I think thanking God can also serve as an “out” for the socially timid. That is, take a quarterback who won the big game with a long bomb. Does he thank his parents for raising him right? His coach for getting his accuracy up? His front line for keeping his dick out of the dirt long enough to make the throw? The hooker whose activities the previous night left him calm and relaxed? Hey, thank God, that way you look humble and religious and don’t risk offending anyone human by thanking someone else.
I have to say, I think the people who are in disasters/accidents and are rescued by firemen/cops/paramedics then go on TV and thank God are dicks. Thank the one who ACTUALLY saved you, you asshole!
I actually meant that gay couples are unable to go through the stress and hardship of adoption as a legally married couple, emphasis on the latter, but I didn’t make that clear.
I don’t want to bog down in semantics, but I can’t believe you don’t know what I mean. Luck: The chance happening of fortunate or adverse events. Things happen by chance, some more unlikely than others. Some so incredibly unlikely that one can’t reasonably say you ever expected it to happen, because the odds are enormous that it wouldn’t happen to you. But they do. That’s what I’m talking about.
That presumes God has a reason for every last little thing. Some certainly believe he does, but I’m not necessarily arguing that. When you’re as all-knowing and all-powerful as he’s alleged to be, maybe you allow some things to happen just…because.
See, that was the assumption of motive. You’re assuming someone feels they’ve been “selected” because they believe to be “special”. And no, that is not “by definition”, because that is to assume you know why God did what he did, why he chose you over someone else. Special: Surpassing what is common or usual; exceptional. One can assume, by being “selected”, that you’re fortunate, but “special” is also a loaded term that conveniently feeds into your assertion of arrogance. Just because you interpret it that way doesn’t make it so.
It can feel fortunate (by chance), but one can attribute it to an act of God. Maybe you’re wrong and God had nothing to do with it. But maybe he did.
Again, you’re implying motive. Perhaps God allows the mechanisms for bad things to happen (meteorological forces, evil behavior), but also intercedes (on general or individual levels) sometimes too. How exactly is that bullying? There’s a concept of Free Will that means that he allows people to make mistakes that will damage themselves and others. Your previous post made it sound like you expect God to be a lifeguard. He’s not. He’s God. The degree to which he involves himself (or not) in everyday life, the large things and the small, has been rigorously debated for centuries. But nobody really knows.
Thankful: Aware and appreciative of a benefit. So you’re saying, in that situation, emerging alive when you could’ve easily been dead, you wouldn’t be thankful? Quite honestly, I don’t believe you. You don’t have to be grateful to somebody in particular to be “appreciative of benefits received” (def. Grateful).
And to do so is to essentially read the mind of God. Personally, that’s beyond my scope. Personally, I would probably use such a moment to reassess my life, not because “God wants me to” (though maybe he does, I don’t know), but because, being so near to death, it’s natural to take stock in your priorities, goals, etc. But again, maybe he didn’t “choose” me per se–maybe it’s not about me at all (not directly anyway).
For some people who believe in God–everything. For others, nothing. YMMV.
Why are you talking about “everyone”? I’m not and never have. But there are some people who live & breathe God: attend church regularly, pray daily, read the Bible and always have it in mind when they’re living everyday life, etc. And so, yeah, they are always in the mode of seeing anything good out there and attributing it to God. Then, there are people like me, who aren’t religious 24/7, but when faced with extraordinary circumstances, are likely to thank God for allowing an unexpected (and unlikely) good thing to happen. You may not associate “gladness” with “gratefulness”, but some people do.
Again…Me? Not a God Mind-Reader. I assume him to be, generally speaking, but God can sometimes be portrayed as petty, or wrathful, or holding bizarre double standards, so I certainly can’t say. I’d like to think so.
Nobody suggested it was (except you, of course, in your “object lesson” comment).
No, it’s not fire insurance. Just because I believe something, I’m not going to assert it’s THE TRUTH. So maybe I’m wrong. But my admission that I might be wrong still doesn’t interfere in doing what I feel is “right” under any given circumstances (to the best of my ability). Again, YMOV.
When Job was struck with one tragedy after another, his wife didn’t understand his reaction. She told him to just curse God already and die. He responded that she was being foolish, saying “Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”
His friends didn’t understand either. They implored him to confess whatever it was he had done to deserve his punishment, so God might let up. They didn’t understand that suffering isn’t a punishment for sin, and there’s no right thing to do to avoid it or end it.
Job’s reaction was pretty remarkable. The rest of us react, well, a little more human.
And don’t think for a second that Christians only thank God for good, and don’t blame him for suffering. I’ve known plenty of believers who have been pissed at God for the things happening around them (myself included).
Anyway, suffering in general is something that we just can’t understand in my opinion. I know the non-believers think that’s ridiculous, and I don’t blame them. It’s ridiculous to me too at times, but there are some things we have to accept as believers.
The dictionary has plenty of definitions of things that do not exist; this is one of them. Things that are extremely unlikely do happen, about as often as we expect them to. On average, one in a million shots happen every million go rounds or so. A chance event becomes a lucky event when it happens to an individual who does not understand this. Luck had nothing to do with it. It does not exist.
You have a habit of piling up the “maybes.” However, if there is a God who fucks with people “just because,” then he is not worth my spit.
I truthfully do not mean to insult you, but I cannot believe you are this thick. You are geting cause and effect mixed up. I never said anyone is asserting he was selected because he was special. I said that asserting he is selected is necessarily an assertion that he is special. The assertion of selection comes first.
I see you have popped in another dictionary definition. Goody. How many times in the past year has a plane carrying, say, 300 people crashed with one survivor? The past ten years? Twenty? I’d wager damn few. The fact is, plane crashes have a very high fatality rate. To survive one at all is “surpassing what is common or usual; exceptional.” To be the sole survivor multiplies that quite a bit. To be the sole survivor because God Almighty, The Creator of the Universe interceded on your behalf is special times, oh, I don’t know, a whole bunch. It is the height of special. It kicks special’s ass. It tells special to get the hell out of town.
Well, that’s just bold as all get out, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s not.
No, I am questioning the motive.
Fascinating. Could you sort of reel it in to the vicinity of the point?
I don’t expect God to be anything at all. I do not believe he exists. My question is about the state of mind of people who do believe he exists, and why they think he would pluck them from the maelstrom, as it were, and leave the others to perish.
Oh boy, more defining. And this is a “special” definition because it starts out as one thing and ends up another! Cool!
Believe it or not, I am not thankful for deliverance when there is no agent or agency to be thankful to. My previous post stands.
Then I must have missed your point. Why did you make the comment about good things coming from bad things, if not to justify he bad things? Just shootin’ the breeze?
Man, talk about Ways to Increase Your Word Power.
OK, I was being a smartass. I know what a figure of speech is. And guess what? Mine was a figure of speech too! Whaddya figure the odds on you rolling your eyes at me and pointing to a definition, and then missing an example of that definition in the same post? Gotta be astronomical, right? Talk about your bad luck.
Ya see, I’ve always felt that expression was a dumbass pollyannish way of dealing with folks who have suffered a tragedy. It takes more than lemons to make lemonade. And it takes more than platitudes to get over a bad time.
I care not what you believe or what you assert. I find it significant that, while being unsure whether there is a God, you choose to thank him anyway.
Why? Would you “respect and admire” someone who really believed in fairies, unicorns and such? Or would you think them crazy and deluded? Same goddamned thing.
Mississippi forbids same-sex couples from jointly adopting, as does Utah.
Colorado forbids a person from adopting his or her same-sex partner’s adopted child.
Oklahoma even has a law forbidding the government to recognize gay couples’ adoptions from out of state, which IMO is illegal.
Florida bans any LGB person from adopting.
In many other states the law is unclear.
Same-sex couples also cannot adopt in New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, or Nunavut; in Alberta, only stepchild adoption is permitted.
I do admire some people with strong religious beliefs, not because of the beliefs but because of the way they live their lives - trying to be kind, trying to help others, etc.
I also detest some other people with the same religious beliefs - because they use them as an excuse to hurt others, to exclude others, and to try to make others live the way they themselves think others should live.
I try not to be judgmental, but if I am I don’t judge by what you believe, but by what you do.
