To P_____

I’m writing this in response to the recent post of another member of this "community".  in her post, she commented on how futile prayer truely is.  she talked about asking for a miracle, for the miraculous removal of her friend’s cancer.  it didnt work.  her friend died.

i dont claim to be an expert on faith or prayer or anything of the sort. in fact, i’m likely to be one of the least qualified people to speak about this.  But when people look for miracles, i think we get greedy.  we say "help me win the lottery" "dont let them die"  "take away this disease".  that’s not praying for a miracle.  that’s our own fear, and our instinctual need to try and avoid what causes us pain.  I dont think there ever were any true miracles like the ones we read about in the bible.  i dont think god likes to show off that much.  instead, i think that the driving out of demons is therapy for epileptics, i think the parting of the red sea was a dry year and a stiff wind.  i think the great flood was one hellova storm, but i dont think it was the had of god coming down to right the wrongs of the planet he created.

By the way, i say "god" because i dont feel like explaining my idea of diety, so i’ll use the easier to understand term.

you say you’ve never seen a miracle.  i beg to differ.  have you ever seen someone cry they were so happy?  have you ever seen someone be beaten down time and again, by whatever life feels like hitting them with, and yet they keep going?  Have you ever seen two people fall in love?  call me easy to please, but i think those are miracles in and of themselves.  science can explain so much of the world around us, and tell us how it all works.  but the bigger question is: Why does it all work?  what came before the big bang?  why do humans think the way we do?  why is the mind an entirely seperate entity from the brain?

perhaps you didnt get the miracle you asked for.  maybe the cancer won.  but what about that extra year of life? sure, you can chalk it up to him being tough, to the doctors being wrong, and any number of variables.  you can say it was pure dumb luck if you feel like it.  but what if….?

Till things are brighter.

nick.