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Was This God, Or Not? (1 Viewer)

ChiefD

ChiefD

Footballguy
So, I was raised Catholic. Went to Catholic school with the nuns in habits - whole bit. I then went to public high school, and between that and college plenty of questions came up that I still haven't been able to answer or figure out about the existence (or non-existence of God). I've always leaned to the non-existence side.

So for the next week my wife and 3 kids are out of town for spring break. They left yesterday morning.

I'm out on my run last night, and three things happened, one after another:

1. Saw a penny on the ground. My younger son is a money hound. He always finds change on the ground, so when that happens he always stops and picks it up. So consequently, I always stop and pick it up when I see it. So I stop, grab the penny, smile a bit thinking about him, and keep moving.

2. I have my headphones in listening to Spotify, and I have it on shuffle playing a running playlist I have that is about 70 songs long. Literally seconds after the penny thing, my daughter's favorite song starts playing. I smile again, thinking: "well, I guess she wants to say hi too." and keep running. At this point thoughts are creeping into my head like: "if something happens now that reminds me of my 3rd child...."

3. The VERY NEXT SONG that plays is a song my oldest son told me to put on my playlist, so one of his favorites. I literally throw my head back and laugh out loud. So apparently all three kids wanted to say hi last night.

But then I got to thinking - my whole life I've searched for some proof of the existence of God. By nature I am a cynic on things such as this, but my mind is open enough to at least consider the possibilities. I also know this could be just one hell of a coincidence. But, could this be the sign I've been looking for?

At any rate it's a pretty neat story. Serious and shtick replies welcome.  :)

 
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You looked for it and not proof of God.  

70 songs really aren't that many. 

Was the next song one that your wife likes?

And the following one about your dog?

:hophead:

 
2 songs in a row out of 70?! what are the odds?! 

probably not that crazy. 

but very cool to have these things line up for you- and if you want to think it's some dude sitting/floating/existing somewhere taking the time to line things up for you... you go guy.

 
i say hell yeah it is because the big kahuna upstairs from down under is all about love and the order of the songs and the penny dont prove hes up there having a bbq with the good folks who aint down here no more but the fact that you felt love proves it because that is what it is all about and that my friends is how it feels to walk along the path of the brohan take that to the bank 

 
My Ipod has 10,000+ songs, yet I cannot count the number of times it has played the live version of a song directly after a studio version or some other coincidence like that. All of the times nothing interesting happens are not as memorable as the time that something does happen, but in a statically normal way. If before running you predicted that would happen it would be more impressive.

 
I believe this is called coincidental awareness.  

But a very nice story.  :thumbup:

 
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Zeno seems the be the reigning god expert around here these days, so I'll defer to his wealth of knowledge on the subject

 
Solid schtick here :thumbup:

As for your question, schtick-ish or not, I'd say yes but I've had the same experience in my running life and am a believer. I'm not here to defend or convert just say that you can interpret just about anything as a sign from God, from something simple like this to walking under a piano as it breaks free and a sudden gust of wind pushes you out of the way before being crushed. I think it's all perspective. Obviously if you don't believe in God you're going to point toward coincidence, pattern recognition or some other scientific explanation of the event(s). If you do believe then it's easy to see His hand in your everyday life and I'd challenge, if you look back on your life, you'd see His involvement all along the way. Either way, it's a cool experience :thumbup:

 
ChiefD said:
But then I got to thinking - my whole life I've searched for some proof of the existence of God. By nature I am a cynic on things such as this, but my mind is open enough to at least consider the possibilities. I also know this could be just one hell of a coincidence. But, could this be the sign I've been looking for?
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Simple answer: Yes.

As @SWC said, in his own unique way, God didn't create all of this (earth) and us and then just drift back into the heavens.  God is always here with us; God is in us.  Were those three events just coincidences?  Maybe so.  But the presence of God is in your response to them - your deep feeling of love and connection to your family; your joy and laughter in that moment.  You could shrug it off and say, "huh, that was an odd, happy moment."  Or you could recognize the presence of something, and someone, greater than ourselves, and offer a quick [prayer of] "thanks."

 
Only signs about your kids? What's god got against your wife?

Maybe THAT was the sign. Take the kids and high-tail it away from her!

 
I think you missed your family and looked for any sign of comfort to help you get over it.  

I had a friend who said she was thinking about one of her friends who died years ago, then a rainbow appeared and she felt "she sent it" to her to brighten her day.  I feel like thousands of people saw that same rainbow.  Maybe one of them interpreted the rainbow was for them for a different reason.  Maybe it was just light refracting off moisture in the air.  People look for any little nugget that helps them mentally get through hard things.

 
Leroy Hoard said:
Just talked to God about this. God says he is too busy to waste time on stuff like this. Could be Lucifer though, he likes to screw around with people.
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Now, when I talk to God you know he understands... 

He said, "stick by me and I'll be your guidin' hand...but don't ask me what I think of you...I  might not give the answer that you want me to." 

So, I didn't ask. :shrug:

Cool story, Chief, thnx. 👍

 
Hi @ChiefD

Was it a sign from God? Honest answer is I don't know. 

And I'm fine with that. I think God "speaks" to us in ways we feel inside. Where that blends into conscience and morals and knowing right from wrong, I can't tell you.

Many will dismiss without even reading or laugh. That's ok too. That's life. 

My take on it is I'm open-minded enough to accept it might be God. 

At the very least, you're thinking about your family and exercising. Two good things.

 
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Jayrod said:
The very existence of music and love provides a greater proof for the existence of God than anything else in your story.
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Math and biochemistry are kinda like God if that's how you define it. We all have our different definitions. I do appreciate stories of how the universe winks at us from time to time so @ChiefD 's story was fun to read.

 
The occurrence of hearing a song that was just on my mind has always been interesting to me.  Seems like it happens more often than it should randomly. However I concede I don’t accurately keep track of the times it doesn’t happen.

 
Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly somebody will say like 'plate' or 'shrimp' or 'plate of shrimp', out of the blue, no explanation. No point in looking for one either; it's all part of the cosmic unconsciousness.

 
joffer said:
The occurrence of hearing a song that was just on my mind has always been interesting to me.  Seems like it happens more often than it should randomly. However I concede I don’t accurately keep track of the times it doesn’t happen.
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Glitch in the Matrix joffer, keep an eye out for the black helicopters bud. Godspeed!

 
-fish- said:
Suppose you're thinking about a plate of shrimp. Suddenly somebody will say like 'plate' or 'shrimp' or 'plate of shrimp', out of the blue, no explanation. No point in looking for one either; it's all part of the cosmic unconsciousness.
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Suppose you are at a restaurant eating a plate of shrimp and the table next to you is a shrimp eating a plate of people. The table next to that is a plate eating a shrimp served on a person.

 
When I was riffed from my job a couple of years ago, I got in my car to go home and the song that immediately played was Off He Goes by Pearl Jam. When I went back to the office at a later date to return some equipment, it came on again. This happened at least another once or twice when I got in my car to do something job related.

 
Of course not.

What is interesting is why many of us immediately think "Wow, God must have had a hand in this"

Rather that "wow, what a strange set of events, I wonder what the odds of that are?"  

The latter question is far more interesting.

 
Dedfin said:
Suppose you are at a restaurant eating a plate of shrimp and the table next to you is a shrimp eating a plate of people. The table next to that is a plate eating a shrimp served on a person.
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All part of the cosmic balance, GB. 👍

Or, in anooth'r language, the many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics allows for everything possible, to be. 

Well, that's the way I like to see it. I'm no physicist, tho. 

 
I once got laid off from work.  That night, I awoke to my smoke alarm going off because my apartment was on fire.  I ran out of my apartment to safety and saw that someone had hit and run my parked car.

Not sure if that was God.  But whoever it was obviously didn't approve of something I had done in life.

 
supermike80 said:
Of course not.

What is interesting is why many of us immediately think "Wow, God must have had a hand in this"

Rather that "wow, what a strange set of events, I wonder what the odds of that are?"  

The latter question is far more interesting.
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Kid of like when someone wins the lotto but is broke a few years later because they invested big in their brother-in-law 's used underwear business. First God loved them and then God hated them?

 
supermike80 said:
Of course not.

What is interesting is why many of us immediately think "Wow, God must have had a hand in this"

Rather that "wow, what a strange set of events, I wonder what the odds of that are?"  

The latter question is far more interesting.
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Well, I think it depends on what one's view is about the existence of God. If someone assumes God doesn't exist, then there's certainly nothing interesting about the former. If someone assumes God does exist, then I think God's level of interaction with us is pretty interesting.

 
supermike80 said:
Of course not.

What is interesting is why many of us immediately think "Wow, God must have had a hand in this"

Rather that "wow, what a strange set of events, I wonder what the odds of that are?"  

The latter question is far more interesting.
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It certainly takes a vast amount more of work and involves math, neither of which I am very good at hence my dependence on God.

 
Henry Ford said:
I don’t mean to be flippant about this, but if He has time to be controlling your shuffle on your playlist, could you occasionally ask if He would turn His attention to saving a few of the toddlers dying of AIDS and malaria? You know, once he gets the playlist all shuffled.  
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What if those are little baby Hitlers that God is keeping from hurting us?  

 
Henry Ford said:
I don’t mean to be flippant about this, but if He has time to be controlling your shuffle on your playlist, could you occasionally ask if He would turn His attention to saving a few of the toddlers dying of AIDS and malaria? You know, once he gets the playlist all shuffled.  
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This is a pretty common theological view of God, but I don't get it. I get not believing in God's existence or not worshipping God because of things like kids dying from AIDS. What I don't get are views that God doing X (shuffling a playlist) prevents him from doing Y (healing sick children).

 
dgreen said:
This is a pretty common theological view of God, but I don't get it. I get not believing in God's existence or not worshipping God because of things like kids dying from AIDS. What I don't get are views that God doing X (shuffling a playlist) prevents him from doing Y (healing sick children).
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Yeah, my actual point is that a deity that shuffles your playlist but won't save dying children with AIDS is not a being worth worshiping as a God.

 
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