Infinity Lover

Like the little people secretly removing the italics UBB code from your post?

The Naked Mage

Oh, they serve the noble purpose of supplying Hell with firewood, obviously - truly one of the most distinguished purposes out there.

Unless, of course, God doesn't say anything negative about child molestation and murder (which, I've noticed, he doesn't).

thebeave

Quite true. However, if you boil a kyd goat in its mother's milk, he is going to have some pretty stern words for you!

Ronin

Even the seasons form a great circle in their changing ~ and always come back again to where they were.

PS ~ I missed you too, Marcel.

Ab_Normal

On a related note... my mother-in-law was involved in an automobile accident (t-boned somebody who ran a red light in front of her) and my husband reports she's full of praise for God for providing the nice people who helped her out. Sigh.

thebeave

Amie,
You asked why did my scenario seem like childlike thinking. Consider that, in my example, the man is being "saved" by the wires so that he could save a young girl in five years. When you presume that two random strangers (one of who maybe isn't even born yet) are going to meet at the exactly correct point in space and time five years from now, that implies that the future is predetermined. That means you, I and everyone living creature has no free will. Is that what you believe? In other parts of this thread, you seem to imply that God is not always fully in control, and that we, humans, have to do our part (by buckling our seat belts, etc), implying that we have free will and are, to some degree, in charge of our own destiny. It seems to me that you want both ways to be true.

Also, I can think of many examples where there is a really bad outcome, rather than the heartwarming example I made up about the girl being saved. How about all the close calls where the 9/11 hijackers and their plans narrowly missed being discovered and 3000 innocent people died as a result? Was there a reason behind that? Part of a big picture, perhaps?
It works both ways, you know... good and bad.

Based on what I've just said, this notion about there being a reason for everything just seems very childlike. It reeks of unfounded fantasy, wishful thinking, trendy, feel-good soundbites and not very well thought out for logical fallacies. Much like the way a young child views the world.

atheist_in_foxhole

Rousseau_CHN

crap...give credit to where credit is due...damn it, thank the wire.

Stephen Maturin

:notworthy :notworthy

Stephen Maturin

*Sigh* is right! Sometimes this accident-related praising of God is just silly. Other times it's downright offensive. There was a horrendous MVA in my neck of the woods a few years back. An uninsured drunk, driving on a suspended license, went left of center and collided head on with another car occupied by a married couple and their three young children. The husband, wife and one of the kids died at the scene. A second child died at the hospital a few hours later. The kid who survived is maimed for life.

The drunk driver, who survived with relatively minor injuries, praised Jesus for saving him and opined that "God must have a plan for my life." :banghead:

Of course, an entire family had to get slaughtered to put "God's plan" into effect, but so what? The Lord moves in mysterious ways. :banghead: