I was thinking about Axis and Allies and using dice to play the game. I then thought about a real war with bullets flying, people dying, and all the stories about almost being hit and so on. I know some of you believe in luck or chance or “the odds,” but I really thought the dice illustrated something diffierent. I call it the Providence Factor. As one who does not believe in chance, but rather a controlled universe (read God’s sovereignty), each dice roll represents those bullets that hit or miss their targets. There’s something there that appears random and at the same time very precise, ordered. Reminds me of Proverbs 16:33, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.”
How many stories have our grandparents told us of strange stories that appear to be to wild to be true, yet they lived? Are you here because of the randomness of flying bullets that didn’t kill your grandfather?
So God was directing the bullets and shells that either killed,maimed or missed someone? :roll: Controlled Universe? Supernovae,Black Holes,Quasars–-thats some control! The Providence Factor is the dumbest thing I have heard since Intelligent Design… Go read a science book and learn the truth…
Watch the flaming. It is unneeded.
How many stories have our grandparents told us of strange stories that appear to be to wild to be true, yet they lived? Are you here because of the randomness of flying bullets that didn’t kill your grandfather?
I don’t know about Grandpa, he doesn’t talk much about his war, Korea, but I do have a story about a rocket that had a late detanation and was 6 feet underground before it blew. It sounded like a jet when it came in over my head, in fact I didn’t react, because I thought it was a low flying jet. I don’t know about provedence though, it was probably an old crappy rocket.
I think the “go read a book” part was the flame.
Everyone tries to make sense of the world in their own way. Call it Luck, Call it God either way it is pretty arbitrary to me. Invisible forces or Invisible dude in the sky? If it is God I have about as much control over his acts as over the acts of the guy across the hall. Which is the same amount of control I have over how the dice fall or if the rocket is old and crappy.
How many stories have our grandparents told us of strange stories that appear to be to wild to be true, yet they lived? Are you here because of the randomness of flying bullets that didn’t kill your grandfather?
I don’t know about Grandpa, he doesn’t talk much about his war, Korea, but I do have a story about a rocket that had a late detanation and was 6 feet underground before it blew. It sounded like a jet when it came in over my head, in fact I didn’t react, because I thought it was a low flying jet. I don’t know about provedence though, it was probably an old crappy rocket.
How about the Major misreading the map, getting us turned around and delayed by 15 minutes and on a different road into the objective only to find out the road we were supposed to be on had just gotten pasted with mortars 15 minutes earlier. After that we let the Major read the map whenever he wanted to… Did not care how badly lost or delayed he got us.
LOL, that’s awsome in so many ways.
He was the kind of officer you keep around for entertainment value. Never got a command decision out of him that was worth a crap but he was always good for a decision that just left you shaking your head about how someone could be so dumb and so lucky all at the same time.
“Lucky is better than good every time,” said by bomb tech in Iraq.
I’ve always thought those sorts of things were made up. Yikes.
I’ve always thought those sorts of things were made up. Yikes.
No, the stories are real but the names have been changed to protect the guilty.
Officers are just like everyone else. Some are people who you would not let pet sit your dog, other are people who you will risk everything for because you trust they will do the same for you.
Good officers are the ones the enlisted people protect and care for. Bad officers are left to their own devices.
M. Scott Peck’s book “the road less travelled” uses this discussion point as his belief in a “God”. It’s kind of an interesting take, really.
Oh - and there are a few of us idiots who buy into “intelligent design” - including the molecular biologist in charge of cracking the genetic code.
If this biologist ( I cant remember his name but I saw him promoting his book about faith and science on BookTV) is so smart,why doesnt he see the paradox of ID? Because of his “faith”,thats why. He knows that ID contradicts itself,so he goes the “faith” route and throws logic into the wind. I have no respect for that.
way more than half the posts are nutty.
I agree, and we all know who those nut jobs are……coughNcswitchcough :-P
hydra, many people are surprised at how much “scientific fact” is taken on faith and how much “scientific evidence” has been proven a hoax, especially anthropological findings. i could/would provide links if you are truly open minded, but from the tone of your posts you do not appear to be :cry:
if i am reaching a false conclusion i apologise
the problem from the creation side of the argument is too much unnecessary stubbornness in some area as well  :-P
“That man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the ends they were achieving; that his origin,his growth,his hopes and fears,his loves and his beliefs,are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire,no heroism,no intensity of thought and feeling,can preserve individual life beyond the grave;that all the labors of the ages,all the devotion,all the inspiration,all the noonday brightness of human genius,are destined to extinction in the vast heat death of the Solar System,and that the whole temple of Mans achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a Universe in ruins–all these things,if not quite beyond dispute,are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths,only on the firm foundation of unyielding dispair,can the souls habitation henceforth be safely built.” Bertrand Russell---- the greatest philosopher of all time.
ok, so it wasn’t a false conclusion :|
thanks for the clarification :mrgreen:
“For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities-his eternal power and divine nature-have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.”-Romans 1:20
If humans would only look at the good things still left in this world, the beauty that still exists in a rainbow or in a sunrise, it would not take long for an open-minded man to realize the sheer insanity of a universe created by complete randomness.
@The:
If this biologist ( I cant remember his name but I saw him promoting his book about faith and science on BookTV) is so smart,why doesnt he see the paradox of ID? Because of his “faith”,thats why. He knows that ID contradicts itself,so he goes the “faith” route and throws logic into the wind. I have no respect for that.
Curious. Should I trust you on this?
@The:
"That man is the product of causes that had no prevision of the ends they were achieving; that his origin,his growth,his hopes and fears,his loves and his beliefs,are but the outcome of accidental collocations of atoms; that no fire,no heroism,no intensity of thought and feeling,can preserve individual life beyond the grave;that all the labors of the ages,all the devotion,all the inspiration,all the noonday brightness of human genius,are destined to extinction in the vast heat death of the Solar System,and that the whole temple of Mans achievement must inevitably be buried beneath the debris of a Universe in ruins–all these things,if not quite beyond dispute,are yet so nearly certain that no philosophy which rejects them can hope to stand. Only within the scaffolding of these truths,only on the firm foundation of unyielding dispair,can the souls habitation henceforth be safely built."Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Bertrand Russell---- the greatest philosopher of all time.
“By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he was righteous, God testifying about his gifts, and through faith, though he is dead, he still speaks” Hebrews 11:4 - Abel - victim of Godless philosophy (see above above quote for details.)
It is funny how Abel’s “philosophy which rejects them” not only can hope to stand, but has stood for a very long time. I doubt Bertrand Russell’s words will be around as long as Abel’s.
Dont “trust” me,trust your senses. Do you see God? No. Do you see things ( animals,sunsets,lightning that strikes and kills people) in nature ? Yes. Thats real. Why should I believe fables told by ignorant sheep herders from three thousand years ago? They were utterly,literally dumb about how nature works. A seven year old child today knows more about the world than all of these story tellers combined. Do you think they could explain what caused the wind to blow? No.They would says angels did it or God was blowing the air from his huge,mighty,invisible lungs. Most humans just dont want to let go of their fear that life is random and meaningless and its all about sex and death really. If mankind is the ultimate achievement of God,what a sad showing for God. First he makes angels and then one of them rebels. He then makes people and they eat an apple he told them not to eat. He makes a devil that has powers just like himself. Instead of just making Lucifer non-existent after having a war :-o in heaven of all places,he lets him traipse around in his Paradise. This is one confused creator who cant seem to get it right. Its such a fairy tale that it is actually funny
