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View Full Version : Save my GF: The power of prayer, i mean results oriented thinking.


JMP300z
11-03-2006, 04:07 PM
Background: A conversation at lunch today w/ my super christian gf really irritated me and I was wondering if anyone had any smashbang ways to make her come to her senses? Its very difficult for me because I care about her so much but sometimes I just want to take a baseball bat and knock some sense into her (joke plz).

Probably not...

Anyways summary:

Every year, a bunch of dental students (im in dental school) and some of the doctors go on a mission trip to south america places and go on a tooth pulling spree. Every year, this trip seems to reinforce her faith in god. This past year she claims to have been very moved by the story of James. James didnt know what to believe but went on the mission trip as it would be a fun experience w/ some friends. This year, they were having difficulty extracting a tooth, the doctor asked james to pray for him and guess what, the tooth came out. James cried, asked my gf to hold his hand (??) and everything. OMFGROLFLFSDL GOD!

My line of questioning:

First, I made clear to her that teeth that are difficult to extract often become easier if you let the tooth rest for a few seconds or hold it torqued in one direction allowing the fibers that hold it in to loosen. This is actually proven and most definitely what occured in this instance.

BUT I said, forget the facts, of all the bajillion teeth pulled every day, how many times do people pray before the extraction. "Not many" And yet, almost all of them come out. "so what" ok, well if you prayed before every extraction, god would have a pretty good track record right? "yah i guess", well what about if everyone prayed for their mouth to be caries free, god would have a pretty bad track record right? "maybe god chooses not to free their mouth for some reason".
I went on about some history channel special about some guys in the trenches of ww2 gettin picked off and praying etc and the something like 8/50 guys that survived all claimed god was watching out for them. What about the other 42 who prayed equally?

Her: "God doesnt answer all prayers, he picks and chooses, sometimes he answers them but not directly or not in any way we can see" WTF. "if sometimes someone dies and someone lives, it just means it was their time and not the other persons" She goes on about how everyone has doubts about religion but once you see it, youll understand.

I ask her what happened to her doubts or the doubts of this friend she was talking about, were they answered?, her response "no, its only once you accept god into your heart that the doubts go away."

In other words, in order to believe in god, you must...set aside all questions of logic, ignore all contradictions, ignore all the millinos of unanswered prayers, and...you guessed it...believe in god.

Is it hopeless SMP?

-JP

madnak
11-03-2006, 04:34 PM
Sounds hopeless to me. Just agree to disagree, I suppose. I hope never to fall in love with such a person.

Lestat
11-03-2006, 04:41 PM
Introduce her to the power of bio-rhythms, numerology, and astrology. Once she's hooked on one of these, it will be easier to get her off all occults cold-turkey.

kurto
11-03-2006, 04:50 PM
I haven't read past this and I already know the answer:

[ QUOTE ]
conversation at lunch today w/ my super christian gf really irritated me and I was wondering if anyone had any smashbang ways to make her come to her senses?

[/ QUOTE ]

The answer is "no"

Bill Haywood
11-03-2006, 05:38 PM
You are never getting in her pants. It would be like pulling teeth.

Stu Pidasso
11-03-2006, 06:30 PM
Relationships only work when you accept the person as they are. You can only have a successful longterm relationship with her as long as you accept the fact that she is into God and do not try to change that. She also has to accept that you don't believe in God and not expect you to convert. If you're trying to change each other you're headed for disaster. This doesn't mean you should never discuss the existence of God or religion. In fact you will probably discuss it frequently. Just discuss it with the expectation that both of you will be the people you are and believe the things you believe. If she wants to change she will do it on her own.

Stu

RJT
11-03-2006, 07:23 PM
[ QUOTE ]
…Once she's hooked on one of these, it will be easier to get her off all occults cold-turkey.

[/ QUOTE ]

You mean you atheists don’t believe in Thanksgiving either? /images/graemlins/grin.gif

BPA234
11-03-2006, 08:37 PM
You should marry her, so she can prove to you that Hell exists.

KUJustin
11-03-2006, 10:29 PM
I don't want to be unduly harsh but from what I've seen you'll make this girl absolutely miserable if you marry her.

And if you're not going to marry her then, by continuing to date her, you're just creating more and more attachment meaning more and more pain upon breaking up.

FortunaMaximus
11-03-2006, 10:37 PM
[ QUOTE ]
You are never getting in her pants. It would be like pulling teeth.

[/ QUOTE ]

So presumably her chastity belt doesn't have a lock, but a zipper?

revots33
11-03-2006, 10:52 PM
[ QUOTE ]
This year, they were having difficulty extracting a tooth, the doctor asked james to pray for him and guess what, the tooth came out. James cried, asked my gf to hold his hand (??) and everything. OMFGROLFLFSDL GOD!

[/ QUOTE ]

James and your gf will be very happy together.

Jasper109
11-04-2006, 04:17 AM
[ QUOTE ]
James and your gf will be very happy together.

[/ QUOTE ]

Mickey Brausch
11-04-2006, 12:30 PM
A tooth won't come out, the dentist prays to God for it to come out, and it does come out. Therefore, God exists.


Is this an accurate summary?

If it is, my suggestion is this: Your GF is supposedly basing her (stronger) belief to a God on probability, but her probabilistic and her religious thinking seems flawed. To wit, she offers this exuse: [ QUOTE ]
"God doesn't answer all prayers; he picks and chooses. Sometimes he answers them but not directly or not in any way we can see"

[/ QUOTE ] But if this is indeed the case, we are supposed to believe irrespective of the result of our prayers! Not just on account of the obvious probabilistic reason, but because, otherwise, we'd essentially lay claim to knowing how God thinks, which is wrong in religious terms.

In other words, either

(a) we are witnessing God's infinite (and mysterious) wisdom every day, even when he does NOT help us in extracting teeth -- and we, therefore, should believe irrespective of what happens to a specific tooth, in which case your GF is probably actually sinning for "putting God to a test",

or

(b) God is is supposed to answer prayers, as our priests usually assure us, so it would be quite easy to place the existence of God to a trivial statistical test.

Mickey Brausch

FortunaMaximus
11-04-2006, 12:31 PM
[ QUOTE ]
(b) God is is supposed to answer prayers, as our priests usually assure us, so it would be quite easy to place the existence of God to a trivial statistical test.

[/ QUOTE ]

Like a coinflip, perhaps? What do you do when the coin lands on its edge?