It’s actually a very simple riddle. You may even be mad at me (expect something more difficult), it’s so simple. Reminds me of the ‘Purloined Letter’. I composed the riddle using as many tools as I could from the list at riddle.com (or somewhere like that on-line). It was very, very fun, and I’m thinking of writing another.
I don’t even know where to start.
Any hints on getting starting?
EDIT: WAIT!.. I think I got started on it. THIS IS FUN! 
Well, that is just the riddle put into code. Also a simple code… also decoded in this thread. It was inspired by the way some letters look like numbers, and some numbers look like letters. My first word (of inspiration) was 1234 (looks like IdEA in a digital format), but that was according to a different code… in the original post, I use a different number for D. Don’t read the rest of the thread after the original post if you want to decode it yourself.
Crack the code, and inside is a riddle. :0) And there’s another cool “question” I ask using that same code that gives the missing letter/numbers, as a form of hint – if you have the answer, I still want it.
Also, I’ll reply to your other post in the other thread when I get the chance. Only had time to skim it.
i shouldn’t have taken the time off work to solve it.
But it was great fun because it went so fast and was so easy!
Before solving it I was going to guess that it was probably a verse or something, but then I thought, I shouldn’t judge too quickly… but I was right in a way.
My answer to the cypher is…
You may not have one… but why do you need them?
On another note; are ‘He’ and the ‘Lamb’ separate entities?
One might argue that Christianity takes advantage of the benefits of monotheism and polytheism at the same time! I think there is another thread going on about this right now.
Very fun Ichthus! Thank you for that. I needed it at the end of a long Friday!
In the same fashion. Here is another fun one!
xpq$y66xxy9KxFyxQ
$9r$x$xpyKE$y@$K9$x6E*3qKx
$xExyK@x$yx@$q+y@xqK<q#
$6xxpq6$x$<9Keyxy9K$9r
$yx%$Kyqx5@<pq
x$<x@xF$@x69FF$xp69Ep$xpq
$FKxxy<$x@QF3$@p9W@
$xpxx$rxyxp$e9q@$K9x$P69Vq
$xKQxpyKE%$Kyqx5@<pq
Hint: ‘$’ are spaces, ‘#’ are commas, and ‘%’ are periods.
This may be too difficult though.
I’ll give more hints if people are willing to try it out. 
The riddle is not a Bible verse, but… yeah :0) This is the religion forum, after all, right? :0) The “I” in “I don’t have a prayer” is not referring to myself, but to the answer of the riddle. The lamb is a believer, not Christ – “Him” is God.
The trinity has nothing to do with polytheism.
The answer to the riddle is a single word. So far you haven’t said it, nor implied it.
This is way funner than I anticipated. :0)
I’ll try yours. It’s rainy out.
A shot in the dark…
The answer is “truth” ?
I’m sorry… didn’t pay much attention to anything… just read the riddle and gave it a shot… probably way off mark…
Good guess, Mad Man P, but that is not the answer to the riddle – are ya sayin’ truth ain’t got a prayer? C’mon, now… 
[ getting off-line ]
Bane, I’ve spent a total of an hour and forty-five minutes on it, and finally figured out the best way to go at it… that is… if I’m on the right track. Writing mine was easier than cracking yours, that’s for sure.
I may give up, though. Way too time consuming.
Bane,
Hm. Well, I’m stuck. There are 27 different words (some are repeats). 5 words include the root “<”. You use the whole alphabet. I tried to take the two-letter words and their associated three letter words [yx, y@, yx@ and K9, 9r, K9x] and made no progress when I tried to use my (what turns out to be) non-findings in the rest of the words.
That’s as far as I’ve gotten… which… is … pretty much nowhere.
So. I hate to say it, but… I give up. (Ack!!!)
But, I like how you use not just numbers, not just letters, but other symbols as well. Pretty creative.
I’m kinda wondering if Mad Man P was actually talking to you when he guessed “truth” – so, if that’s the case… nevermind what I said earlier Mad Man P! :0)
This is a spoiler for my cypher so do not read further if you are enjoying trying to solve the puzzle. (Only sick people like me enjoy this crap)
So here is what I posted
xpq$y66xxy9KxFyxQ
$9r$x$xpyKE$y@$K9$x6E*3qKx
$xExyK@x$yx@$q+y@xqK<q#
$6xxpq6$x$<9Keyxy9K$9r
$yx%$Kyqx5@<pq
x$<x@xF$@x69FF$xp69Ep$xpq
$FKxxy<$x@QF3$@p9W@
$xpxx$rxyxp$e9q@$K9x$P69Vq
$xKQxpyKE%$Kyqx5@<pq
And here is the answer:
[i]The irrationality of a thing is no argument against its existence, rather a condition of it. Nietzsche
A casual stroll through the lunatic asylum shows that faith does not prove anything. Nietzsche[/i]
Now… there must be mistakes. I took the quotes, changed each character to a different character. I then went through backwards to try to check it but ran out of time. I didn’t find any mistakes, but I figure that there must be. For one, I changed some letters to other letters that were in the cypher. I almost have no doubt that I messed up at that point. Anyway it was fun. I’ve never done cyphers before and yours was a good starter for me. I think my attempt wasn’t near as good as yours. I should have stayed with numbers!
b4^3
i[/i]
I don’t have a prayer, but instead I am.
I comfort and nourish a trusting Lamb.
pray teLL Him of what you request in me
out Loud or in siLent soLiLoquy.
I thought that it is God speaking saying that he doesn’t pray cause he’s God.
Then he is saying that he gave us the lamb to pray to out loud or in silence. But now I see that we are the lambs, etc.
Lambs for the slaughter! 
I disagree that it is sick to like cyphers and riddles. Unless it takes up all your time.
Interesting what you did with my riddle, leaving in the html tags.
The answer is to my riddle is… don’t read it if you don’t want to know…
prayer <---- It’s whited out. See? Told y’all it was simple.
And, correction: my first word (that inspired the code) was 1032: IDEa. It was the ‘a’ that was different, not the ‘D’.
I’ll compare your cypher with the quotes.
There was not a single error in your cypher.
When I made my list of two-letter words… I missed “it”. If I hadn’t have missed “it” I’d have solved it.
How in the world…?
I don’t think I’ll be back without the two threads I’ve been procrastinating about.
I hope God breaks through when I’m gone. You know I’ll be praying for you.
Be well.
Keep it real Ichthus! Later 
A riddle w/ no cypher this time.
My wife and I spent a little while thinking about the riddle, but didn’t really get anywhere. Any slight hint that you could give that wouldn’t spoil it?
In the meantime:
“If everything in the physical universe is the paint (including ourselves, conscious paint) and God is the painter – science can only study the paint – it cannot tell us why God made it, or what picture He is painting with it. Religion without God can only guess at why, and philosophy can only analyze the guesses. If we want to find the ultimate Purpose, we must find God, or be receptive to being found.”
“If everything in the physical universe” implies there is also a not-physical realm/universe, yet there is no evidence for this dualistic thinking and additional realm other than the reality of the physical universe.
“science can only study the paint” That is because there is only ‘paint’ to study. You can’t study anything else but paint because there isn’t anything else! You’re claiming that science cannot study God. I’m sorry, but if God exists, if she is real, then she can be studied. Real things can be studied empirically. How can you claim something to exist yet claim we cannot have ANY knowledge of ANY kind about it? The very claim means you apparent know it exists. (As all knowledge is empirical, science=empirical). To claim something that can exist yet cannot be studied is nonsense.
“Religion without God can only guess at why” That is all there is… religions, no gods behind them.
“If we want to find the ultimate Purpose” That is assuming there is one. What is God’s ultimate purpose? oops…
Count the capital letters in the first two lines, besides H. Hope that doesn’t spoil it.
The knowledge acquired by the scientific method is certainly not the only kind of knowledge. The scientific method can be applied only to the universe, not to its maker. There are other ways of getting to know God (and I don’t mean ‘gnosis’), which will be discussed in “The Reason for God” book discussion I hope you and your wife will join.
God is the ultimate purpose, as the ultimate purpose is love, and He is love. I’ve quoted this before… “He is the More beyond which there is no more.” Think I got that from Zacharias.
6? 6 capital letters besides H? Am I warmer?
We probably are differing on our definitions of knowledge. By default, I would have to say that knowledge is only empirical (through the senses, into our brain, or is part of the biological mechanism that is our brain, etc.) I would like you to define whatever other knowledge it is you are talking about. You’re talking about real knowledge and adding a vacuous ‘spiritual knowledge’ to it, which I’m sure you will struggle to define.
I asked what is the purpose of God. What is the ultimate purpose of God? If you are saying that God’s purpose is to be the first cause or ultimate purpose, then I agree with you. That is one of the (if not the biggest) reasons why man came up with notion of God. Humans like to box things in. To get our heads around existence, we created a cap to the beginning and end of everything… the notion of a God. If everything must have a cause, purpose, creator, then isn’t it illogical to say that there is something that doesn’t need a cause, purpose, creator? (ie God doesn’t need a cause or creator)?