nexusflux

I saw this quote in the St. Petersburg times that sums up the irational belief that many people of all tripes of faith hold.

A man in Egypt said after seeing the American Dead and captured on tv:

"I saw this and I thought, 'Good, President Bush knows his fancy missiles don't work,' " said Mosad Ahmad Osami, 49, the father of three children. "We will win this war because God knows we are right." "

Is it more reasonable to place your money on the side that believes it can win because they have invested in the development of "fancy missiles" or on the side that believes that they will win because "God knows we are right"

At first glance, this believer seems to put himself and his religion on the spot, However which is the most likely outcome of such a test should the God side lose..... The loss of faith in God, or some far fetched safety net rationalization to let god off the hook for another soon selectively forgotten example of his not coming through.

Nexus F.

Wyz_sub10

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Theli

Ofcourse god thinks he is right. His god exists in his own mind, and will always think he is right.

Infidelettante

GWB thinks God is on his side which goes to show that when two groups in opposition claim Gods allegiance the missles will fly be it rocks or tomahawks.

JT

Jamie_L

You know, it's funny how selective people are in "putting their faith in God."

Most believers, even ardent fundamentalists, take their children to the pediatrician when they get sick, not to the minister for praying or laying of hands.

Except, of course, for Christian Scientists. Yet, when they truely do put their faith in God first in a consistent way, most Christians think they are whacked out and crazy. My God! Praying for a child who clearly needs a lung transplant! What lunacy! Now, excuse me while I pray for God to send Johnny home alive from the warfront.



Jamie

HaysooChreesto!

Don't fret. A god not fulfilling the most obvious needs of its followers is nothing new. And the faithful who are let down but continue with their worship is also par for the course.
What's even better is that when let down by their god, most will become even more faithful.

openeyes

I wonder how many people were reassured and comforted by the fact the GW "and Laura" prayed a lot in church yesterday for all that's going wrong in Iraq. (Maybe we should know better than to try to advance on Sunday. Isn't "our" God resting? Or was it still Saturday in our time zone....?)

Would time be better spent trying to figure out how to keep the helicoptors from coming down (uncontrollably) and why there has been a number of "friendly fire" incidents? Can't people see that praying isn't making a whit of difference except to make the pray-er feel good?

braces_for_impact

I for one am continually amazed at how god's will always seems to coincide with his follower's world views.

fishbulb

Yes, well if rational people had been in charge, there wouldn't be a need to do either, would there? Someone who starts a war based on faith can't very well be expected to conduct it based on anything different.

Prayer is effectively shifting responsibility on to God. You pray, and whatever happens is now God's will. You did what you could by beseeching God to make things work out well, but you can't control the will of the almighty.

If you've just committed dozens, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of your nation's young men and women to die for a cause that is becoming less defensible each day, it seems only natural to try to put the whole affair in someone else's hands rather than face up to your mistakes yourself.

I can't think of too many armies that didn't march with God on their side. It makes it easier to justify wholly irrational actions with potentially devastating consequences. Any killing you do is done on behalf of God, and any losses you suffer are the sacrifices you must make in order to do God's will and not the result of your own belligerance.

Philosoft

Not so much an EoG topic as a GRD...