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The Miracle Challenge
#1

The Miracle Challenge
It's very simple.  Crank the cogs of your imagination to contrive some phenomenon that you can't imagine would have a natural explanation (even an explanation beyond the capacity of a human mind to comprehend, in the same manner that many of us lack the neural edifice that would finally allow us to comprehend the opposite sex).  Make it REALLY weird.  Post it here.

Subsequent posters set forth possible explanations.  They don't have to work, or be plausible, only credible.  At some point it will be clear that even without having reached a definitive "Eureka!" of explanation the trend will be one that leads AWAY from supernatural explanation and toward indexing the phenomenon in the taxonomy of nature, within branches that already exist.  At that point someone says "whatever that is, it sure ain't no miracle" and the game starts fresh with a new slice of bizarre served hot from a fiendish imagination.

Here we go.  The entirety of humanity at the same moment across the planet hears as if spoken in their own language a voice whose direction is indeterminate that says "You will answer for your sins tomorrow.  Prepare, but wisely."

The voice of god at last, experienced by every living person on earth?  Or something else?
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#2

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 02:13 AM)airportkid Wrote: Here we go.  The entirety of humanity at the same moment across the planet hears as if spoken in their own language a voice whose direction is indeterminate that says "You will answer for your sins tomorrow.  Prepare, but wisely."

The voice of god at last, experienced by every living person on earth?  Or something else?

I already did that in a novel I wrote. It wasn't a male voice, however. It was female. And if I explain what the voice actually was, it would ruin the explanation set forth in the third novel of the trilogy I haven't finished writing.
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#3

The Miracle Challenge
Quote:The voice of god at last, experienced by every living person on earth?  Or something else?

Or, just some idiot blasting rap music on his car stereo.
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#4

The Miracle Challenge
Russian scare tactics.
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#5

The Miracle Challenge
Does my Jesus toast from my Jesus toaster count ? I get my own little miracle every day.
Test
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#6

The Miracle Challenge
My Alpha-bits cereal spelled out "trump sucks" without any help from me.

This type of behavior speaks to me.

Me and my Alpha-bits are now going to have a kumbaya with Frosted Flakes.
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#7

The Miracle Challenge
Golly Moses - only a bunch of atheists would turn a serious religious experiment into something fun!  For shame!
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#8

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 02:32 AM)Bucky Ball Wrote: Does my Jesus toast from my Jesus toaster count ? I get my own little miracle every day.

Serious answer: No .That experience  is  called 'pareidolia'. It refers to the  human need to impose patterns. Hence the bunny rabbit in that cloud in, or faces in photographs of the Martian surface, or those lights in the sky being alien craft.  

The Catholic Church still believes in  miracles. In fact a person may only be declared a saint after there have been  two miracles attributed to their   'intercession' with God. On the other hand,  Occam's Razor suggests the common logical fallacy  '"Post Hoc, ergo propter hoc"  (after this, therefore because of this)   is more likely. 

Saintly miracles are always the cure of some  ghastly disease. Notably never say the regrowth of an amputated limb, or regrowth of a missing eye.

Perhaps worth noting that generally speaking, the rate of  the spontaneous remission of  disease is 1:30,000. I wonder how many prayers per miraculous cure .

A good example is St Bernadette  of Lourdes. Bernadette  Soubirous saw  her lady  near the  village of Lourdes ,in 1858.  Since then  there have been in excess of 200 MILLION pilgrims begging St Bernadette, the Virgin Mary or both,  to intercede  with God on their behalf. So far, the Church has recognised a total  of 65 cures.  I have often wondered what the selection process could be. EG   How could a child with bone cancer be less worthy than well, anyone really ?
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#9

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 03:42 AM)airportkid Wrote: Golly Moses - only a bunch of atheists would turn a serious religious experiment into something fun!  For shame!



Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#10

The Miracle Challenge
Granny tales. The little miracles that happened to somebody at church as related by Granny. The people at church who had serious financial troubles who found a $20 bill on the sidewalk. Miracle! Stuff that makes you roll your eyes, and gets related as evidence of God 'n Jesus by the religious church going Grannies of the world. "Aunt Edna got sick and we prayed and she got well. Praise Jesus!" My Granny had dozens of such miracle to relate when the subject of religion came up.
I am a sovereign citizen of the Multiverse, and I vote!


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#11

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote: Since then  there have been in excess of 200 MILLION pilgrims begging St Bernadette, the Virgin Mary or both,  to intercede  with God on their behalf. So far, the Church has recognised a total  of 65 cures.

If you were ill would you seek treatment in a hospital that had a comparable success rate?   Shake
No gods necessary
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#12

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 10:22 AM)brunumb Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote: Since then  there have been in excess of 200 MILLION pilgrims begging St Bernadette, the Virgin Mary or both,  to intercede  with God on their behalf. So far, the Church has recognized a total  of 65 cures.

If you were ill would you seek treatment in a hospital that had a comparable success rate?   Shake

My youngest brother was brain-damaged at birth due to hemorrhage. He is now 67 years old and has the mentality of a 1-year-old child. He requires 24-hour supervision by male nurses. My mother tried curing him with Lourdes water. There was no change in his condition and the Church pocketed more than a few hefty donations from my parents.  Dodgy
“I expect to pass this way but once; any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.” (Etienne De Grellet)
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#13

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 02:13 AM)airportkid Wrote: Here we go.  The entirety of humanity at the same moment across the planet hears as if spoken in their own language a voice whose direction is indeterminate that says "You will answer for your sins tomorrow.  Prepare, but wisely."

The voice of god at last, experienced by every living person on earth?  Or something else?

Being told that I'll have to answer for my sins and that I have but one day to prepare speaks to me of something small-minded right out of the gate. Not a thought worthy of a Deity.

We already have deep brain stimulation, which uses EM fields to stimulate various parts of the brain. It isn't much of a stretch to postulate a more advanced race that has fine-tuned that technology and can use it to broadcast directly to your speech centers. That would go a long way toward explaining why everybody is hearing this in their native tongue and from no discernible source. No idea why the aliens have decided to troll us with this particular message but given our history of religious violence it might be an efficient way to get us to extinguish ourselves.
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#14

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 10:22 AM)brunumb Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote: Since then  there have been in excess of 200 MILLION pilgrims begging St Bernadette, the Virgin Mary or both,  to intercede  with God on their behalf. So far, the Church has recognised a total  of 65 cures.

If you were ill would you seek treatment in a hospital that had a comparable success rate?   Shake

Tangent:  I'm a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. 17 years  sober June 30 this year.  

I recommend AA  to any suffering alcoholic . That is because just about anyone who goes to AA will find some relief, because most people stop drinking while they are  attending AA meetings.  

There is almost nothing else around to treat alcoholism or any other addiction .  There are Narcotics anonymous, Al Ateen  for the teen children of alkies and  Al-Anon for the adult family of alkies.  I think virtually ALL addiction rehab programmes  are based on the 12 steps of  AA . I have also heard of  one  psychologist who claims  he can cure alcohol addiction.   I've seen no proof of that. 

I needed to mention the above, lest any suffering alcoholic on the forum be discourage from attending AA. (approx 10% of the population suffers  from alcoholism)   

To the point:  the long term success rate of AA  (sober 2 years and over) is between 3-5%, as far as I'm aware.  Would you  seek a treatment for a disease with  100% fatality ,with those odds?
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#15

The Miracle Challenge
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 02:32 AM)Bucky Ball Wrote: Does my Jesus toast from my Jesus toaster count ? I get my own little miracle every day.

Serious answer: No .That experience  is  called 'pareidolia'. It refers to the  human need to impose patterns. Hence the bunny rabbit in that cloud in, or faces in photographs of the Martian surface, or those lights in the sky being alien craft.  

No, I really saw the virgin Mary in my cranberry scone this morning. How dare you stomp on my miracle, you monster.

Tongue 

-Teresa
There is in the universe only one true divide, one real binary, life and death. Either you are living or you are not. Everything else is molten, malleable.

-Susan Faludi, In the Darkroom
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#16

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 12:38 AM)Tres Leches Wrote: ... my cranberry scone this morning ...

That's always struck me as miraculous, that cranberries aren't just deemed edible but even tasty.  I recall one of Paul Harvey's "Rest Of The Stories" explaining the extreme botanical measures it took to make cranberries something anybody would want to eat.  The world is so full of naturally good berries why did they bother?  Tongue
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#17

The Miracle Challenge
We have two superbly attested miracles by two ancient Roman historians and both attributed to Emperor Vespasian.

Quote: A poor man who was blind, and another who was lame, came both together before him, when he was seated on the tribunal, imploring him to heal them,3 and saying that they were admonished in a dream by the god Serapis to seek his aid, who assured them that he would restore sight to the one by anointing his eyes with his spittle, and give strength to the leg of the other, if he vouchsafed but to touch it with his heel. At first he could scarcely believe that the thing would any how succeed, and therefore hesitated to venture on making the experiment. At length, however, by the advice of his friends, he made the attempt publicly, in the presence of the assembled multitudes, and it was crowned with success in both cases.

-- Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus  Life of Vespasian c 119 AD


And, the jesus freaks great pal, Tacitus who thanks to some unknown forger gives them a rather silly glimpse of their godboy.

Quote:One of the common people of Alexandria, well-known for his blindness, threw himself at the Emperor's knees, and implored him with groans to heal his infirmity. This he did by the advice of the God Serapis, whom this nation, devoted as it is to many superstitions, worships more than any other divinity. He begged Vespasian that he would deign to moisten his cheeks and eye-balls with his spittle. Another with a diseased hand, at the counsel of the same God, prayed that the limb might feel the print of a Cæsar's foot. At first Vespasian ridiculed and repulsed them. They persisted; and he, though on the one hand he feared the scandal of a fruitless attempt, yet, on the other, was induced by the entreaties of the men and by the language of his flatterers to hope for success. At last he ordered that the opinion of physicians should be taken, as to whether such blindness and infirmity were within the reach of human skill. They discussed the matter from different points of view. "In the one case," they said, "the faculty of sight was not wholly destroyed, and might return, if the obstacles were removed; in the other case, the limb, which had fallen into a diseased condition might be restored, if a healing influence were applied; such, perhaps, might be the pleasure of the Gods, and the Emperor might be chosen to be the minister of the divine will; at any rate, all the glory of a successful remedy would be Cæsar's, while the ridicule of failure would fall on the sufferers." And so Vespasian, supposing that all things were possible to his good fortune, and that nothing was any longer past belief, with a joyful countenance, amid the intense expectation of the multitude of bystanders, accomplished what was required. The hand was instantly restored to its use, and the light of day again shone upon the blind. Persons actually present attest both facts, even now when nothing is to be gained by falsehood.

-- Publius Cornelius Tacitus  The Histories, Book IV  Chapter LXXXI

Wonder what the jesus freak morons will have to say about that?
Robert G. Ingersoll : “No man with a sense of humor ever founded a religion.”
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#18

The Miracle Challenge
I'm looking out the window at some trees.  Trees....therefore god....therefore a miracle!   Yay!
                                                         T4618
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#19

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 12:38 AM)Tres Leches Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 02:32 AM)Bucky Ball Wrote: Does my Jesus toast from my Jesus toaster count ? I get my own little miracle every day.

Serious answer: No .That experience  is  called 'pareidolia'. It refers to the  human need to impose patterns. Hence the bunny rabbit in that cloud in, or faces in photographs of the Martian surface, or those lights in the sky being alien craft.  

No, I really saw the virgin Mary in my cranberry scone this morning. How dare you stomp on my miracle, you monster.

Tongue 

-Teresa

This really is Jesus in my toast. 
https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/jesus-toaster/
Test
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#20

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 02:45 AM)Bucky Ball Wrote:
(08-29-2019, 12:38 AM)Tres Leches Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote: Serious answer: No .That experience  is  called 'pareidolia'. It refers to the  human need to impose patterns. Hence the bunny rabbit in that cloud in, or faces in photographs of the Martian surface, or those lights in the sky being alien craft.  

No, I really saw the virgin Mary in my cranberry scone this morning. How dare you stomp on my miracle, you monster.

Tongue 

-Teresa

This really is Jesus in my toast. 
https://www.thisiswhyimbroke.com/jesus-toaster/

Slather some butter and jam on that Jesus and I bet he'd be really tasty.

-Teresa
There is in the universe only one true divide, one real binary, life and death. Either you are living or you are not. Everything else is molten, malleable.

-Susan Faludi, In the Darkroom
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#21

The Miracle Challenge
WAITER! there is a fucking Jesus in my toast  Dodgy
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#22

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 04:19 AM)madog Wrote: WAITER! there is a fucking Jesus in my toast  Dodgy

For £3.95 what did you expect, a fucking western?

Edit;
I'm pretty sure that's the wrong punchline.
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#23

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 01:26 AM)airportkid Wrote:
(08-29-2019, 12:38 AM)Tres Leches Wrote: ... my cranberry scone this morning ...

That's always struck me as miraculous, that cranberries aren't just deemed edible but even tasty.  I recall one of Paul Harvey's "Rest Of The Stories" explaining the extreme botanical measures it took to make cranberries something anybody would want to eat.  The world is so full of naturally good berries why did they bother?  Tongue

My mother was Canadian  by birth, and loved all things Canadian . She taught me to cook Canadian  style apple pie and to love real maple syrup.  

She also introduced her Aussie family to roast turkey with cranberry  sauce for Xmas lunch.  Unfortunately, the cranberries were always tinned.   Have still never seen fresh cranberries in Adelaide ,and still loathe tinned ones.

No one ever said anything to mum , because she liked them, and went to so much trouble for Xmas lunch.  Sadly, mum died earlier this year ,at age 92. Perhaps we can finally let go of tinned cranberries.   Now I can work on getting Sis off her insistence in having prawn (shrimp), cocktail , made from frozen cooked prawns.  Of course with store bought Thousand Island dressing ----this year  Xmas lunch is at my place-------  Dance
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#24

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 05:31 AM)grympy Wrote: Have still never seen fresh cranberries in Adelaide, and still loathe tinned ones...

Nor in Melbourne.  I buy this stuff;  it's not all that bad with the whole cranberries.

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I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#25

The Miracle Challenge
(08-29-2019, 12:33 AM)grympy Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 10:22 AM)brunumb Wrote:
(08-28-2019, 04:36 AM)grympy Wrote: Since then  there have been in excess of 200 MILLION pilgrims begging St Bernadette, the Virgin Mary or both,  to intercede  with God on their behalf. So far, the Church has recognised a total  of 65 cures.

If you were ill would you seek treatment in a hospital that had a comparable success rate?   Shake

Tangent:  I'm a sober member of Alcoholics Anonymous. 17 years  sober June 30 this year.  

I recommend AA  to any suffering alcoholic . That is because just about anyone who goes to AA will find some relief, because most people stop drinking while they are  attending AA meetings.  

People actively trying to stop drinking actually stop drinking while actively trying to stop. I'm stunned. What are the odds of that?
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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