Card Tricks
My brother is in town today from Portland. A rare treat, indeed.
Last night we were hanging out at my house with two of our cousins, and my brother, Brendon, was engaging my cousin, Matt, in a card trick. He didn't remember it very well, so he flubbed through a little. But ultimately he got it right, and it was actually pretty cool and a little mysterious.
Then I decided I'd do something ridiculous. I took the deck, fanned the cards out for Brendon to pick one. He did... then he showed it to Matt, and put it back, all while I was completely turned around. Then I gave him the deck, and told him to shuffle it. Then I told him to set it down and have Matt cut the deck. Then I picked the deck back up.
I don't know any card tricks at all. I was just being stupid, thinking there's a 1 in 52 chance that I'll guess the card. If I'm wrong, I'll tell them it was a total guess, and maybe I'll get a chuckle. But if I'm right... they'll be absolutely baffled at my magical prowess. So why not, right?
As I said, I picked the deck back up, and showed the bottom card to Brendon. It was the Ace of Spades. I asked him if that was his card. He said, "yeah." I winced for a second, but tried to play it cool. I asked Matt if that was really his card. Blankly, he replied, "yeah, that was it." And nobody said anything for a few seconds. "Don't you want to know how I did it?" I asked. I was really waiting for somebody to be amazed... but they just kind of sat there.
"I don't know any card tricks!" I said. "That was total random luck!" I couldn't believe it had actually worked.
And that's when they started to act amazed. People are so weird.
Labels: autobiography, humor
Posted at 10:07 AM
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14 Comments:
You are postulating that the unsystematic acts we see around us can cause us to think that our world is not without design. The cosmos are overflowing with small coincidences that point to an orderliness in the events that make up our daily life. If an event with a 1 and 52 probability of occurrence could take place when your brother is in town, what about the 365 days of the year that he is not in town? In fact, everything that occurs in our life has a very low probability of actually happening. The chances that I would happen to be bored at this exact moment and post this message with this exact wording on this exact blog are like 100,000,000,000,000 to one. In that case, should we even keep track of probability? I could win a billion bucks by playing the stock market. However, I could also lose all my life savings. Who cares what the probabilities of each even are. Both could happen. I might as well do what ever I want because we know that wise decisions have the possibility of having terrible consequences. And unwise decisions can result in wonderful consequences. If I feel like running through traffic, then I must give way to my desires. I might get hit but I might also get across the street more quickly and not have to push the button at the crosswalk or sit there and wonder if I should go when it says “don’t walk” even though the road is clear or look out for cars that turn right or wonder if I should let the women and children cross first or wonder how much longer the “don’t walk” signal will flash before the light turns green and the cars will become mobile again. Is that what you are trying to say with this blog? Or maybe you just had a funny story. In any case, it changed my whole outlook on life.
(P.S. I wouldn’t encourage anyone to run across traffic.)
I was there, it really happened. I am a witness.
Matt
Caleb,
Although you are reading waaay too much into this post (it is, in fact, just a funny story,) I have always been intrigued by the seeming irrelevance of the concept of probability.
I think that this story is worth telling because I had no reason to expect that what I was setting out to do would actually work, and yet it did.
Some people, as you infer, do get far too caught up in probabilities, which are very nebulous and not terribly practical. But when we are instructed to be "wise as serpents and innocent as doves", I don't believe we can be wise as serpents without taking basic probabilities into account. Everyone would agree that it's very foolish to play Russian Roulette, or to close one's eyes and walk across a busy freeway. That would be a total ignorance of probability, and I believe God is calling us to be better stewards of our lives than that.
I guess you have to know my humor. I didn't really gain anything from your post. And I agree about running across traffic. Playing the stock market might be okay as long as you don't listen to Philip.
I may have a different take on the card “trick” that turned out not to be a “trick”, worked anyway and made it amazing.
Preface:
Once Tony Robbins -- the motivational speaker – said:
(paraphrased & in my words):
“It is stupid and ignorant not to believe in God.
How can anyone look at the perfection of the universe and how orderly the solar system is; but think that it was all just an accident or a coincidence…
…Or, how can anyone look at a human being and think that we were randomly created in some cosmic soup, and in time a person crawled out of the soup.”
He went on to say that when we objectively look at creation and the universe, there is no way that it could have happened in such a symmetrical and orderly way without a Supreme Being.
--End Of Preface--
It is my belief that there are absolutely no coincidences in life. None. Everything that happens to us, every moment of our existence, was pre-ordained by God, including your card trick that was not a trick.
(The paradox about God giving us Free Will, yet God knows everything past, present and future is not the issue. This is a dichotomy, which I will not discuss right now because it is beside the basic point)
I believe that the subconscious mind (which holds the Spirit of God) has the ability and power to know everything and do everything.
Coreman, your psychic ability (or spiritual power) was at work in the card “trick”, though it is probably an ability that you don’t think about very much - maybe you do, maybe you don’t.
At the time of the card “trick” (that was not a trick) your psychic ability effected your physical body, your mind and your spirit; thus you acted and did things accordingly to make it work, though you had no plan. It was your subconscious taking over.
You wanted the “trick” to work, so it did.
This line of thinking is how Prophets know about events that will happen in the future. It is how the Prophets can interpret some happening, thing, item, or written word, when no one else knows what it means.
God ‘types’. They now call it: ‘God-winks’ (“When God Winks” by Squire Rushnell).
In other words ~ signs are always there, in nature and in the world, if we look and know how to tap into the subconscious mind, where the Holy Spirit lives, to do things &/or to interpret.
Prophets tap into the subconscious mind, or their Holy Spirit, on a regular basis. There are but 3 rules a person needs for this ability:
1) To be sober,
2) Have a liberated and open mind (unlike the Accuser predicted in Revelation 12: 7 – 10) &
3) Believe.
When I first became a “Believer” God said to me:
“Doubting is from an evil source. Never doubt. Your sister’s incessant doubt is Evil.”
However, with the onset of time, spouses, kids, worldly considerations, money problems, we all tend to doubt everything. This is our human side, not our Godly side.
Basically, God was reminding you, Coreman, that we all have the ability in our brain (and by extension our body) to find ‘order’ in a seemingly chaotic world, which is not chaotic at all but perfectly organized as the spirit works within and moves us in one way or another.
Something else to consider:
Not only are there no coincidences in life, everything, absolutely everything, begins in the spirit world before it is made manifest in the practical world in which we live. John said it best in John 1: 1 – 4.
Example:
“The Core Fellowship” began with the Holy Spirit working overtime in your Heart and your wife’s Heart.
Also,
Remember the old adage - ‘practice makes perfect’? Practice makes our built in and usually untapped psychic ability and our ability for telekinesis very strong. The more one practices these things, the better one becomes at them.
Just think, Yoda’s ability in the movie Star Wars, was not just a fairytale. If we practice and believe, we can really move, with our minds, material objects and change nature.
Come to think about it ~ we change the physical universe constantly when we Pray.
I could talk about this forever but it is time to pause.
Ariel,
Thank you for contributing so heartily to the discussion.
However, I believe some things happen that God is actually not worried about. The Bible says he knows every word we speak before we speak it, and our days are numbered and ordered, but I don't think there's anything in there that suggests that every minute occurence is actually orchestrated by him. I believe this would contradict the free will he's given us as human beings.
The belief that God is a micro-manager causes many people to fret and obsess over discovering the will of God in their lives, and I don't think that's a healthy way to relate to him. I wrote a blog about that called OK, God, this is the part where you tell me what you want me to do.
Will, Coreman, I think we are both right.
God may bless our decisions whatever we choose; and we certainly don't have to sit around and worry about every little thing!
It is also true that even though we have Free Will, every second of our life was pre-ordained by God. In one of my publications I explain how this was explained to me growing up in the Synagogue.
We had an excellent Confirmation Class Rabbi from New York, back in the 60's, who spent one solid year explaining to us how God gave us Free Will, yet at the same time God knows our choices, past present and future.
And I am correct when I say that all people have psychic ability which modern man ignores or discounts most of the time unless it is a good TV show such as "The Dead Zone".
I can't disagree with you more, Ariel... from psychic and telekinetic abilities to God pre-ordaining everything.
We are humans, and we have God-given limits. Bad things happen to us no matter how much we think positively, and good things often surprise us when we are thinking very negatively. Not a single scientific study has both correlated "psychic powers" and increased probability of knowing something specific and unknowable and been confirmed by the scientific community.
God created us to connect with Him spiritually through prayer and worship and even physically through communion. It does not require psychic powers to hear God or speak to Him; God is so crazy bigger than our puny abilities... He sees us trying and picks up the slack.
The spiritual world of good and evil more than makes up for what I can't do. It's just as likely that some angel or demon put the card in that spot as it is that Ryan's telekinetic power put it there.
But why would God care? The rain falls on the just and the unjust. The Bills and Giants both prayed on the failed Super Bowl kick that lost the game for the Bills. Random chance is real and proven. Given a large enough sample size, every chance WILL normalize to its random percentage. So if God is doing X for me that only happens to 10% of people, doesn't that imply he cared more about me than the other 90%?
I do believe God acts in my life and in the world. I also have a hard time determining what is God and what is chance. I find I rate different things on a scale of how likely it is that God caused it and for what purpose. The Bills/Giants Super Bowl would be a 0 or 1 and the Red Sox 2004 Comeback on the Yankees would be a 10 (ok, I kid, I kid)
Ouch.. Someone is not a happy camper with my comments. It might help to open up the mind and consider a point of view, that is not exactly in tune with your point of view, Joel.
Here are my beliefs on God’s will: (correct me if I am wrong).
God is sovereign over everything that occurs.
Acts 17:26
From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.
Romans 9:16 -18
It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: "I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
See also all of Romans 9
Aren’t these verses saying that God orchestrates everything? I know that the Bible is also filled with verses that command us to act responsibly. I believe that God’s will and man’s free will are both somehow present together. You probably believe that God made you the way he wanted you to be. However, you are also the result your parents choosing each other. Furthermore, you are the seemingly random result of one male sex cell (out of millions?) that reached an egg cell with a particular set of chromosomes.
As for God's moral will - the types of choices he wants us to make: I think its more about who we are than what we do. God wants us to transform into the type of person who naturally does his will (Romans 12:2). Many people think that “doing” "God's perfect will" will keep them from certain harm. That is not what God's will is necessarily about. Look at Job’s, Paul’s, Moses’ and even Jesus’ good decisions. So take whatever job you want, go to whatever school you want, and wear whatever socks you want. But are those decisions coming from a heart that loves God more than anything else? Of course He is also concerned that there might be some undesirable results from your bad decisions but he wants you to be a changed person who lives from a pure heart. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord will lead to wise decisions and right perceptive (Psalm 111:10).
And whats up with Switchfoot singing a Beyonce song with Beyonce dancing in the background? Is she a Christian? Is she single? If so, does anyone have her number?
Good points, Caleb. I think my best description of God's will in our lives is in the post I mentioned eariler, "OK, God, so this is the part..."
As for Acts 17 and Romans 9, the Acts passage only says that God determined where and when every nation should have its existence, not individual men. And the Romans passage talks about God ordaining that an individual should play a specific purpose in his plan. Both of these things line up well with what I've said before about God's will.
And I've got to say I don't have a clue about Switchfoot and Beyonce.
Ryan, I am still trying to figure this out for my own personal life and was wondering about your, and anyone elses thoughts. Do you not think God is in control of everything. He either allows it or causes it. But if he has that power to allow something then that something is in his will to a certain degree. As for those verses: The Acts verse talks about putting people in certain places at certain times so they may seek him. That sounds like direction in individual lives. The romans verse relates God's working in Pharoah's heart to his working in everyone's heart. Why should I pray for someone's salvation, choices, heart, attitudes, ...etc... if God doesn't have the power over it? My view is that everyone is under God's control (causeing and allowing). There is a lot more that he causes than we know. I don't know, I might be a strict predestinationist and think he controls it all. That might not be right and I don't know why I think that but some verses (above) seem to support that along with my praying arguement (above). This idea can make it hard to know how to pray to God about stuff that is tough to handle = he already knows about it. He can change it. Why doesn't he? It can be hard to talk to him like he is a friend at times. If I told any other friend about my problems they would do whatever they could to change it. God has known about it, can change it, and doesn't. Why? I don't know if changing my view on his soveriegnty would help. I havn't lost my faith and know all of the usual answers but its still hard at times not to want to ask .... why?
Caleb,
I'm really touched by your soul-bearing... and I can definitely share your struggles.
Rather than trying to respond to each individual question or wondering, I'm just going to compare our relationship to God to a boy's relationship to his father (a pretty safe metaphor, I'd say.)
A father may send his son to summer camp. The boy is a little apprehensive, but excited. After he's been there two days, he writes a letter home to his dad, begging him to come pick him up. The dad reads the letter, smiles, and prays for his son, but he doesn't respond. The son wonders why on earth his dad isn't rescuing him. But when camp is over his dad comes to pick him up and he doesn't want to leave.
Or in another scenario, the boy is at a new school, and he starts getting to know some kids. He has a birthday party, which his father plans, taking into consideration what his son loves to do. He tells his son he can invite 10 friends. "Which 10 should I invite?" he asks. "Well... they should be true friends... friends who are nice, respectful, who enjoy being around you, and whom you enjoy being around," he responds. "OK, but can't you give some names, I want you to be happy with my choice." "No, son... I want you to pick. Just keep my advice in mind as you do, and I will be proud of you... even if you don't pick the same ones I would."
I think these are both reasonable scenarios, and they help us to understand our relationship with our Father God.
I know there are other issues in your comment that could be addressed, but I could type a ream and still not really help you out. So keep up the conversation, eh?
Well, sometimes I think its about trusting a person. God is in some kinda control and he lets some things occur and causes somethings. I guess its about trusting him. Doesn't mean you can't ask why. Its good to know that nothing can seperate us from his love.
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