Happy Atheist Forum

At birth, in the labour ward I was in I was born about 5 minutes away (6:08pm) from having the exact same birth time the analog clock on the wall had been stuck at the whole time (6:03, the batteries had ran out). I am an atheist and do not believe this could mean anything, but it still makes me wonder - I know coincidences happen ALL the time, and i pass everyday ones off as just chance, but because this happened at my birth, does it mean anything more supernatural than any other coincidences? It actually isn't even a coincidence, as they weren't the same time, but it's still sometimes makes me wonder, as the two times were so close. I know what you're saying, get real, but how do i work this out logically when a big part of the coincidence involves me as one of the conditions? And do you think it's happened to a lot of people?

I don't know if I understand what you're gettin' at....there was a clock stuck at a certain time and you were almost born at that time?  what in the hell would have been the point of that?  And ur right I am thinkin' "Get real"  I still totally think you're an athiest because you believe it's a coincidence and not a miracle of some kind right?

there are 1440 minutes in a day, how many labour wards do you think there are in the world with stuck clocks in them? 10,000? 100,000? If we take 50,000 as the middle, we get 34 kids a day being born under those exact circumstances, when you stretch it to include 5 minutes either way, that number increases 10 times. Not really that special to be honest.
 Having said that, this cannot be a coincidence
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LOL! That's very clever, that King Of Time thing ^_^

and you're right, with so many people having the same thing happen, it can't possibly be supernatural, can it?

And no, mama_ape, i don't think it's a miracle, as it's a very possible occurence, it's just the fact it's a bit uncommon and that it happened at birth that it freaks me out, LOL

Nice one SSY.

I can one up your story and I'm still an atheist.

When I was young I had a hole in my heart and needed surgery.  The way my mom tells the story is that she was just at the mall and a random woman walks up to her.  This woman told her to make sure the blood for the transfusion was screened to be HIV free.  This was a time before most people knew anything about HIV.

I was way too young to remember this event but that's the way my mom tells it, assuming it is exactly how things happen it is quite an interesting coincidence.  However, one interesting coincidence that could have real world explanation (she overheard my mom talking about the surgery and happened to also enjoy reading about medical breakthroughs) is not a very good reason to think something magical happened.

Stuff that rarely happens sometimes happens, therefore there is a god?

What kind of argument is that?

Maybe because of my lack of humor I'm the only one to post this... even a broken clock can be right twice a day.
Given that, there are thousands of babies born on February 29th and everyone I meet born on that day still think it's something unique and special... well it is, but the same could be said for getting a royal flush but the odds of getting a royal flush are the same as getting any random set of five cards.

I had quite a bad accident when i was a kid. I was hit in the face with a cricket stump we were using as a baseball bat - point first. Whoever tried to hit the ball, let go of it and it happened to find my face, peircing my top lip and knocking 4 of my front teeth out. Had it hit me any higher, it would have blinded me in one eye and maybe have impaled as far as my brain. Any lower and it would have wedged down the back of my throat, possibly suffocating me.

That wasn't an intervention by god, it was a bad accident which could have been much worse.

It's hard to reply to this without saying what's already said, but I'll add this:
I would hardly think that coincidences and theistic belief have anything at all to do with each other. Even going past the thought that it means nothing and is just a coincidence, if you honestly consider switching worldviews due to the time you were born, you probably have the mindset that would have found a reason to rethink it anyway.
On that basis, maybe you should take a step back and really analyze your worldviews. Just in case this thought was the result of a subconscious want to not be Atheist anymore.

You can definitely be an atheist despite what appear to be the most amazing coincidences. All you need to do is not jump to conclusions. Simple but hard to do because jumping to conclusions is a prevalent human habit.

Jimmorrisonbabe, If the clock stopped just as you were born what does that mean? If you ask the question and the most honest answer is, "I don't know". Leave it like that. Leave it like that and don't assume it has a particular meaning.

Its tempting to find an explanation, any explanation, for something that is mysterious instead of just leaving it as mysterious. I think this is because we don't like to be helplessly subject to the chaotic or unknown. It makes us feel vulnerable and our imagination can get carried away and can scare us with endless possibilities. Instead we tend to automatically/unconsciously shut out the unknown, the chaotic or simply the vague with false certainties.

For some people, mostly authoritarian fundamentalists (religious or otherwise), nothing is worse than accepting ambiguity, confusion and the unexplained are inherently part of human existence and always will be. Their need to know for sure is so strong that they will dedicate much of their time & energy to defending their fixed worldview from being undermined, regardless of how limiting it is. I think a much better & happier way to choose to be (if you have the option) is to do the exact opposite to these types of people. Train yourself to tolerate ambiguity, confusion, contradiction and the unexplained as best you can. The discomfort in doing so has its advantages, especially later in life.

I'm having trouble seeing the significance of the coincidence. Apologies.  I have a cool one though.  My daughter was born on my birthday, which also happens to be the Chinese New Year.  So does that mean we have to become Chinese Buddhists?  :P

Quote from: "LARA"I'm having trouble seeing the significance of the coincidence. Apologies.  I have a cool one though.  My daughter was born on my birthday, which also happens to be the Chinese New Year.  So does that mean we have to become Chinese Buddhists?  :P

1/133225 chance of that, quite rare actually, you probably should become a Buddhist, just to be safe. Becoming Chinese may be harder though.

I was born on my father's birthday!  

I was borne June 26th. My Father October 26th, my grandfather Dec 26th, my great grand father, May 26th. I was born at 12:06 midnight. I met Billy Corgan for the first time after a show at 12:06 midnight. I've lived in a bunch of places where the address was a combination, 2626, 206, 2612. I've been assigned phone numbers with close number combinations. My area code in Philly is 267 vs 215.

I'm still an atheist.

Woohhhh kidnapkid, that is quite a set of coincidences! I think that beats my story :)

I got mugged twice in one day, what's the likelihood of that?  

When my brother was in college he came home for a surprise visit via the Greyhound bus.  He had to get picked up (because we lived about ten miles from town) but he ran out of coins for the payphone.  At that very moment, my dad and I pulled up, going to the grocery store that the bus station shared a parking lot with.

I'm still an atheist and so are they.

Most of the times we humans, try to find out patterns and alikes in our daily lives. Without having a distinct pattern on something, someone might argue that our brains would be unable to properly function (I am sorry if my syntax and grammar are a bit odd to say the least).
When we cannot trace or find a useful pattern our minds make one. we need them in order to think. We function by comparing similars. When we see something new we say "hmm this is something like this or that" etc.
The problem arises if you come to think that one day we might see something new, something we cannot find any similarity to any of situations/things etc in our daily lives.
Coincidence is one of those things. When we are struggling to find a pattern subconsiously and we cannot get to a logic argument, then we name it a coincidence. In reality it is just a probability with a really low "to happen" number say 1/10,000,000,000.. this doesn't mean it will never happen, but that there are a really low chance for it to happen.
this reminds me of something which comes as a funny story when you think of it...
A friend of mine is the 5th child of a family. All of them are born in really late November to late december December some days up and down and about 1 year apart.
She used to tell me what a big coincidence this is. So I try to debunk it (the scientist in me kicked in :devil: )
I realised her father's name is related to the Orthodox easter, so his name day is relevant to Greek Orthodox easter.
her mother is a really religious -faithful-etc woman...
So I summed this up in my mind..
a. sex only in order to produce offspring
b. sex as a name day gift or allowance (Easter occurs from March to May so having birth in Late November till end of December is more or less ok depending on the dates that Easter was during those years.
c. no birth control whatsoever
d. having 5 kids is one kid too many in order to continue to accept your wife's name day allowance (meant this one as a joke )

Sort answer Yes. Why would you think you could not be?

Quote from: "Whitney"I can one up your story and I'm still an atheist.

When I was young I had a hole in my heart and needed surgery.  The way my mom tells the story is that she was just at the mall and a random woman walks up to her.  This woman told her to make sure the blood for the transfusion was screened to be HIV free.  This was a time before most people knew anything about HIV.

I was way too young to remember this event but that's the way my mom tells it, assuming it is exactly how things happen it is quite an interesting coincidence.  However, one interesting coincidence that could have real world explanation (she overheard my mom talking about the surgery and happened to also enjoy reading about medical breakthroughs) is not a very good reason to think something magical happened.

This doesn't have much to do with the topic but seeing as all the major points have been covered I thought I might bring up the theory of six degrees of seperation. If you knew someone as a child and later met another person who turned out to be related to that same person you might comment that it's "a small world". The six degrees of seperation theory proposes that any one of us is only six meetings away from anyone in the world. Say, if you met someone, then met one of their friends, and on of his/her friends and so forth until you got up to the sixth friend of a friend, theoretically that sixth person could be any person in the world. Nowadays with the nearly viral apperance of social networking sites these meetings can be much easier.

I realize that I'm wandering around here but another thing I would like to point out is the assumption of "Great effect, great cause" which is the "logic" behind many conspiracy theories. The idea is that when a great or extraordinary event occurs most people attempt to find an extraordinary cause. For example, 9/11, the amount of conspiracy theories surrounding 9/11 is ridiculous, but it was one of the most extraordinary(in this case meaning out of the ordinary    ) events of our time. Therefore it required some of the most extraordinary explications. The same holds true for many of the more prevalent conspiracy theories; Roswell, the Illuminati and the masons and the "assasination" of princess Diana.

P.S. really it's up to you to decide what you believe but there have been much stranger coincidences and they have yet to convert me.

confirmatory bias

Yeah, I'm sure that at least one of the people that won the lottery multiple times prayed before each win, too.

Why do people always think that a coincidence is in some way an act of God?
Let's call a coincidence a coincidence because there is nothing more to say about it.
Concurrence isn't godlike in my humble opinion.

Quote from: "Kylyssa"I got mugged twice in one day, what's the likelihood of that?  .

I never got mugged, yet. What's the likelihood of that these days?


And responding to the OP: seemingly small probabilities happen all the time, but when you analyse them coldly and in the broader perspective, the odds really aren't that significant to really hint at any plan or meaning.