DID GOD WHACK NEW ORLEANS? A THEOLOGICAL INQUIRY
By Don FederWas Katrina a warning - the ultimate wake-up call for a morally somnolent nation? Even religious conservatives are afraid to speculate, so successfully have we been cowed by a culture of disbelief.
Regarding the way God works in the world, there are four possibilities:
- There is no God and everything that happens is the result of the random collision of molecules.
- There is a God, but he's an absentee landlord. He arranged the world, including nature, as a self-regulating mechanism, then sat back and allowed it to function on its own.
- There is a God and he controls everything, down to the minutest detail. If a certain leaf falls from a particular tree, it's because he wants that leaf to fall from that tree. (Regarding the actions of humans, this would seem to negate the concept of free will.)
- There is a God who usually allows nature, or individuals, to follow their own course or path. But sometimes he intervenes to create a specific outcome, or to fire a warning shot across the bow of an errant people. When this happens, we call the result a miracle (thereby recognizing that it is supernatural) - as when He parted the Red Sea for the Children of Israel, or when the American Revolution succeeded, against impossible odds.
Of these theories, the fourth seems the most plausible.
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Heh, I actually agree with him, but he doesn't offer any actual sensible reasoning. What a strange bloke.
Posted by: Roy W. Wright on September 17, 2005 04:00 PMApparently, a real good way to get people to believe in God is to create an incredible sense of self-loathing along with negative reinforcement, like abusing a child.
"You were bad, and you were punished! If you were good like me, nothing bad would happen to you."
Of course, I'm sure none of the people affected by the hurricane were God-fearing Christian church-goers... They were all Girls Gone Wild!
I wonder -- If it would have hit his house, would he be saying the same? or would he backpedal to the other religious catchphrase - "Everything happens for a reason, only God knows..." (I hate that one most.)
I am also pleased to hear of Mr. Feder's high comprehension of quantum physics. And probability. If he decides to give up journalistic evangelism he should teach school!
God made the American Revolution? Will he lead the upcoming Iraqi Revolution? And which deity are we talking about, my God or their god? Will the baby Jesus come too, armed to the teeth?
Oh well, at least the moral high ground is keeping his house dry...