"Grocery list" (Religion)

Remove all ads!

SPECIAL GROCERY LIST

Louise Redden, a poorly dressed lady with a look of defeat on her face, walked into a grocery store. She approached the owner of the store in a most humble manner and asked if he would let her charge a few groceries. She softly explained that her husband was very ill and unable to work, they had seven children and they needed food.

John Longhouse, the grocer, scoffed at her and requested that she leave his store at once. Visualizing the family needs, she said; ?Please, sir! I will bring you the money just as soon as I can.? John told her he could not give her credit, since she did not have a charge account at his store.

Standing beside the counter was a customer who overheard the conversation between the two. The customer walked forward and told the grocer that he would stand good for whatever she needed for her family.
The grocer said in a very reluctant voice, ?Do you have a grocery list?? Louise replied, ?Yes sir?. He said, "OK, put your grocery list on the scales and whatever your grocery list weighs, I will give you that amount in groceries."

Louise, hesitated a moment with a bowed head, then she reached into her purse and took out a piece of paper and scribbled something on it. She then laid the piece of paper on the scale carefully with her head still bowed.

The eyes of the grocer and the customer showed amazement when the scales went down, and stayed down. The grocer, staring at the scales, turned slowly to the customer and said begrudgingly, "I can't believe it."

The customer smiled and the grocer started putting the groceries on the other side of the scales. The scale did not balance, so he continued to put more and more groceries on them until the scales would hold no more.

The grocer stood there in utter disgust. Finally, he grabbed the piece of paper from the scales and looked at it with greater amazement. It was not a grocery list; it was a prayer, which said:

"Dear Lord, you know my needs and I am leaving this in your hands."

The grocer gave her the groceries that he had gathered and stood in stunned silence. Louise thanked him and left the store. The other customer handed a fifty-dollar bill to the grocer and said:

"It was worth every penny of it. Only God Knows how much a prayer weighs."
_________________________________________________

So, what does anyone thing about this. Can something like this actually happen? Thoughts, ideas or comments are welcome!

 

Nice.

Are you the author of this piece ?

 

To be blunt, which I usually am, no it could not happen. But for the ones who 'believe' they probably would disagree.

 

Wait, did this happen, or are you thinking this up and asking us what we think?


Either way, I'd say no, it can't happen. I'll back that up (if you want) later, but I have to leave now.

 

Can it happen? Yes. Would it be a scam? Also yes.

God (if he exists) works in mysterious ways; he does not arbitrarily put his big godly toe (oh Cespenar! ) down on some clerk's scale to screw with you.

 

Ok, First let me get clear my question, this is not about whether this is real or not; well, basically because is not, (at list no physically).

The history is just a symbol, if you will, on how God may work on "mysterious ways? or so call miracles. So the question should be weather or not you "believe" on them (miracles) or is just some stun "publicity or otherwise"

@Pac man-
No, I did not write this, is anonymous.

 

If you read and believe the Bible, (yes some people actually believe that every word is true and factual) it would be an easy thing to happen. Do I beleive this is a true story? Not really. Do I believe that it is possible, yes! I beleive that God could do it if he chose to.

It is not a matter of intelect, it is a matter of faith wether or not you beleive in God.

 

Ah yes, the bible. Read it myself, GREAT work of fiction, I highly recommend it.

No that did not happen, could not happen, will not happen.

Reason >> Blind faith in what your mommy and daddy and preacher taught you when you were a youngun.

*writes satire about blind faith for english class *

*puts on flame shield +10 and waits for this to become a religion vs. reason debate*

 

I'm with Jigga on that one.

/puts on Shadow Shield +5 and waits for the xtians to start defending their so-called faith

*EDIT* Oh crap, wait, this IS AoDA.

[ February 05, 2006, 05:52: Message edited by: Disciple of The Watch ]

 

This is probably where you expect me to jump up and down and tell you that "I am filled with Christ's love". Well that is not going to happen. I beleive what I beleive, I am not going to try to cram that down anyones throat. On the matter of God (or any other higher power), a person will not be swayed by rhetoric or logic or all the elequent babbling of organized religion. Which was my point, that religion is a matter of faith, and not intelect.

@Jigga, I would never condone blind faith in anything or anyone.

 

Very nicely said, Brallrock. "I believe what I believe"... that was exactly the message I tried to pass in another topic about religion. It's good to see someone open-minded about that.

 

Agreed. No matter how much logic I cram down you, you prolly won't change your mind. No matter how many "miracles" you cram down my gullet, I probably still won't believe you. Meh, conflict will always be around us.

Am I going to hell?!

EDIT!!!

In 100 years or so, "christian mythology" will be taught in your english class along "greek mythology"

The students will then say "omg what idiots, everyone knows JiggaJay is the true god!"

 

Well ... no. That, of course, might have something to do with me not believing in God and such ... but no

If things like this actually happened, we'd have proof of God - especially seeing how many poor religious people there are...

 

If God works in mysterious ways, well, I didn't see any yet; some people told me that those little triumphs you have in your life are his 'work', well, I must say that don't, those are my efforts; IMHO, if God is such good guy who forgives, and does so many good things, why there's so many people suffering? Why there's so much injustice? I always wondered if these Gods (not just the Christian one but also Buda, etc.,) are sitting together up there (or wherever they 'are') laughing at us. Should the father of Jesus be the 'new kid in God's town'? Because He is younger 'historically' than many others.
Anyway, no, unlike Hot Chocolate, I don't believe in miracles.

 

That little story is just the kind of thing I'd expect from a holy roller with spittle flying off his lips. "A-gimme an A-MEN-uhh! Donations here, please."

 

The moment people stop believing in God, they are able to believe in the most bizarre thing imaginable. That story is not as bizarre as certain things people believe. Especially in these times wherein religions are in decline, while more and more people are into occultism, "natural medicine", space energies and the like.

Is the story unlikely to be true? Yes, of course. Everything looks so convenient, especially the clerk coming up with the idea of putting the shopping list on the scale and weighing the groceries against it. There's also the question of why the clerk would bother with the scale instead of just taking money from the other customer. There's no rule saying you can't pay for someone else's groceries, after all. However, it's usually "improved" stories where everything fits and everything looks real.

If I saw something like that, I would most likely think it's an unexplained physical phenomenon at work. That wouldn't preclude divine intervention (why wouldn't God discreetly work within the boundaries and natural methods of the world?), but there have also been completely natural occurences seemingly defying the laws of physics, subsequently explained by scientists.

Paradoxically, this is close to what Montresor says: many people would still believe it to be a natural, if strange, event if they saw a miracle at work. Believers would think it's extremely unlikely to be just a natural phenomenon, while others would think it's completely natural if not yet explained by science.

And think of all the many occultist or homebrew spiritual explanations that some people who are too rational to believe in God or even suspend disbelief would come up with.

 

First I think that that *can* be possible due to some more sophisticated physics (don't ask me...). I mean piece of paper outweighing lots of goods. In theory - yes. But it's very unlikely to happen.

But will someone witnessing something like that in practice see that it is God's doing ? No. That would be obvious only to those who believe in Him already.

 

Uhm, I don't think god would reward someone with material goods. Historically, he is, in fact, used to burn houses, kill cattle, and dismember family just to win a bet with the devil.
Hey, by the way, this is what I love about religions: something beautiful is born from them. Faith and god and the rest have inspired many artists, and their works remain here for us to admire. That alone makes religion worth being.
Edit: Woohoo! God just gave me my second GEM!

 

Apparently her husbands health is lower on the list then groceries. A lovely example to preach about.