INTERVENTION

CNN.com has posted the results of a new survey where 57% of adults polled said that they trust God over doctors when dealing with trauma patients. They believe that even after a doctor has declared any further treatment futile, that God would still intervene.

The article can be read here.

I dont like these results. Not at all. I have some follow up questions for the majority of people out there.

-Why would God wait till AFTER the accident to intervene and save the persons life?

-For those patients that were prayed for but died without a miracle, where they less favorable in the eyes of God?

-Why would a loving benevolent God work in a mysterious way? At one point he was talking audibly to humans. Was the bible wrong in describing God as the same yesterday, today and forever?

-And most importantly, where are these miracles that are used to build up faith in people? When they happen, everyone should be able to share in the glory that would obviously be God’s work. Why arnt limbs growing back? The answer to that question can be found here.

CONTROL

I overheard an older man on the phone with someone whom he needed to reassure just how fine everything was. From what I could tell his mother was being treated for cancer and he had just learned that the cancer had spread to other parts of her body. I think most people enjoy being in control and cancer is the #1 joy-kill in that area. We can treat the cancer and hope for remission. This requires relinquishing control of your time, diet, energy, money and trust to a team of doctors, nurses, technicians, medical assistants, nutritionists and pharmacists.

Reassurances come and go and help us to build trust with anyone we deem worthy of controlling any aspect of our life. With cancer, a surgery (large or small) leaves us with some recovery time and a scar, but it also leaves us with a feeling that we did what we could. If the cancer requires more then surgery, chemo therapy or a transplant is performed. If not for ourselves, then at the hard request of our family and friends we do all we can to treat the disease. This should seem so obvious to everyone.

Getting back to the man on the phone, his attempt to reassure whomever he was talking to was failing.  “I get through this easier knowing that God is in control. I remind myself of this every day and you should to.” Continuing with “…oh please don’t …lets not …if she passes then it is part of God’s ultimate plan and we just gotta understand that. He’s in control now.” After listening for a minute he relinquished with “No, it doesn’t seem fair and it doesn’t make sense and yes I sometimes wonder what God is waiting for, if he is going to take her then he should just take her.”

Control is easier to give up when you also give up responsibility.

GODS WARRIORS

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/cp.html

CNN.com has provided full transcripts for its award-winning documentary, “God’s Warriors.” It will be airing this weekend at 5pm pacific time.

I first saw it with a friend in Savannah Georgia and was dead tired and sun burnt so I’m excited its being aired again. It provided a lot to talk about and covered some great issues. I suggest you tune in.

THANKS BILLY GRAHAM

billy Graham has a syndicated advice column much like Dear Abby or Savage Love. The Seattle PI carries it on their website and while reading some of the columns, I came to an answer that I agreed with surprisingly enough.

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DEAR DR. GRAHAM: Our 17-year-old daughter says she doesn’t believe in God anymore, and now she even refuses to go to church with us. When we try to talk with her about it we just end up in an argument. What can we do? — Mrs. S.McD.

DEAR MRS. S.McD.: The most important thing you can do is to pray for her — because only God can overcome her spiritual resistance and draw her back to Himself. Jesus said, “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him” (John 6:44).

But you also can let her know you that love her, despite your differences — and by doing so, you’ll be showing her that God loves her also. Don’t let your discussions degenerate into arguments; this will only make her more determined to keep her position. In other words, don’t let this become a test of wills between you — your will battling against her will — because almost the last thing she wants to do right now is admit she is wrong. The Bible says, “A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger” (Proverbs 15:1).

Let me encourage you also to ask her why she has come to this conclusion. Has someone influenced her? Has she been reading one of the recent books on atheism? Atheism has become something of a fad in recent years, and this may have influenced her.

But the real reason, I suspect, is that she wants to run her own life — and that’s far easier to do if you push God out of your life. Help her realize what she’s doing, and then warn her of the dangers. Above all, urge her to look at Christ, for He alone came “to bring you to God” (1 Peter 3:18).

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I fully support christian parents praying for their children. I don’t think its the most important thing they can do but it is helpful for free thinking teenagers. With their parents trusting God through prayer to bring their kids back to Christ, the parents feel they are doing their part and in turn keeps the religious parents off the kids back.

As a parent its always important to love your child but you shouldn’t do it as a way to win them back to Christ. Love your kids without any strings attached. there should be ZERO ulterior motives for loving your child as being their parent is enough.

Discussing the childrens lack of faith is great advice as the parent might learn a thing or two, depending on how smart the kid is.

The last part of the answer is my favorite because I could have written that same answer word for word. “…she wants to run her own life — and that’s far easier to do if you push God out of your life. Help her realize what she’s doing”.

BIRTH

Livia Ionce, 44, has recently given birth to her 18th child. She immigrated from Romania to Canada with her Husband Alexandru in 1990.

“We never planned how many children to have. We just let God guide our lives, you know, because we strongly believe life comes from God and that’s the reason we did not stop the life,” said Alexandru Ionce.

I think family planning would be a BIG deal with such a large family.  If Livia has no problem with the constant creation of life and birthing babies is her absolute favorite thing in the world AND the children are growing up in a healthy environment then who is to say that 18 kids before you are 45 is a bad thing?

“We would have liked a boy to be even,” he said. “We thank God all of them are healthy and happy.”

CURRENCY

This is a clip from an episode of “30 Days” and it relates to an older post on thegoddam.com about the phrase “In God We Trust” on our paper currency.  In the clip I like how the (obvious) atheist points out the ignorance of a “Christian America”.

PUBLIC ATHEISTS

 

In the April 08 edition of BestLife, Ricky Gervais, like you don’t know how funny he is, wrote an article titled “My Argument With God”. I doubt he came up with the title as the actual article is about his experience at a young age questioning the existence of a God.

“I no longer needed a reason for my existence, just a reason to live. And imagination, free will, love, humor, fun, music, sports, beer, and pizza are ll good enough reasons for living.”

This fall, he stars in the romantic comedy Ghost Town opposite Tea Leoni.

CHRIST AND/IS CRACKERS

A student “steals” a cracker and fox news jumps to defend the catholic church.

 

P.Z. Myers writes a tad reactionary but on point reaction.

WOMEN BISHOPS

The Vatican has released a statement saying “it regrets the decision by the Church of England’s governing body to allow the ordination of women as bishops.” and “This decision will have consequences on the dialogue which had brought good fruits…”

The General Synod passed a resolution Monday night that allows women to become bishops, acting over the objections of traditionalists who argued that Jesus only wanted men in leadership positions. It is true that Jesus’s 12 apostles were only men and that the treatment of women in the bible  is appalling.

Check out this link for a list of examples.

Full article about the Vatican’s statement can be found here.

POOR TASTE

In an article on CNN.com they report that South Carolina is offering a state-issued license plate for christians.  The design will be based off of a Florida license plate design for christians that was rejected by the state.

We at the goddam don’t really have a problem with this. Its no worse than some of the bumper stickers Ive seen and Americans United for the Seperation of Church and State of brought up a lawsuit already. We do have a problem, however, with how ugly it is. That is an awful design and no state should be responsible for such horribleness.