Apology

[_Investigator]

I'd like to apologize for the way I started off here, but there are reasons I'm interested in coincidences.

I don't understand them, and I'm not even sure there are such things as "coincidences" if time is one eternal round to God.

Aside from things that are obviously caused by the freewill choices of lesser beings, is anything really a coincidence, or is it all intended to have some meaning?

If anyone has any thoughts on that I'd be interested in them, but I'll try to put that aside and start some other topic headings.

Thank you.

[_RockSlider]

I used to feel strongly that there was a patriarchal linage, on the other side of the veil, between God the Father, and Christ. That even though I prayed to the Father in the name of the Son … it was actually family that usually spoke to me (still small voice) answering prayers, providing protection, opening doors etc.

I used to also believe that anyone I came in contact with in this life, so did I in the premortal existence. From time to time, coming across "kindred spirits" whom felt as if I must have been close in the premortal.

So yes, I very much believed there were NO coincidences, with little to nothing ever happing by chance.

Not sure what or why your are apologizing for?

[_Patriarchal gripe]

I used to believe that answers to my prayers came in the "tender mercies" I experienced daily. Little things like a beautiful sunrise, birdsong, a cool breeze on a hot day, all these things were a little sign from God sending me a message of peace. When I was particularly attuned, I would even see scriptures on a page of my quad when it fell open that seemed to be the exact answer for a prayer I said earlier. I used to go to the temple looking for answers to problems that I had prayed about, and I always found the answer (more or less) that I was looking for. All these things seemed to be firm evidence that God existed and looked after me.

During my faith crisis I had to understand why I thought these things were signs of God in my life. I learned a lot about the psychology of belief and confirmation bias. I thought I would put it to the test. I noticed one day that it seemed like there were a lot of license plates on cars that had the "mark of the beast", 666 on them. Logically, I know that the local DMV probably got the whole run of plates with these numbers and a variation of letters, and that the locals who registered their car here accounted for the frequent sightings of this terrible sign of bezleebub. But just for fun, I thought I would use 666 as a test of a sort of confirmation bias. I would pretend that every time I saw the numbers 666, I would consider it a sort of "tender mercy". Soon I was seeing the series of numbers on houses, phone numbers on billboards, registration numbers on trucks...seemingly everywhere. When I looked a little more credulously and gave my new religion the benefit of the doubt by turning 9's into 6's, looking for 333 or 999, pretty soon the mark of the beast was all around me. There isn't a day that goes by now that I don't notice it somewhere and chuckle.

My point is, when you open your mind to any possibility that will confirm your particular bias, you will self fulfill any seemingly supernatural sign you choose to look at, whether bird song is your message from God or the number 666 is a sign of the impending apocalypse. Of course I don't believe there is any significance in sighting 666, 333, 999, 669, etc, but there is a great significance in recognizing how humans choose to percieve the world around them. So, Coincidences, or selective bias? Give the 666 test a go, maybe for a month. See what you think.

[_Drifting]

In Mormonism coincidences are explained thus:

If the consequences are good then it is Gods doing.
If the consequences are bad then it is your fault for not listening to God.


A good recent example of the way Mormonism treats seemingly random occurrences would be the deaths of two out of three cycling missionaries that were hit by a vehicle.

Their Mission President expressed the testimony that God had called them back for His own purposes. He also expressed the testimony that God had allowed the surviving Missionary to live for His own purposes.

[_subgenius]

In Mormonism coincidences are explained thus:

If the consequences are good then it is Gods doing.
If the consequences are bad then it is your fault for not listening to God.


A good recent example of the way Mormonism treats seemingly random occurrences would be the deaths of two out of three cycling missionaries that were hit by a vehicle.

Their Mission President expressed the testimony that God had called them back for His own purposes. He also expressed the testimony that God had allowed the surviving Missionary to live for His own purposes.

Balderdash!
Aside from a post that simply wants to perpetuate some sort of mythology, it serves little towards the actual notion of "coincidence". Add that to the parting shot for a discussion on another thread and we have yet another bitter shallow anti-mormon sentiment. Bravo!
There is a big difference between coincidence and caused-event....one might actually say they are opposites in meaning, so the example above is absurd.
"A coincidence lacks a definite causal connection"

Now it seems to me that the OP really calls into discussion the Calvinist idea of Predestination, which obviously, is not subscribed to by LDS doctrine and would negate any idea of free agency. Predestination is of course distinct from foreordination, whereas the latter has no provision for a Divine compulsion.
for scripture study i would reference the greek word "proorizo".

As for the OP's inquiry, yes, some things are really coincidental, but that does not imply that they are without meaning.

[_Drifting]

Balderdash!
Aside from a post that simply wants to perpetuate some sort of mythology, it serves little towards the actual notion of "coincidence". Add that to the parting shot for a discussion on another thread and we have yet another bitter shallow anti-mormon sentiment. Bravo!
There is a big difference between coincidence and caused-event....one might actually say they are opposites in meaning, so the example above is absurd.
"A coincidence lacks a definite causal connection"

Now it seems to me that the OP really calls into discussion the Calvinist idea of Predestination, which obviously, is not subscribed to by LDS doctrine and would negate any idea of free agency. Predestination is of course distinct from foreordination, whereas the latter has no provision for a Divine compulsion.
for scripture study i would reference the greek word "proorizo".

As for the OP's inquiry, yes, some things are really coincidental, but that does not imply that they are without meaning.

Hi subgenius, I hope you are well.

Please can you describe something that is really coincidental but which has meaning?

Kind regards
Drifting (bitter, shallow, anti-Mormon)

[_RockSlider]

If some events are influenced by say, a guardian angel, or answers to prayer, I don't think coincidences have to be caulked up to predestine or foreordination (set in the past to be so), but well might be much more dynamic than that (based on the current path we are on).

[_RockSlider]

Please can you describe something that is really coincidental but which has meaning?

I'll take a stab ... maybe I'm crossing some line here between coincidence and chance?

The job you currently hold.

Sure you ended up here, partly because of preparation and direct action on your part, but there likely may be a sequence of events over a long period, several of which were not under your control, and cognoscente direction.

For another example, maybe an interesting question might be.
Do you believe in Karma? Is it possible that your path in life is effected based on you, but by some force totally outside of your control.

[_subgenius]

Please can you describe something that is really coincidental but which has meaning?

Kind regards
Drifting (bitter, shallow, anti-Mormon)

"really coincidental"....everything is arguably "coincidental"
as i understand it a coincidence is:
"a striking occurrence of two or more events at one time apparently by mere chance"
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coincidence

now since, as i stated before, coincidence may (or may not) have meaning; i think we may need a new word....like "synchronicity"

my examples:
1. winning the lottery
2. Mark Twain's birth and death and Halley's Comet

3. Psalm 46 - being published the same year Shakespeare turned 46 - check out the 46th word from beginning and then 46th word from end. King James Version. Not to mention the 10th paragraph coincidence.

4. Release of Dennis the Menace comic in USA and UK.
5. thinking of someone and then they call you on the phone, seemingly at the same moment.

my list is a little facetious, because a real key to coincidence and synchronicity is one's personal experience of that event. In a nutshell, there is an awe-inspiring occurrence when one utters the phrase "that can't be a coincidence" or even "that must be a coincidence".....is that void of meaning, or just void of our ability to understand the meaning, or perhaps the ego's denial of a deeper meaning? This is how you can distinguish coincidence and synchronicity from superstition. All of these things bring value to our life, in some manner or another.


the confines of a pattern-only-seeking-mind will never grasp the true meaning of a coincidence or its value.

i suggest you listen to the following: (and study a bit of Carl Jung) and study the scriptures.

http://www.radiolab.org/2009/jun/15/

[_subgenius]

Please can you describe something that is really coincidental but which has meaning?

Kind regards
Drifting (bitter, shallow, anti-Mormon)

i forgot one
Psalms 117 is the shortest chapter of the Bible and Psalms 119 is the longest.
In the Bible there are 594 chapters before Psalms 118 and 594 chapters after Psalms 118.
594+594 = 1188
so, let us look at Psalms 118:8, which is actually the middle verse of the Bible.
this verse reads:
"It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man."

yummmmm...that is some tasty meaning