A friendly inquiry for athiests?

Question

Hello, I hope that you are all doing well today. I have an inquiry.
Have you ever physically been saved from death? I mean, have you ever been in a situation where in any other circumstances you should have died, but you did not? What did you make of it? I have. When I was 11 years old, I was completely ran over by a school bus. I came away with no scratches on me whatsoever. Impossible, you say? No, my body happened to be in the exact position where the wheels did not touch me. How is that even possible? I will tell you what I believe. In the bible God says that His angels take charge over us. I believe that an angel took charge over me to keep me from getting hit by the wheels while the bus just went right over me. When I was 15, I was riding on the tailgate of my uncles truck and fell off on the highway. He was going about 40 miles an hour. I walked away from that with nothing more than a bump on the head that eventually went away. I did not even have

to go to the hospital. You can make fun all you want, but what is your explanation for these kind of occurences where death or serious injury should have occured but did not? Is it all coincidence?

Answer 1

I'm not going to make fun of it, but at the same time I don't attribute good luck to anything more than coincidence. I've been hurt a lot more times than I've been saved. I was due for one or two good breaks.

Alright, you want an actual explanation? The width of the two front tires is a lot smaller than the gap between them. That would be simple statistics. You're more likely to fall between them than in front of them. As far as the second, I see two possibilities: either you hit something soft(ish) or you're lying. You imply that you hit your head, and any direct trauma to the head at over 30 miles is almost always fatal, so either you weren't going that fast when you hit the ground, or you're lying. That's my explanation.

Answer 2

This is called 'teleology', the idea that good things happen because God makes them happen so therefore there must be a God.

I have to say I'm impressed that you weren't killed by the school bus! You were really lucky! I have been lucky too at some times in my life and, yes, I have had that very strong feeling that someone must have been looking out for me.

But what about the kids who -do- die getting run over? Is that God's will? I mean if he deliberately intervened to save you, he must have meant for those other kids to die, or lose limbs or whatever.

How do you explain that? Is it just God's Will?

Putting it all together, the good stuff and the bad stuff that happens in the world, taken as a whole, doesn't seem like more than chance. I agree it's VERY convincing when it happens to you--like a 'near death experience'--but to the casual observer it seems more like just chance. A certain number of kids in schoolbus accidents will be injured or killed, and some will escape without a scratch. It's not a miracle, it's just statistics!

Answer 3

Okay. At 11 years old, you're going to be... what, 3' something tall?

Your name indicates you're female, so very likely, you were thinner than a male of equivalent age.

In short -- you were small.

Busses have high chassis and wide wheel bases. You were statistically likely to have been missed under such a circumstance.

As for the bump on the head, so what? If you had died, someone else would have survived a similiar injury, and they'd be the ones claiming the miracle -- small comfort it would haveb een for your family.

You call these miracles -- what about the hundreds or thousands of people who experience the same exact circumstances but die anyways? Did your deity just not love them?

It's called statistics.

And yes, I've had a doctor look at my mother when I was fifteen and tell her that they had no idea what was wrong but that if we had waited even 24h more to go to the hospital, I'd have been in a coma from which I'd never have woken.

That's not a miracle -- that's the body being capable of self repair, and the benefit of supportive medicine to treat the symptoms even though they didn't know the cause.

Answer 4

See the thing is there is a lot of dumb luck involved in survival. You are giving angels the credit, but what about the bus load of kids coming back from a youth groups outing that crashes and they all die? Did the angels help them?

The answer to your question is yes. I had a trailer with a generator tip. I fell back against a fence and the several ton generator fell against me. They had to get a forklift to get me out it was so tight. I had a two inch scratch on my arm from the fence and about ten bruises, but nothing serious. I have gotten hurt worse on a bicycle. I was an atheist when it happened and no angels helped me. The guys that were around were all amazed, and I got to hear the same religious crap about how God was looking out for me.

Get over it. Luck is just luck.

Answer 5

Sure. My brakes gave out just a few days ago. I put on my flashers and steered to the side of the road and pulled into a parking lot. I could have been killed in an accident, it was during a high traffic time on a 50mph road.

But I don't put anything special into it. I was safe because I took every precaution I could, and did what any sensible person would do. It was a function of probability that nothing bad happened. You don't see any greater design or power behind people getting hit by trains, do you?

Answer 6

I'm not making fun of you, but knowing the structure of school buses intimately, as well as human anatomy, I have to say your story is highly improbable. As for the second supposed incident, I have actually treated several people in my hospital emergency rooms who've experienced exactly the same accident - and only one lived more than a few hours. Ever heard of "road rash"? That one had such severe abrasions and broken bones that she is grotesquely disfigured to this day - more than twenty years after the accident.

I'm sorry - I think you've made these incidents up and must tell you that, rather than inspire others to look favorably upon your religion, you have cheapened and degraded faith through these untrue tales.

Answer 7

How close to death? Every time I cross the road I am close to death.


I am glad for you that you were lucky, but that is all it is is luck. How many other kids get run over by buses and other vehicles and get maimed or killed. Where were their angels?

Face it, you are only here to ask this question because you were lucky. If you had not been so lucky you would not be here. No one asks the questions of why-did-I-get-killed-opening-a-soda-bottle (or some other innocent task). They were as unlucky as you were lucky but since they are dead they are not here to remind everyone about it.

But people do die every day because some trivial task goes horribly wrong. Has God assigned them demons to kill them? Because it makes as much sense as what you are claiming.

Answer 8

About the bus: it is possible. There is a space between the wheels that at least two people could lay between. I have never been near death that I can remember. If I ever am, I'd think that I was lucky and I should be more careful next time.

Be careful near any vehicles.

Answer 9

I have escaped serious mutilation or death on several occasions. On several occasions I have failed to escape the mutilation part. I put it down to dumb luck. Luck that I did not get killed. Dumb for putting myself into situations where I could have been killed.

Like why were you riding on a tailgate of a truck at 40 mph.
What does that say about whom Gods chose to protect, really.

Answer 10

My explanation for those occurrences is your extremely inflated sense of ego. You are so obsessed with yourself.

Take a moment to step back. Maybe you would do well to research the number of people who die each day. How about something simple? Research the number of children that die each day because they cannot reach clean drinking water. When you see that number is over a thousand, then you will realize the folly of thinking that an invisible being shaped events to protect you.