'T happen, Mary," he told her desperately, "I think I'd just better get them over and done with right now."
"Yes," she said through her hands. "Yes you had. Go on, Andrew. Get it over."
"He pointed out what would have happened if he stayed conscious, if he hadn't been thrown clear of the auto. Going fast, hopelessly out-of-control, up that eight-foot embankment and then down. He'd have been crushed, Mary. Horribly mangled. If he'd died it would have been slowly and agonizingly. If he'd lived, he'd have probably been a hopeless cripple. An idiot, or a cripple or a paralytic, " Andrew said. "Because another thing a concussion can do, Mary, is paralyze. Incurably. Those aren't fates you can prefer for anyone for dying. Least of all a man like Jay, with all of his vigor, of body and mind too, his independence, his loathing for being laid up even one day."

If any of these words offend, please remember that this book was written in the '50s when such words were not meant insultingly. I absolutely have to plug this book. Yes, it's depressing. And brilliant. This one page says so little about the heart of the novel. It is prose poetry, and mostly in the point-of-view of a 6 year-old child. Agee won the Pulitzer posthumously; he died at 45 of alcoholism. You'll find this book in fiction though it is non-fiction; Agee has (barely) changed some names and made his father's death (when he was 6) less tragic by having him killed instantly. He was not.

Beyond my plug, this is a message to all of you who have the gall to get into your cars after you drink: I don't care what 'amount' you think "you're fine" at. I do not condemn you if you are an alcoholic, but to get in a vehicle and drive is tantamount to picking up a gun and shooting off into the distance. Someday, one day, you're bound to hit something. And this is how you will rip apart a family, a good man, a child. Think. Drink all you'd like. Do NOT get into a car afterward. There is treatment out there - often it is court-appointed for repeat offenders. Alcoholism is a disease. The decision to get behind the wheel of a car is NOT. That is a choice, for everyone, from the cocktail party drinker to the pub-crawler to the "I only do in every once in a blue moon" crowd. I belong to the latter. I have gotten in my car to drive a number of times when I knew I shouldn't because I couldn't be bothered to call for a cab or call friends or even the police if I had no fare. This will never happen again.The police WILL drive you home, no questions asked, if needed, or the town will pay for cab fare. I am sickened that I've put myself in a position to kill or cripple others. Yes, myself, but to ruin the life of another is what is tantamount to me. Just don't drive after you drink. Call your sibling, your spouse, your parent or a friend. If none are available know that the police will drive you home. If you are underage it is rare that you will be arrested if you call for a ride. I can't tell you to not drink. I can implore you not to ruin the lives of others by getting behind the wheel afterward.

Answer 2

I am the Pagemaster,keeper of the books and guardian of the written word. My world is the Library, a magical place to live alive with wonderful stories--thousands of them-- and I do mean alive. Robin Hood, Don Quixote, Tom Sawyer, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the Hunchback of Notre Dane, the Invisible Man.....
the Pagemaster, Who's in the Library with Richard?
A book bought for my eight year old granddaughter that she was reading to me before she went to bed tonight. Ususally the bible and dictionary are at my desk, but she "straightened things up for Mimi. [That would be me!] The book is actually a guide through the classics, and presents as a journey, and is our "getting ready to go back to school project." I realize some will have to wait a few years, but she reads well above her grade level. She enriches my life so, and is quite the little horse woman to boot!

Answer 3

Yes, humans connect the dots in their minds. This phenomena is closely related to deja vu as well. People aren't aware that they do this, and that's why it seems so incredible when they find it in their favorite novel or bible, but not so much when they read the dictionary. The dictionary is most often used only to help people clarify the issue of the meaning of specific words, as opposed to sentences.

Answer 4

The Bible did. The dictionary didn't unless you count zebras. I met a zebra once. Considering the Bible is full of advice and Human experience and the dictionary is full of definitions to many words odd and not always so useful, this is not surprising.
And if both, or neither, said anything relevant, so what? We are not supposed to use the Bible, or the dictionary, or any book as one would use I ching sticks. (We are not supposed to be using I ching sticks either). I have had wise and relevant advice and predictions from fortune cookies, advice I folowed, not because I believe fortune cookies are divine but because it was good advice. Can we all say coincidence? HOW GOD EXISTS. Relativity: Time & space curve. Future is the past. Evolution+billions of Yrs+Human desire grows Christ who builds the Universe He evolves in. Heaven is built because of Science & our desire. Galilee Carpenter is Christ because we want it. Future Humanity can have any one we want to in that position. From reading both their words I can tell,Christ wants it. Buddha does not. Brains are computers Souls are Operating systems Christ must indwell, & debug to make us fit for Heaven. (Infected OS's ruin ANY Network) So ask Him in to debug you. That is what being Born Again is all about. It brings peace. Evolution IN the Bible. 1 Cor. 12:27. We are to grow up in ALL WAYS into the Head, into Christ. Ephesians 4:15 We are to grow up in ALL WAYS into the Head, into Christ. Gospel of John 15:1-2 I Am the vine. My Father is the Vinedresser. Every branch and me that does not bare fruit He takes away. Every branch in me that does bare fruit He prunes so that it may bare more fruit. Rev 3:20. Behold I knock. Open and I will come in and eat with you and you with me. http://www.proofgodexists.org.

Answer 5

Pleasant words are like a honeycomb,
Sweetness to the soul and health to the bones.

Never underestimate the power of a seed.

OK, for the experiment, today I was trying to decide if I wanted to purchase Del Monte or Heinz Cocktail Sauce and the word Heinz was on the page I read. That is the kind I decided to purchase.

Answer 6

An interesting event here. I randomly opened the dictionary and the word Saul jumped out. It described him as the first anointed king of Israel and was a subject of a question that I answered just a couple of hours ago...Not sure what that means if anything but kind of got my attention.

edit: lol...my friend, if you are senile then I am brain dead.

Answer 7

OK.

I open the Dictionary on the page 389 the word "silliness" on the center of the page describes many of religious concepts.

True Uncle, I remember I met a silly person today.
:-(

Answer 8

Yes. That works- but then so does runes, I'ching and tarot etc. in much the same way... Hard to say whether it's some cosmic Jungian thing or if it's just human nature mixed with chance....

Answer 9

Why would you ramdomly slect a page out of a Bible or a dictionary or a novel and look for something that related to an experience you had. What would that prove about anything?

Answer 10

1. what translation?
2. Webster or Blackwell?
3. I remember having a problem with aardvarks recently. oh crap that was an encyclopedia

Answer 11

At no time, during my perusals of the bible, has any passage relevant to my experience ever been found.