"Why Won't God Heal Amputees?"

[greg]

Hate to start another thread like this, but.........

I ran across this amusingly titled page........


http://whywontgodhealamputees.com/god5.htm


basically, i'd like to hear logic that counters this, and is convincing....... although i don't expect anything good. 

[M forever]

Simple. Because gods don't exist except in people's imagination, and they imagine them to be and do for them whatever they want and need. Even that they can cure cancer, because we don't completely understand cancer yet. But the gods don't cure cancer, and they don't give limbs back. Except that the latter is just too obvious to imagine anything about it.

[greg]

Well, I know that...... you're just stating what is written in the web site.
I'm just providing a challenge. I'm interested in what responses it might generate.

[M forever]

I didn't read that article. This isn't a challenge anyway. The answer is just too obvious. Of course, in the ancient world, more people belived in that kind of stuff and that even more drastic divine interventions actually happened. Blinds got cured, even dead awakened frpm, well, the dead. There still are many people who very fervently, and probably honestly, believe in these things and who pray very hard. But their god doesn't do anything for them that they can't imagine anyway. Fairy tale time is over.

[Joe_Campbell]

More importantly:
http://www.tektoonics.com/etc/parody/gawd.html

[karlhenning]

More importantly:
http://www.tektoonics.com/etc/parody/gawd.html

There are billions of Christian believers today, and that scares the wee out of me. Is their God real? I sure hope not.

Poor fellow; trapped in a world where he wasn't given admin rights to exclude Christians!

[Keemun]

This website and the challenge posed here are based on the faulty assumption that the existence (or nonexistence) of God can be proven through logic.  One of the definitions of faith is a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

[karlhenning]

This website and the challenge posed here are based on the faulty assumption that the existence (or nonexistence) of God can be proven through logic.  One of the definitions of faith is a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

Excellent point.  And one which so very many people stampede past, in their eagerness to . . . whatever.

[Iago]

I happen to be an amputee. I lost my right leg (below the knee) to diabetes.

I never prayed for GOD to restore my limb. I did pray to GOD to give me the strength to compensate for its loss. WHICH HE HAS DONE.

I walk, I travel, I drive my car (with a specially built prosthesis). The car is not modified in any way. I walk almost with no limp or an altered gait of any kind. most people don't even know that I'm wearing a prosthesis.
My life has changed very, very little from what it was before my amputation.

I no longer can run a marathon. But I never wanted to do that anyway.

[Al Moritz]

Why does God not heal amputees? Because it would be too darn obvious. God has set up the world and what happens in it in such a way that the freedom of choice to believe in him is not violated.

For those determined to reject God, there will always be sufficient reasons to not believe in God *), for those with an open mind there will always be plenty of reasons to believe in Him. Belief in God will always be an eminently reasonable and rational position (as theists, including me, have extensively pointed out in discussions here, and atheists here have not been able to refute our arguments), but it will never be coercive -- it would stop being belief. And I think that God precisely wants it that way.

Were amputees healed, faith would be replaced by certainty, freedom of choice would be suspended.


*) the atheist's assumption of naturalism is also a belief, as has been repeatedly pointed out

[Al Moritz]

I happen to be an amputee. I lost my right leg (below the knee) to diabetes.

I never prayed for GOD to restore my limb. I did pray to GOD to give me the strength to compensate for its loss. WHICH HE HAS DONE.

I walk, I travel, I drive my car (with a specially built prosthesis). The car is not modified in any way. I walk almost with no limp or an altered gait of any kind. most people don't even know that I'm wearing a prosthesis.
My life has changed very, very little from what it was before my amputation.

I no longer can run a marathon. But I never wanted to do that anyway.

I admire your attitude.

[Norbeone]

One of the definitions of faith is a "firm belief in something for which there is no proof."

Making that type of faith a ridiculous thing to have.

[Al Moritz]

Making that type of faith a ridiculous thing to have.

I suppose you are talking about naturalism, the faith of atheists.

[Norbeone]

I suppose you are talking about naturalism, the faith of atheists.

I'm talking about the virtue of not being arrogant.

[Al Moritz]

I'm talking about the virtue of not being arrogant.

I see, the virtue that atheists are so good at by calling believers in God "irrational" for no rational reason.

[Norbeone]

I see, the virtue that atheists are so good at by calling believers in God "irrational" for no rational reason.

Okay...




(see Sean's lastest fascinating thread)

[Iago]

The lowly "Starfish" and the "King Crab" have the power of regeneration. If they lose a limb by accident or removal for commercial reasons, that limb regenerates. It's all in the "genes". When science learns that secret (with the help of GOD) mankind will be able to do the same thing.
Humans can already partially accomplish that feat.
After all, if we cut ourselves, in time, the wound heals. And amazingly, the human "liver" already has the power of regeneration. If a portion (or even an entire lobe) of the liver is removed, IN TIME, IT REGENERATES.
If we already possess one major organ that can accomplish that feat, can the rest of our bodies "learn" to do the same thing? With GODS HELP. we will.

[Norbeone]

The lowly "Starfish" and the "King Crab" have the power of regeneration. If they lose a limb by accident or removal for commercial reasons, that limb regenerates. It's all in the "genes". When science learns that secret (with the help of GOD) mankind will be able to do the same thing.
Humans can already partially accomplish that feat.
After all, if we cut ourselves, in time, the wound heals. And amazingly, the human "liver" already has the power of regeneration. If a portion (or even an entire lobe) of the liver is removed, IN TIME, IT REGENERATES.
If we already possess one major organ that can accomplish that feat, can the rest of our bodies "learn" to do the same thing? With GODS HELP. we will.

Enjoy the wait.

[Shrunk]

The "Why Won't God Heal Amputees" website addresses (effectively) a particular argument put forward in favour of a particular kind of god:  The type god that is listening to our prayers and granting them based on how sincere and deserving the pray-er is.  Another way of stating the argument against that concept is to point out that when someone prays for something that is probable, the prayer is often granted; when he prays for something improbable, it is rarely granted; and when he prays for something impossible, it is never granted.  This is indistinguishable from random chance.

As has already been made evident by some of the replies here, there are other concepts of God that this website does not disprove. 

[Norbeone]

As has already been made evident by some of the replies here, there are other concepts of God that this website does not disprove. 

True, and it doesn't need to.