Do you want to participate in a religious experiment?

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Does anyone want to participate in an experiment to see if God really exists?

I don't like to use the term "God" because it conjures up images of an old man in the sky with a ruler. I prefer to say Infinite Intelligence. We all have our different beliefs about this so it's important to use your own image of God if you want to do this experiment.

Fnord wants proof that God exists. I am curious to see what will happen if the people of faith give it a try. It sounds like a fun experiment to me and I wonder what will happen if we all pray at the same time for God to reveal himself to him.

I suggest we say a prayer at 11:11 for 7 days and 7 nights with the specific intention of giving Fnord spiritual enlightenment. I will need some feedback before we start to see who will be involved and maybe we can come up with a specific prayer. We'll also have to set a date to begin.

If Sand is willing to be involved in this, I want to include him and his wife as she is suffering from brain cancer.

Any thoughts, opinions?

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"Spiritual Enlightenment" is such a broadly defined term that it could cover virtually any change in my attitude, and I could easily fake any attitudinal change depending on which side I wanted to win.

How about something that everybody could easily verify, and that does not require tresspassing upon another person's free will? How about...

- 7 straight days of rain in the Los Angeles area ... or the entire American southwest?

- The end of violence and deprivation throughout the African continent ... or the entire world?

- A global die-off of cannibis and the opium poppy?

- A cure for AIDS that anyone could afford?

Y'know ... something useful!

Sorry to digress, but this reminds me of an article I read recently... a man who owed another some money claimed not to owe the money. He held up his arm and asked that God should strike him down if he was lying... he was duly struck by lightening.

So the moral is...
a) Don't call on the almighty?
b) Don't wave your arms around outside in a thunderstorm?

Waving your arms around in a thunderstorm probably does very little to reduce the voltage needed to get that cloud to ground strike routed through your body...

Okay, pick one. Rain in LA? I thought you wanted God to show himself to you? How can you ever get proof if you are not even willing to cast aside doubt. That to me is not scientific. A true scientist could put aside his own beliefs and opinions and not be so eager to see a specific result.
I am merely curious to see what would happen. It seems like it's the non believers who are so put off by this notion that they won't even give it a try.

If you want rain and miracles, I just want to say that this is planet earth and we are subject to its rules. We are here on earth to learn and suffering is a great way to learn. Are you mad at God for your world not being perfect and so you say he must not exist because if he did then life would be so much better? Have you considered that God is already a part of you? Are you a good God or an indifferent God? The spiritual realm has its own set of rules
and I'm not an expert on this but I know that there is more than human logic and the Universe is full of mystery.

Do you want to do this experiment or not?

And to that gal who wrote
Emoticons are neither thoughts or opinions.

Is that 11:11 PM or AM? Is it EST, PST, MST, or GMT ?

Fnord would need something dramatic and specific to "enlighten" him. Why don't we pray for a Jesus-shaped stain on his east-facing window?

Oh but I think that they expressed my thoughts/opinions very well.
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Last edited by ouinon on 06 Oct 2008, 3:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.

How about 11:11 on the clock, wherever the person is who is praying.

How about we pray for a sign that shows him that God exists. It will be something personal to him, that will cause some sort of revelation or awakening of his spiritual nature. I know this is vague so maybe we need to refine this with more thoughts and opinions.

But he has not agreed yet. To do this he would have to be open to the possibility and have a desire to know the truth one way or another.
If it means that he will have a spiritual awakening, then he'll have to sign up for this. It may dismantle his whole thought system so he'll have to agree to accept this possibility.

Why? if the power of gods revelation is said to be as great as it you guys say he wont have any choice but to believe!

Magnus, with all due respect to your intellect and wisdom...

Of course I want God to reveal Himself to me! But that would be selfish; and besides, if there were a miraculous global event that would benefit all humankind, then I would be just as happy with the results. Tell you what; you make a declaration of what your God will do by a certain date, and when that date comes around, we'll see if your claim was met. Fair enough?


I'm always open to the possibility of a paranormal event, principle, or being. It's just that there seems to be no material evidence to support this possibility. This is why I'm actually looking forward to positive results of your experiement. I'm sure many others are too.


PLEASE try! I'm also curious, albeit skeptical as well. But don't let my skepticism stop you (or your God) from performing a miracle.


The Biblical God is above all material rules, that's why many of those Biblical events are called miracles - they seem to not follow any rules that govern the material world. And according to the Bible, "...But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God." (Acts 5:39, Gamaliel speaking).

I would rather be chastised by an all-powerful and ever-present God than be praised by fools.


Suffering is only a great way to learn what you need to avoid. Relief from suffering is a great way to learn what to embrace. Invoke your God to relieve the suffering of the world, and when He does, I will embrace belief in Him.


No, my anger is with those people that declare the existance of God to non-believers, and then offer only meaningless threats, empty promises, and mis-applied Bible verses to convince those non-believers of His existance.


I am not God, nor am I a prophet of God. I merely one man challenging believers to provide an undeniable sign of His existance in our present time, rather than merely quote Biblical verses regarding something that may or may not have happened in the dim and distant past.


Odd how it is that there is no fixed set of rules that allegedly govern the so-called "Spiritual Realm", and how whenever questions are brought forth about the beings and rules within this "Spiritual Realm", believers trot out the old "Mysterious Ways" excuse. Well, there is either a "Spiritual Realm" or there isn't. There are either "Spiritual Beings" governed by "Spiritual Laws" or there are not. I just want to know the truth.


Well, of course! Just don't pour vinegar down my neck and then tell me that it's raining...

Right on!

cause mudslides are just what's needed over here.

and also:




screw you puritan prohitibionist nazi!

Once, a man asked Ja'far Al-Sadiq (the sixth Shi'a Imam) to show him what God looks like. He told the man to stare at the Sun. The man could not, and exclaimed that the Sun blinded him. To that, Ja'far replied "How can you see the creator when you can't see the created"?

Proving or disproving the existence of God is not possible.

Good point. How about 24 hours of rain and then all the sewers back up?


Oh, I forgot to include the coca plant! Let's have a global die-off of Cannibis, Coca, Opium, and Tobacco plants!

And there was much rejoicing...

after 2 hours of rain, there's pretty nasty mudslides. how about a gradual workup to being able to accept any steady flow of rain instead? that'd be a miracle enough for this desert.