Hawkingfan

Yeah, I always liked Penn's (of Penn and Teller) definition of a miracle--

Miracle: probability taken personally.

Herb26

Yes. I sell stuff on ebay like that anytime I need cash. I've got this little mold of mary's face I just lay it on a sandwich for three days then sell it for like 10,000 dollars U.S. I love christians.

Plus a guy that bugs me need to drive on that freeway everyday. . .now it takes him 10 minutes longer to get to work. Suckers.

regis

Herb26 Quote: Yes. I sell stuff on ebay like that anytime I need cash. I've got this little mold of mary's face I just lay it on a sandwich for three days then sell it for like 10,000 dollars U.S. I love christians.

:thumbs: :notworthy :notworthy


:devil1:

Volker

Definition: A miracle is an event, that only happens, when there are no sceptics around.

And the more sceptics are around, the less miracles happen ... I think this answers the question pretty well.

Bobinius

:rolling:

excellent

renegade

Hi Gawdzilla - I am really interested in how often these types of coincidences are expected to occur. Are you for real that there is some sort of theory that has dealt with the issue? Do you have any type of link that would elucidate on this topic further? I had come to the conclusion that it would be impossible to determine how often you should expect a coincidence to occur.

Also, if these coincidences were to occur more often than expected in certain types of situations, or to certain types of personality types, would you think that consitutes some sort of (not so much proof) starting point for an investigation into whether there is some sort of unexplained phenomena going on - for example divine intervention, psychic activity, anything?

Appologies to all if Gawdzilla is just taking the piss here and I am making a fool of myself.

Hubble head

I thought miracles were tied to luck - at least statistically. In other words it's a numbers game. The more people you have crossing paths or going about their business on a daily basis the more likely more events will randomly appear to have occurred against all odds or beyond the explanations of observers.

That's why most miracles happen in places the average observer doesn't understand the surroundings or mechanics. Like hospitals, battlefields, nature, rural uneducated localities more than cities, ect. All highly miracle prone.

Gawdzila

Yes, in fact I do. Try this one, for starters:
The Law of Large Numbers

It is really pretty interesting. Of course, the odds of predicting any one
specific million-to-one event are exceedingly low, but the odds of one happening
at all are really quite good.

renegade

Thanks for the link Gawdzilla. Yes it does stand to reason that events that appear, on the surface, to be fantastically improbable do actually occur all the time. However there is not enough detail in the article for me to decide that this law of large numbers explains away all coincidences. I will need to research this probability stuff a bit further. I think that even if a lot of seemingly improbable events occur frequently that does not mean they all should. I mean what if you have a massively coincidental thing happen one day, and it happens again on the next day and again on the day after. Then you would have to start asking questions as to whether these three coincidences are so coincidental as to be rendered improbable and start looking for alternative explanations.

Godkiller

The Christian aproach to the palpable deficit in modern-day mircales (indeed, their complete abscence), is top redefine any subjectively favorable occurence that is subjectively unlikely as a 'miracle'. For instance, if a neurosurgeon happens to successfully remove a malignant brain-tumor from a Christian patient, the pateint's family will praise God for this 'miracle'. If a Christian slams the brakes just in time to avoid slamming into an on-coming vehicle, it's a 'miracle', etc... On the other hand, anything that 'God does' that doesn't seem to favor the believers above the non-believers is simply dismissed with the familiar 'God works in mysterious ways' - this is how my fundamentalists parents justified the fact that two of my grandparents and one of my uncles died extremely painful deaths from brain cancer.