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Why?
There aren't.
Penguins have evolved to occupy an environmental niche. Nothing "human-centric" about it.
In what context?
Can't see what they would be necessary. On a planet where the atmospheric temperature never falls below freezing there would be no snowflakes.
Show me where God says that God will have prayer effect physical repair.
Indeed. Because that's what the evidence suggests. Fear of death. Fear of hell. Desperation for eternal life, for meaning, purpose, for miraculous intervention.
So you admit that religion is a response to fear and desperation.
You provided the quote yourself!
Yes! Another classic documentary about the evils of marijuana. You have been warned!!!
That's cuz of all that LSD out there, don't ya know.
For some reason you are doing it all wrong. Perhaps because you are asking for yourself. Of course it still doesn't work if you ask for a loved one instead. Hmm . . . maybe still too much self interest? And it still doesn't work if you pray for a stranger's arm. Hmm, I am running out of excuses.
You are very confused. Bob did not pray to win the lottery. He prayed for a solution to his problem, and a solution came to him while he prayed: take a chance on the lotto. Because this idea came to him while praying, he gave it a more hopeful consideration that he might otherwise have done. So he followed through on it.
Why would he? He's looking for solutions, not rationale. Why are you trying to negate those solutions just because they might not work for you?
He bought a ticket because he prayed and it inspired him to take a chance. He won the lotto because he bought a ticket, and the ticket won. So yes, he DID win the lotto because he prayed. If he had not prayed, he would not have been inclined to buy the ticket. And if he had not bought the ticket, he could not have bought the winning ticket. Why are you even arguing with this? The chain of cause and effect is obvious.
Bob is being completely rational. You are the one that can't seem to grasp even the most obvious chain of cause and effect.
This has nothing to do with Bob's prayer, or with it's effectiveness. Bob was not praying to win the lottery. But he did end up winning the lottery because he prayed.
The prayer did work, not because he won the lottery, but because he prayed for a solution and the idea came to him to try buying a lottery ticket. At that point the prayer had already been effective because it provided him a course of action that could result in a solution. It had already "worked" for him. He sought a solution and he got one. The fact that the solution turned out to be the winning ticket was a huge added bonus.
No it isn't, not sure why this still needs to be explained but your (there is no Bob), conclusion was demonstrably based on a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy, it is irrational by definition.
Nope, he prayed to win the lottery, then won the lottery, there is no evidence of a causal link, and all you offered was a post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy. Repetition won't make your claim any less irrational.
Prayer had everything to do with Bob winning the lottery because he would not have bought a lottery ticket had he not prayed for a solution to hos money problems. And if he had not bought a ticket, he could not possibly have won. The fact that he bought the winning ticket was a complete surprise to Bob. As it would be to anyone. YOU'RE the one that's assuming that prayers somehow effect lottery drawings. Not Bob. All Bob did was buy a ticket because praying made him think of it, and made him feel hopeful enough to follow through on it.
No, he didn't. He had no idea that he would win the lottery. All he knew is that he could win the lottery.
The causal link is that Bob would not have bought a lottery ticket had he not prayed for a solution to his money woes. And if he had not bought a ticket, he could not possibly have bought the winning ticket. But because Bob prayed about this, he was inspired to buy a ticket, and he happened to buy the winning ticket. So, Bob happening to win the lottery is directly related, causally, to Bob praying for a solution to his money woes.
I don’t see it that way. I don’t have faith out of a fear of any of those things. I have faith out of a sense of gratitude for the life I have been given. I have faith in order to more deeply connect with the world. I don’t despair for eternal life. I don’t pray for miraculous intervention. I do pray to draw strength to meet challenges.
No, I admit that religion is a response to the gift of life, and it’s tenets help to ameliorate our negative responses.
How is coincidence not also and often a cause?
You must have overlooked the part where I mentioned that the passage doesn’t mean what you say it means.
I defy you to explain logically and clearly why you presume coincidence is any less a cause (or an effect) than universality or predictability.
... Based on a blinding bias unless and until you can logically explain why you hold some alternative conclusion. So far, I have explained logically and clearly why Bob's prayer resulted in him buying the winning lottory ticket, several times to several people. The chain of cause and effect are clearly and easily recognizable. Yet for some reason you and others are refusing to recognize it. So now it's your turn to explain why the chain of cause and effect I presented is somehow flawed.
