I remember praying to God that if I wasn't supposed to get married, he would stop it. After all, he is God. There were any number of ways he could have done it. I waited for our premarital counselors to tell us we weren't ready. I waited for the pastor to refuse to marry us. I waited for the church to lose power on the day of the wedding, the bridesmaids to all fall ill, and the tuxedo rental store to accidentally give all the groomsmen a tux three sizes too small. God did not orchestrate any such occurrance on my behalf. Of course, being the rational organism that I am, I assumed that meant that I was doing the right thing, even though it felt wrong.
This is yet another example of learning an important lesson the hard and stupid way.
God has a life. He's not interested in toying with mine. He cares about what I do, he listens when I talk to him, but he's not going to go around arranging impenetrable walls to order my life like I'm some rat in a laboratory maze. I knew what I was doing was a bad idea. God wanted me to act on that knowledge, not demand that he pluck me from the situation I had stupidly gotten myself into.
So, if you're about to walk off the edge of a cliff, knowing that there are sharp and jagged rocks at the bottom, don't look up to heaven and beg God to stop you if he doesn't want you to die. He expects us to use the common sense that was birthed into us. God will not save you from stupidity.
According to many faiths, here are several reasons why God or [ insert deity here ] might not save you:
In many situations several of these may simultaneously apply. If I choose to buy stock on leverage, then lose all my money I might blame God for not saving me. However, it may be that 1 through 4 are reasons I was not saved from my choice.
Their language was constantly changing - after fifty or so generations, it was nearly unrecognizable. I never bothered to learn it - by the time I figured out what they were saying, too much time would have passed anyway.
My mate asked me the other day why I didn't make their world a heavenly paradise - how I could just stand by and watch them suffer. I told her this world was just a hobby - I wasn't about to stop time with every little thing that went wrong, figure out all the parameters I had to tweak to make things right again, and risk having to do more work fixing up all the unintended consequences. It would simply take up too much of my time - which I needed for my previously mentioned other projects.
I mean them no ill will and I wish them all the best, but there's only so much effort I'm willing to put into their world. Besides, if all hell breaks loose in this world, I can always create another.
A story of a cleric and his indomitable faith in God. An inspiration to us all!
There was a major flood. Maybe it was in New Orleans, maybe somewhere else, it doesn't matter. One victim was a priest who lived in an isolated house out in the country. As his living room flooded, he spoke a short prayer and prudently moved from the ground floor to the second floor, whence after more rising water and more praying, he ascended to his attic. Not too long afterward, he was forced to sit on the roof. All around him the countryside was flooded and looked like a lake with some treetops emerging from the water at a distance. His prayers had become more frequent. Not too long, and a fisherman happened by in a rowboat. "Would you like a lift," the kind man offered. "I can get us to dry land." But the priest declined: "God will save me, thank you anyway" and went back to his prayers. Anon, the water rose high enough that the priest had to stand upright, up to his hips in the cold water. Shivering, he pumped out more prayers. He heard a motor in the distance, and soon a Coast Guard rescue vessel approached. Men in uniforms with live preservers urged the priest to board and be rescued, but his faith was strong. Though unhappy with his predicament, he insisted that he would wait for divine salvation. As the day dragged on, the water rose some more, until it was up to the good man's neck. Looking up to a new sound from above, he saw a police helicopter and, dangling from a rope ladder, a man with an outstretched hand. But so strong was his faith in the Lord that once again he refused to leave his precarious perch on the roof. At this point, he was praying incessantly for salvation from a wet demise. Inevitably, inexorably, the water rose until the priest had to swim to stay above it. But the cold had tired him; soon he gasped his last breath of air, sank, and drowned. When his eyes opened again, the priest was standing face to face with his boss and creator. Though he was in heaven, he could not help feeling disappointed. "My god, why have you forsaken me?" My son, this flood kept me very busy. Yet I sent you a rowboat, a Coast Guard cruiser and a police helicopter. Why didn't you accept the opportunities I gave you?
There was a major flood. Maybe it was in New Orleans, maybe somewhere else, it doesn't matter. One victim was a priest who lived in an isolated house out in the country.
As his living room flooded, he spoke a short prayer and prudently moved from the ground floor to the second floor, whence after more rising water and more praying, he ascended to his attic. Not too long afterward, he was forced to sit on the roof. All around him the countryside was flooded and looked like a lake with some treetops emerging from the water at a distance. His prayers had become more frequent.
Not too long, and a fisherman happened by in a rowboat. "Would you like a lift," the kind man offered. "I can get us to dry land." But the priest declined: "God will save me, thank you anyway" and went back to his prayers.
Anon, the water rose high enough that the priest had to stand upright, up to his hips in the cold water. Shivering, he pumped out more prayers.
He heard a motor in the distance, and soon a Coast Guard rescue vessel approached. Men in uniforms with live preservers urged the priest to board and be rescued, but his faith was strong. Though unhappy with his predicament, he insisted that he would wait for divine salvation.
As the day dragged on, the water rose some more, until it was up to the good man's neck. Looking up to a new sound from above, he saw a police helicopter and, dangling from a rope ladder, a man with an outstretched hand. But so strong was his faith in the Lord that once again he refused to leave his precarious perch on the roof. At this point, he was praying incessantly for salvation from a wet demise.
Inevitably, inexorably, the water rose until the priest had to swim to stay above it. But the cold had tired him; soon he gasped his last breath of air, sank, and drowned.
When his eyes opened again, the priest was standing face to face with his boss and creator. Though he was in heaven, he could not help feeling disappointed. "My god, why have you forsaken me?"
My son, this flood kept me very busy. Yet I sent you a rowboat, a Coast Guard cruiser and a police helicopter. Why didn't you accept the opportunities I gave you?
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