Seriously, stop "Thanking God"

[Heather MC]

I shared my 9/11 story on my FB page this morning
I told my friends and family about working at the pentagon, being 7 months pregnant. Just missing the plane fly over my car as I pulled into north parking. Losing one of the guys on our 80 person renovation team. That guy had 3 children and a pregnant wife who also worked at the Pentagon. Their children were in the Pentagon Daycare.

My Husband thinking I was dead for hours before I got through on the phone.

It didn't take long for a cousin to Post "Thank God, you were spared"

That pisses me off so fucking much. If there was a God why spare me??? What about the over 3,000 others that didn't get spared, what about the families who didn't have their loved ones come home. Or the children who's parents didn't come pick them up from the pentagon daycare that day. What about all the lives that were lost in Bush Co war after 9/11?

It really infuriates me when someone says that to me. Now my FB page is being flooded with people agreeing with my cousin.

I can be glad my baby and I, weren't Killed. but I can't thank God. Because to thank God for Sparing my life means he allowed all those others to die. And that thought brings me no comfort at All. It makes me ill.

[JNelson6563]

1. Ok, I see the problem here.

Ok, first of all you need to fully understand the mindset of a Christian. It's pretty simple: Me, me, me.

Only the most self-centered bastards on earth can survive some horrible event where thousands died and think it was some omnipotent being's efforts that spared them but not the others.

It's all about them, their wealth (as proof of god's favor) and their place in paradise afterlife matter.

Once you fully absorb that then you will no longer be surprised or frustrated or really anything else when they display their narcissism for all to see.

Julie

[trotsky]

2. And I think deep down, the ones who think like this realize how horribly self-centered it is.

They just can't deal with that though, because when you confront them with that notion, they get VERY VERY ANGRY.

There is a DUer who said his daughter almost got kidnapped and thanked his god she got away. I asked about all the other children who were kidnapped and killed - did god not like them as much?

I was yelled at, then put on ignore.

[Heather MC]

3. God is better drug than Crack

I mean look at how much more delusional one can get. And the God High rarely wears off.

[trotsky]

6. And like drugs, belief in god can appeal to (and intensify) our worst flaws.

Self-centeredness, self-importance, arrogance, tribalism, etc.

When we, in the interest of "religious tolerance" don't allow beliefs to be questioned and analyzed critically, we reinforce those negative aspects and protect them, too, from criticism.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

8. well said!

[Major Nikon]

23. You were ignored because you're a blasphemer

Furthermore you should thank god you don't live in a time or country where blasphemy is a capital offense.

One is not allowed to consider the same dog who allows everyday people to escape horrific deaths also allows babies to get raped because as we all know he works in mysterious ways and we should not question his judgement.

[Heather MC]

4. Agreed just frustrating because

if I respond with how I really feel I risk alienating my children from their family. Or having to deal with a flood of God Thumpers.

See I have been on a bit of a spritual journey. b4 9/11 I was agnostic. After with so many people around me Thanking God And I had just had a baby I decided to give the church thing another go. After 8 years I and my hubby agreed we hated church. and didn't much care for church folks. In the last year or so. Through reading the bible more closely I have came accept that it is all BS

Only now because of our 8 year affiliated with church. My FB friends list is filled with thumpers lol. I mean don’t get me wrong they are wonderful people. I am just not onthe same page as them. I do post a lot of Atheist leaning quotes. like the awesome one from Penn when he says "I rape as much as I want which is zero"

I just feel like we a human race can not find a honest solution to a problem when people are sitting around waiting for a sky daddy to fix everything for us.

I know, preaching to choir LOL

[backscatter712]

18. What's even more stupid: prayers for sport teams.

"Lord, help my team win!" Or watching Tim Tebow do his thing.

If I were God, I'd say "Earn your own fucking victories! I'm not gonna help you cheat!"

[cleanhippie]

5. How can they? When they've been told repeatedly that they cannot do anything without god...

They are simply being grateful to the deity they believe made it possible. Yes, to reason-using and rational people, it seems absurd, but remember, you are no dealing with reasonable and rational people.

[progressoid]

7. Thank You Jesus...

[Arugula Latte]

9. It's similar to the Wolf Blitzer "Are you thanking the Lord?" thing with the massive tornado.

What kind of a fucked-up mindset is it that makes you think some omnipotent being is being favorable to you if you survived some horrific incident either caused or not prevented by aforementioned omnipotent being? Monotheism is one pretty screwed-up system. At least with multi-theisms you can blame an asshole god for a bad thing but thank a merciful one for something good. You don't have to put all your eggs in the Bipolar-Deity basket.

[Vashta Nerada]

10. +1

[MountainLaurel]

27. Having a lot of issues with that one right now

A very Catholic friend's 7-year-old has bone cancer that has metastasized to her lungs. Yet, she still thanks god when her daughter's counts are high enough that they can go home for the weekend. I just bang my head on my desk a few times. You'd think that if anything would turn you off thanking a deity, it would be watching your child screaming in pain and melting away before you thanks to a disease your god gave her.

[Arugula Latte]

28. That is horrible beyond words. As a parent things like that induce a feeling of panic in me,

just hearing about it. And of course you can't/shouldn't really say anything in a situation like that. But, yeah, I don't get the disconnect. Don't get it at all.

[Curmudgeoness]

11. Without coming right out and saying this is a bunch of shit,

you can let these people know how it makes you feel when they say "thank god you are ok". You should let them know what you told us, that you find no comfort in those words when so many others were not spared. You don't have to be mean to these friends to hopefully get the message across. And you don't have to come out as a non-believer if you aren't ready.

[Heather MC]

12. Thanks, It is BS I agree,

Everyone who sees me on a day to day basis knows I am done with Supernatural beliefs
I am not into making Facebook declarations about my personal life. Fortunately even when I did attend church I was never the type that would post bible scripture and testimonies about "what god has done for me today"

I was debating saying something like it's hard for me to thank god when so many didn't make it or worse they suffered horrible disfiguring burns, and I am no more special then they are.

But come on you and I both know that would make them God pounce and say the other standard bullshit, that keeps them locked into worshipping invisible creatures

[Rob H.]

13. The mental gymnastics believers go through must be exhausting

I remember seeing this story some years back and being staggered at how this couple reacted to surviving a plane crash in a crowded market in Africa.

Crash survivor: God 'still has work for us to do'
Wed April 16, 2008

...

Barry and Marybeth Mosier were on their way to visit their son Keith, 24, in Kinsangani, Congo, with two younger children when their plane crashed on takeoff Tuesday in Goma. At least 36 people died as the plane plowed through a market and burned. Most of the people who died were on the ground, according to the U.N. mission in DR Congo.

...

"We couldn't believe that our family of four could all escape a plane that was crashed and on fire, but by God's mercy, we did," he said.

Mosier said he believes the family made it for a reason.

"I think the Lord has a plan for us, otherwise we wouldn't have survived," he said. "He still has work for us to do."

What about all those people in the market, minding their own business when a plane crashed and burst into flame? They had lives and plans of their own and, but for those missionaries' visit to Africa, would still be alive today. It seems unbelievably arrogant for the missionaries to assume that they survived because they were hand-picked by The Magic Ghost Who Lives in the Sky because said ghost had other things for them to do. Do people like that never consider that maybe it was their god's way of saying, "GET OUT AND STAY OUT"? And how about expressing sympathy for the people who died and their families instead of thanking their own good luck (and that's exactly what it is, luck) that they survived?

Sorry for the rant. I just get sick of believers thanking God for their good fortune while simultaneously ignoring the suffering of others who aren't so lucky. Must be those 'mysterious ways' they keep talking about.

[LostOne4Ever]

14. Drives me nuts too

During the whole Trayvon Martin trial, I kept on seeing family friends saying things like "The important thing is that they haven't lost their faith in the Lord" or similar comments. Their son had been murdered, the killer got off scott free and all any of them can say is that the IMPORTANT thing was that they didn't lose their faith in the god who let it all happen?

And every SINGLE time there is a school shooting people always resort to the bullshit about how it was "removing god" from the class rooms that caused them to happen. Lets ignore the religion of the shooter themselves, or the victims, it is secularism that is to blame for someone shooting up a school.



Then there was that recent school in Georgia where the one administrator talked down the shooter. Rather than acknowledge her own bravery she gave all credit to god. Then she said that the "lesson" of the whole thing is that god is real? So God had someone shoot up Newtown but spared her school just to send a message? Again how many victims at Newtown were Christian themselves?

I get why believers say these things. They want to comfort themselves or others but the implications of what they say is so disturbing and they don't even realize it.

[Heather MC]

15. I love "Thank God it could have been so much worse"

That's usually said when their is a house fire and everyone survives. Once a Pastor said the fact that most who die in a house fire die from smoke inhalation, and not the actual flames is proof of God's mercy and love for us. But I thought, why didn't he just put out the damn fire?

I love watching the Atheist Experience on Youtube. the callers usually end with just wait til judgement day, you will be sorry you didn't believe.

And they say great we have to wait til we get to a point we can never come back and say here’s proof.

Oh well Thank God for the Enlighted who are comfortable in their non-belief.

[uriel1972]

16. "God needed another Angel"...

AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHRRRRGGGHHHH I so hate that one. How cruel to give someone a child, then after you've gone and got so attached to it you would die to protect them, rip them from you in a most horrible manner.
If God needed another Angel, why didn't they just make one like all the others?

[Heather MC]

17. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to handle that one

[BlueJazz]

19. What I'm about to say has no bearing personally on my life: I usually answer people who ask...

..me "Why are you an atheist ...Don't you love God"
I answer with "You expect me to love someone who would allow a 5 year old little girl to be tortured and raped...I think not"

[uriel1972]

20. I agree wholeheartedly...

The most aggravating answer to that point, I've recieved is that it was to teach someone else a lesson! Shocked and stunned doesn't even begin to describe how I felt.

[Lordquinton]

25. An unspoken part of that mindset

is that they would consider doing a similar thing to "Teach someone a lesson" like destroying something you like to make a point. God sets an example in the bible, and people follow it.

[Heather MC]

21. The other day my best friends hubby was on Lock down at the Navy yard

Last edited Wed Sep 18, 2013, 08:08 AM - Edit history (1)

a bunch of well meaning friends posted on her FB page as the shooting was happening.
OMG sending prayers.

I posted (changing names) Sally, James will be Ok, His mama didn't raise no fool he knows to keep his head down.

She messaged me she appreciated my post the most.
I wish people would live in reality. and accept that a god is not doing any of this we do it to ourselves. And if a god was going to protect anyone that day. The Shooter would have gotten hit by a bus on the way. Or why didn't an Angel come visit him the night before and instruct him not to do it????

If I were an all knowing God that's what I would have done. But to let it happen, and then have idiots saying. OMG sending prayers fuck that

By the way my Friend James is an Atheist. LOL

[Nevernose]

29. "I'll pray for you" translates to

"Im sympathetic, but not sympathetic to actually get off my ass and do something about it."

[tdb63]

24. How about Thank God your cancer is gone

I have a 15 year old niece that had Non Hodgkins lymphoma. Once she was cleared up with chemo and radiation treatment everyone was thanking God. It really pissed me off. If they believe in God then God gave her cancer. No one ever thanks science when someone is cured. It's like thanking the gunman for shooting you.

[Arugula Latte]

26. I always say

that God guy has the best PR in town. "He" gets none of the blame, all of the credit.

[Warren Stupidity]

30. I actually love it when somebody says that. It opens up a discussion they just don't want to have.

Most people don't want to think about it. Plus Job and Abraham. And which football team does Yahweh support?

[Heather MC]

32. The Cowboy's Duh!

My husband and I have been seeing th simularities in the Job story and Trading Places, with our current Government Situation
We think the Koch Roach Brothers made a bet of $1.00 to see if they could stop the ACA by elevating the country's stupidest people to positions of power within the Government.

When ever my husband starts comparing the two situations he gets mad all over again about the Story of Job. and what a horrible tale to be printed in the bible as a sign of Proper Obedience

[Warren Stupidity]

35. Apparently not last week.

Either that or that spawn of hell Peyton Manning is backed by a more powerful deity.

[Heather MC]

36. I was just repeating what they say LOL

But maybe they can redeem themselves with a win against the Redskins

[Bradical79]

31. I say that occasionally

Being raised in a mixed Christian household and spending nearly a decade as an evangelical, it's basically hardwired into my vocabulary. Unless I'm consciously planning out what to say before hand it will pop out as an expression of relief for many situations regardless of how ridiculous it may sound.

[Heather MC]

33. I say Thank Goodness

I know what you mean, I am working on breaking the habit of saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes
Even though I know the story behind the bless you.

I am beginning to offer help instead. and ask "Tissue?" People still hear "Bless you" LOL

[Arugula Latte]

34. It's fun to say "Geshundheit"

People know what it means and it translates to "good health."

[DetlefK]

37. pic