I guess it is simply called appreciation..... curtisdeltablues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > His father had promised him a car for his birthday. Dad was nowhere in sight. His mother gave him 5.00$, yet what he had received was a grace from God that on his birthday the sun and the birds awakened him, the sweet smells of the divine filled the air and he knew without a doubt that there had to be a God and that God just gave him the greatest birthday gift ever.................
So following this weather based theology we can assume that God absolutely hates China and dropped a huge earthquake on it's ass and despises Burma and sent them a nasty cyclone? It seems a little grandiose and narcissistic to me to attribute a day's weather to God's intention to give him a bitch'n birthday while his same power over the weather is causing untold misery and death in other places. The atheist can enjoy the beauty of a great day also, he just doesn't need to imagine that a divine being is slapping him five with the weather. This discussion reminds me of those guys who pray for victory for their sports teams and then sing his praises if they win. Or the musicians at the Grammies who thank God for their award. Any God who would change the weather for a birthday, create a game turning interception for a specific sports team, or meddle in the affairs of the voting process for best female hip hop artist...while ignoring the Guinea worm and malaria mosquito, would be the lamest God ever imagined by man. --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Louis McKenzie wrote: > > I once knew an atheist who believed that God was just something that was created to control people. He believed that the word God was used to keep people stuck in churches and waiting for the will of God. > > Then one day his birthday something happened extra ordinary, I don't know if it was what happened or the fact that the boy realized that it happened but in any case. His birthday was in the month of April, in the eastern part of the US North East it is common to have snow and cold or rain in this time period. > > Well on this third day of April after snow had begun to clear the rain had fallen strong for days and it was still very cold even thought it was spring. The boy woke up that April morning to the most beautiful day. The sun was shining bright the temperature was 75 birds were singing outside his window and the smell of spring was strong in the air. > > His father had promised him a car for his birthday. Dad was nowhere in sight. His mother gave him 5.00$, yet what he had received was a grace from God that on his birthday the sun and the birds awakened him, the sweet smells of the divine filled the air and he knew without a doubt that there had to be a God and that God just gave him the greatest birthday gift ever................. > > > > TurquoiseB wrote: > Recent discussions about "becoming in tune with the laws > of nature" have pointed out that Maharishi clearly was > using "laws of nature" and "the will of nature" as > euphemisms for "God" and "God's will" all along. As > would be expected, considering that his teacher Guru > Dev clearly thought in those terms. > > However (and assuming for the purposes of this discussion > the existence of a sentient God who could actually *have* > a "will"), I think it's time to step back and spend a > little time pondering whether it's a good *idea* to want > to become "in tune with God's will." > > I mean, wouldn't that kinda be backing a loser? > > Look at the Dude's *track record*!!! Has He *ever* gotten > His way? There have been complaints from the supposedly- > holy (prophets, spiritual teachers, leaders of religion, > and other such spokespersons for God) since the dawn of > time that the majority of people (that is, everyone but > them) don't understand His will, and are "sinning" by not > acting in accord with it. You could fill the Superbowl > with the books written about this subject and the sermons > preached to the ignorant to get them to swing over to the > side of God and start doing His will. > > And has any of it worked? Not a bit of it. God's spokes- > persons are *still* whining that no one pays attention > to them, and that "sin" and not following the will of God > are the reasons for the state that the planet is in. > > Even when God *Himself* steps in and preaches a few sermons > in the form of hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, typhoons, > plagues, famines and the like, no one seems to pay attention. > They keep acting the way they act. He tries again, and lays > a new set of plagues and pestilences on their sinning asses, > and the people never get the picture and submit to His will. > > Seems to me that God's a bit of a wuss. > > I mean, where's all this supposed omnipotence we keep hear- > ing about in his P.R. blurbs? If He is so damned powerful, > why can't He just impose His will with a wave of the hand, > eh? Surely He doesn't need all these natural disasters (a > euphemism for both the floods *and* the preachers in my > estimation) to keep trying to convince us of the wisdom of > submitting to His will. If He is so omniscient, and His > will represents how he "wants" the world to be, why the > heck doesn't he just pull a Jean-Luc Picard and "Make > it so?" Why all this continual whining about us not > getting His "will?" > > Seems to me that "God's will" ain't any more desirable a > goal than the will of Joe Blow from Peoria, Illinois. Both > seem to have an equal ability to cause their will to happen. > The difference is that Joe is less attached, and doesn't > send out teams of professional whiners to preach to others > about how sinful they are when they don't abide by his will. > Joe may not be any more omnipotent than God, but he seems > to have far more class, and is far less of a wuss. > > > > > ------------------------------------ > > To subscribe, send a message to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > Or go to: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ > and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links > ------------------------------------ To subscribe, send a message to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Or go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FairfieldLife/ and click 'Join This Group!'Yahoo! Groups Links
