Sunday, January 3, 2010

The Big Questions: Do Miracles Happen?


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Aired January 3, 2010 on BBC One

17 comments:

  1. Big question, simple answer: No.

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  2. Have every faithful person on this planet pray for an amputee to grow back a limb three times a day, every day of the year for 10 years, and the result will be that not one human being will have a limb grow back.
    Youtube and video cameras are everywhere.  Still no supernatural events have been caught on tape.

    Does prayer or faith help?  I do believe that people who feel loved or believe they are being saved by God may survive certain diseases at times because I do think that a positive mental state and optimism can help overcome some illnesses.

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  3. I'm amused and frustrated when people say things like "well the Doctors gave me 6 months to live and here I am 24 years later".

    It is as if Doctors are infallible beings and therefore proving them wrong constitutes a miracle, nevermind that Doctors are human and make mistakes and have limited knowledge (don't even get me started on how unscientific most medical doctors are). These people claiming miracles also simply ignore the activities of Doctors, nevermind the surgery or the chemo, nevermind the 6month survival time is based on statistics relating to treatment and cancer progression studies, nevermind there are statistical outliers and people who fall far from the norm in the distribution curve of survival.

    This is all evidenced by how awkwardly the woman answered the question "why you, why did God decide to answer your prayers and not someone elses?" She veered dangerously close to basically saying "I had enough faith" which really just equates to "they didn't have enough faith". So it isn't God's or the Universe's fault, its their fault for their insufficient faith. This is the very bullshit "The Secret" exploits without being accountable to the misses and not just the hits.

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  4. I suspect most people here are familiar with J&M, but check this anyway.

    http://www.jesusandmo.net/

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  5. R€LIGION $TINKS OF MONE¥January 3, 2010 at 12:34 PM

    What a bunch of deluded, arrogant and condescending idiots. This wasn´t a fair debate and once again the religious get most of the air time. I really found the Rabbi strident and offensive.

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  6. Atkins comes off as terribly arrogant in these series. Ugh. Instead of saying there are definitely no miracles, why not simply say that he has yet to find a miracle claim that can withstand scrutiny or something.

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  7. let's see, quantum physics, human potential, power of prair.. geez.. when will people figure out putting words together doesn't inherently constitute an intelligible sentence..  Can't believe people actually applauded there.. I fear for our collective IQ..

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  8. What the cancer survivor sees as a miracle is just a case of defying the odds. Cancer survival rates simply represent the probability that someone will survive a particular cancer five years out. The survival rate for pancreatic cancer is about 3% (http://rex.nci.nih.gov/NCI_Pub_Interface/raterisk/rates28.html). That means that for every 100 people who get pancreatic cancer 3 will defy the odds and survive. That’s just basic statistics and probability.

    For breast cancer, which is what the woman had, the survival rate even back in the '70s was about 75%, so the odds were actually in her favor - no odds defying necessary. The only time she defied the odds was in getting breast cancer in the first place, but I bet she never considered that a miracle.

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  9. OK, so somethings will always remain unexplained, and I am personally very skeptical of all miraculous claims. However, even on the remote off chance that somehow this woman and the church congregation managed to tap into some 'supernatural power' (and I am not saying that they did), then how did they get from that to THEIR PARTICULAR GOD? It could have been the Flying Spaghetti Monster listening in and doing the healing!

    The unknown is just that, unknown! Having said that I don't believe there is any evidence for a real 'miracle' anyway.... No objective data, no repeatability, just emotion and gullibility. Never let the facts get in the way of a good TV program :)

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  10. So many people prayed and just ended up dead, the only thing differs here, the one who had the enough luck to survive and lives to tell tales about his/her miraculous cure made by supernatural power intervention.

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  11. She says she was 'raised as a christian' so she has already been indoctrinated to view these things from a distorted point of view.

    At least these videos show us the ignorance we are up against.

    The point made by 'The Atheist Jew' is spot on. These people were making claims about internal organs being altered. Funny how it never seems to be anything visible like a severed limb growing back.

    Did God intend for this to happen also?

    http://www.parentdish.co.uk/2010/01/04/boy-killed-by-a-bullet-fired-up-to-three-miles-a-way/?icid=main|uk|dl1|link7|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.parentdish.co.uk%2F2010%2F01%2F04%2Fboy-killed-by-a-bullet-fired-up-to-three-miles-a-way%2F

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  12. Interesting Hitler survived a plot to blow him up (I think it was in the last year of the war)... He was protected from fatal injuries by a large wooden table, while at least 4 other people in the room died.

    God must have been protecting him and wanted the extra suffering that he inflicted during the 'year of grace' that god gave him!

    Surely it would have been so easy for an all knowing, all powerful, and all loving god to have allowed hitler to have been killed right there and then! Maybe too many nazi's were praying for him!

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  13. There was no awkwardness in me, I just wanted to handle it sensitively as we have all lost loved ones including me..  the programme specifically wanted to bring out that I'd been given 6 months and how long ago it was.. I wouldn't dream of ever saying about other people 'they didn't have enough faith'.. that would be arrogant judgmental and hurtful to those who have suffered loss and grief. I don't see myself as more special than someone else in God's eyes. The big question was 'do miracles still happen?' and I say 'Yes!'. I know what I went through and I know the amazing undeniable intervention of God during that time. In the short time I had on the programme I couldn't tell of the many miracles that occurred throughout..,in the chemo, in the radiotherapy, in the months of having treatment, the way God acted in my life.. I radiated health when my blood count was barely registering! It was astonishing..to us all. I didn't set out to prove doctors wrong to constitute a miracle, I just set out to live, to not die at 30, to stay with my family and to be well. The programme only gave a snapshot - I could tell you so much more. Apart from my experience with cancer I have seen many other things in my life that could not be explained scientifically. I don't ignore the doctors and treatment but I know the odds that were stacked against me and I lived the journey and I'll always honour God for what he's done and for who He is to me. Being an atheist is your choice but I believe with all my heart in a God who loves us and wants us to know Him. Miracles are happening all over the world. I pray you'll not just believe in miracles but that you'll come to know this God of miracles and His love.

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  14. Hi.. I know someone who's seen limbs grow before their eyes and seen some supernatural things on video too

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  15. yea they do, they happen everyday without you knowing

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  16. Bill, I am one of those defy the odds for pancreatic cancer. I was fortunate to have surgery and they took my entire pancreas. I don't believe in statistics, I knew my time wasn't up and that I had more work to complete here. To update your stats, we are now up to 6% survivial rate. Our funding hasn't changed in 40 years. We only get 2% of all research money and we are the 4th leading cause of death. Sad, that people think there is only one type of cancer and that is the color pink.

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