Quite a storm went across my state yesterday, with high winds and flood warnings. An hour west of me, a EF2 tornado touched down in the town I grew up in. My parents were across the street at a restaurant and hid in a bathroom as the car wash business across the street was ripped to shreds. Someone died. Several houses were wrecked. As I was looking through pictures on-line I ran across a picture with three houses in it. Two had clearly been wrecked by the tornado, while the one in the middle was not visibly damaged from that angle. In their front yard stood a sign that said "Thank You Jesus." (above is the exact image I am referring to) Of course, the Christians in the comments section took this as a sign. Literally. Look at that. It's a miracle. That house wasn't harmed because they had that sign out in the front yard. So let me get this straight...God spared this house from a natural disaster because they put a sign in their front yard thanking Jesus? Of course, the other two houses could have had the same sign and those signs were sucked up by the tornado that descended on them. But let's say that they are the only people proclaiming their religion, doesn't the Bible and Jesus state directly that you should not be proclaiming his name loudly on the streets? Aren't you supposed to do so quietly, living your life as an example of love? And what about your neighbors? Does God just not love them as much. I'm sure the people in all three of those homes were probably praying? (I live in the Bible belt. Most people are Christian and most people pray) Would God really allow someone's home to be destroyed because you didn't put a sign in your front yard? Now, the God of the Old Testament would have destroyed everyone's homes. He wouldn't have spared anyone. Whenever the Israelites got out of hand, God punished all of them. Surely, there were some people who weren't all complaining or stealing manna or whatever, but God didn't care. God of the Old Testament also doesn't seem to care about people having homes. After all he destroyed the earth with a flood at one point, kicked Adam & Eve out of their home, exiled his chosen people several times, and most of his people lived in tents for hundreds of years. It must be assumed that at one point, someone's tent blew away in a sandstorm and I don't think God gave a shit. But what about the New Testament? Does Jesus care where people live? Well, he was homeless and told people to give up everything they had to follow him. This included homes and families, so I would say no. Paul would have asked people to open their homes to others if they had it, to be available for communal living. This story gets more interesting though, because the most extensive damage to occur happened to a church. Now, they were openly telling people about who they believed in and loved and God didn't spare them. So with this logic, God only spares people who put signs in their front yards, but no other kinds of declarations of faith. Of course, I mention this sign issue to my mother, mostly to gauge what crazy Christians think of this and her response was "miracles do happen". But why? Why would God, who clearly doesn't care about people having houses, spare someone's house because of signage? You know the answer. "God works in mysterious ways. Maybe God has a plan for those people. We may never know." Oh I can tell you...we will *never* know. I have always hated the, this-makes-no-logical-sense-therefore-it-is-mysterious crowd. To me, the answer is simple. If there is a god, he doesn't give a shit about your house, whether it has a sign out front or not. Natural disasters destroy things. That house probably did have damage, it just wasn't obvious from the angle that the picture was taken. It may have been minimal but things like pressure, the materials that the house was made out of, the age & repair of the house, how the other houses protected it, all come into play. Most likely they have insurance on the home and the damage will be repaired within the next year. The houses next door may either be repaired or take the money from insurance as a loss and buy a new house. This may make some people think about their mortality or whatever, but since no one was seriously injured, it will probably get boiled down to an interesting story to tell their kids and grand kids. The butterfly effect from this event may alter someone's life, but it is more likely that it is just a blip on life's road that is full of beautiful and shitty things. This kind of thinking from the faithful is not good thing. It suggests that some people are better or more deserving of God's grace, even though scriptures tell us that God's grace is for everyone. It suggests that outward signs of faith will somehow cover you, like lamb's blood on your door, protecting you from harm, which is downright superstitious. (something else Christians are told to avoid) It also suggests that when a "miracle" happens, the cost doesn't matter because God spared one of his faithful. There's no way you can't get a bit egotistical if you believe you are the one God spared for a "reason". And although my mom wants to believe in miracles, someone died in this tornado and one house being spared will never replace that life. If what my mother believes is true, then it makes it seem like this god is more concerned about outward confessions of faith then human life.
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AuthorThis is a personal, but secret, blog archiving my deconversion from a Christian to a non-believer. Archives
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