Look at this website....

[lost]

ya this website was being advertized on the ads up top... I was curious so I began to read the stuff they had.... look at this though....
whydoesgodhateamputees.com/god5.htm

somthing someone wrote to prove God doesn't exist... The person thinks God doesn't exist because he won't make amputees legs spontaneouly reappear. I find this humerous and kind of disturbing at the same time... Just look at their logic.. it just frankly sucks.

[lost]

Look at this... they made a list of impossible prayers that supposivly disprove God.

"Dear God, I pray that, tomorrow morning at 8AM, you pick up and move the Empire State Building to Paris. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you levitate this car 5 feet off the ground right now, and leave it hanging in the air for 15 minutes. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you let me fly over the earth today, just like Superman does in the comic books. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you let me run the World's first one-minute mile tomorrow, shattering the Olympic record in that event. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you make a living, breathing Tyrannosaurs Rex appear on the Mall in downtown Washington DC tomorrow. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you move Mt. Everest to Newark, NJ tomorrow. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you put $100 million in small unmarked bills in my basement tonight. Amen."
"Dear God, I pray that you completely eliminate all of the diseases in the world tomorrow. Amen."

[lost]

I'm thinking mabey we should email them.. after all they do have a comment place where you can email them.

[crestfallen]

Yeah, but give a lot of thought as to what you will say, so you don't turn him/her away, or make yourself look like an idiot.

[amoyensis]

Yeah, as ridiculous as his claims may be, I think his dislike for the faith may stem from some form of negative emotional experience, and if you touch the wrong nerve then he'll just dismiss you.

[lost]

notice I used the word "we". I can't do this alone...

[jingle]

lost said:

I find this humerous and kind of disturbing at the same time... Just look at their logic.. it just frankly sucks.

The logic is interesting. You have to read deep into the article, but when you do you find this:

The Christian explanation for the evidence that we see before us is this:

"God exists, and God answers prayers, but for some reason God chooses to ignore the prayers of amputees. We don't have a good explanation for why God acts this way, and it does seem to contradict what Jesus teaches about prayer in the Bible, but clearly God has his divine reasons."

Now let's look at the situation with amputees from another point of view. This explanation is more straightforward:

"God is imaginary."

Let's assume that God is imaginary. The beauty of this explanation is that it fits the facts perfectly. In the case of amputees, it is a valid way to explain the reality that we see in our world. The logic goes like this:

"If God is imaginary, then he does not answer any prayers. Therefore, the prayers of amputees would go unanswered too. "

The thing that is appealing about this explanation is that there is no hand waving. There are no contradictions. It is completely fair. There is no paradox. This explanation makes sense in light of the evidence we see in the case of amputees.

Interestingly, this explanation also happens to cover the case of Neva Rogers in Chapter 1. And Steve Homel's subdivision in Chapter 2. And Ranika in Chapter 4. If you assume that God is imaginary, then the paradox of God evaporates in all of these cases. Why did Ranika die? Because there was no all-powerful, prayer-answering God to save her. Why did Neva die? Because there was no all-powerful, prayer-answering God to save her. Why did Steve's house remain standing while 39 others burned to the ground? Because there was no all-powerful, prayer-answering God to save any of the houses (and Steve's house was a fluke). Why did 200,000 people die in the tsunami? Because there was no all-powerful, prayer-answering God to save them. And so on. It explains amputees too. The paradox of God vanishes completely. There is no discomfort at all. Parts of our world begin to make complete sense under this hypothesis.

In response to this proposal, a thoughtful Christian might say, "Just because God never answers the prayers of amputees, it does not mean that he does not answer other prayers. I agree with you that it is unfair to amputees, and I agree with you that it contradicts what Jesus teaches in the Bible, but God has his reasons. For some reason, it is not part of God's plan to help amputees by regenerating their lost limbs. There is no way to understand the mysteries of our Lord, but he does have his reasons and they will become clear to us when we die and go to heaven." That is one possible explanation, but words like "unfair" and "contradicts" feel, somehow, uncomfortable. They do not fit with our mental image of an all-loving and perfect God, nor with the words of Jesus in the Bible. Why would God hate amputees so much that he completely ignores their prayers to regenerate lost limbs, while at the same time he is answering all of these other prayers millions of times a day? When it comes to amputees, why would Jesus renege on his promises to answer prayers in the Bible?

The section in that chapter called "Profoundly Strange" is also interesting.

The question would be, how do we refute the logic? Why does God not restore the legs of amputees when He is answering so many other prayers?

[lost]

Well it seems like a challenge to God to make the legs reappear. In the Bible it said something like thou shalt not challenge the Lord.

Its all Gods plan though... its strange and confusing to us.

[Solid]

The book of Job, don't test the Lord.

[shredmetal777]

No,do not test the Lord,He'll put you in your place,God disiplicines his children.

[jingle]

solidstate234 said:

The book of Job, don't test the Lord.

He covers this argument:

A Christian might say, "Thou shalt not test the Lord. It says so in the Bible." This is hard to swallow because every prayer is a test. Either God answers the prayer or he does not. There is no difference between praying for an amputee and praying for Jeanna Giese and her rabies.

(for those who aren't familiar, Jeanna Giese is a girl who got rabies and was cured by a prayer circle. See:www.jsonline.com/news/state/dec04/284501.asp?format=print)

[amoyensis]

Well, you have to determine the basis for your argument, and then simplify. He is arguing the non-existance of God based on the fact that God does not answer prayers; you should say that the non-answer of prayers suggests a God contrary to what we want God to be, but it doesn't not refute the existence of God.

Essentially, you have to start with the fact that God, as a metaphysical being, is intrinsically impossible to prove, but also impossible to disprove. From there you can get into the apologetics and reasoning of why God answers certain prayers and not others (this is something I myself have struggled with; even Jesus' prayer for believers has remained unanswered to this day). But you have to make sure you establish that first grounding: that God's existence is not defined by the actions he makes or doesn't make.

[jingle]

amoyensis said:

He is arguing the non-existance of God based on the fact that God does not answer prayers; you should say that the non-answer of prayers suggests a God contrary to what we want God to be, but it doesn't not refute the existence of God.

His argument is that God does not answer any prayers, because (in his view) God is imaginary.

In his logic, Amputees are one example of "God not answering any prayers". God never answers a prayer to restore an amputated leg. So there is one whole class of prayers that never get answered. He points out others, such as Down syndrome kids not being cured and 10 million children dying of starvation every year. He hits this "God is imaginary" argument from a dozen angles through the course of 5 or 6 chapters. Then he moves to another argument.

The thing is that he has a lot of evidence. God does not cure amputees or Downs syndrome kids. That is true. People can pray all day, but nothing happens.

[Derwydd.]

I wonder how many of those shirts and stickers they've sold that say "Why does God hates amputees?"


i find the whole issue kind of sad

[In Christ, the metalhead]

Well, my opinion is that God can do anything if you put your faith in him, and IF ITS HIS WILL.

The reason that last part is in caps is because, maybe God wants to use this disability that you have to help other people. You can feel their pain. Maybe God gave you that so others can relate to you and you can get through to people more in need than yourself.

While, yes, I beleive God can do anything, and that all prayers are answered(with a yes or no) in due time, they may not be the answers we are looking for.

You then also have to consider if someone who wants God to heal them is being sincere, yes, they're asking the right questions, but maybe they don't mean it or live it (their faith in God) out in their daily lives.

I'll probably never know how God exactly operates, or why he does the things he does, but i do believe that anything can be done through prayer, and God answers prayers.-it just may not be the answer we are looking for, or maybe God has a different plan for us, or maybe we lack faith.

Well, i hope that helps...