SaltPork

One of my friends, who is pretty much a confirmed atheist, prayed the other night that he would win the lottery for this past Saturday's drawing, Powerball to be more precise. He won three dollars. Now he's conflicted. He wasn't specific about how much he wanted to win, but he won nonetheless. So he took his "God" money, as he puts it, and bought three more tickets.

Today, he checked his numbers again and won again...three dollars. He's starting to think that there may be something going on that he doesn't understand and is taking his winnings as some sort of sign. Funny stuff, not sure what I think about it.

What do you think, random chance or divine intervention?

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Trisk

If every person that asked God to help them win the lottery won, the world would be pretty crazy. Random chance.

I doubt God (if there is one) cares that much about each individual person's day-to-day doings and if he was going to reward someone, why a confirmed aethiest?

Church

Well as much as I think this thread is going to have a divine intervention and be moved to Tilted Philosophy, I find this interesting.

I think though, this may just be coincidence. I'm not saying he should renounce any new found... religion, (for lack of a better word), but see if it happens again.

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moonstrucksoul

every time pray on a simple scratch ticket, I lose.

i lose when i don't pray too.

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the_marq

I think god is probably too busy helping highschool football teams win games to worry about every powerball player.

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#3 in a series

ShaniFaye

I'm of the belief that god cares about atheists too.....If I were god I wouldnt pass up the chance to "rattle the cage" of a person that swore they didnt believe in me

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World's King

I need three bucks for smokes.

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Glava

I am of the firm belief that it was a random occurence. If your friend wins a few million within a short amount of time, maybe I'll believe in "divine interventon".

Stare At The Sun

Three dollars, and the Holy Trinity. I always thought that the number 3 had a lot of significance to religion.

Who knows..

Journeyman

Being omnipotent can have you getting a person's faith in you for a cool million. Being omniscient can set you up to get their faith for only three bucks. Pretty neat, huh?

basmoq

I don't believe in three, I believe in one, me!

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smooth

haha, I wanted to say that

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MSD

I don't believe in divine intervention, I don't belive in most things attributed to "God," but if I were a supreme being, I would do something like that to get someone to think about it and reconsider what they thought was absolute truth. No self-interest, more to help someone become more open-minded. Would a coincidence like that get me to start believing in a God who intervenes in our lives? No, but it would make me think.

carrot glace

if he does it again and wins then, wow, 3's are lucky

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guthmund

That and taking all the pro-jock, actor/actress, politician "shout-outs" messages to Jesus.

I would imagine their are bigger fish to fry if indeed God does dabble in the universe. I would imagine that, in the grand scheme of things, if God wanted to grab your atheist friend's attention, it'd be something...I don't know....bigger than gifting him six bucks in the powerball.

Now if your buddy starts hearing voices from a burning bush....then...you know...probably we should all sit down and pow-wow.

Until then, however, I'm going to vote "random chance."

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Stompy

Hahaha $3?! Do you realize the odds are 1/70? I wouldn't exactly call that divine intervention

Maybe if he won $10 million, then bought 3 more tickets and each of those tickets won $10 million... but yeah, even then it'd still be random chance so..

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eyeronic

You lucky bastard, I need $7.50 in NYC.

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dnd

gotta love coincidence and statistics, can turn atheists into total believers!

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SaltPork

well, his God money didn't play out. He lost on Saturday...not even a free ticket. He's off the God-wagon for now. It seems like all of you were right...it was merely coincidence, go figure

He just bought another ticket today, he's going to see how this one plays out.

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mb99usa

Why do luck and God get intertwined? I've one the $3 prize a few times. God had nothing to do with it. The random number generator in the lottery machine did.

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So, what's your point?

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maleficent

Please let me win the lottery
A blond woman named Brandi finds herself in dire trouble. Her business has gone bust and she's in serious financial trouble. She's so desperate that she decides to ask God for help. She begins to pray...

"God, please help me. I've lost my business and if I don't get some money, I'm going to lose my house as well. Please let me win the lotto."

Lotto night comes and somebody else wins it. Brandi again prays ..."God, please let me win the lotto! I've lost my business, my house and I'm going to lose my car as well."

Lotto night comes and Brandi still has no luck.

Once again, she prays..."My God, why have you forsaken me?? I've lost my business, my house, and my car. My children are starving. I don't often ask you for help and I have always been a good servant to you. PLEASE just let me win the lotto this one time so I can get my life back in order."

Suddenly there is a blinding flash of light as the heavens open and Brandi is confronted by the voice of God Himself: "Brandi, meet Me halfway on this. Buy a ticket."
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Unless God has told him to buy a ticket -- I think it was just dumb luck

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Cynthetiq

ooh... that's why I've never won...

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The Phenomenon

God is not a spare tire that fixes stuf for you.

animosity

Perhaps we should be praying to the lottery machine? Why use a third party when you can go right to the source.

Your friend should not put so much faith in random occurances. Sometimes when we pray we get what we want, sometimes we dont. It isnt because god chooses to help us sometimes and then other times he chooses not to. It is because things are random, no one is there to help you or hurt you. It is all up to you & the random number generator.

SaltPork

ALL HAIL THE RANDOM NUMBER GENERATOR, FOR HE IS POWERFUL!!!!! For what it's worth, I'm going to try the prayer thing just as a scientific test. I bought two tickets for Wednesday's drawing. This week I will pray to God, next drawing I will pray to the Random Number Generator. I will post my results along with some graphs.

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thespian86

maybe an aethiest to change any idea he has about God. I honestly think this would be a stupid way to tell someone "I beleive in God because I won the lottery" but God works in mysterious ways.

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amge

I read in a Vegas paper about one of the latest Progressive slot machine Jack pot winner.

The winner said that god told her to go to the casino and have fun at the Wheel of Fortune Slot machine. And after several minutes she won the the Jackpot.

So do you think she will give the church any of the winnings? Or "would god tell her to keep it?"