Atheist son prays for his mother to win the lottery, she does.

[Chukie sue]

http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local...122714889.html

Oops, I meant to say he prayed to test God's existence.

"But Sal Bentivegna, 26, never saw eye to eye with his mom's beliefs, describing himself as somewhere between an agnostic and an atheist.

"She's always wanted me to feel what she feels and the belief she has in God; but I need physical proof in my life," said Sal, a car audio installation technician from Smithtown.

"I remember one day he was praying to a tree, like the Indians," recalled Gloria.

Last month, mother and son's ongoing debate over religion came to a head as they played the slots in Atlantic City.

Sal Bentivegna challenged God to prove he exists.

"I said, if he wants me to believe, he'll give you a million dollars."

The answer came within twenty-four hours.

Gloria was scratching away at lottery tickets she had won at, of all places, a church auction. She hit the jackpot with the "Sweet Million" game, winning a million dollars.

The winning number just happened to coincide with Sal's birthday."

Discuss? Thought this would have been posted already so I'm a few days late.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

the only posts that will crop up from this are those religious saying that it was God (though I am a christian, i don't really believe God just gives random people money, but who knows, he's a mysterious dude, can't really know exactly how his decisions work), and those non-religious saying it was a coincidence and you can't prove it....

[Chukie sue]

With any luck, they'll be lolworthy (which is what I'm hoping for). Maybe a theist and atheist will get in an argument, one will say something false, and I'll get to interject about a subject I'm knowledgeable on. Who knows.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

that is always an interesting situation

[Sinue_v2]

And how in any way is this proof of anything except that people engage in superstitious behavior when gambling and that some people do win lotteries. People have won the lottery by playing Fortune Cookie numbers. Does that mean fortune cookie lucky numbers are proven to be truly lucky numbers?

How many people who are on the verge of bankruptcy, or about ready to lose their home, or can't afford their medical bills who pray to god to win the lottery and never do?

And IF God did intervene in this matter to answer a prayer and let his mom win the lottery, then wouldn't that be cheating by seeking divine intervention to "stack the deck" in her favor? If that's the case, then shouldn't she abdicate her winnings because she didn't win the lottery fairly?

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

if this was a spiritual occurrence, the reasoning behind it would have been to bring her son to God, not to get her lots of money, so no, not stacking the deck in her favor, trying to strike a relationship between the big guy in the sky and her son would have bee the ultimate goal (well Chuckie Sue, i guess I'll be posting in the of course occurring debate after all)

[BIG OLAF]

And IF God did intervene in this matter to answer a prayer and let his mom win the lottery, then wouldn't that be cheating by seeking divine intervention to "stack the deck" in her favor? If that's the case, then shouldn't she abdicate her winnings because she didn't win the lottery fairly?

^This. Also, if God did do it, then why did this one individual become the one whose prayers were listened to, and not the parents who prayed to hit the lottery to pay for their 6-year-old's medical bills? Why not the down-on-his-luck homeless man that decided to play one lottery ticket, pray, and see what happened?

It's a coincidence. A big coincidence, but still a coincidence nonetheless.

[Kyrith_Ranger_Pso]

^This. Also, if God did do it, then why did this one individual become the one whose prayers were listened to, and not the parents who prayed to hit the lottery to pay for their 6-year-old's medical bills? Why not the down-on-his-luck homeless man that decided to play one lottery ticket, pray, and see what happened?

It's a coincidence. A big coincidence, but still a coincidence nonetheless.

as i said before, the reasoning was not to help a family and give them money if it was a spiritual happening, it would have been to have a relationship between him (God) and the son, the praying down on his luck homeless man will ultimately be saved for the fact that he does have faith in God, and doesn't need to have crazy amounts of money in this life, i do not claim to this answer being the 100% biblical motive behind God's actions, as i also previously stated, his ways are far too mysterious for me to comprehend

[BIG OLAF]

as i said before, the reasoning was not to help a family and give them money if it was a spiritual happening, it would have been to have a relationship between him (God) and the son, the praying down on his luck homeless man will ultimately be saved for the fact that he does have faith in God, and doesn't need to have crazy amounts of money in this life, i do not claim to this answer being the 100% biblical motive behind God's actions, as i also previously stated, his ways are far too mysterious for me to comprehend

Right. Whatever you say.

[Sinue_v2]

if this was a spiritual occurrence, the reasoning behind it would have been to bring her son to God, not to get her lots of money, so no, not stacking the deck in her favor

It absolutely would still be stacking the deck in her favor, because regardless of what his desired goal was, the fact would be that he still tampered with the lottery outcomes to make her win. That is cheating, and she would have a moral obligation to return those lottery winnings or leave her ticket unclaimed.

as i also previously stated, his ways are far too mysterious for me to comprehend

That's just a cop-out for those who are unwilling to try, or are unwilling to admit that it's all just arbitrary anthropomorphizing of random events in a natural universe. You know what's really mysterious. Quantum fucking Physics... nobody really understands that field, and yet, we know it well enough to make predictions so precise that it's been compared to measuring the width of North America to within the thickness of a human hair.