Windy Sydney

I have made fun of various Jesus and Virgin Mary sightings in the past... Anything from Jesus appearing on a slice of toast or the Virgin Mary showing up in a Dorito. It's pretty damned funny if you ask me...

Well, check out this clip about a woman who claims a rock was painted by God...



She lost her son, and the rock really meant something to her. I get that. I even kind of see why they thought it looks like Jesus... but couldn't the face on that rock be a fluke? Doesn't the human brain automatically put order in things that seem random?

Here is a personal example:

The ceiling in my bedroom is textured to look like stucco. Sometimes when I have trouble sleeping, I stare at the ceiling in frustration and start to "see" things like penguins, bears, water bottles and tennis shoes in the patterns. Are these things real? No. Did God perform a miracle by making a penguin appear on my ceiling? Did I think this was a sign that I should go to the zoo today? Absolutely not. Even religious people would laugh at that idea... but they don't laugh when it happens to be an image of a face, do they?

On one of my many youtube video sprees I came across this clip from Bill Maher's Real Time. Most of you know I am one of his biggest fans :) Anyway, he pretty much explains my thoughts on the matter...



People see what they want to see.

I have shared this story before, but it kind of ties the whole thought process together...

My Dad died in January of 1998. My Mom and Dad's anniversary is in February. My Mom was cleaning up the bedroom on that particular day and she found the receipt of the gift my Dad bought her the year before lying in a dish on the bedside table.

At the time, I thought my Dad was trying to reach out to my Mom on that difficult day. I was convinced that he somehow made sure to connect with my Mom on their anniversary.

But that is what I WANTED to see.

Is there a logical explanation to how the receipt ended up where it did?

Probably.

Heck, it could have been there the whole time and no one noticed. My brother could have been looking for something in the drawer and put the receipt in the dish, then forgetting to put it back.

Same goes with God in general.

People want to see God. They want to believe more than anything that there is something that continues after we die. They want to believe that they will see their loved ones again. They want to believe prayer works and that God works in mysterious ways. They want to believe that miracles happen.

I just want to see the truth now. No more fairy tales, no more lies and rules to follow (like no coffee/tea just because God said so). No more paying 10% of my money to an organization that refuses to share it's financial records with anyone.

It's weird how much I have changed. For the better, I think.

Andee