Lively: Praise God for Strip Club Explosion
Last week a massive explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts leveled a strip club and injured 18 people, most of them firefighters, police officers and gas company workers. Unhinged lunatic and arch-bigot Scott Lively wants you to know that he is responsible for it because he prayed to God for this to happen:
For about two years I have been including imprecatory prayers in our church services and Bible studies at Holy Grounds Coffee House. Imprecatory prayers are Old Testament prayers for the defeat and destruction of the enemies of God and his people. A New Testament variation on these prayers is to ask God to save the people but destroy the institutions. Our prayers, part of our seven year campaign to re-Christianize the City of Springfield, have included an appeal to God to destroy the works of Satan in this city. We have specifically included the strip clubs in these prayers.
Yesterday the three story Scores strip club on Worthington Street was completely obliterated in a gas explosion, right down to the ground…
I believe this was the hand of God at work in answer to our prayers. We are giving Him all the glory and praise for this occurrence, since it is only by His power that any of our prayers can have any effect. We also thank God that no one was seriously injured in this blast, though it was enormous.
Again I’m left wondering why God’s aim is so bad. 15 of the 18 people injured had nothing at all to do with the strip club, they were public servants responding to the blast. In fact, there is nothing to indicate that anyone actually involved in the strip club was injured. Why does God’s judgment and wrath always hit people who weren’t involved in the target of his wrath? I know he’s infinitely old and probably has bad eyesight by now, but this is ridiculous.
And Scott Lively is an appalling human being for cheering on such destruction. It’s not a coincidence that he believes in a God who is as barbaric as he is.
jnorris:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:43 am
Good news, bad news: Good news, we now know how long the wait list is for God’s answering our prayers – 2 years. thank you S Lively for the input.
Bad news, there is a 2 year wait list for God’s attention. Omnipotence ain’t what it used to be.
Zinc Avenger (Sarcasm Tags 3.0 Compliant):
November 29th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Feel the Christian love.
Chiroptera:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:55 am
15 of the 18 people injured had nothing at all to do with the strip club….
Maybe they were gay Ugandans?
Mr Ed:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:56 am
I’m a little unsure how to view God’s intent. Was he trying to wipe the strip club from the face of the Earth or seeing as no one from the club was hurt giving them a chance to start fresh. “…and the Lord reached out with his loving hand and gave us insurance money to build anew and a boat load of free advertisement.”
mommiest:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:57 am
Can the strip club sue? What about the people who were injured?
Gretchen:
November 29th, 2012 at 9:57 am
Scott Lively might want to have a talk with Springfield’s mayor and (I think) deputy mayor, whom I read in the paper thanking and praising God that no one was killed. Sent to the hospital with grievous injuries, maybe, but not killed.
Apparently God struck the strip club, but not as hard as he could’ve. And the people who were injured were primarily fire fighters, police officers, and other city workers and not patrons, so apparently God’s aim is crappy. And apparently….oh, fuck it. Interpreting events like this as manifestations of divine will makes no sense at all.
dmcclean:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:07 am
Post hoc ergo what now?
This guy is bonkers.
reverendrodney:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:09 am
God’s aim is crappy? Hoo boy, it’s worse than that. Consider all the tornadoes that rip through the bible belt.
TGAP Dad:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:15 am
When the strip club is rebuilt from the insurance settlement, will that be JHVH’s work as well?
Is that the only they prayed for? What about the other prayers?
Did this happen because JHVH’s aim was so bad with Sandy?
composer99:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:15 am
From Mr Ed’s comment:
I can see it now:
Scores! Overcoming God’s wrath since 2012.
Bronze Dog:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:16 am
So, can Lively be arrested for terrorism, or his god? Or do we charge both with conspiracy?
blf:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:18 am
The Great Sky Faeries’s temporal and spacial aim is lousy. The explosion had nothing to do with the strip club, Springfield, or even the planet Earth. It was intended to be a delivery of flying poisonous toads to the bar at an intergalactic space station — between Andromeda and The Milky Way (so at least the neighborhood is correct (to within about a million light-years or so…)) — that will serve one of the Great Sky Faeries a short measure next century.
Artor:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:27 am
Umm…Mr Lively? Aren’t imprecatory prayers pretty much the same thing as black magic? What is it your faith says about witches?
MikeMa:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:29 am
Lively and his god sure are evil bastards.
I’d like to see a courtroom drama like Spencer Tracy had in Inherit the Wind.
Lively on the stand:
Darrow: Do you believe in god’s power?
Lively: Yes!
Darrow: Do you believe in the power of prayer?
Lively: Yes!
Darrow: Do you believe god answers imprecatory prayer?
Lively: Yes, of course!
Darrow: Do you believe god answered your prayer to destroy the Scores club?
Lively: Uh, yes?
Darrow: The prosecution rests.
greg1466:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:35 am
I would absolutely love to see Lively sued by the club, the injured people and the city. It would force him into either admitting culpability or that prayer doesn’t work.
richardelguru:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:47 am
As usual the Lord Gord shouts “Fuck missed!!” and then goes off to console himself with a copy of PlayCelestialBeing in the Holy Lav.
busterggi:
November 29th, 2012 at 10:53 am
Thank the Lord that now strippers will be available in more than that one club – Jesus, its now easier to see boobies in more places.
Modusoperandi:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:16 pm
“Cover charge and a two drink minimum?!” ~ God
garnetstar:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:51 pm
The explosion destroyed a lot of other buildings, too, God just doesn’t give a damn. “Kill them all, God will know his own.”
And, Lively’s thinking of running for governor. How much this will help him in his quest to turn Massachusetts into Uganda!
scottm:
November 29th, 2012 at 12:52 pm
I think he was aiming at the Holy Grounds cafe and missed.
Sastra:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:05 pm
Well, there’s your answer right there. If God levels some strip clubs, thou shalt not assist. Coming in to help out is obviously abominable to God. The public servants should have stood aside and righteously refused to enter. Serve God before the world.
And the other buildings in the area? They were in the area — when their owners should have loudly proclaimed that they would NOT locate themselves near a DEN of INIQUITY. Serves them right.
lofgren:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:30 pm
God punishes several random people in the vicinity of sin rather than (or in addition to) the sinners themselves in order to discourage his followers from tolerating the presence of that sin.
Ben P:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:47 pm
Ben P:
November 29th, 2012 at 1:56 pm
I’d go a completely different direction with. Make the guy deny he had anything to do with it under oath.
Depending on a some different factors there’s at least a chance this explosion turns into a lawsuit where the owners try to get their money from an insurance company, the insurance company tries to get money from the people they think are responsible, injured parties want compensation etc.
If I’m a clever insurance company lawyer (and as it so happens I am in fact an insurance company lawyer) I name Scott Lively as a defendant just for fun. if I’m already suing 10 or 15 people, the marginal cost is minimal.
Hell, I think a statement in the media taking credit for the explosion is a good faith basis for a lawsuit, I ought to avoid sanctions. Then he has to a hire a lawyer and officially deny he has anything to do with this. Maybe you lose a motion to dismiss, but whatever. If you can, Get him in a deposition, under oath, to deny he doesn’t actually believe prayers have any effect.
billdaniels:
November 29th, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Imprecatory prayer really works. I prayed for the Titanic to sink in order to get acting work for Leonardo DiCaprio and we all know how that turned out.
abear:
November 29th, 2012 at 2:23 pm
Sounds like terrorism. Lively and crew identified the target and convinced the mastermind of their terror organization ,Jawveh, to
carry out the deed. Throw Lively and friends into the pen, throw away the key, and hunt down others that may be raising funds for or otherwise supporting notorious terrorist and long time crimes against mankind Jawveh and his Christian Church cohorts.
America needs to get serious about The War on Terror!
MikeMa:
November 29th, 2012 at 4:09 pm
@BenP,
Your scenario might be more effective long term by shutting Lively up but wont have the artistic flare Tracy was able to deliver. Shutting people up rarely makes a good Hollywood moment.
Nibi:
November 29th, 2012 at 8:02 pm
reverendrodney
Perhaps his aim is improving. A couple of years ago he accidently smote Touchdown Jesus in an apparent attack on the strip club across the road.
bradleybetts:
November 30th, 2012 at 6:51 am
WHAT!? “I prayed to Gawd to blow up the place, and He did and 18 people got injured”… and then he brags about it?! What… an… arsehole.
Ben P:
November 30th, 2012 at 8:59 am
but then you can torment him by asking him if he thinks he’s denied christ on his lawyer’s advice.
And real law very rarely has any Hollywood moments anyway. I’ve seen exactly one in a couple years and that was only because we’d discovered a good piece of evidence among the thousands of pages of stuff we’d already disclosed. The other side did their opening and it was apparent they hadn’t seen this particular document and got sandbagged when shown, in their own words, something that contradicted what they had just told the jury.