Status: Superstition
It's been a hot summer, and a lot of areas really need some rain. The town of Lubbock, Texas is taking a pro-active approach by
organizing everyone in the town to pray for rain. Mayor David Miller says:
"Nobody is going to tell God what to do and what not to do, but we are in a serious drought in West Texas and since he is the man who controls the rain clouds, we're asking him for his mercy and his help."
If the City Council approves the rain-prayer resolution, residents of the town will be asked to pray and fast for rain this Sunday.
Sounds like quite a plan. But Lubbock would do well to take heed of San Diego's troubled history with government-sponsored rain-making projects. Back in 1915 San Diego hired
Charles Hatfield, who promoted himself as a "moisture accelerator," to brew up some rain for the city. Hatfield set up his equipment in December 1915, and in January 1916 it began to rain. But it rained so hard that it produced one of the biggest floods San Diego has ever seen, causing millions of dollars of property damage.
So if Lubbock goes ahead with its plan it should take some precautions in case God responds with a flood of Biblical proportions.
Comments
OK, someone explain to me where religion ends and superstition begins, if you can. Personally, I don't think there IS a dividing line.
"It hasn't worked for Australia, so it isn't going to work there."
Maybe God just doesn't like you Aussies. Ever thought of that?
http://www.parkridgecenter.org/Page177.html
http://p4h.humanists.net/prayeraid.html-(2)/prayeraid.htm
The argument here was that, even if you do believe in God, prayer isn't something you can make work by making more people do it.
No, I lean more towards the "does not exist" bracket and blame screwed up weather patterns, plus the fact idiots are in control of dam placement in South East Queensland.
It's probably just too damned hot here for him to bother visiting!
And yet, that's exactly what they're doing.
I've never understood how prayer is supposed to work. If it isn't an attempt to influence God, then what is it? If God does as He wills, then isn't prayer meaningless?
Or maybe San Diego's history of endorsing religion is not a good model.
Don't get me started on the San Diego cross controversy, which I consider to be a total farce. First the pro-cross advocates say that the cross should stay because it's merely a secular symbol. But then, when it's suggested that the cross be modified to make it acceptable to everyone by adding two more perpendicular arms to it, the pro-cross people say 'No, that would be sacrilege.' No sense or irony when they say that either.
Cross is a secular symbol my ass.
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Where I live, we are in a constant state of draught, even though the ocean is right next to us! (Water, water, everywhere....)
Nobody would even think to do anything like that around here, I'd bet.
"The "no proof" argument is a bad one. Spirituality is just that, spiritual, so trying to use science to study it makes no sense. Science is the study of the physical world, it would be like declaring there is no such thing as a wooden nickel because a metal detector didn't detect it. I've heard about other "studies" that show prayer did work for patients but the results were consistant across all faiths."
First off, the rain would happen in the PHYSICAL world, wouldn't it, so why could it not be studied? They aren't praying for SPIRITUAL rain, right?
As for the "studies" you THINK you heard about, uh, I don't think you did. There WAS a study recently that said that prayer DIDN'T make a difference in the recovery of patients. Perhaps THAT is what you're misremembering?
"No, I lean more towards the "does not exist" bracket and blame screwed up weather patterns, plus the fact idiots are in control of dam placement in South East Queensland."
I don't know about "dam placement in Queensland," but I'm completely with you on the other two points.
"Don't get me started on the San Diego cross controversy, which I consider to be a total farce."
Once upon a time (early 90's), I worked at XTRA, The Mighty 690 in San Diego, doing morning drive. The program director thought it would be good for me and the guy I was working with to get involved in the Cross Controversy. My partner took the "pro cross" position I took the "anti cross" position.
My partner wasn't all that bright or articulate, really and didn't actually care about the damn cross one way or another, so I would just take him apart in our on-air "debates."
The owner of the station at the time was a VERY devout Catholic (he has since tried TWICE to start a Catholic radio network) and he ordered the program director to tell me to "change my opinion." Although the P.D. was a convert to Catholicism, to his credit he told the boss that he didn't know how to order someone to change their opinion (or at least he CLAIMED that he told the boss that). Ultimately, we just moved on to some other bit and let the cross thing die.
I've always suspected that my "anti-crossism" was at least part of the reason I got canned at XTRA.
Hey, San Diego, let the friggin' cross thing go, will ya?
The idea, if I understand correctly, is that God has made some things contingent on whether or not someone asks for them.
"The idea, if I understand correctly, is that God has made some things contingent on whether or not someone asks for them."
What idea? Whose idea?
"On July 25th local leaders including Mayor David Miller called for a time of fasting and prayer for rain. Every day since then it has rained somewhere in West Texas. In Lubbock, we have received officially at the airport 5.68 inches of rain since that day of prayer. That
Wichita Falls may, or may not be filled with heathens, but as far as I know, they have not made a day of prayer (and repentance) for rain.
"It seems to me that their prayers were answered. Amazingly, they got more than half their rainfall for the calendar year. No, you can't TELL God what to do like someone said that they were doing - they ASKED God to bless them with rain."
So, if you pray, you may or may NOT get the answer you want--just like would happen if you didn't pray at all. Yup, it's a miracle, all right.