Protestantism

» Migisi - Just some silly nonsense...

.
My daughter and her husband were amazed and very puzzled by the massive amount of bird poop on their vehicles. There are no trees near their driveway where a bird or flock might spend all day leaving deposits. They urged me to take a look and propose an explanation. I did, and sure enough, their vehicles were literally covered with fecal sacks... baby bird diapers. Mystery solved. Just mama bird (I suspect Starling) keeping her nursery tidy. I gave them quarters from my coin jar for car washes, and assured them the diaper bombardment would stop after the young fledge. They were simply on mama bird's flight path. We laughed so hard.

-- posted by Migisi

» HeadZenCards - Just some silly nonsense from Rick Warren...

In response to Just some silly nonsense... posted by Migisi:

From www.godisimaginary.com:

"God's plan" is the way that Christians traditionally explain things like amputations, cancer, hurricanes and car accidents.

For example, if a Christian dies a painful and tragic death because of cancer, she dies as part of God's plan. Her death has a purpose. God called her home for a reason. Even if something bad happens to a Christian, it is actually good because it is part of God's plan.

You can see how pervasive "God's plan" is by looking in Christian inspirational literature. For example, if we look in the book A Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren, we find this remarkable paragraph in Chapter 2:

Because God made you for a reason, he also decided when you would be born and how long you would live. He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death. The Bible says, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" [Psalm 139:16]

There is also this:

Regardless of the circumstances of your birth or who your parents are, God had a plan in creating you.

Under this view of the universe, God plans everything.

Take a moment and think about what Rick Warren said. Rick said, "He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death."

Let's examine one simple implication of this statement. What this means is that God has pre-planned every abortion that has taken place on our planet.

If the concept of "God's plan" is true, you can first of all see that God wants us to be aborting children. Every single abortion is planned by God, so God must be doing it for a reason. Second, you can see that both the mother who requests the abortion and the doctor who performs it are blameless.

Since it is God who planned the abortion of the child (God chose the "exact time" of the death, according to Rick Warren), the mother and doctor are simply puppets who are fulfilling God's plan, are they not?

What about all the Christians who are fighting against abortion? If abortion is part of God's plan, why are they fighting it?

God is the all-powerful ruler of the universe, and his plan is for more than a million children a year to die in the United States through abortion. [ref] If God's plan is true, then each one of those abortions was meticulously planned by God.

If God does not intend for us to perform abortions, is Rick Warren then wrong that God has a plan? If God has a plan, is he not the direct cause of every abortion? Simply think it through, and you will begin to see the problems in Rick's proposition.

Think about Adolph Hitler. He was evil incarnate, and Hitler is well known for the atrocious things he did. What I would like you to do right now is to consider this statement: "Hitler is part of God's Plan." Think about what Rick said:

He planned the days of your life in advance, choosing the exact time of your birth and death. The Bible says, "You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!" [Psalm 139:16]

Rick also says:

God never does anything accidentally, and he never makes mistakes. He has a reason for everything he creates. Every plant and every animal was planned by God, and every person was designed with a purpose in mind.

If God has a divine plan for each of us, then he had a divine plan for Hitler too. It is when you stop to think about it deeply that the contradictions hit you.

Now let's imagine that you say a prayer in this sort of universe. What difference does it make? God has his plan, and that plan is running down its track like a freight train.

If God has a plan, then everyone who died in the Holocaust died for a reason. They had to die, and each death had meaning.

Therefore, Holocaust victims could pray all day, and they would still die. The idea of a "plan" makes the idea of a "prayer-answering relationship with God" a contradiction, doesn't it? Yet Christians seem to attach themselves to both ideas, despite the irresolvable problem the two ideas create.

Think about what God's plan means for you personally. If the plan happens to say that you will get hit by a bus tomorrow, or that terrorists will blow you up, or that you will be shot in the head four times, then that's what will happen.

It would be the same with any disease. If you contract cancer this afternoon and die three months later, that is God's plan for you.

Praying to cure the cancer is a waste. God plans for you to die, so you will die. He has pre-programmed the exact time of your death. There is nothing you can do to change the plan -- no amount of prayer will help -- because your death will have meaning and your death will cause side-effects that are also part of the plan.

Who will you marry? You actually have no choice in the matter. God has pre-planned your wedding in minute detail. Rick Warren says, "God knew that those two individuals [your parents] possessed exactly the right genetic makeup to create the custom 'you' that he had in mind. They had the DNA God wanted to make you."

Therefore, your spouse was pre-chosen by God for you so that you would create the children who are a part of his plan. You also have no choice in the number of children you will have -- God has pre-planned their births.

In addition, this sort of universe means that Hitler is blameless. Hitler was not "evil," because Hitler had no free will at all. Hitler was simply an actor forced to play his role in God's plan.

God planned for millions of people to die in the Holocaust -- he planned their deaths in exact detail according to Rick Warren. Hitler had to kill those people. Hitler was God's puppet in making that those millions of deaths happen right on schedule.

In the same way then, every murderer is blameless. Since God has planned each of our deaths in exact detail, murderers are actually essential to God's plan.

Why do we punish them? We should be rewarding them for doing their God-planned duty.

What if you get raped tomorrow and get pregnant? God did that because he planned the exact time of that child's birth and death. God actually pre-planned your rape, and the rapist was God's puppet. Rather than hating the rapist, we should celebrate God's plan.

Do you believe that murderers and rapists should be rewarded?

Do you believe that Hitler was sent by God to kill millions of people in the Holocaust?

Do you believe that God is the direct cause of every abortion on this planet?

Do you believe that you have no choice in your spouse or the number of children you have?

Probably not. But that is what you are saying when you state that Hitler or cancer or anything else is part of "God's plan."

If you think about it as an intelligent person, you will realize that the statement "It is part of God's plan" is one of those meaningless palliatives.

When you sit down and think it through using your common sense, the statement makes no sense. That lack of sense shows us how imaginary God is.

-- posted by HeadZenCards

» paper_turtle - Just some silly nonsense...(Migs)

In response to Just some silly nonsense... posted by Migisi:

I laughed hard, too. Thanks, Migs.
.
peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» paper_turtle - Yesterday and Today

In response to The value of Positive Thinking posted by paper_turtle:

Yesterday I visited my father in the nursing home. Its always painful to see the father who used to carry me on his shoulders as the frail person in the wheelchair. It hurts when he doesn't recognize me, doesn't remember my children, doesn't even remember what he used to do for a living. He's been a "shadow" for a long time, but I still can't quite stop grieving what has been lost.
.
But he is here, and even though he doesn't recognize me, he remembers taking me to Saturday matinees to see Roy Rogers movies. And he still has his sense of humor, still finds something to laugh about, and make others laugh, too. I am very grateful for that.
.
Today is a new day, a chance to start over, and I am very grateful for that, as well.
.
peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» pink101 - Yesterday and Today

In response to Yesterday and Today posted by paper_turtle:
.
I'm so sorry for your loss.
.
My wife manages a doctor's office and she has often told me of the severe pain involved with althzeimer patients.
.
I hope you are able to find solace.
.

-- posted by pink101

» pink101 - Paper Turtle

.
Why do I know this might be your favorite song--almost?
.
"I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing"
.
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle doves.
.
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony
I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company.
.
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
"All peace throughout the land."
(That's the song I hear)
I'd like to teach the world to sing
(That the world sings today)
In perfect harmony.
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony.
I'd like to build the world a home
And furnish it with love
Grow apple trees and honey bees
And snow-white turtle doves.
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony.
And I'd like to hold it in my arms
And keep it company.
I'd like to see the world for once
All standing hand in hand
And hear them echo through the hills
"All peace throughout the land."
I'd like to teach the world to sing
In perfect harmony.
______________________________________________________
Here's a great site. I go there every once in a while:
.
http://www.stinalisa.com/TeachWorld.html
.
Do you know the history of this song?
.
It was unbelievably popular sometime around 1970. Then, kaboom!! Do you know what happened?
.
In any event. Go visit her place. I think you will fall in love with the two sisters. If you cannot bring this site up, you should start a fund raising campaign to buy your self a state of the art computer. There is so much good stuff to see.
.
I have read that some scholars believe the 'Net is a totally democratic media. Here is where you can learn to express yourself.
.
It's not good to keep your candle under a bushel.
.

-- posted by pink101

» paper_turtle - Phil

In response to Paper Turtle posted by pink101:

Thanks for your words of comfort yesterday, and for the link. (I can do audio on this computer, but not video.) I enjoyed my visit. And yes, I DO love that song.
.
peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» paper_turtle - Today

In response to Yesterday and Today posted by paper_turtle:

I am grateful for the curative power of sleep, and the pleasure of the first cup of coffee.

peace and love,
Paper Turtle

-- posted by paper_turtle

» pink101 - Today

In response to Today posted by paper_turtle:

.
ahhhh
.
The morning fix.
.
:)

-- posted by pink101

» Migisi - Yesterday and Today

In response to Yesterday and Today posted by paper_turtle:
.
I know you've been dealing with this for a while and I'm sorry for that. I wish I had words of comfort. Let me tell you a story instead...
.
My Uncle Herman and his wife Marie were childless. My family would share every summer with them at their cottage in Wisconsin. Uncle Herman loved us five kids. He taught us everything he knew about the wild world, how to build a birch bark canoe, how to swim, where the best rasberries could be found, how to fish and bullfrog hunt. I loved him. When I became a teenager, well, I stopped going to the cottage. Boys and work, dontcha know. I never saw my Uncle Herman again. My sisters went to visit him when he was 107 years old. A big party for the oldest man in town. His caretaker brought out his wallet, pulled out a picture, and asked my sisters who this lovely girl was who Uncle Herman loved so much and talked about constantly. Herman didn't remember her name. Well, Paper, (me choking up a little here)... it was MY senior year picture I'd sent him. Names and faces can be forgotten, but love between people is forever.
.

-- posted by Migisi