Thank God?

[Alt_Ascendant]

This weekend I had the interesting task of informing family and friends that AVG-WIFE, AVG-DOG and I survived a near miss by Hurricane Matthew....

Many responded with the simple phrase, 'Thank God'.

​

Thank God? Why?!?

What about the hundreds of Haitians killed by the same storm that God somehow made go around me and mine? Is this proof of a vengeful God who hates Caribbean Catholics who speak broken French?

What about the 5 Floridians killed by Matthew? Was God mad at them?

Does 'God' really have anything to do with anything?

Do I feel lucky? Yup. I do feel lucky. I just took a walk around the block and most of my neighbors are still without electric power while I'm back on line and contemplating my first good nights sleep in a few days.

I'll go so far as to say that I lead a truly charmed life. If not for my utter rejection of the 3 most popular ancient Arab stories that claim to be the one and only pathway to God, I'd say I was 'blessed'.

Ass-u-me-ing God, what if you can tell those He favors not by what ancient Arab tales they tell their children, but by how lucky they are in life?

Do you feel lucky?

I feel like God takes a mostly hands-off approach to the world. Weather happens because it does. People live because people get lucky. Imagine a world where God stopped all ills and terrors. Sure, it'd be great and like paradise. But think about how that would impact belief. If you just knew you would always be safe, would you ever turn to God? Give him a place in your life? Bad things are there to remind us of our mortality and our need to have faith in God so that we may survive past the destruction of our bodies.

Horrible events like this happen to try the faith every person has in God. They are supposed to be difficult. However, they allow every human to grow in a deeper relationship with our Lord.

Not exactly. God is definitely in control of everything that is happening including hurricanes, earthquakes and wars... there are no coincidences or random events with God. God doesn't punish His Own children who are obedient to His Word. They may be persecuted by the world but not by Him. On the other hand...

Origin of the evils that afflict us

I mean, I know He's in control of it, I'm just saying that he doesn't set out to target specific groups. That would be vengeful, and our God is not that. He is just and fair. The horrible happenings in our world happen because they need to for the betterment of humanity.

Granted, this whole discussion is kind of moot. Neither of us, Jeremiah, can fully understand the works of God.

 

[AVG-JOE]

This weekend I had the interesting task of informing family and friends that AVG-WIFE, AVG-DOG and I survived a near miss by Hurricane Matthew....

Many responded with the simple phrase, 'Thank God'.

​

Thank God? Why?!?

What about the hundreds of Haitians killed by the same storm that God somehow made go around me and mine? Is this proof of a vengeful God who hates Caribbean Catholics who speak broken French?

What about the 5 Floridians killed by Matthew? Was God mad at them?

Does 'God' really have anything to do with anything?

Do I feel lucky? Yup. I do feel lucky. I just took a walk around the block and most of my neighbors are still without electric power while I'm back on line and contemplating my first good nights sleep in a few days.

I'll go so far as to say that I lead a truly charmed life. If not for my utter rejection of the 3 most popular ancient Arab stories that claim to be the one and only pathway to God, I'd say I was 'blessed'.

Ass-u-me-ing God, what if you can tell those He favors not by what ancient Arab tales they tell their children, but by how lucky they are in life?

Do you feel lucky?

I feel like God takes a mostly hands-off approach to the world. Weather happens because it does. People live because people get lucky. Imagine a world where God stopped all ills and terrors. Sure, it'd be great and like paradise. But think about how that would impact belief. If you just knew you would always be safe, would you ever turn to God? Give him a place in your life? Bad things are there to remind us of our mortality and our need to have faith in God so that we may survive past the destruction of our bodies.

Horrible events like this happen to try the faith every person has in God. They are supposed to be difficult. However, they allow every human to grow in a deeper relationship with our Lord.

Humans have historically used the gods to explain and rationalize the random unfairness of life... (The Lord moves in mysterious ways... )

So what the heck is the point of having gods in a world where weather and other random, dangerous, natural phenomena are explainable without such a being doling out punishment and reward?

Why do we still need God?

We can no longer blame Him for storms any more than we can credit Him for gentle rain and good crops... What's the purpose of believing in God in the 21st Century?

 

[AVG-JOE]

This weekend I had the interesting task of informing family and friends that AVG-WIFE, AVG-DOG and I survived a near miss by Hurricane Matthew....

Many responded with the simple phrase, 'Thank God'.

​

Thank God? Why?!?

What about the hundreds of Haitians killed by the same storm that God somehow made go around me and mine? Is this proof of a vengeful God who hates Caribbean Catholics who speak broken French?

What about the 5 Floridians killed by Matthew? Was God mad at them?

Does 'God' really have anything to do with anything?

Do I feel lucky? Yup. I do feel lucky. I just took a walk around the block and most of my neighbors are still without electric power while I'm back on line and contemplating my first good nights sleep in a few days.

I'll go so far as to say that I lead a truly charmed life. If not for my utter rejection of the 3 most popular ancient Arab stories that claim to be the one and only pathway to God, I'd say I was 'blessed'.

Ass-u-me-ing God, what if you can tell those He favors not by what ancient Arab tales they tell their children, but by how lucky they are in life?

Do you feel lucky?

I feel like God takes a mostly hands-off approach to the world. Weather happens because it does. People live because people get lucky. Imagine a world where God stopped all ills and terrors. Sure, it'd be great and like paradise. But think about how that would impact belief. If you just knew you would always be safe, would you ever turn to God? Give him a place in your life? Bad things are there to remind us of our mortality and our need to have faith in God so that we may survive past the destruction of our bodies.

Horrible events like this happen to try the faith every person has in God. They are supposed to be difficult. However, they allow every human to grow in a deeper relationship with our Lord.

Not exactly. God is definitely in control of everything that is happening including hurricanes, earthquakes and wars... there are no coincidences or random events with God. God doesn't punish His Own children who are obedient to His Word. They may be persecuted by the world but not by Him. On the other hand...

Origin of the evils that afflict us


Volcanoes terrify with their eruptions, and submerge towns or cities beneath their streams of lava!

Earthquake's convulsive throes bury a population beneath the ruins of their own abodes!

Hurricanes carry desolation through a country!

Famine whitens the valleys with the bones of the thousands who have perished beneath its reign!

Pestilence stalks through a land, hurrying multitudes to the tomb, and filling all that remain with unutterable terrors!

Wars have been agents in the unparalleled scenes of bloodshed and misery!

Scripture proclaims that these are to be regarded as a fearful exposition of the evil nature of sin, written by the finger of God upon the tablet of the earth's history!

Visit, in imagination, my countrymen, the spots where many of these cities once stood, and you shall see nothing but desolation stalking like a specter across the plain, lifting its eye to heaven, and exclaiming, amidst the silence that reigns around, “The kingdom and the nation that will not serve You, shall utterly perish!” As you stand amidst the moldering fragments of departed grandeur, does not every breeze, as it sighs through the ruins, seem to say, as a voice from the sepulcher, “See, therefore, and know that it is an evil and a bitter thing to sin against the Lord!”

Let us devoutly acknowledge both the source and the justice of our calamities. The origin of the evils that afflict us, is often to be found in the sins which disgrace us.

“From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused My anger and wrath that I must remove it from My sight!”

Oh but God DOES punish His believers.... just look at the footage of people from Haiti to North Carolina who're crying to God and Jesus over their losses in the wake of Matthew.

This is EXACTLY what I'm talking about! Either God has nothing to do with severe weather or He is a fickle prick who is as random and unpredictable as the storms and disasters He is credited with both chasing us down with and saving us from.

If there were ANY consistency to the things we attribute to The Will of God, I would drop to my knees and worship, but there's nothing there but random chance and measurable, explainable natural phenomena.

 

[AVG-JOE]

This weekend I had the interesting task of informing family and friends that AVG-WIFE, AVG-DOG and I survived a near miss by Hurricane Matthew....

Many responded with the simple phrase, 'Thank God'.

​

Thank God? Why?!?

What about the hundreds of Haitians killed by the same storm that God somehow made go around me and mine? Is this proof of a vengeful God who hates Caribbean Catholics who speak broken French?

What about the 5 Floridians killed by Matthew? Was God mad at them?

Does 'God' really have anything to do with anything?

Do I feel lucky? Yup. I do feel lucky. I just took a walk around the block and most of my neighbors are still without electric power while I'm back on line and contemplating my first good nights sleep in a few days.

I'll go so far as to say that I lead a truly charmed life. If not for my utter rejection of the 3 most popular ancient Arab stories that claim to be the one and only pathway to God, I'd say I was 'blessed'.

Ass-u-me-ing God, what if you can tell those He favors not by what ancient Arab tales they tell their children, but by how lucky they are in life?

Do you feel lucky?

I feel like God takes a mostly hands-off approach to the world. Weather happens because it does. People live because people get lucky. Imagine a world where God stopped all ills and terrors. Sure, it'd be great and like paradise. But think about how that would impact belief. If you just knew you would always be safe, would you ever turn to God? Give him a place in your life? Bad things are there to remind us of our mortality and our need to have faith in God so that we may survive past the destruction of our bodies.

Horrible events like this happen to try the faith every person has in God. They are supposed to be difficult. However, they allow every human to grow in a deeper relationship with our Lord.

Not exactly. God is definitely in control of everything that is happening including hurricanes, earthquakes and wars... there are no coincidences or random events with God. God doesn't punish His Own children who are obedient to His Word. They may be persecuted by the world but not by Him. On the other hand...

Origin of the evils that afflict us

I mean, I know He's in control of it, I'm just saying that he doesn't set out to target specific groups. That would be vengeful, and our God is not that. He is just and fair. The horrible happenings in our world happen because they need to for the betterment of humanity.

Granted, this whole discussion is kind of moot. Neither of us, Jeremiah, can fully understand the works of God.

The way I see it you have two and only two choices to explain God being in control of life on earth: Fickle prick or vengeful prick. Anything else is rationalization.