What isn't natural?

Rob asks: If God is absolute, then why does he let mosquitos bite His true believers?”HM

Hoot Mon: Rob: You're probably right. One summer long ago at a YMCA camp in Michigan we did an experiment. One cabin of ten boys sat outside in a circle without their shirts on and prayed to God that the mosquitos would not bite them. Another cabin of ten boys sat outside in a circle without their shirts on and didn't pray for anything, they just sang "A Hundred Bottles of Beer On The Wall."After one hour of this we all went inside and counted our mosuito bites. What were the results? Mosquito bites all around”those little dipterans cared neither for God nor for statistics, and drinking songs made no difference either.”HM

Rob's Scripture lesson: But did't Jesus test God when he said in Mathew 10:34-35:

quote:

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Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. For I am come to set a man at variance against his father...

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What does this mean? Is it relative or absolute? If it is absolutely true that Jesus said this, then why do they call him the Prince of Peace? Or is that just a relative term, according to the absolute spin you put on it?Mother Nature seems more consistent to me than the Son of God.”HM

Rob, you wrote: Try to comprehend this, Rob, please. What you are saying is a matter of faith & belief. OK? Why must you continue to insist that your beliefs are the ONLY true ones?This is the zenith of arrogance!Look, you are violating a simple principle that is relevant to this thread. You insist that you know what is absolutely true. But most of us here know that you don't. I insist that neither of us knows what is absolutely true, and that both of us dabble only in what is relative to something else.”HM

CS, you wrote: You'd have to ask a rock. But I know this much: if I picked up a rock and threw it through your window you would provide all the empirical evidence needed to prove its being-ness. But if I threw a prayer or a hex through your window your would probably not even notice. Well, I suppose one person's worthless mumbo-jumbo is another's holy sacrament. To some people the Second Law is worthless mumbo-jumbo and entropy has no empirical being-ness. Who's to say what is ontological and what is not?”HM

No. I'll admit that my use of the term ontology may be be off the mark for a generalization to rocks. I would do better just to differentiate between what "exists" on principles of faith alone and what "exists" on evidentiary principles.”HM