Praise the Lord, another miracle!

[jimmygun]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090701/world/ml_yemen_plane_crash

A teenage girl was thrown clear on impact of the airplane that crashed into the ocean. She is the only survivor of 153 people on the plane. Praise god from whom all blessings flow!

Sorry, sometimes sarcasm is the only appropriate response.

[Monketey Ghost]

The dead are each and every one deserving of god's wrath. Right?

[fagin]

I can see no reference to miracles of any sort in the article - just that she was the sole survivor?
Did I miss something.

[Wildy]

I think he's jumping the gun here. You'll probably find at least one story where someone will praise God or Allah or whoever for saving this girl.

[Oliver]

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090701/world/ml_yemen_plane_crash

A teenage girl was thrown clear on impact of the airplane that crashed into the ocean. She is the only survivor of 153 people on the plane. Praise god from whom all blessings flow!

Sorry, sometimes sarcasm is the only appropriate response.


Mhmm, you sound as if you have some deep issues with religion. The secondary issue of the plane crash probably had nothing to do with your religious agenda, right?

Thus, the topic in here rather sounds like an appeal to Atheism than an appeal to talk about the crash itself.

Anyway: It wasn't a miracle. If he exists, God certainly is an ass-[fill in the blank] to take her relatives lives. People who think that's a miracle should consult a doctor.

[catbasket]

No, the dead have been taken up by god's love and the survivor - who wasn't zhfsst enough for His Imaginariness - has been left to suffer, guiltily asking herself "why did I survive?".

There being no mention of religion in the article makes me wonder which religion will be the one to claim this crash as one of theirs.

How do religions sort out which version of Truth gets jurisdiction and thus the credit for the miracle? What if an airliner from a Christian country, with a few Muslims onboard, crashes in Israel and the only survivors are a Scientologist, a Buddhist and an atheist ... who gets the credit then?

[Cainkane1]

I'm happy that such an unusual set of circumstances came together and the little girl lived but a greater (miracle) would have been that the whole group of passengers survived.

[Whiplash]

Sorry, sometimes sarcasm is the only appropriate response.


Or try not to worry about things that you cannot directly control or change, and live a peacful and relaxing life (as much as you can).

[Oliver]

No, the dead have been taken up by god's love and the survivor - who wasn't zhfsst enough for His Imaginariness - has been left to suffer, guiltily asking herself "why did I survive?".

There being no mention of religion in the article makes me wonder which religion will be the one to claim this crash as one of theirs.

How do religions sort out which version of Truth gets jurisdiction and thus the credit for the miracle? What if an airliner from a Christian country, with a few Muslims onboard, crashes in Israel and the only survivors are a Scientologist, a Buddhist and an atheist ... who gets the credit then?


To religious people, God gets the credits, no matter what God/-s they believe in - and no matter who survived - AKA: "My God [for some reason] sent a message to followers like me with this 'miracle'."

Weird, I know.

[Phage0070]

"The head of the rescue team in the Comoros also told RTL the teenager survived astonishing odds. "It is truly, truly, miraculous," said Ibrahim Abdoulazeb. "The young girl can barely swim.""
CNN - http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/01/yemen.plane.survivor/index.html

BAM!

[Phage0070]

""It is a true miracle. She is a courageous young girl," Alain Joyandet, France's minister for international cooperation, said at the hospital."
FoxNews - http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,529673,00.html

POW!

[Oliver]

I'm happy that such an unusual set of circumstances came together and the little girl lived but a greater (miracle) would have been that the whole group of passengers survived.


Well, if she and all the people who believe in the same religion as she does would have survived, I would call that an astonishing coincidence as well. But since those things never happen, God simply doesn't care about that incident at all - which, to me, explains that there isn't a caring God in the first place. [Or no God at all, which is the most logical conclusion.]

[geni]

Anyway: It wasn't a miracle. If he exists, God certainly is an ass-[fill in the blank] to take her relatives lives. People who think that's a miracle should consult a doctor.

Her father appears to alive so it's unclear if she had any relatives on the flight.

[Oliver]

Her father appears to alive so it's unclear if she had any relatives on the flight.



Her Mother did fly with Bakari Baya. [I suppose God hates Women then?]
http://www.kansascity.com/news/world/story/1299896.html

[HansMustermann]

Well, if she and all the people who believe in the same religion as she does would have survived, I would call that an astonishing coincidence as well. But since those things never happen, God simply doesn't care about that incident at all - which, to me, explains that there isn't a caring God in the first place. [Or no God at all, which is the most logical conclusion.]

That or god does play dice ;) I can just see it

God: "Ok, next on the list of callers... Baya. I swear some parents should be shot for the names they give their kids... Well, let's roll for impact..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Oooh, natural 20. Lucky girl. So let's say the cushion absorbs all the shock. Well, the plane's still being crushed, let's see how she's doing there..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Oh my ME. Another natural 20. Are these dice loaded? Ok, so she gets ejected clean through the emergency door, which is flung open by the tremendous structural strain. Still, you're going at high speed into the ocean, girl. Let's see her swimming stat... ZERO? I have a bad feeling about this..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Man, I can't believe she got another natural 20! Ok, ok, so let's say she took the flotation cushion with her..."
God: "Ok, next caller, Abdul. Let's roll for impact..."
*rolls the D20 again*
God: "Natural 1? Oooh, that's a critical failure right there. This is going to hurt, Abdul. A lot. Ok, Abdul smashes his head on the edge of his little plastic table, which got unhinged in the shock. The last thing going through his head are little plastic and bone fragments... Next caller..."

[Oliver]

That or god does play dice ;) I can just see it

God: "Ok, next on the list of callers... Baya. I swear some parents should be shot for the names they give their kids... Well, let's roll for impact..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Oooh, natural 20. Lucky girl. So let's say the cushion absorbs all the shock. Well, the plane's still being crushed, let's see how she's doing there..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Oh my ME. Another natural 20. Are these dice loaded? Ok, so she gets ejected clean through the emergency door, which is flung open by the tremendous structural strain. Still, you're going at high speed into the ocean, girl. Let's see her swimming stat... ZERO? I have a bad feeling about this..."
*rolls a D20*
God: "Man, I can't believe she got another natural 20! Ok, ok, so let's say she took the flotation cushion with her..."
God: "Ok, next caller, Abdul. Let's roll for impact..."
*rolls the D20 again*
God: "Natural 1? Oooh, that's a critical failure right there. This is going to hurt, Abdul. A lot. Ok, Abdul smashes his head on the edge of his little plastic table, which got unhinged in the shock. The last thing going through his head are little plastic and bone fragments... Next caller..."


That was some nasty, sick stuff, Hans. But I see your point and would like to see the same conversation based on the "Miracle-Believers side". :">

[HansMustermann]

Well, come to think of it "Our Game Master who art in heaven" would make a pretty good belief, wouldn't it? :p

[slingblade]

Well, come to think of it "Our Game Master who art in heaven" would make a pretty good belief, wouldn't it? :p

At least when I fill out a ticket, a GM eventually answers....

:p

[HansMustermann]

I was thinking more of the tabletop kind. They answer too, but sometimes it's "get another character sheet" :p

[jimmygun]

Or try not to worry about things that you cannot directly control or change, and live a peacful and relaxing life (as much as you can).

I don't "worry" about such things, I simply comment on the absurdity of 152 people dying and calling the sole survivor a "miracle"!

250,000 people perish in the tsunami and miracle of miracles, one or two survive clinging to a log! Again, I say that sarcasm is the only appropriate response.

[HansMustermann]

Well, I'm not denying your point when it's actually called a divine intervention. And there's no shortage of that, either.

But... the word "miracle" has been a bit devalued by now, and is more often just used to mean "something really improbable." Most people using it don't think of actual divine intervention.

Same as when we use "luck" nowadays, we don't mean either thanks to Fortuna (like the Romans,) nor in the sense of some supernatural and finite supply of luck you get (like the Norse.) When we say "you were lucky" we don't mean you actually had an actual property attached or anything, or by "you had a lot of luck" we don't mean it's something that can be actually _had_. It's just a figure of speech.

And reading the quotes in this particular case, I'll say it's a bit unclear. I see no case of anyone clearly saying "god did it". The use of "miracle" there may (or may not) mean simply that they think it's mind-bogglingly incredible that someone would be flung out of an airplane without injury.

In that sense, your tsunami example is actually the perfect illustration of what I'm talking about. If 250,000 died and two survived hanging onto logs, against all odds that the force of the impact should have made mincemeat out of their innards, that's exactly the kind of improbable thing that gets summed up as "miracle".

[Pure Argent]

Well, come to think of it "Our Game Master who art in heaven" would make a pretty good belief, wouldn't it?

Let's try it out. Social experiment, people. We're starting a religion. Who wants to join the First Church of Gamerism? Patron Saint is Gary Gygax.

[HansMustermann]

Let's try it out. Social experiment, people. We're starting a religion. Who wants to join the First Church of Gamerism? Patron Saint is Gary Gygax.

Make that Prophet, and I'm in :p

[Pure Argent]

Make that Prophet, and I'm in :p

It is done.

[jimmygun]

Well, I'm not denying your point when it's actually called a divine intervention. And there's no shortage of that, either.

But... the word "miracle" has been a bit devalued by now, and is more often just used to mean "something really improbable." Most people using it don't think of actual divine intervention.

Same as when we use "luck" nowadays, we don't mean either thanks to Fortuna (like the Romans,) nor in the sense of some supernatural and finite supply of luck you get (like the Norse.) When we say "you were lucky" we don't mean you actually had an actual property attached or anything, or by "you had a lot of luck" we don't mean it's something that can be actually _had_. It's just a figure of speech.

And reading the quotes in this particular case, I'll say it's a bit unclear. I see no case of anyone clearly saying "god did it". The use of "miracle" there may (or may not) mean simply that they think it's mind-bogglingly incredible that someone would be flung out of an airplane without injury.

In that sense, your tsunami example is actually the perfect illustration of what I'm talking about. If 250,000 died and two survived hanging onto logs, against all odds that the force of the impact should have made mincemeat out of their innards, that's exactly the kind of improbable thing that gets summed up as "miracle".

You and I might use the term miracle to over emphasize and improbable event but the people I deal with do attribute this sort of thing as god protecting the girl or the two survivors of the tsunami. Admittedly they are the same people who see a divine rendition of jesus in a urine stain under a bridge.