One thing that has long baffled me about many Christians is how they give God all the praise for everything good and none of the criticism for bad things. Indeed, even when horrible tragedy strikes, it’s all “God’s will” — and they’re fine with that.
Here’s a good example. A 3 year old child died after being left in a day care van in 105 degree heat in Dallas and here’s the reaction from the grandmother:
One of Price’s grandmothers said she knows the woman who owns the day care. She said Friday night that although she had burning questions, she was choosing to forgive the employees.
“Well, I can’t hold her responsible because God has got this thing in control. It’s God’s will, God’s will,” said Louria Washington. “The time that he gave us, the three years he gave us Benjamin, we just appreciate and thank God just for the three years.”
I bet that won’t stop the family from suing the daycare center.
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philipelliott
July 25, 2012 at 10:39 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
That’s a despicable god you got there, lady.
Zeno
July 25, 2012 at 10:40 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I keep waiting for a survivor of a tragedy like the Aurora shootings to say, “I just give God thanks and praise for sparing my life and letting the bullets hit the girl sitting next to me!” But they never do. I guess it takes a lot of myopia to appreciate God properly.
Strewth
July 25, 2012 at 10:43 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I often wonder how much of this is a result of media types wanting a feel-good, entertaining story, and simply not reporting the sensible people who just say “It could just have easily been me who got shot. I got lucky, that’s it.”
jameshanley
July 25, 2012 at 10:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“Dear Baby Killing God, thank you for the three precious years you gave us before you oven-roasted our beloved child. Thank you for showing us that you will was to have our baby dehydrate and overheat to the point where his organs shut down, causing intense agony that our child was too young to understand. Dear loving God, we praise you with all our hearts for your justice and wisdom in cooking our beloved baby.
Dear Baby Broiling God, please spare us, your humble and devoted servants, any more of your justice and wisdom. Amen.”
Raging Bee
July 25, 2012 at 10:44 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Well, you can’t become God, but you can have a kid and abuse him/her both physically and emotionally, every day, in every way possible, for as long as he/she is in your custody. It’s the next best thing, and let’s face it, it also happens to be what the entire God concept is modelled on anyway.
grumpyoldfart
July 25, 2012 at 10:46 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
It’s their way of avoiding responsibility for their actions. They make a decision (usually they pretend god told them to do it) and if it all goes well, they must give the glory to god. But if they make a bad decision and it all goes horribly wrong, they don’t have to take any responsibility. The bad result has nothing to do with their inept decision because it was never their decision in the first place – God has other plans for me, they say. Or it will all turn out for the best; it is all part of god’s master plan – but most importantly of all: I isn’t their fault.
jameshanley
July 25, 2012 at 10:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Actually, it’s just a way of coping with tragedy, trying to find some meaning in a meaningless situation, because it helps them to cope with the emotional devastation. It’s dreadfully false meaning, of course, but I’d be hard-pressed to be cruel enough to point it out to them in the moment.
anteprepro
July 25, 2012 at 10:57 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Cultists worshiping an evil god and calling its evil deeds “working in mysterious ways”. Just another day in Christendom.
nigelTheBold, Venomous Demonic Hater
July 25, 2012 at 11:02 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
jameshanley:
It’s also a way to postpone or avoid grieving, and to avoid assigning appropriate blame. There are downsides as well.
But yeah. I’m not going to try to convince someone they are wrong while they are at their most vulnerable. And not just because I’m not stooping to the level of your standard-issue Christian (who can’t wait to tell you all about God and the redemption offered by Jesus during any emotional crisis, it seems).
We can use it as an example for others, though.
Bronze Dog
July 25, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’m reminded of a scene in South Park that went something like this.
“You don’t make a child cry by giving him nothing. You make him cry by giving them a toy, and then taking it away. That’s why god gives us people we care about and then takes them away. That’s what he feeds on: Our tears. God needs our tears.”
usingreason
July 25, 2012 at 11:08 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I just threw up in my mouth a bit while reading that. Please please please please please please please please please please pull your collective heads out your asses and open your eyes.
MarkNS
July 25, 2012 at 11:12 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I’ve long wanted to start a chain of shitty restaurants called BGI Mondays, Blame God It’s Mondays. That fucker has gotten all the credit and none of the blame for far too long.
Michael Heath
July 25, 2012 at 11:45 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
There is a biblical passage from the OT which commands believers to thank God for everything.
There was a story going around when the war drums started beating to invade Iraq soon after 9/11. It was seemingly apocryphal, that Saddam Hussein had a swimming pool filled with acid. He would sometimes sit and see his [male] enemies slowly dipped feet-first in the acid while their families looked-on in horror. The man being dipped saw his wife being anally raped by one of Hussein’s men and sometimes some or all of his children as well; before the man died he’d watch his wife and children hacked to death.
When I received an obligatory email from someone with a clip of some Christian praising God for sparing their home in a tornado. I asked the obvious question, shouldn’t the victims also praise God for destroying their home? I then pointed to the Hussein story and asked if it was morally wrong for Hussein’s victims, if they were Christians or Jews, to fail to praise God if Hussein did this to them or their loved ones? I did this twice, I never got a response.
theschwa
July 25, 2012 at 11:49 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
“I don’t watch football anymore, I gave that up. I got tired of the interviews after the games, because the winning players always give credit to God, and the losers blame themselves. You know, just once I’d like to hear a player say, ‘Yeah, we were in the game, until Jesus made me fumble. He hates our team.’”
-Jeff Stilson
heddle
July 25, 2012 at 12:38 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
grumpyoldfart.
Really? Damn, I didn’t get that memo as a Christian. Every bad decision I have made, and there have been plenty, I have always blamed myself and, when appropriate, taken responsibility.
Sastra
July 25, 2012 at 1:41 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
jameshanley #7 wrote:
I agree. The reasonable secular analog to seeing a tragic event as part of a loving plan is to think that, even though the event wasn’t meant for an ultimate benefit, you can and should look for some sort of silver lining, some way it might have been worse and wasn’t, some good that can still be brought out of evil. Bring back equilibrium, for your own peace of mind and to move forward.
But when you see this softening process as a cosmic truth rather than a human need, you can get these bizarre and emotionally unhealthy stories from an abusive relationship: “He only hits us because He loves us. We must try to be grateful.” God gave us lemons because lemonade is so good. In the Big Picture, people are simply tools to be used for its manufacture. It’s not just okay — it’s better than okay.
Religious and spiritual people then can have a tendency to think that nonbelievers can’t find a way to mitigate damage (emotional or practical) because we can’t see the problem as having been set out for our own ultimate good. But that’s not true, of course. In fact, I would think it is easier to cope with tragedies if you don’t have to simultaneously think of ways to twist yourself into knots coming up with a satisfactory story about how it’s actually better that the horrible thing happened, than if it didn’t.
Feeling obligated to do that sounds to me like a tragedy in itself.
TxSkeptic
July 25, 2012 at 2:22 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Sounds like the behavior of our big corporations that always want to “privatize the gains and socialize the losses”
Modusoperandi
July 25, 2012 at 4:12 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
MarkNS “I’ve long wanted to start a chain of shitty restaurants called BGI Mondays, Blame God It’s Mondays”
“Where every hour is Happy Hour. Because Monday, that’s why.”
heddle “Really? Damn, I didn’t get that memo as a Christian. Every bad decision I have made, and there have been plenty, I have always blamed myself and, when appropriate, taken responsibility.”
Heddle’s right. It’s all his fault. Get him!
Ichthyic
July 25, 2012 at 5:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Really? Damn, I didn’t get that memo as a Christian. Every bad decision I have made, and there have been plenty, I have always blamed myself and, when appropriate, taken responsibility.
so of course, by Heddle’s continued projection of himself onto all other christians, it simply doesn’t happen.
you’re very sad and insular, Heddle.
never forget that.
Abby Normal
July 25, 2012 at 5:02 pm (UTC -4) Link to this comment
Scene, exterior daytime. A reporter interviews a senior woman against a background of earthquake devastation.
Reporter: M’am, what are your thoughts on today’s tragedy.
Old Lady: I’m just glad the Lord was watching out for me. He protected me and kept me safe. Praise God.
Reporter: But your home was destroyed. You lost you husband, 3 children and 5 grandchildren.
Old Lady: Yes, Jesus called them home to be by his side. They’re in a better place now. Hallelujah!
Cut to exterior, daytime, Heaven. Jesus speaks to his father.
Jesus: You’re a fucking genius.
thisisaturingtest
July 26, 2012 at 11:03 am (UTC -4) Link to this comment
I don’t understand why some people think they can’t just feel for people who are victims of bad things (or rejoice for those who survive them) without reaching for “god” to justify the bad thing. I mean, look- real world, there is contingency, right? A happened because B happened first, and so forth (or back, actually). The only need for “god” in this is to replace contingency- to deny it.
Actually- that is why, isn’t it?