Last week I was listening to the afternoon news portion of 89.3 The Current, which is a part of Minnesota Public Radio and an excellent, EXCELLENT radio station (you can stream them online and you should!). I didn't catch the whole story but they were talking about the recent flooding in the south, and one woman made news because her house was not damaged, and I guess she stated that it was prayer that saved her and her home. The two radio hosts told this story and then one said, "And that always brings up the question...." and the other host jumped in and said, "If prayer saved her house why didn't it stop the flood?" And both radio hosts agreed and then quickly moved on.
The moment was quick and the question was simple, but I think it is a very important question and I'm glad the hosts brought it up. For me, skepticism (atheism, whatever you wanna call it), isn't about pushing an agenda but about asking questions--if there was a solid answer with evidence as to why prayer could save the woman's house but not stop the flood (hell, if there was solid evidence that prayer saved the woman's house to begin with), of course I would consider it and use it to draw conclusions, etc. But until then..........
Belief and proof are two entirely different things. If she believes prayer saved her house then prayer saved her house. Believe=to accept as true or real. Proof=the evidence establishing the validity of a given assertion. Faith=a belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence. I often asked myself the same questions after witnessing man’s brutality first hand “if there was a god why would he/she allow this to happen or why hasn’t prayer stopped these assholes from shooting at me or please let him live, he is a new father” never made sense. A wise woman (you know her well) and a fat old man (my father) recently made sense of it all, at least to me. Free will! So, after a year of research, I finally get it. Now what did I get? That is personal and it is all mine, not sharing or passing on my Belief. Two things I will share; 1. I never met an Atheist in combat. 2. If that woman believes god saved her home through prayer, then god saved her home, nothing you can say or do will change her conviction, so in this case, god is real. Who did Don McLean admire most?
ReplyDeleteI see what you're saying, and I wouldn't ever want to convince the woman otherwise because I don't really care whether or not she believes there is a God who saved her house. I just thought it was cool that public radio hosts hinted at another way of looking at it, that they brought up an interesting question and encouraged listeners to think critically.
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