Are you implying that I was wooshed? Because this is Curtis we’re dealing with.
In other words the answer is ‘B’. They are being punished indiscriminately for the sins of others that they have no involvement in and no control over. Some god you have there.
Because God has A Plan[sup]TM[/sup].
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Has a sense of humor.
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Would you believe ‘does a great impression of not existing, to the point where the world looks exactly like it would if there were no gods at all and things like disease and misfortune were unpredictable and bore no relation to human concepts like justice?’
What. No way. No way Qin is being serious.
He’s being serious.
I vote serious. Some people have appallingly silly beliefs. All religious people on Earth, for instance. 
And that’s just as disconcerting to me as somebody saying that a supreme being is a 1:1 certainty.
Without scientific proof of other intelligent life, it’s just a faith based belief that it must be true. Much like religion.
Granted, I give the chance of other intelligent life occurring someplace else in the universe at some time during the lifespan of the universe much better odds than a supreme being, without scientific proof of either, they are just as zeroed out as the other in my mind.
That’s still not quite right.
I do not believe at all in a supreme being. But given that, I still cringe when I hear people say there MUST be other intelligent life. Sorry, without proof, that’s just faith talking.
I think thanking God for anything good that comes out of bad is almost a meme. People don’t really think it through; if they really, really thought about it, I don’t see how they could think God is anything but a capricious bully, at best. “God was with us the whole time, and He brought us out of the mine.” Great. So, God loves you and not the thousands of other miners who die in accidents like this all the time?
This meme is insidious and won’t go away any time soon. Just tonight, I watched a story of a woman whose son was kidnapped and murdered. For the first 2 weeks of his disappearance, she said she prayed that he would come back. Then, after a while, she started praying that God would give her a body to bury.
I think it comes down to an argument from the “Law” of Very Large Numbers, which states that given a large number of opportunities for something to happen (practically an infinite number, in our universe), even the most unlikely things occur. I think that’s the idea behind the Drake Equation, for example.
I hope that if someone asks you if your father is an alien you’ll respond “There’s no way I can know for certain. I don’t know.” I hope that when someone asks you if you believe in the Tooth Fairy you’ll respond “There’s no way I can know for certain. I don’t know.” And I hope that if someone asks if you’ve committed murder in the past you’ll respond “There’s no way I can know for certain. I don’t know.”
You would respond in the negative with certainty for all those questions and yet when it comes to God you feel the need to pussyfoot and spare the theists hurt feelings. God doesn’t exist. I say that with as close to absolute certainty as you can say that anything doesn’t exist- including Jason Vorhees, Santa Clause and the Tooth Fairy.
Of course the implications of the two ideas are just a bit different. 
I agree we can’t know for sure if there is other intelligent life in the universe. If it’s true that there are limits on the number of possible configurations of the elements and such, it could be highly likely. On the other hand I think it’s very unlikely that there is other intelligent life in our observable universe that exists within humanity’s time frame.
I completely misinterpreted Duke. Brain fart. Please disregard my last post.
I am being serious. For that matter this is what many millions of people think including some of the greatest minds in History.
And then you try to separate yourself from those loony fundamentalists. Classic.
If millions of the greatest minds in history thought fucking a chicken was a good thing, that wouldn’t make it so.
Religious thinking is inherently silly. But it fills an emotional need. Even great thinkers are afraid of death or yearn for meaning.
Because it was god who saved them.
Of course it was god that trapped them underground too. God likes to put spin on the ball.
Please provide a cite for this claim.
Perhaps by the time we reach number 20,000,000, you’ll finally figure out why this line of argument isn’t as clever as you think it is.
Suppose my neighbor gives me a loaf of banana bread on Tuesday. Should I immediately blame her for the fact that I didn’t receive of loaf of banana bread on Monday. If not, then it seems you understand the notion that when we receive a gift, getting mad about not receiving more gifts earlier is not a good wya to respond.
Please either provide cites to prove that your characterization of theists in this question is accurate or else admit that the question is invalid.
Maybe it’s just because he’s an incompetent who couldn’t finish the job the first time.
“Thanks you God” (for being such a fuckup you couldn’t kill 33 guys a mile underground despite your omnipotence).
-Joe
There ain’t no Devil, there’s only God when he’s drunk.
Suppose your neighbor locks you in his cellar and leaves you there alone for two weeks, then comes back to provide you with food and medicine and promises to let you out, but it’ll take a few more months to do so. Finally, after all this time in this rather uncomfortable situation, he releases you. Would you thank and praise him?