I'm taking a week off for Thanksgiving, so no update next week, but don't worry...I know how much you all crave Tyro installments. I'll be back on December 1.
FROM SMOKEEATER
Seeing that Thanksgiving is coming up, I thought I would give you one of the many reasons I think Christianity is a bunch of bunk and one of the most insane religions on the planet. In I Thessalonians, it says that we're supposed to give thanks for all things, so I just want to thank god for allowing that shooting in Texas to happen. Actually, I am remiss...I should thank him for ALL the violence and rottenness that he allows in this country. Isn't he a wonderful god? I mean, just think of how many mouths we don't have to feed, how much health care and education and training we don't have to provide, because god allows millions of people to be butchered, blown up, shot, stabbed, or beaten to death. And I really want to thank him for all the poverty in America...really great. And the racism and sexual harrassment...how can I thank god enough? I just want to thank him for all these things before he kills me and tosses me into hell.
See how ridiculous your belief is and how rotten your god is if He actually exists?
RESPONSE
First, let's be honest: you described neither my beliefs nor my God. You expressed only your own personal opinion of what you think my beliefs are and Who you think my God is. However, I will agree with you that your opinion is ridiculous and rotten.
Second, I Thessalonians does NOT say to give thanks for all things. Here's what it DOES say in the fifth chapter:
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Prepositions are small words, but they certainly can make a big difference in meaning. To paraphrase, this verse says to give thanks in whatever circumstance or situation you find yourself, not FOR the situation or circumstance itself. If you are the butt of a racial slur, be thankful to God not for the racism, but that you are not taken with that particular brand of hatred and for the power to respond with control. If a family member is deathly ill, be thankful to God not for the illness, but that you are healthy and able to lend help, encouragement, and love. If you get a big promotion at work, be thankful not for the job, but to God Who gives all good things and for the opportunity to perhaps spread that goodness in a greater sphere of influence. In all things, be grateful to God and walk in humble thankfulness for His grace during times of challenge, whether they be difficult or pleasant.
Third, I want you to consider a little parable of mine. Once there was a wealthy man who had a son he loved. He raised that son with the best love and discipline and taught him to help his fellow man. When the son came of age, the man signed over substantial wealth to him and said, "Take control of this wealth and use it according to the good principles I have taught you."
But the son did not obey his father. Instead he used the wealth for riotous debauchery. He paid violent men to murder people he did not like, and he stole property. Soon everyone was full of hatred and fear and lived in misery because of this man.
The people got up in arms and said, "There is so much evil and rottenness, and we are in misery. What can we do?"
The leaders and authorities said, "We must enforce our laws and mete out punishment for the torment inflicted upon us."
The people agreed, so they seized the father of the man causing their troubles and put him to death.
Does that sound a bit "ridiculous" to you? But that is exactly the scenario you depict in your post. Let's go back to the beginning.
The scene is the Garden of Eden. God has just finished all His creation, and Adam and Eve stand before Him. God gives this commandment to them: "...Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
Understand? God gave them the keys to the planet and told them to "subdue" it, to "have dominion" over it all. In other words, He installed them as rulers over all the earth and that command is still in force. Do you know what that means? Man is responsible for anything he does on the earth. So all this pain, poverty, and violence you complain about is due entirely to man and his disobedience to God. All that God provided was good, but man perverts it to his own ends and pollutes the world with sin, and it is plain to see. Yet you find fault with God, not man.
You are an ingrate. You live in the best and greatest country on the earth, and you sneer at it. Most of the "poverty" in America is a happy dream life to those in other countries. And racism...can you explain to me why Africans and Mexicans and all other sorts of disparate people groups stream into America if we're a truly racist country? Somehow that racism doesn't communicate to these people, and they feel instead a hope for success and a better life in America.
You decry violence and rottenness, then mock the God Who commands us to love each other and live in peace with our fellow man. You're horrified at sexual harrassment, but hate the God Who commands chasteness and purity of both body and mind. How can you live with that festering hypocrasy in your soul?
Somehow the words "amazing grace" just don't seem to come close when I consider how God chose to die for people like us so we can live with Him in paradise forever.