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I'm pretty sure for the parents whom child survived would be "thank God... this and that".
Why... "thanks to God" exactly?
There's no congruent position to thank anything to that Deity, nor to make sense of any Deity that supposedly intervenes on our reality.
Isn't this just ...reality?, good and bad things happening to good and bad people?
Suffering and Enjoying the consequences of our actions?
Paying the price for the benefits of living socially, dealing with bad people and enjoying good people.
I don't believe there is a "posture" to take - from any viewpoint. What happened is a horror beyond the average person's imagination.
The question, as always, and -as yet unanswerable - is: what can be learned from it? What changes can we make - what discussions can we have - that will lead to the end of these heartbreaking tragedies?
I believe gun control is one discussion that is long overdue among Americans.
There's no congruent position to thank anything to that Deity, nor to make sense of any Deity that supposedly intervenes on our reality.
Isn't this just ...reality?, good and bad things happening to good and bad people?
Suffering and Enjoying the consequences of our actions?
Paying the price for the benefits of living socially, dealing with bad people and enjoying good people.
Being a follower of Christ I am told to thank Him for even the tribulations in my life. For example, a couple of weeks ago I was at my sisters house (Holidays) and my brother in law had been drinking heavily and was getting quite aggressive when talking to my mother about a difference of opinion about something. To the point that he was disrespecting her and being rude.
I stepped up to him and started to say that he shouldn't be talking to her like that, and before I finished my sentence he started punching and attacking me. It was a mess and my sister was crying and couldn't understand why he would get so violent. They said I should call the cops and press charges. Then I thought about Christ and what He said about we should forgive because we all have been forgiven.
Basically I got to glorify Christ through a very bad situation and was able to witness to my brother in law through it. If this happened before I was a believer I would have called the cops after I beat the tar out of him. Now all of us are ten times closer than before the situation. I thanked God for such a great opportunity to have a very good heart to heart with my brother in law, even though I got a good shiner.
We really don't know if a tragedy today, will surface as a blessing five hundred years from now that will save a thousand lives do to a complicated chain of events.
We are also told we do have a time to mourn, but God is sovereign and I know at the end of time all things will be revealed for what they truly are.
We really don't know if a tragedy today, will surface as a blessing five hundred years from now that will save a thousand lives do to a complicated chain of events.
We are also told we do have a time to mourn, but God is sovereign and I know at the end of time all things will be revealed for what they truly are.
And we don't know that it WILL result in a blessing five hundred years from now, either. When tragedy happens we always talk about the distant future, the afterlife, the end of time or some other deflection point that is conveniently out of the scope of our actual existence.
As a Christian I grew weary of all these rationalizations. For just a couple of examples, my wife and my eldest brother both died horribly, in searing pain, from slow, lingering illnesses. They were good people who trusted god for protection, comfort and justice in their life. These are two facts that don't go together. It's exhausting to rationalize about such things day in and day out. Stuff happens, that's all. It just is what it is. That is much more comforting to me than baroque hand-waving explanations of how god is in control and knows best. I know that I'm not being let down, failed, or picked on -- I live in an indifferent universe in which nothing is permanent and as long as I realize that and accept it my expectations suddenly become appropriate to my circumstances and I don't spend all my time being frustrated, disappointed, or outraged. Life is far too short for that.
To the point of the OP, no words can possibly suffice for the incredible suffering that these parents and loved ones are suffering tonight. I see no reason to add to their pain by forcing them to reconcile the ghastly reality of their loss with a loving Orchestrator who hates to see so much as a sparrow fall from its nest. They don't need the cognitive dissonance. They just need people to be present for them, to feel our support and caring -- which is the only support and caring that actually exists for them.
I'm pretty sure for the parents whom child survived would be "thank God... this and that".
Why... "thanks to God" exactly?
There's no congruent position to thank anything to that Deity, nor to make sense of any Deity that supposedly intervenes on our reality.
Isn't this just ...reality?, good and bad things happening to good and bad people?
Suffering and Enjoying the consequences of our actions?
Paying the price for the benefits of living socially, dealing with bad people and enjoying good people.
Ya know...I really thought if there was ever going to be a time that the Nonbelievers would have the decorum to lay off the, "appealing to Deities and praying is a waste" mantra...it would be this time.
I see I was wrong about that. Too bad. It tells me something about those who would even think of doing that.
My BIL went to that school when he was little. That is his hometown. Like the majority of the U.S...mostly Theists. He has friends who had children that were there today. Luckily, they all made it out. If "Thanking God" can serve to bring any of those people comfort in any way...I'll say it with them.
The "Theistic posture" on this?
If anyone doesn't know...let me tell ya.
There was a prayer vigil held at the local minor league baseball stadium tonight...like there was in hundreds/thousands of communities. I gave a few people rides to there that wanted to go but didn't have a way there. They sang & prayed...and came together to lean on each other during this time of grief and deep sadness. THEY found comfort in doing that...THAT is, and will be, the "Theistic posture".
If any of those people directly effected, or anyone find themselves hurting over this (and they will number in the millions)...can find solace through their faith or through prayers...GOOD...do it...access that good vibe to counteract the negative energy. Pray, pray together, Bless yourself, Bless each other...if possible, find whatever strength you can get through your Theistic persuasions.
My heart goes out to them...like it does toward anyone I see have horrible tragedy visit upon them.
They are in my prayers and they have my Blessing...regardless of those that would lack enough couth to abstain from their twisted need to express their position that they think it is all for naught.
We really don't know if a tragedy today, will surface as a blessing five hundred years from now that will save a thousand lives do to a complicated chain of events.
No one cares about 500 years from now when every human being we know will be long deceased. Has it ever occurred to you that one of those children killed may have found the cure for cancer or some other horrible disease? Any God who would allow something like this to happen is no God I would want to "worship."
God and goodness were not present today. Those who want to thank God for sparing their children are in error...God does not play favorites...This situation was evil in full force....evil generated by mankind...it was a blow back of unimaginable proportion....God had nothing to do with this.....We - humanity generated this mutation of life....so shut up.
Ya know...I really thought if there was ever going to be a time that the Nonbelievers would have the decorum to lay off the, "appealing to Deities and praying is a waste" mantra...it would be this time.
I see I was wrong about that.
Nothing like watering the seeds that brought this harvest.
God and goodness were not present today. Those who want to thank God for sparing their children are in error...God does not play favorites...This situation was evil in full force....evil generated by mankind...it was a blow back of unimaginable proportion....God had nothing to do with this.....We - humanity generated this mutation of life....so shut up.
By default, anyone or anything who had the power to stop this event but didn't, has the blood of these children and adults on their hands.
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