A miraculous tree stump?

[Modestus]

A miraculous tree stump.

I love this religious stuff, nothing to say really just for your amusement.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/holy-image-in-stump-is-virgin-on-the-miraculous-1813470.html

[/IMG]

 

[boofhead]

I hate this religious stuff. Way to make the majority of decent, religious people in the world look like a bunch of loons

 

[Modestus]

I hate this religious stuff. Way to make the majority of decent, religious people in the world look like a bunch of loons

I thought believing in a God did that?

 

[boofhead]

I thought believing in a God did that?

Errrr......no. Many of the most intelligent people in the world believe in deity.

BTW what is that shape on the bottom right of the Mary stump? A hobbit looking up her skirt?

 

[Cúchulainn]

We really are stupid aren't we.

 

[Hippolord]

We really are stupid aren't we.

Depends on what your comparing us to.

 

[Dayman]

Pareidolia strikes again.

 

[boofhead]

Pareidolia strikes again.

What?

 

[Dayman]

 

[Cúchulainn]

Bow down before it and receive it's offering.

 

[Fiyenyaa]

A miraculous tree stump.

I love this religious stuff, nothing to say really just for your amusement.

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/holy-image-in-stump-is-virgin-on-the-miraculous-1813470.html

[/IMG]

Who the hell cuts a tree down like that?
It looks like it was done on purpose. I also don't remember the Virgin Mary having a tail, or essentially being a featureless shadow that could be any person if you wanted it to be.

 

[Dayman]

It's a mermaid!

 

[basics]

Modestus,

Isn't it strange that religion seeks signs and wonders whilst them of God require only faith? It was written that it was the Jew who needed the signs whilst the Greeks sought wisdom, yet here we have another so-called sign that the Greeks love to have around them. It really beggars belief.

 

[Helm]

 

[Roman Knight]

It's a mermaid!

Looks more like a pokemon to me.

 

[Helm]

I like how they've given the stump a little blue hood there, it's a nice touch.

 

[Copperknickers II]

Looks more like an ostrich burying its head in the sand to me. Ironic, that.

 

[Pious Agnost]

I see a camel...

 

[Ummon]

Pareidolia strikes again.

I would contend that there is no pareidolia in the observer, as the tree has been intentionally cut that way. The only case of pareidolia is that of the cutter, who, just like Michelangelo, saw the image in the raw material.

A form of cognitive flexibility, as usual, which often non-religious people do not possess either in its more immature form (pareidolia is commonly seen in children as such, based on their ability to fantasize) nor in the more advanced one.

 

[Modestus]

Modestus,

Isn't it strange that religion seeks signs and wonders whilst them of God require only faith? It was written that it was the Jew who needed the signs whilst the Greeks sought wisdom, yet here we have another so-called sign that the Greeks love to have around them. It really beggars belief.

Many people who are now praying to the tree stump (got to love it) believe its an image of the Virgin Mary because they consider themselves to have a strong faith, some others would say that its because their faith is so shallow they need confirmation in any form even a bit of wood.

Ha the priest is away on holidays I think its going to be a bit of a laugh when he comes home and finds half his congregation outside the church worshipping a peace of wood, a weeks a short time in religion.

 

[Ummon]

Luckily, God appreciates the gesture of faith more than the misunderstanding of form.

 

[Fiyenyaa]

I would contend that there is no pareidolia in the observer, as the tree has been intentionally cut that way. The only case of pareidolia is that of the cutter, who, just like Michelangelo, saw the image in the raw material.

If you are comparing Michelangelo with whoever chopped down that tree at a funny angle, then your sense of aesthetics seems askew, somewhat. If anyone else saw that image (such as it is) they'd probably leave it, because it's utterly crap.

 

[Ummon]

I didn't say the result is the same, merely compared processes.

 

[Tankbuster]

My personal favorite is the Maria cheese sandwich:

And yes, people actually think that this is a divine sign.

 

[Ummon]

And why exactly would you say they are wrong? Aren't you aware that this random-pattern hunt is a tool to get original ideas as well?

 

[0N3]

My personal favorite is the Maria cheese sandwich:

And yes, people actually think that this is a divine sign.

What is the sign? Sandwiches are holy?

 

[Ummon]

Let's apply a little of intelligence and speculation: you bought that pizza for a few cents but there are people who cannot eat because they are too poor. They need food: food is holy.

See how, by amplifying randomness a bit, meaning emerges.

 

[Copperknickers II]

And why exactly would you say they are wrong? Aren't you aware that this random-pattern hunt is a tool to get original ideas as well?

I was certainly not aware. I must dedicate myself more often to finding divine signs in foodstuffs, i am often at a loss for original ideas.

What original ideas exactly does one garner by finding the torso of John the Baptist in a fried egg?

 

[Ummon]

You men of little faith.

 

[Tankbuster]

And why exactly would you say they are wrong? Aren't you aware that this random-pattern hunt is a tool to get original ideas as well?

Thinking that a supernatural entity that has created the universe and monitors human activity, has so much interest and pleasure in your activities that it is willing to communicate with you via female images on a cheese sandwich, is indeed a very, very original idea.

It also happens to be quite arrogant and astonishingly solipsistic. But that is just my humble opinion, of course.