[MD] Faith/Skepticism

[Arlo Bensinger]

[Michael]
  I see "evidence" of a loving God every day...

[Arlo]
Really? I see evidence of a callously indifferent, sometimes 
sadistic, and perhaps somewhat sociopathological "God" based on what 
I see every day.

But this just reminds me of the cliche... when a football player 
catches a touchdown pass, he points up and thanks god. Who does the 
defender who misread the play point?  In fact, how do we know it was 
not the devil, punishing the defending player, who made the receiver 
catch the ball?

I was watching NASCAR once, and the first thing the winner (think it 
was Kyle Bush, could be wrong) did was to "thank god". I thought, 
hmm... If god determined the outcome of the race, then all the praise 
about Bush being a great driver is kinda misleading. Also, what about 
the other drivers? Did they piss god off? Are events like this simply 
a way to determine who is the most devout?

When Obama was looking to be the next President, Focus on the Family 
instructed its numerous denizens to "pray for rain of biblical 
proportions" to ruin Obama's victory speech.

It didn't rain. In fact, the skies were unseasonably clear.

What do we make of this? (1) God wanted Obama to win, and so He 
ignored the prayers of Focus on the Family. If this is true, FotF 
better realign and show their unwavering support for the new 
President. (2) God may not have wanted Obama to win, but He hates 
Focus on the Family more. If true, I'd leave that organization ASAP. 
(3) God is not involved in our human matters. If true, throws prayer 
pretty much right out the window. (4) God hates Obama, but wants to 
inflict suffering on humans by ensuring his success. Yeah, that's a 
god I want to pray to.

Flight 1549 crashes into the Hudson. No one dies. It is hailed as a 
miracle. The survivors all thank god. Flight 3407 crashes in Buffalo. 
50 people die. God did not intervene. Why? Were the people on 1549 
more devout?

Isolated events that end well when taken out of context may appear to 
look like the they were guided by the loving hand of God. But when 
put it context, that view says a whole lot about the events that 
ended not so well.