by sabastious 363 Replies latest jw friends
Also wondering... if you've played "hundreds of thousands of games together", what role might that play in your chances of seeing something like this?
Again, not bashing, mocking, or jealous. Like you, I want to exhaust all other possibilities first, which is what open-mindedness is all about. We just need to ask the right questions.
We have each played hundreds of thousands of hands total in our poker careers. The hands we have played together is a very small fraction of our total poker.
-Sab
If I had a similar experience I would have posted about it as a remarkable coincidence and your advice might be that it could be construed as a religious experience.
I'm not so sure. I am a very skeptic person by nature; it's why I could never be a Witness.
-Sab
Cofty: Does the world not look exactly as we would expect to to look if there is no cosmic dealer in the sky?
Sab: I will admit I feel a little special. "Why me?" comes to mind. That's would be one of my first questions. You ever seen that movie Contact with Jodie Foster? It's one of my favorite movies. She picked up radio sequence of prime numbers and that's how she proved to everyone that it was from an intelligent source.
Sab, you are the protagonist in the story of your life. Do you not think that millions of crazy coincidences happen to different people each and every day? You can't experience their coincidences but they do happen.
Why does person A win the lotto instead of one of the other millions of people who play? If you won, you might ask the same question.
Contact was based on a science fiction novel of the same name by good ol' Carl Sagan. For some of Carl's non-fiction, see The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. He was a smart guy.
double poop
I have to go to my weekly therapy session. I'm sure it will come up, lol.
-Sab
You are the protagonist in the story of your life. Do you not think that millions of crazy coincidences happen to different people each and every day? You can't experience their coincidences but they do happen.
To me, this is the main piece of evidence against funny business. I'm curious to how I am going to feel once the emotional high wears off.
-Sab
This reminds me of a conversation I had a year ago with my long-time best friend. Well, we've grown apart over the years as I've completely faded and he's remained a somewhat fringe JW.
He was inquiring about my life outside the JWs, stuff like: how can you celebrate christmas? how can you find a decent woman outside of JWs? this way of life is so decent and clean, how can you be in the world? are you apostate?...brainwashed crap like that. I didn't get heavy into and pick apart JWs, but just explained that I don't believe in any religion.
Anyways, near the end of the convo he was trying harder to press his point of view. That JWs are the way to go. He finally said "well I know its the truth because I've seen Satan."
Whoa, wait...what? You've SEEN Satan?
Well, one of his demons anyway.
I remembered this story from when we were kids. His family bought a lamp at a garage sale (yep, THAT story AGAIN!). He was sick with the flu soon after. Woke up in the night and says he seen someone in the dark and then they were gone. So you guessed it....out with the demon-possessed lamp! And of course all better.
Point is....do you think a young kid would come to a conclusion that it was a supernatural being...particularly an evil demon IF he had never be predisposed to the idea? It was classic conclusion first thinking. Another child not exposed to JW thinking would not likely come to that conclusion.
I see the same thing with Sab's poker story. He is predisposed to conclude it was a sign from something supernatural. But likely wouldn't have come to that conclusion if he wasn't, at least subconsciously, "looking" for it.
Why does person A win the lotto instead of one of the other millions of people who play? If you won, you might ask the same question.
This is not an equitable analogy (though I'm sure you have others, but I see this one a lot). Someone has to win the lottery, and each person (according to the amount of tickets they play vs. are bought) has an equal chance. There is more to Sab's experience than that, regardless of coincidence or meaning.
Tammy
What happened to me might have been it's best effort, no?
-Sab
Sab, it may be the case. I would not claim to know. Unexplained phenomena tend to affect us in very personal ways.
I guess my question would be, given your current beliefs, is this a more or less 'real' religious experience than, say, someone praying fervently and then having JWs knock at their door?
This is not an equitable analogy (though I'm sure you have others, but I see this one a lot). Someone has to win the lottery, and each person (according to the amount of tickets they play vs. are bought) has an equal chance.
TEC, what kinda lotto are you talking about? Nobody has to win it and often the jackpot carries over from one week to the next, precisely because nobody picks the right numbers.
It's based on random number selection. Ten million players could choose 1-1-1-1-1-1 and all lose.
http://www.webmath.com/_answer.php
My point is, as Nick stated, that this falls in the realm of probability. The same goes for the lotto.
