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"I have never in my life been more disgusted than I am right now. Of course I'm disgusted first and foremost by the evil, pitiful coward who slaughtered so many innocent Christians while they worshiped on Sunday. But I'm nearly as disgusted by the reaction from so many people. A reaction that has included the gleeful mockery of faith and prayer.
Moments after the bodies hit the church floor, there were people -- including prominent people -- on social media practically gloating about it. "See? Prayer doesn't work!" "Prayer isn't enough!" "This is where prayers get you!" Etc.
There is never a good time for this ridiculous anti-prayer nonsense, but right after 25 Christians were murdered at a church is the worst possible time imaginable. So please, sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, shut up: "
Well I guess we don't need to look very far to see where this evil starts. Many people out there are evil to begin with. Disgusting to comment the way they do.
i'm torn
sure, it's not good to mock people's religion.
but on the other hand , Christians have no problem insulting secular people after mass shootings, and perhaps they deserve to be mocked. As a group, Christians sure do have a history of voting for pro-gun politicians, and blaming various tragedies on "God's punishment."
but on the other hand , Christians have no problem insulting secular people after mass shootings, and perhaps they deserve to be mocked. As a group, Christians sure do have a history of voting for pro-gun politicians, and blaming various tragedies on "God's punishment."
I can't begin to understand a "perspective" that thinks it's okay to insult, ridicule, and belittle people of faith, especially after such an event, and especially by saying things like, "See? Prayers don't work! Where is your God? He is not powerful enough to protect you." These people are unkind, insensitive, have no compassion, and are, frankly, disgusting.
In the Bible, God allows Satan to kill Job's entire family as a part of a bet - literally the kind of test of faith you are talking about here. When Job passes the test it was OK though, because God just gives him a new family. 'Cause you know, families work like that... wear out your old one just replace it with a new model like a car and everything is fine. Wow, Gee Golly thanks God for the brand new family! My old family was awful scuffed up and this new one is much nicer! Pretty messed up when you think about all the people in his old family whose free will was violated so that God could prove a point, they barely get a mention in the story - a couple of verses, just an afterthought really.
Another one of the stories in the Bible that turned me off on the whole deal.
And yet, this is the story so often held out by Christians as some a paragon of faith. It's insane, but they admire Job for staying faithful to a god who literally screwed with him for fun. I think it makes Job the ultimate tool.
I don't call myself an atheist. I definitely have my own beliefs. But it will never include anything that is based on man-made dogma, which is what all organized religion is.
Well, Prayer didn't work in this case. They were in church this time and still got killed. Prayer and faith without work are dead. Until this gun issue is fixed then more of these will happen. China has a billion people living in that country and their gun violence is seriously low.
And yet, this is the story so often held out by Christians as some a paragon of faith. It's insane, but they admire Job for staying faithful to a god who literally screwed with him for fun. I think it makes Job the ultimate tool.
I don't call myself an atheist. I definitely have my own beliefs. But it will never include anything that is based on man-made dogma, which is what all organized religion is.
Meh, Atheist for me is just much faster shorthand than: I don't believe in any supernatural entities unless you can prove it or at least provide some sort of convincing evidence for it, no I don't necessarily think everything came from nothing, I do not know where everything came from, I don't know why it came from where ever it came from, and neither does anyone else - including you.
Regardless of how you frame it people that have the tendency to be offended about it will be offended from the second you say you don't believe what they do, and if you attempt to explain reasons WHY you don't believe that is "mocking", so I don't really see any point in beating around the bush.
The Bible is inherently disrespectful to people who are not in the circle of believers in it's particular faith(as a part of its mental self defense mechanisms against competing ideas, and it's establishment of in/out groups), so it is not super surprising that people outside the faith that know what it contains would not be too fond of it. At least in America, a large % of the people outside the faith used to be inside it, many have intimate knowledge of its inner workings.
Meh, Atheist for me is just much faster shorthand than: I don't believe in any supernatural entities unless you can prove it or at least provide some sort of convincing evidence for it, no I don't necessarily think everything came from nothing, I do not know where everything came from, I don't know why it came from where ever it came from, and neither does anyone else - including you.
Regardless of how you frame it people that have the tendency to be offended about it will be offended from the second you say you don't believe what they do, and if you attempt to explain reasons WHY you don't believe that is "mocking", so I don't really see any point in beating around the bush.
The Bible is inherently disrespectful to people who are not in the circle of believers in it's particular faith(as a part of its mental self defense mechanisms against competing ideas, and it's establishment of in/out groups), so it is not super surprising that people outside the faith that know what it contains would not be too fond of it. At least in America, a large % of the people outside the faith used to be inside it, many have intimate knowledge of its inner workings.
God cannot be omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent. That's the problem of believing in an all powerful God. It does not make any sense to credit God with the good but then not blame Him for the bad.
Wow. How sad.
We had a horrific wreck nearly in front of our house last Saturday night when a local man driving a small Ford van went left of center on the main highway and hit a commercial tour bus head-on coming the other direction from around the bend. My daughter heard the BANG, ran out and heard the man screaming and moaning ...then silence. 911 was called. Traffic backed up in both directions with people running everywhere wondering how they could help. Emergency vehicles arrived in about 20 minutes, and we heard the sound of breaking metal, and saws, as they tried to cut the man out of the wreckage. Life Flight was called and arrived in about half an hour, landing on our neighbors property across from our house. There was a lot of activity ...but then we noticed the sense of urgency was no longer visible. It was an hour after Life Flight landed before anyone was loaded into the helicopter. One gurney obviously carried a victim (the bus driver was not seriously hurt). Later, the other gurney was loaded, but it didn't appear to be as urgent, and you couldn't tell whether or not there was even anyone on it. It was just flat. We later learned that the driver of the Ford van was pronounced dead on arrival.
Life can end that quickly. In the blink of an eye. You'd better make sure you know Jesus before you are taken.
I can't begin to understand a "perspective" that thinks it's okay to insult, ridicule, and belittle people of faith, especially after such an event, and especially by saying things like, "See? Prayers don't work! Where is your God? He is not powerful enough to protect you." These people are unkind, insensitive, have no compassion, and are, frankly, disgusting.
Exactly this. Whether a person believes in God or not, attacking another for expressing thoughts, prayers, etc. is unconscionable behaviour, and has become the accepted norm, esp. via online communications. An attack can take the form of questioning the person's reason for faith, or it can be a direct "your god is nothing but a fairy tale" type of comment. I say to everyone who does this to another: How dare you! You may not hold the same beliefs as another, but stop with the judgemental, venomous, blatant attacks and instead, respect the other person. To you, their belief may be silly, but to them, it is a personal belief that means a great deal.
I hold far, far, far more respect to someone who posts a heartfelt response such as "thoughts and prayers" than I ever will to the person who wants to come in and tear down that person simply because it isn't what they believe. I honestly get incredibly tired of the judgement and attacks in this and many other online venues toward innocent people by those who don't care who they hurt, just so they can make the other person look foolish and prove that they are "right".
I think all they really mean is that, if you're a religious person, you might want to give "works" a try, because those people in church were already praying and they got shot while doing it.
So, why send more prayers? Why not take action?
That's the real point.
People are angry. Understandably so. These people were minding their own business and a crazy person, armed to the teeth, who had a history of extreme domestic violence, busted into their quiet, country church and killed or injured pretty much all of the parishioners.
Sending "thoughts and prayers" feels hollow after something like that.
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