Simple question?

Quote: petroglyph

Funny how each group thinks they are unique. Each one thinks they have jesus in their pocket.

Jesus is their stooge, he even said he was.
I'll do anything you ask of me, he said, as
long as you believe. Of course it's obvious
he does nothing, but they never seem to
notice. They take random green lights
and random good parking spaces as the
'sign' that Jesus is looking out for them.

When they get together and trade stories
of all their random events, it looks like
Jesus is doing a good job. It works exactly
like a casino works. Rows and rows of
people playing slots, and on a regular basis
the bells go off and somebody wins a jackpot.
This gives the faulty impression that people
are getting ahead, everybody around you
is winning.

Praying to your stooge Jesus and playing
the slots are suckers games, and people
love them. Makes them feel special.

stooge:
noun

1.a person who serves merely to support or assist others

Quote: Evenbob

Jesus is their stooge, he even said he was.
I'll do anything you ask of me, he said, as
long as you believe. Of course it's obvious
he does nothing, but they never seem to
notice.

For fear someone might point out, that they don't believe strongly enough.

The long con personified.

add; https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/machiavellians-gulling-the-rubes/201512/the-long-and-short-cons-master-manipulators

Quote: petroglyph

For fear someone might point out, that they don't believe strongly enough.
The long con personified.

It's the longest con in history. FrG is always
crowing about how old Xtionity is. He's
really just pointing out how new suckers
are born in every generation for the Church
to keep bilking out of their money. Promise
everything, prove nothing, and they just keep
coming back for more.

Quote: Evenbob

Promise everything, prove nothing, and they just keep coming back for more.

Confounding how herds of people continue to gather in flocks, although tons of evidence is available they are being duped? Must fill some psychological belief that they are safer in groups? That however, is one reasonable belief about joining in with a group .

"Machiavellianism in psychology refers to a personality trait which sees a person so focused on their own interests they will manipulate, deceive, and exploit others to achieve their goals. Machiavellianism is one of the traits in what is called the 'Dark Triad', the other two being narcissism and psychopathy.Jan 8, 2015"

Quote: Evenbob

Promise
everything, prove nothing, and they just keep
coming back for more.

You know this would never work. The question you refuse to answer or think about is what if we who believe get proof all the time of God's love and it fills us more than anything else ever could. You like to think Christianity is about getting some material thing like a green light or winning at slots. A mature faith doesn't seek these things but instead helps us make sense of life, its meaning, purpose, and help to do what is right and strength in the difficult moments.

Quote: petroglyph

Confounding how herds of people continue to gather in flocks, although tons of evidence is available they are being duped?

What evidence are you speaking about?

Quote: FrGamble

You like to think Christianity is about getting some material thing

Why wouldn't I, do you see any conditions
here on what you should ask for? Because
it doesn't work, you make up the conditions.

It wasn't a freak sentence you can dismiss,
Jesus made this a real selling point for
his propaganda over and over. You cannot
dismiss it or ignore it.

Matthew 18:19; Matthew 21:22; Mark 11:24; John 14:13; John 15:7; John 15:16; John 16:23–24; James 1:5–6; James 1:17; 1 John 3:22; 1 John 5:14–15

19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven.

22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

13 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Whatever you want, no caveats, no hidden meaning.
It's crystal clear what he meant.

Quote: FrGamble

What evidence are you speaking about?

Evidence that prayer doesn't work, for
starters. For over a hundred years
there has been study after study
done on praying for sick people
in hospitals. The results for the
ones being prayed for and the
ones not being prayed for are
always exactly the same. Praying
is a scam, pray or don't, it makes
no difference. There's no god
listening because there is no god.

And don't you dare ask me for
links to the studies, I've already
done that several times, I don't
play that game with you anymore.

There I think have been two of those ridiculous studies you have linked to. I imagine I don't need to point out the flaws in them again and the misunderstanding they promote about prayer.

Please read the Gospels again and imagine what Jesus teaches about prayer and what it is about. Your prooftexting doesn't really do justice to the Lord's teaching does it?
I will say it again that prayer is about a relationship with God. There is nothing greater nor more life giving. Nor is there anything more miraculous and important. This is what God does desire to give to you. If you would stop praying to win at roulette or get a good parking spot and truly prayed to know God I know He would give this to you!

Quote: FrGamble

I will say it again that prayer is about a relationship with God.

That's what you say, because asking Jesus
for what you want obviously doesn't work.
It's a pretty big deal, look at how many
places it is in the NT.

You're like a car salesman who's TV ads
promise a car that goes 140 and has a
leather interior and the price is only
$14K. But when you get the actual vehicle,
it's a piece of poorly made junk that
can barely get out of it's own way.

That's Xtionity. It literally promises the
sun and the moon, get anything you
pray for, and life after death for a cherry
on the Sundae. But the product you sell
is all hot air and empty promises. It's
the old shell game, you keep moving
the pea to another walnut shell, the
customer never wins.

Sure, you say, Jesus said all that, and
in no uncertain terms. But it's not what
he meant. Wink wink, here's what he
really meant, you say.

This always reminds me of the Cardiff
Giant story. A man built a 10 foot
tall giant in the middle of the 19th
century and said he dug it up on
his farm. He charged people to see
it and sold it for a ton of money.
It was eventually discovered to be
a hoax, but people still paid to see
it for years. It's what the phrase
'There's a sucker born every minute'
was about.

That's Xtionity. It's a hoax, and many
believers suspect it. But like the Cardiff
Giant, they so much want it to be real
that they pretend it is, cause wouldn't
that be nice..