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I remember an old friend calling and asking me to play drums with her a few years back and it ended up being at a "prophetic prayer" conference.
After we jammed for awhile (crazy wild fun music!) the keynote speaker came up and started explaining how he helped create a network of prayer warriors in every county in Texas and how this provided a 'blanket of protection' from great natural disasters. They bragged how that since they formed the coalition no hurricanes had struck Texas (and how no hurricane could!!!) He said the last big one (Katrina) had to divert to New Orleans because of their prayer network.
Of course 'logical' theist me is sitting there thinking "you people are so weird".
Then, in late 2008 when hurricane Ike slammed into Houston I remembered that claim and thought (a bit amused) "oooops - Harris county really dropped the ball on this one - BIG TIME!
Now - these are not uneducated people. Many of them are degreed professionals who have traveled the world and are very succesful/wealthy etc.
It just shocks me that modern/educated people can think like this.
I was reminded of all this just now because the history channel had a program on Einstein which got me re-fascinated with solar eclipses. While looking up info I ran across this:
Quote:
Many ancient civilizations believed the occurrence of an eclipse was a demon eating the sun. They thought that the best way to get rid of the “demon” that was consuming their sun was to unite and make as much noise as possible to scare it away. At the first sight of an eclipse, everyone would immediately gather to bang drums and shout or scream as loudly as possible.
One of my first experiences in familiarization with this sort of wackiness came at the expense of about two hours of my time while in high school. I was not a popular kid but I wasn't the kind of guy people outcast from the teenage society either. I just sort of "blended" in and nobody really noticed me. I remember wanting to be popular in school but I was not any of the qualities that made people part of the "in crowd" at school. Yet, I wasn't the punching bag of the gym class either.
I'll never forget when some girl in my class asked me if I'd like to go to a "C.L.I.C.K." get together with her one time. This girl was smoking hot too. I'm not saying that as a reflection of some faulty ego where every girl I've dated was hot. No... I'm far too much of a realist to say that this girl was several fathoms out of my league. I will confess that much. Needless to say, when she asked me to go to this "get together" I could have cared less what it was about as, after all, this smoking hot girl (she was really more of a woman than a girl might I add) had invited me.
Truth be told, I'd only heard of this "C.L.I.C.K" group as I ruminated in my "blended" state through the hallways of school. I knew they were some sort of club - like the chess club or computer club but I had no idea what it really was.
So, I showed up at this guy's house who was holding the "get together" where I was supposed to meet this girl. In my teenage mind, I was thinking it was going to be about six to eight people and we were going to do a little partying and I was hopefully going to lose my virginity to the bombshell who invited me. I had everything planned up to the flattened, broken, wrinkled and destructed condom that had been in my wallet for well over six months.
When I knocked on the door, some guy from my class opened and I immediately saw that this was a very large gathering. I immediately saw that my chances of any sexual encounter had just dwindled enormously but, ever the optimist, I sprang into second gear thinking I could work that angle on the bombshell that night and finish up business over the weekend. Oh, to ruminate on my teenage ignorance can be so comical!
As I entered, I found my bombshell sitting amidst a group of, well, the most popular kids in school. Not one to impress my "ordinariness" on them, I headed for the kitchen hoping to find something to quench my thirst. I found Coke and Pepsi... Not quite the thirst quencher I was looking for but it would do. I'd just imagine the Jack Daniel's softly melting away the ice cubes as it mixed with my Coke.
Meanwhile, I kept hearing raucous banter and laughter and went back into the living room where all my fellow cohorts were. There I found several guys I actually knew AND interacted with on an occasional basis. I started talking with them and found out my little bombshell had invited them too. That's when I started feeling a little deflated. How dare my bombshell ask six other guys out when I was supposed to be her one and only and she my first?!
At that point, I swear to all that is both good and bad, a giant projector dropped out of the ceiling. This was a world class, formal lecture giving kind of projector - not a cheap OfficeMax type. The projector flipped on and there upon the screen was a song... I don't know what song it was exactly... I think it was something like "God is Great, Jesus is Our Savior." That'd only be a guess as I really am not very good at remembering the hit songs of Christendom.
Then, everyone started singing and I sat in my misery flipping through a little brochure they had on the table. On the cover, it said "C.L.I.C.K" in a little arc and that was when I found out what the club stood for. Apparently it was "Children Living In Christs Kindness" (I think... I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure that was it). It was at that point in which I figured that my chances of pre-marital fornication at that time had pretty much dropped from "Pretty Good" to "Not a Chance in Hell."
Weeks and months passed and I realized that my hot, little bombshell was nothing more than a setup girl for the club. She'd lure poor suckers like me in and then we'd get to sing songs, talk about how great God was, and make sure to be home by 9 P.M. It was all a ruse... Just a way to make the less popular feel a little more popular while simultaneously converting my viewpoint to a more religious one. I felt like it was more of a police operation busting a prostitute ring and I was the unlucky John who got nabbed.
Yep, that's all it was... A prostitution ring for Christ. Oh, the things we learn as teenagers.
Just a way to make the less popular feel a little more popular while simultaneously converting my viewpoint to a more religious one. I felt like it was more of a police operation busting a prostitute ring and I was the unlucky John who got nabbed.
Yikes! That's rough dude.
In my case I knew this was some kind of prayer thing going in - I just didn't know they thought they were controlling the Gulf of Mexico!
I remember an old friend calling and asking me to play drums with her a few years back and it ended up being at a "prophetic prayer" conference.
After we jammed for awhile (crazy wild fun music!) the keynote speaker came up and started explaining how he helped create a network of prayer warriors in every county in Texas and how this provided a 'blanket of protection' from great natural disasters. They bragged how that since they formed the coalition no hurricanes had struck Texas (and how no hurricane could!!!) He said the last big one (Katrina) had to divert to New Orleans because of their prayer network.
Of course 'logical' theist me is sitting there thinking "you people are so weird".
Then, in late 2008 when hurricane Ike slammed into Houston I remembered that claim and thought (a bit amused) "oooops - Harris county really dropped the ball on this one - BIG TIME!
Now - these are not uneducated people. Many of them are degreed professionals who have traveled the world and are very succesful/wealthy etc.
It just shocks me that modern/educated people can think like this.
I was reminded of all this just now because the history channel had a program on Einstein which got me re-fascinated with solar eclipses. While looking up info I ran across this:
Is this not (essentially) the same thing these folks are doing?
Have any of you run (personally) into people who believe in this sort of stuff?
Yikes!!!
This is nothing new and lies close to the heart of superstition breeding religion or creating new wrinkles in an already established religion(s). Funny that as I write this, I am watching a program on the History Channel about the huge Chilean earthquake some decades back. The common theme is that some people thought "the world" was coming to an end. Interesting.
Anyway when the extremely dangerous Hurricane Ivan was heading straight for Jamaica a few years ago after devastating the island of Grenada, at the last minute the eye of the storm, which appeared poised to pass directly over the island all but assuring total devastation, dipped just south and only sideswiped the island. From there, Ivan went on the pulverize the Cayman Islands and then northwestern, Florida before turning into a massive rain storm up the central eastern portion of the U.S.
I happened to be on a Jamaican website (I am connected to Jamaica) and was NOT surprised to read where people were bragging that the reason the hurricane took the last minute turn was because of all the prayers of Jamaican Christians and that it was also because Jamaica is a "blessed land." I had to ask some of the members what this meant for the people of Grenada or the Cayman Islands then? No answer. Oddly enough, that same year, about 1700 Jamaicans were murdered in Jamaica putting it at number 2 or 3 on the list of the most violent places on earth. The prayers???
people were bragging that the reason the hurricane took the last minute turn was because of all the prayers of Jamaican Christians and that it was also because Jamaica is a "blessed land." I had to ask some of the members what this meant for the people of Grenada or the Cayman Islands then? No answer. Oddly enough, that same year, about 1700 Jamaicans were murdered in Jamaica putting it at number 2 or 3 on the list of the most violent places on earth. The prayers???
This is what is so puzzling to me. I have had long intense discussions with many "contemporary wrath of God" believers and basically all they can come up with is "sometimes" disasters are the judgements of God and "sometimes" sickness is a punishment from God and "sometimes" death and destruction are acts of God to teach us something.
I then point out that with all this (supposed) mystery and ambiguity involved - how could we possibly learn anything definite?
Firstborn888 wrote:
"Now - these are not uneducated people. Many of them are degreed professionals who have traveled the world and are very succesful/wealthy etc."
Education, success, and wealth do not stop people from believing in myths.
Maybe the mind is not used to question anything in existence, but used to acquire wealth and success. Christians are materialists and certainly not as spiritual as they want to believe.
Illogical, superstitious and ancient stuff in the USofA may not be widespread but is certainly present. After looking at the video, I had to look at the calendar to confirm which century we live in.
Of course, the OP doesn't only indict a certain type of Christian. Next to me on a plane was a guy who wanted to have some light conversation. Behind us was a Buddhist monk in his saffron robes, so he drifted to "spiritual", New Age-like subjects, saying it seemed a then-pretty recent tsunami disaster was the Earth "healing itself" or somehow taking its revenge on the ravages that human dominion had caused. I said no. It was just a natural disaster. In my head, although I know he hardly meant anything brutal but was attempting some profundity, I was dismayed at any idea that the deaths of so many people could be so casually justified.
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