Luck/Divine Intervention

[SalixIncendium]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

 

[Estro Felino]

Homo faber fortunae suae

 

[JJ50]

I think luck is the name of the game, rather than divine intervention. The other day someone was praising god for finding their missing keys! If god exists why does it ignore the desperate prayers of parents to heal their sick child, but happy to provide a sunny day for the church fete?

 

[SalixIncendium]

I think luck is the name of the game, rather than divine intervention. The other day someone was praising god for finding their missing keys! If god exists why does it ignore the desperate prayers of parents to heal their sick child, but happy to provide a sunny day for the church fete?

I find it curious that you don't believe in God because there is no evidence of its existence, but you believe in luck which has as much evidence to support its existence as there is to support God's existence.

 

[JJ50]

I find it curious that you don't believe in God because there is no evidence of its existence, but you believe in luck which has as much evidence to support its existence as there is to support God's existence.

Luck makes more sense than the idea of gods, imo.

 

[SalixIncendium]

Luck makes more sense than the idea of gods, imo.

Why? If there is no verifiable evidence of the existence if either, how does luck make more sense?

 

[Augustus]

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

They are useful enough concepts to help us deal with randomness.

 

[Vinayaka]

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

Stuff happens. I see it as His(Her) Dance, but not as divine intervention, as it's all part of the Dance. I think that to see it as divine is part of the duality (always seeing opposites) mindset. It's either divine or it isn't. So winning a game is divine, but losing a game is evil.

Accidents happen. Some people die. Some don't. It's just life.

 

[BSM1]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

Exactly...

 

[Erebus]

Luck is entirely dependent on perspective. Good luck could be viewed as random chance bringing about a desired outcome while bad luck brings about an undesired outcome. If you take the view that the desired outcome of your accident was to survive then you were lucky. If you take the view that the desired outcome was to avoid being hurt altogether then you were unlucky.

A clearer way to illustrate this is with games of chance. There you have predetermined positive and negative outcomes so it's a lot easier to say whether a player had good luck or bad luck.

Whether or not any of this can be viewed as the conscious intervention of a deity is, in my opinion, entirely unknowable.

 

[JJ50]

Why? If there is no verifiable evidence of the existence if either, how does luck make more sense?

There probably is a logical explanation for things that seem to occur by chance, even if it isn't clear when they happen.

 

[Vinayaka]

There probably is a logical explanation for things that seem to occur by chance, even if it isn't clear when they happen.

It's called probability. Basic math. A lot of the 'amazing coincidence, divine intervention' stuff is no more unlikely than winning the lottery. People win lotteries all the time.

 

[atanu]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

This reminds me of a funny but very caustic comment of Andre Agassi on Michael Chang. Agassi wrote in his memoir that he was incensed that Chang would point to the sky every time he won a match. "He thanks God -- credits God -- for the win, which offends me. That God should take sides in a tennis match, that God should side against me ... feels ludicrous and insulting."

Although Andre did have a point, I think thanking God for everything is not unwise. Shri Krishna says in Gita the following:

Gita 7.14 Verily, this divine illusion of Mine (Maya), consisting of the gunas, is hard to overcome. But those who take refuge in Me alone shall cross over this illusion.
Gita 9.30 Even if a man of very bad conduct worships Me with one-pointed devotion, he is to be considered verily good; for he has resolved rightly.​

So, good luck, imo, entails in rise of wisdom of sharanagati.

 

[Ponder This]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

Umm... Salix, I don't mean to burst your bubble here but it's a well-established fact that it is considered bad luck to walk under a leaning ladder... This has been known since 5000 years ago in Egypt.

Seriously though considering that the injury wasn't a result of your actions (you didn't drop the cast iron ladder jack on yourself) and was, apparently, by chance. It is, by definition, a consequence of "luck". Moreover, you ducked because of the intervention of another person who yelled. His choice to act so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events is, by definition, intervention. Except that he probably yelled as a reaction as opposed to reacting with deliberate forethought. So that puts it in the category of divine agency.

 

[Nimos]

I think luck is the name of the game, rather than divine intervention. The other day someone was praising god for finding their missing keys! If god exists why does it ignore the desperate prayers of parents to heal their sick child, but happy to provide a sunny day for the church fete?

I think this illustrate how God must feel... basically he just gave up

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

I'd say luck means you are still safe despite getting it on the head. "You dodged the fate" you put yourself in by you and your father's etc individual choices. Like, I almost got hit by two cars twice. A truck was less than an inch about to run me over if I didn't raise my hand to yell stop before he pushed me into traffic. Yesterday, I almost got ruined over in a parking lot.

People who believe in god would have definitely called these divine interventions. I'd say they are luck or coincidences. My choice to be in these situations doesn't invalidate I "could have got killed" and I wasn't. I was just. Lucky.

All the experiences I've had, I wish I believed in some sort of deity or divinity or whatever. I guess it's personal choice but the luck thing is more: "I put myself in danger, I got lucky I survived."

 

[Revoltingest]

I always raise an eyebrow when people cite luck or divine intervention when they find themselves or others survive a tragic event.

As I see it, if one is lucky, one wouldn't have been associated with the tragedy to begin with. If the divine has the ability to intervene, wouldn't the divine had the ability to prevent the tragic event from occurring to begin with?

When I was 14 years old, I was hit in the head by a cast iron ladder jack that fell to the ground from about 35 feet in the air when an extension ladder broke. The person raising the ladder yelled a warning, and I ducked, which prevented a direct impact, and while the blow split my head open to where I needed 14 stitches and nearly knocked me unconscious, I wouldn't be here today typing this had I not ducked.

Am I lucky? Not in my opinion. If I was, I would have been standing in a different spot or the ladder would not have broken and I would have been uninjured.

Am I here because if divine intervention? I was the one that made the choice to duck when I heard the warning the worker made to choice to yell when the ladder broke. If the divine had the ability to intervene, wouldn't you think that it would have pushed the falling ladder jack clear of me? That it would have done something to make me take a couple of steps before the ladder broke?

Nah, I was injured because I made a choice to stand where I was, because my dad made the choice to use a rickety wood ladder instead of investing in a stable aluminum one, and the worker chose to raise the ladder with the ladder jack on it instead of raising the ladder and then hooking the ladder jack onto it. I'm alive because the worker yelled and I ducked.

What are your thoughts on luck and divine intervention?

Luck is about relativity.
Relative to being killed by a falling ladder jack,
to be only slightly injured is lucky... & that is
the "lucky" thing going on. The statement assumes
an unspoken perspective.
Btw, I'm lucky that it didn't happen to me.

 

[Quagmire]

There's really no way to know if an event is lucky or unlucky.

Most people would probably say that getting hit in the head by a ladder jack is unfortunate, but for all anybody knows if you hadn't been knocked flat at that precise moment, maybe you'd be on your way across the street for something and gotten run over by a bus.

 

[Willamena]

There's really no way to know if an event is lucky or unlucky.

Most people would probably say that getting hit in the head by a ladder jack is unfortunate, but for all anybody knows if you hadn't been knocked flat at that precise moment, maybe you'd be on your way across the street for something and gotten run over by a bus.

Indeed. In the words of the great philosopher....
archie campbell that's good that's bad - YouTube

 

[Quagmire]

Indeed. In the words of the great philosopher....
archie campbell that's good that's bad - YouTube

More or less the Hee Haw version of this : Good Luck, Bad Luck: Who Can Tell?