After multiple tornados ripped through Oklahoma and other states over the weekend, one of the survivors Paul Lord predictably said, “We are truly blessed. God saved us, and that’s what it’s about.”
No, its not. What it’s about is that god did not save five other people, three of them children.
They include Frank Hobbie, who died along with two girls — presumed to be his 5- and 7-year-old daughters — according to state medical examiner’s spokesman Amy Elliot.
…
Elliot identified one of the other dead as Derrin Juul. A 10-year-old girl who was found with him is thought to be Juul’s daughter. Hill had said that two people died when the car they were in rolled over several times.
What is the matter with people like Lord? Why can’t they simply acknowledge their good luck at surviving a disaster without implying that it was because god was looking out just for them? Even if they truly believe that, don’t they realize how hurtful this must be to those who lost their loved ones, that god could not be bothered with them or, even worse, wanted them to die?
These people who ignore the deaths of others and praise god because he seems to care only for them make me sick. When you are the beneficiary of good luck for whatever reason, you should be considerate about the feelings of those not so fortunate.
If god was really doing his job, those tornadoes would not have even happened or hit some place where no one lives.
ITA with you, Mano. That “we were blessed!” reaction to surviving disasters has been a source of aggravation to me for years. 🙁 UGH!
Apparently this god is very interested in my sins. I may not be perfect but murdering children isn’t on my resume. Why does it never occur to these people what a total shit this god of theirs is?
It’s a tough decision which is worse in the self-centeredness department, this or “God gave us a sick/disabled child to test us.”
The religious are selfish egotistic assholes. Every disaster is an opportunity for them to show their piety.
And trying to point out their insensitivity will just provoke feelings of outrage in them. I got that response when my mother in law talked about how the U.S. was such a better country in the ’50s. I added, “unless you were black or gay.” She got all huffy and said something like, “well, I didn’t see any of that, so there!” I decided to drop it, just to keep an argument from starting up.
I initially read this as “What is the matter with people like the Lord?”, i.e. what is the matter with Jeebus that he’d save some people and not others. heh…
Christianity is a deeply narcissistic religion. It starts with thinking that the creator of the universe has some special plan for you and cares about what you do and manifests itself in statements like this.
Are journalists required to seek out someone silly enough to speak of a miracle in every disaster? There was an old lady who had a mentally handicapped son. It was reported that she worried about who would care for her son when she died. After she missed church one Sunday, people went to check on her. She had been dead for a few days and her son died of dehydration. The church ladies decided it was a blessing that the Lord took them both. Geez, it was a worst case scenario of the woman’s fears.
Or as Mark Twain put it: “He thinks the Creator sits up nights to admire him.”
It’s important to keep the god botherers on your side after a disaster. Even with their massive overheads, they often get to distribute aid. While I haven’t heard of them refusing to help based on lack of piety, I have heard of them doing more help for the overtly pious.
The tornadoes always seem to hit the middle of the Bible belt. Isn’t it Pat Robertson who said that it was so because the residents were not praying enough?
“What it’s about is that god did not save five other people”
Some 20 years ago I read a book from a Hungarian Holocaust survivor -- a jew who had converted to christianity. It made me sick. He mixed detailed accounts of nazi cruelties (concentration camp, death march) with saying thanks to his lord for sparing him. This testimony is so heartless it’s beyond my imagination.
Until today I’m too sick to wonder if it’s egotistic or narcissistic or whatever.
We can’t win with these people. If you pointed this out (that God failed to protect others) they’ll just say that He had a plan for them and it was their time according to some divine bullshit algorithm. As for the children, they’ll just say, “I guess Heaven was short a few angels, so God called them home.”
Nitwits, all of them.
Where I live, in Moengo Suriname, I have heard such stories, albeit not after a disaster. American missionaries at their medical posts only help regular church visitors. The other can travel 15 miles.
blockquote cite=””> The church ladies decided it was a blessing that the Lord took them both.
Well, of course it was a blessing: for the church ladies, who would otherwise have been saddled with seeing that the son was cared for.
God is so good!
/snark
Blockquote fail. Sorry.
and not donating enough
John Bunyan, the writer of Pilgrim’s Progress, was a soldier during the English Civil War (1642–1651). One day he was supposed to have sentry duty. His captain sent him on a minor errand and someone else stood his sentry watch. This substitute was killed during a raid on Bunyan’s camp. In his autobiography Bunyan spends a page and a half explaining how this was proof that god had a purpose for him and saved his life. All through this bit of self-congratulation there’s not a word about the guy who got killed. God must not have had a purpose for him.
Agreed. Narcissistic and highly individualistic. Lots of people burning in hell but as long as I’m saved, it’s all good.
At least Buddhism has the concept of the Bodhisattva (wikipedia: “one who aspires to delay buddhahood until all other sentient beings achieve buddhahood.”). I’ve never come across a similar notion in Christian writings.
I hate this kind of stuff too.
Another example is Aron Ralston, the careless climber/hiker who had to cut off his own forearm. He and others refer to his survival as a ‘miracle’ and a ‘blessing’.
http://www.cmu.edu/piper/piper/2011/june/ralston.html (“may all your boulders be blessings”)
http://www.centredaily.com/2012/04/06/3153678/hiker-recounts-harrowing-experience.html (“the greatest blessing of his life”)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXd1aJkbC1s (“The Miracle of My Survival”)
http://inspirationmanifestation.com/1664/living-on-a-prayer/ (“It was God that spoke to me and gave me the opportunity” [to cut off his arm])
http://pessimistincarnate.blogspot.com/2010/12/aron-ralston-extraordinary-story-of.html (“For me it was to go through this and realise, well, God is love, and love is what kept me alive and that love is what got me out of there.”)
http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/transcripts/s1227885.htm (“a divine interaction. My spirituality engaging with God” … “I have this sense of purpose about what I went through, that it was a miracle.”)
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=20040412&id=zkIgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=r4QEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6188,3918985 (“told a rapt group of children he owed his survival to God”)
http://archives.umc.org/umns/news_archive2003.asp?ptid=&story=%7B5CAB4F09-66BD-46F3-8198-C25059F2DA16%7D&mid=2406 (“Aron’s story is a story of Christian hope”)
http://www.smashinglists.com/10-extremely-miraculous-survivors/ (plus 9 additional grim ‘miracle’ examples)
“What is the matter with people like ‘Lord'”
New meme award goes to Mano. Drop the “the”