Yes, did God have another German officer move Stauffenberg’s briefcase so that the explosion would not kill Hitler? And why didn’t God simply intervene before that disturbed young man shot at Trump, missing him but killing the firefighter? And why didn’t God intervene in the flooding in Texas? Surely, whatever mysterious plan that God has for humanity, it doesn’t include terrorizing and drowning young children? The Christian Right’s claims about God’s intervention in the world are always so politically self serving. As frightening as “1984” is, it is “The Handmaid’s Tale” vision of a dystopian America that scares me the most.
To a lot of Christians, God is just a genie who responds to THEIR invocation of magic words. I used to give people the benefit of the doubt. I thought that they must have a more sophisticated or nuanced belief system, but, like me, could only express things through the insufficient tools of human language. But no, people are who they seem to be. The capricious and arbitrary God they invoke is the one they believe in.
When I was a kid an evangelical lady across the street said God told her to run hot water down the drain when it was clogged with grease and lo and behold, it drained!
Praise be to God the Plumber, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!
Kurt, I agree with you. Orwell's dystopian world seemed to emerge from the world between the end of WWI and the world that evolved following the end of WWII. Atwood's dystopian world seems to have evolved from the world that existed in the '80s: Rise of oligarchs, decline of religion, the coursening of society and loss of civility. Unfortunately, her world is much closer to today's truth.
Yes, did God have another German officer move Stauffenberg’s briefcase so that the explosion would not kill Hitler? And why didn’t God simply intervene before that disturbed young man shot at Trump, missing him but killing the firefighter? And why didn’t God intervene in the flooding in Texas? Surely, whatever mysterious plan that God has for humanity, it doesn’t include terrorizing and drowning young children? The Christian Right’s claims about God’s intervention in the world are always so politically self serving. As frightening as “1984” is, it is “The Handmaid’s Tale” vision of a dystopian America that scares me the most.
God sent Trump a warning shot but he ignored it.
That's what occurred to me. God was trying to get Trump's ear, so to speak, as a warning to repent before it's too late.
Good pun.
And perhaps God tried warning Trump about climate change with, not just a burning bush, but whole states burning.
Trump doesn't hear, see, feel, taste, or smell anyone but himself, whom he believes is God.
"God was trying to get Trump's ear..." Funny! (Not that violence is okay.)
That is a satisfying perspective.
Now I like that. Good one.
To a lot of Christians, God is just a genie who responds to THEIR invocation of magic words. I used to give people the benefit of the doubt. I thought that they must have a more sophisticated or nuanced belief system, but, like me, could only express things through the insufficient tools of human language. But no, people are who they seem to be. The capricious and arbitrary God they invoke is the one they believe in.
When I was a kid an evangelical lady across the street said God told her to run hot water down the drain when it was clogged with grease and lo and behold, it drained!
Praise be to God the Plumber, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit!
"Jesus in the sky with diamonds": the motto of Prosperity Theology
The late Prosperity Gospel preacher Norman Vincent Peale has a lot to answer for.
Kurt, I agree with you. Orwell's dystopian world seemed to emerge from the world between the end of WWI and the world that evolved following the end of WWII. Atwood's dystopian world seems to have evolved from the world that existed in the '80s: Rise of oligarchs, decline of religion, the coursening of society and loss of civility. Unfortunately, her world is much closer to today's truth.