I've never understood how certain acts get attributed to God and not others.
Like, if an infant is killed by a drive-by shooting involving drug dealers, you may hear the survivors saying it was God calling her home. On the other hand, abortions in clinics are ascribed to an act of man.
Haiti has been called "an act of God," although science would suggest earthquakes are caused by a normal shifting of tectonic plates that would occur even if God wasn't around.
God's role in the Holocaust (oops, I just lost the discussion ) has been a popular topic of discussion, though few people say that the Holocaust was caused by God or was God's work. They typically say that God did not prevent the Holocaust, through inaction. God's level of involvement in the 9/11 attacks vary, depending on whether you live in the US or a muslim country.
Great find Ghostie. I used to cycle round Suffolk, visiting some of those. A great place to stop for quiet and shade on a sunny day.
Our water supply came from a local spring on site and this was the height of the Aussie summer.
So, when it was another glorious day, it was praise be the lord for the glorious sun.
Then on the odd day when it rained, it was praise be the lord, because we needed the water for us to drink.
Never once did he say ''right god, we've had glorious sunshine for the past 3 weeks, but the water tank is a bit low - any chance of a quick top up?'
Instead god was always shown in a good light, getting the credit for whatever happened - but never taking requests
Nope, never prayed in my life (born atheist and have stayed that way).
I've never understood how certain acts get attributed to God and not others.
Like, if an infant is killed by a drive-by shooting involving drug dealers, you may hear the survivors saying it was God calling her home. On the other hand, abortions in clinics are ascribed to an act of man.
Haiti has been called "an act of God," although science would suggest earthquakes are caused by a normal shifting of tectonic plates that would occur even if God wasn't around.
God's role in the Holocaust (oops, I just lost the discussion ) has been a popular topic of discussion, though few people say that the Holocaust was caused by God or was God's work. They typically say that God did not prevent the Holocaust, through inaction. God's level of involvement in the 9/11 attacks vary, depending on whether you live in the US or a muslim country.
That's why science always wins.
Listen to this...
Thanks! That was great! "It seems clear that if HE does exist, he's capricious and mean and willful." Too true, I didn't know anyone else felt that. The Book of Job especially shows this. If there is a God, he is one very scary mofo.
Listening to any of Hitchens views is brilliant, and Stephen Fry is amazing anyway.
I voted for 'none of the above '
As a quaker, I go to meeting for worship
which is more about listening to the still small voice of G'd' within,
I also assume that there is no need to tell G'd' because s/he'll know
I rather like/need to listen to G'd's indications, feel/sense the presence of G'd'
which is refreshing n soothing for me
Sometimes I 'hold someone in the light' who is feeling miserable/ill
British Links- http://www.quakerweek.org.uk/
- http://www.quaker.org.uk/
- http://www.quakerweb.org.uk/qfp/
- finding Friends / quakers worldwide:
http://www.fwccworld.org/[/url]
non-q-informatiom on quakers
[*]http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker.htm
"A Friend's meeting, however silent, is at the very lowest a witness that worship is something other and deeper than words, and that it is to the unseen and eternal things that we desire to give the first place in our lives. And when the meeting...is awake and looking upwards, there is much more in it than this. In the united stillness of a truly 'gathered' meeting, there is a power known only by experience, and mysterious even when most familiar." Caroline Stephen, (1908).
Btw, James Dean was raised in a quaker family.
Excellent point. Kind of like horoscopes in the newspaper... people think they work because they remember the correct predictions and ignore the incorrect ones, or ascribe them to an off day. With that "logic," a 40% to 50% success rate is proof they work, rather than a statistical inevitability.
With prayer requests and acts of god, a positive outcome is seen as proof of God's assistance, and a negative outcome is proof of God's inaction, or of God's inscrutable mysterious ways.
I voted for 'none of the above '
As a quaker, I go to meeting for worship
which is more about listening to the still small voice of G'd' within,
I also assume that there is no need to tell G'd' because s/he'll know
I rather like/need to listen to G'd's indications, feel/sense the presence of G'd'
which is refreshing n soothing for me
Sometimes I 'hold someone in the light' who is feeling miserable/ill
British Links- http://www.quakerweek.org.uk/
- http://www.quaker.org.uk/
- http://www.quakerweb.org.uk/qfp/
- finding Friends / quakers worldwide:
http://www.fwccworld.org/[/url]
non-q-informatiom on quakers
[*]http://www.religioustolerance.org/quaker.htm
"A Friend's meeting, however silent, is at the very lowest a witness that worship is something other and deeper than words, and that it is to the unseen and eternal things that we desire to give the first place in our lives. And when the meeting...is awake and looking upwards, there is much more in it than this. In the united stillness of a truly 'gathered' meeting, there is a power known only by experience, and mysterious even when most familiar." Caroline Stephen, (1908).
Btw, James Dean was raised in a quaker family.