It’s a matter of bias. If you have a lucky charm and only count the times you get a good roll of the dice, then that lucky charm is 100% effective.
Let’s not forget that Dale counts the bad rolls as good rolls in disguise. S’all good, man.
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There is no such thing as luck.
I shouldn’t have learned anything, I suppose. Okay then. (It would have been okay with me I’d croaked, don’t forget.)
Really?
That’s a lot of very rare and coincidental events, all because of a lucky charm.
I think these are some good points, but:
- I think pressing @DaleCutler on ramifications of his statement or asking for clarification are reasonable, I just think it’s better to not jump to “it’s only a short step away from…” type arguments that go far beyond what the individual has actually said and seem more like “guilt by association”.
- Not all Christians agree with the type of view of God’s sovereignty and action that @DaleCutler is taking. It’s certainly popular at times, but I think many Christians are a bit inconsistent here. “God has a greater purpose” works for some situations but I certainly wouldn’t tell that to the young sex slave or family of a victim of genocide.
Like I’ve said before, I do think these are good questions, as are some that @T_aquaticus is bringing up. Christians are sometimes are overly confident in giving “answers” to tough questions when sometimes I really think the answer is “we don’t know, but we trust God’s goodness”.
The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.
Have you read Maggie’s account, above (quite a ways)?
No, I would weep with them, like I do not too infrequently at the evening news.
Reasonable, perhaps. Futile, certainly.
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Godlessness is absolutely futile, you are correct.
How is it any different than someone using a lucky charm to win the lottery?
I personally don’t think the world appears as if he doesn’t exist, but it doesn’t seem like it’s all the way it’s supposed to be either. The Christian answer is typically that it is human sin that causes the world to be that way. Sometimes it’s that God chose to create a world in which it was possible, even if he doesn’t wish it to be so. To me the world looks like God isn’t done with it yet, which is what the message of the New Testament, at least, is about. That God, through Christ, is working to redeem a creation that’s “not right” and eventually have a people and a place that freely choose to love and be with him. I see God working all the time through people who take on the hardship and pain of others, who work for a better, more just world, and share the love and hope God has for all people. That is not to say that I don’t (daily even) ask God why bad things happen to innocent people, why bad people so often get away with things, and why he isn’t even more visible to us. I get the frustration, but I also sometimes get the feeling that Jesus is bigger and more present than I often allow him to be. Maybe it’s my problem I don’t see him more. I do wonder.
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You really can’t tell. Huh. Read it again and see if you can find the hidden objects (they are not subtly camouflaged).
I am asking you. How are they different?
The major way they are different is what they won. Lottery winners frequently lead sorry lives after, from what I understand. There is only one Prize worth winning, the most valuable thing there is.
All we need to want
I believe they call that “sour grapes”.
Then why do you go on and on about your medical treatments?
I haven’t read the entire discussion, so I hope this is not redundant or irrelevant. Here is how I make the distinction:
Providence: Something that could happen on its own, without divine intervention. The influence of divine intervention must be taken on faith.
Miracle: Something that could not happen at all unless thru divine intervention. We know this, in part, because it has never happened as far as can be determined by the usual criteria by which we determine whether a thing has happened. That it even happened at all must be taken on faith.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it! 
But please let’s not accuse others of living futile lives. It’s bound to rub someone the wrong way
Either you mean something else by “coincidence” or Jesus didn’t calm the storm. More self-contradiction or more gross unclarity.
I believe they call that trusting in soap bubbles, because they thought ultimate happiness could be found in money.
Oh dear. ‘On and on’ – it’s been mentioned all of three times in this conversation that’s pushing 300. Because like Maggie’s really cool sequence (in order, no less), it points to the true and priceless Prize.
Denialism is easy.