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August 20, 2007 at 15:01:16

Do I Believe That Prayer Can Prevent Disasters? N0!

by SDrobny

www.opednews.com

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George Stephanopoulos must have thought that he was moderating the Republican debate when he asked the stupid question about prayer. That goes along with the question that Chris Matthews asked the Republicans about whether they believed in evolution. Remarkably, 3 Republicans admitted that they believe in creationism. I wonder what goes on in the heads of these so-called news anchors.
30 years ago these questions would have been as ridiculous as asking the candidates if they believed in Santa Claus. Yet today, these types of questions have managed to become mainstream. The idea that a belief in prayer preventing bad things from happening is outrages and ridiculous, especially for those who are seeking the Presidency. Is middle-aged thinking having a new Renaissance to the days of witches and mysticism and the most outlandish beliefs in superstition? I suggest that the moderators stick to questions that have to do with real tangible issues that we humans can solve ourselves.

This abdication of all our human responsibilities to god not only is wrong, but it also leaves the human condition with a sense of powerlessness. There are lots of things that we have no control over. But, we should not abdicate our responsibility to the invisible man in the sky. I have 2 quotes for those who believe in the power of prayer as prevention of bad things: “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s, and unto God the things that are God’s” --The Gospels "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference." --Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer
Speaking of praying to prevent bad things from happening, I will now pray that Bush and Cheney resign.

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Sheldon Drobny was the co-founder of Nova M radio and Air America Radio. He has supported many philanthropic causes and is currently involved in purchasing radio stations for liberal talk radio with his new company, Nova M Radio, Inc. Mr. Drobny specializes in business and tax matters and is admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court as a non-attorney. Less than 200 non-attorneys have been admitted to practice before the U.S. Tax Court since its inception in 1942. Mr. Drobny received a Bachelor of Science Degree in accounting from Roosevelt University in Chicago and is a member of Beta Gamma Sigma, an honorary fraternity recognizing acadamic achievement in colleges of business administration.

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4 comments

Professor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

to see more of bio, click on member name
Professor Emeritus Peter BagnoloProfessor Bagnolo is a Renaissance man: Cultural Anthropologist, Architectural designer, painter, writer, novelist, theologian. As a child prodigy, abed with polio for almost two years, with an off the charts IQ, reading at the graduate level by 5th grade, offered an opportunity to skip three grades at age 8.Later He was a recipient of an Art Institute scholarship at age 11, a Ford Foundation Fellowship in Anthropology and in Painting and a merit scholarship in art, and was appointed a Graduate ...

to see more of bio, click on member name

"God grant me the serenity

"God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference." --Reinhold Niebuhr, The Serenity Prayer

There are several versions of the Serenity Prayer, each with slightly different wording. Also, there are conflicting accounts of the prayer's origin. It has been variously attributed to an ancient Sanskrit text, Aristotle, St. Augustine, mostly to St. Francis of Assisi, and others. AA members were first exposed to the prayer in 1948, when it was quoted in the Grapevine, an AA periodical, in which it was credited to theologian Reinhold Niebuhr.

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1311 comments) on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 7:26:33 AM

Michael Shelby serves democracy as an aggressive progressive and "equal opportunity abuser". An independent election integrity activist in Arizona, he is also an active member of Progressive Democrats of America. A veteran of Vietnam era antiwar protests, Mike serves in the 82nd Pajamahadeen/101st Keyboard Division continuing the fight against war and Republicans.
Mike ShelbyMichael Shelby serves democracy as an aggressive progressive and "equal opportunity abuser". An independent election integrity activist in Arizona, he is also an active member of Progressive Democrats of America. A veteran of Vietnam era antiwar protests, Mike serves in the 82nd Pajamahadeen/101st Keyboard Division continuing the fight against war and Republicans.

OR, God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot

change; the courage to change the things I can; the wisdom to know the difference - and the longevity to dance on the bastards graves long after they are dead! :-)

by Mike Shelby (13 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 20 comments) on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 9:19:59 AM

My Dad's favorite saying...

"The best revenge is to outlive your enemies and piss on their graves!" This is a combination of Jewish folklore and Italian, '...don't get mad, get even...' thing.

However, Yes I do believe that sometimes prayer can change things. PRAYER is simply a manifestation of an application of physics, and math, the language of God. If you have read my unerring predictions here and elsewhere (go to writers archives or my blospots-http://Bagnolosprophetics.blogspot.com) There they are, against the grain, against the experts and "profilers" but always, irrefutably accurate carved in time/stone, well in advance of the occurances. And I do not see how anyone can call a person with an IQ of 173 stupid. Some people just have gifts others do not possess. Plato mentioned it, Einstein mentioned it, and I mentioned it, and with an aggregate IQ 526 for three guys-no dummies there. There are skills and gifts and there are skills and gifts. they aren't all phsyical, or mental, like IQ or being able to see and hit a 100 mph fastball far and often. Read Jung and Einstein on Synchronicity, read Eisnstein and Bohr on God's shooting dice with the universe, and Read Gödel in Einstein on the non-existence of time and it's relativity making time travel and eternal existence not merely possible but ineluctable not to be possible. With Physics anyhting is possible. The tachyon is the medium of diffusion and concentration and the Medium of above light speed carriage, so that past present future are one, time is irrelevant at above light speed, and Tachyons can carry signals back and forth in time thus prophecy is not magic, but supported theoretical physics. THINK THE TWO SLIT TEST RAMPED! THINK Schrödinger's cat PUMPED.

The history of man is filled with prophetic realities like Patton at age 11 predicting his exact position and siituation in time 45 years later . There are gifts and there are GIFTS. IT IS PHYSICS NOT MAGIC.

by Professor Emeritus Peter Bagnolo (144 articles, 1 quicklinks, 95 diaries, 1311 comments) on Tuesday, August 21, 2007 at 2:44:38 PM

Been around the block a few times.
Blue PilgrimBeen around the block a few times.

Someone

with an IQ of 173 may not be stupid speaking relative to other people, but it is quite stupid in relation to understanding the world, and says nothing of knowledge or ignorance. Some who is smart may be ignorant, but also can be competely wrong -- or crazy in some way. Aggregate doesn't count -- otherwise a dozen people of average intelligence (IQ total of 1200) could have solved Fermat's last theorem decades ago. IQ is just a number, indicating a score on a test essentially designed to find people too idiotic to be a soldier, and doesn't really mean much beyond that. It's not something to get hung up on.

Prayer is not a manifestation of physics, and if anyone thinks they understand "God", they are wrong. That's even if they are smart, or if you get a group of people with an aggregate IQ of 1200 together. Prayer is based on religious belief, and scientific studies show it to have no effect beyond in a few things where people feeling better might make some difference. It's a type of magick, and it's not clear that any sort of magick works -- at least not reliably. It's certainly not anything to use in politics in place of ordinary work and critical thinking.

Nope -- people got themselves into this and it's people who have to get themselves out. Prayer won't help anymore than shooting supplicating messages to the moon. It doesn't take any gift of prophesy to have seen where this was heading: just paying attention and learning a bit about history and psychology (psychohistory, is you will) -- which too many people hardly ever do. It's not like this should have been a surprise to anyone.

by Blue Pilgrim (0 articles, 3 quicklinks, 2 diaries, 997 comments) on Wednesday, August 22, 2007 at 12:09:21 PM