Lawyer-Wearing-Yarmulka
Sunday, January 08, 2006
What Was God Thinking?
Pat Robertson says that God gave Sharon a stroke as punishment for the Gaza disengagement. But stupidity crosses all religions; my sister comes home from school and says that a couple of girls in her class were making the same claim.
This all begs the question. Why do people only see God's hand when there is "action": a flood, a hurricane, a stroke, a disease. Why do we claim that something proves God's anger, dissatisfaction or approval only when there is an event that our feeble brains can create a connection?
God sent Katrina to punish the heathens of New Orleans. God sent AIDS to punish homosexuals and drug users. There are millions of examples. But they are all stupid. Of course no one knows why God does something.
People just like to conform events to their own word view. Robertson believes that Sharon angered God by withdrawing from Gaza, so in his brain, the stroke was divine punishment.
But why don't people see God's hand when there is no "action". Why don't they see the absence of an event as God's approval? God must have approved of the Gaza withdrawal because he allowed to happen. God must have approved of Joseph Stalin- he lived until 73 and murdered millions of people by then.
The bottom line is that we simply don't know, and we shouldn't be wasting our time trying to figure out why. For every reason, there's a perfectly valid opposite reason.
Or as I heard over the weekend: Maybe Sharon was supposed to die years ago, but God extended his life so he could complete the Gaza withdrawal. Now that it's been done, it's time for Sharon to leave this world.
Makes about as much sense as Robertson's reason for Sharon's stroke.
This all begs the question. Why do people only see God's hand when there is "action": a flood, a hurricane, a stroke, a disease. Why do we claim that something proves God's anger, dissatisfaction or approval only when there is an event that our feeble brains can create a connection?
God sent Katrina to punish the heathens of New Orleans. God sent AIDS to punish homosexuals and drug users. There are millions of examples. But they are all stupid. Of course no one knows why God does something.
People just like to conform events to their own word view. Robertson believes that Sharon angered God by withdrawing from Gaza, so in his brain, the stroke was divine punishment.
But why don't people see God's hand when there is no "action". Why don't they see the absence of an event as God's approval? God must have approved of the Gaza withdrawal because he allowed to happen. God must have approved of Joseph Stalin- he lived until 73 and murdered millions of people by then.
The bottom line is that we simply don't know, and we shouldn't be wasting our time trying to figure out why. For every reason, there's a perfectly valid opposite reason.
Or as I heard over the weekend: Maybe Sharon was supposed to die years ago, but God extended his life so he could complete the Gaza withdrawal. Now that it's been done, it's time for Sharon to leave this world.
Makes about as much sense as Robertson's reason for Sharon's stroke.
posted by LWY, 12:34 PM
2 Comments:
Religiosity and stupidity seem to go hand in hand. Can anyone show otherwise? - JF
Hey CMY,
While I agree with you that G-d probably wanted the gaza pullout to go through otherwise it wouldn't have happenned, it doesn't mean though that Sharon wouldn't get punished for it. As the famous question goes: if the victim was supposed to get murdered, why do we punish the murderer? wasn't it divine decree? But since he was the one to carry it out he still gets punished, even though the victim was supposed to get murdered. The same can be said about Sharon. The gaza pullout was supposed to happen, but he can still be punished if it was a bad thing to do.
I don't have any position on whether the stroke is a punishment for that, I'm just throwing out a possible explanation for those that believe it.
BTW - which school do you go to? or is that private info?
While I agree with you that G-d probably wanted the gaza pullout to go through otherwise it wouldn't have happenned, it doesn't mean though that Sharon wouldn't get punished for it. As the famous question goes: if the victim was supposed to get murdered, why do we punish the murderer? wasn't it divine decree? But since he was the one to carry it out he still gets punished, even though the victim was supposed to get murdered. The same can be said about Sharon. The gaza pullout was supposed to happen, but he can still be punished if it was a bad thing to do.
I don't have any position on whether the stroke is a punishment for that, I'm just throwing out a possible explanation for those that believe it.
BTW - which school do you go to? or is that private info?
