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Thanking God

She should thank me, not God. After all, it's me who pays for her designer kids in my extortionate NHS taxes (along with homeopathy, reflexology and shamanism) whilst I have to wait 7 months to get an NHS dentist and even then I have to pay.
 
fishbait:

Quote:
That same week, I was away on vacation in a terrible thunderstorm. I was hit by lightening that traveled under ground. I became pregnant that night. (yes, I know the day) My Dr said the lightening fixed my hormonal problem. :confused: Yes I did praise God and still do everytime I look in my DD's eyes. He does answer prayer.

Thank God her Dr isn't my Dr!
 
I’m amused by “Thanking God” situations in which there is a clear winner and loser. For example, a ball player saying “We won with the help of God.” Well, what problem did God have with the opposing team?
 
Phrenolo said:
I’m amused by “Thanking God” situations in which there is a clear winner and loser. For example, a ball player saying “We won with the help of God.” Well, what problem did God have with the opposing team?
Click to expand...

He probably didn't bet on the losing team.
 
Phrenolo said:
I’m amused by “Thanking God” situations in which there is a clear winner and loser. For example, a ball player saying “We won with the help of God.” Well, what problem did God have with the opposing team?
Click to expand...

It is the will of God to choose who wins and who loses. How dare you question that??? Huh? :mad:


:D :D:D :D :D :D
 
I've been wondering lately, if we're created in his own image, if he too is skeptical of himself. Or, why then are there murderers and pedophiles and thieves and liars? If God is perfect and we are not, if we are born sinners, is he playing a big joke on the believers? Is God a sinner? Hmmmmmm....
 
Thank yuh, Jesus!

I was taught that we were to thank God for everything, including pain and suffering. I assumed this included social injustice, genocide and all criminal practices human beings could conceive.

Here's how it goes:

I thank you, Lord, for all the good you've given me. For example, life itself, the earth, my parents, the pretty flowers, the animals over whom you gave me dominion (BTW: did you inform them of this?) I always wondered why the wild ones savagely attacked people from time to time.

I also thank you, Lord, for all the pain I've experienced as well as the loss of loved ones. From this I have learned much and I know my loved ones are watching me lovingly from Heaven as I would do if it were me in their place.

Lord, I know that pain is a teaching tool. What a wonderful gift!

Lord God, you can do no wrong. For you are perfect in every imaginable and unimaginable aspect.

So that was my Roman Catholic mentality. Maybe it still is.

I heard a priest say once in a homily that we can get angry at God for He will understand. But I secretly feared that God would repay me with His Holy Wrath for cursing Him. Believe me, I yielded to the temptation a number of times.

I thought there was a sin against getting angry at God. Maybe the priest was just trying to accommodate this flock, I don't know. I can imagine him hearing confessions in which someone said: "Father, I cursed God this weekend. I was so angry at Him for (insert tragedy here)." The priest responds in a soft, gentle voice: "I'm sure God understands. He will forgive you for this."

Oh, I just had a stomach cramp (no kidding). I think God is punishing me for posting here!!
 
Safe-Keeper said:
If it's defying God to have an abortion, then surely it's defying God to have an artificial insemination, too? And to turn that around, if artificial insemination was created by God, then surely abortion was, too?
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Incidentally, that is the Roman Catholic teaching (no abortion, no artificial insemination).

As for reasons the mom said "Thank God," I think it's probably because:
1. "Thank god" is a little more drilled in than "thank everyone at the in vitro fertilization clinic." Mom's probably not thinking too straight and is just pulling out stock phrases.
2. "Thank God" is not just an expression of gratitude toward a particular person; it's an acknowledgment that one ought to be happy about the situation one is in. There is enormous societal pressure on mothers to want and like every child they have. I've been studying preemies for work, and most of the preemie parent support sites have at least one essay on the difficulties of parenting a disabled child. Somewhere in that essay it says something along the lines of "Some days I don't like having a disabled child," or even "Some days I don't like my disabled child." It's always a whispered confession, riddled with shame and guilt. In this case, "Thank God" = "I am not a bad mom" = "I am not a bad person"
 
Giraffe107 said:
I read a story recently where a couple, after years of being unable to conceive, used IVF and became the parents of five new babies (sorry, I can't find a link to the news article). The thing is, in the article, the mother was quoted as saying something like 'I would like to thank god for blessing me with these babies'.

Now please, can somebody please explain to me why she thanked god. When it was up to him (natural pregnancy) she did not become pregnant. When it was up to medial science (IVF) and the care of doctors and nurses, she did.

So why did she thank god? Is it a reflex? Is it a need to 'credit' god with having done something?
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Cuz the babies came out okay--usually god aborts them all or leaves a few handicapped when the brood is that big. Really. Medical advancement is the only thing that lets such a brood be conceived AND survive. I have counseled these people as a genetic counselor and the failure (unless there is "selective termination of some fetuses) is the norm for "litters" of humans. You always got to thank the invisible guy lest he take the goodies away and smite you.
 
Snap said:
I was taught that we were to thank God for everything, including pain and suffering. I assumed this included social injustice, genocide and all criminal practices human beings could conceive.

Here's how it goes:

I thank you, Lord, for all the good you've given me. For example, life itself, the earth, my parents, the pretty flowers, the animals over whom you gave me dominion (BTW: did you inform them of this?) I always wondered why the wild ones savagely attacked people from time to time.

I also thank you, Lord, for all the pain I've experienced as well as the loss of loved ones. From this I have learned much and I know my loved ones are watching me lovingly from Heaven as I would do if it were me in their place.

Lord, I know that pain is a teaching tool. What a wonderful gift!

Lord God, you can do no wrong. For you are perfect in every imaginable and unimaginable aspect.

So that was my Roman Catholic mentality. Maybe it still is.

I heard a priest say once in a homily that we can get angry at God for He will understand. But I secretly feared that God would repay me with His Holy Wrath for cursing Him. Believe me, I yielded to the temptation a number of times.

I thought there was a sin against getting angry at God. Maybe the priest was just trying to accommodate this flock, I don't know. I can imagine him hearing confessions in which someone said: "Father, I cursed God this weekend. I was so angry at Him for (insert tragedy here)." The priest responds in a soft, gentle voice: "I'm sure God understands. He will forgive you for this."

Oh, I just had a stomach cramp (no kidding). I think God is punishing me for posting here!!
Click to expand...


Former Catholic myself. I hear you. I couldn't feel good if I was happy--needed to suffer just as Jesus had suffered for me. Lots of former believers here. They make mighty fine and mighty happy skeptics I must say.
Remember, we have cockpit recordings and phonecalls of the passengers and the hijackers on the planes on 9-11. The passengers were praying to live; the hijackers were praising Allah. God seemed to be going by Allah on that day. People do notice the "hits" when it comes to religion an make apologetic noises, denials, and excuses for the endless failures.

Have you seen this "optical illusion"?

http://whydoesgodhateamputees.com/video8.htm
 
A Prayerful Response

articulett: Thanks for the link. I visited that site before and enjoyed it.

Even as a kid, I knew that the so-called efficacy of prayer was a hit-or-miss crapshoot. In fact, we were told to pray even if we couldn't think of anything to pray for.

When I asked my mom (usually) why God didn't answer my prayers, I was generally told any one of the following reasons:

1. God answers prayers in His own way.
2. God knows what's best for us.
3. God won't answer frivolous prayers.
4. God won't answer selfish prayers.
5. God may take years to answer prayers. I was often given the example of St. Monica who prayed for her son, St. Augustine, to be converted & to be saved. It took 20 years and in the end both she and her son became saints. Particularly impressive was the fact that St. Augustine also became a Doctor of the Church.
6. God doesn't answer prayers if we don't fully believe He'll answer them.
7. God doesn't answer prayers if we're distracted while praying them.
8. God answers the prayers of people with greater needs than mine first.
9. God already answered my prayer; I'm just too blind to see it.
10. God wants me to learn some important lesson first, then He'll answer my prayer.
11. God doesn't have to answer my prayer at all if He doesn't want to (or more exactly if it doesn't fit into His Divine Plan).
12. I really shouldn't have to pray at all because God has already given me all I need to live appropriately and to serve Him correctly and piously in my earthly lifetime.
12. Et cetera, ad infinitum, ad nauseam.

I still have an urge to pray sometimes. The urge of a desparate man, I guess.
 
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Giraffe107 said:
Now please, can somebody please explain to me why she thanked god. When it was up to him (natural pregnancy) she did not become pregnant. When it was up to medial science (IVF) and the care of doctors and nurses, she did.

So why did she thank god? Is it a reflex? Is it a need to 'credit' god with having done something?
Click to expand...


How do you know God didn't send her the doctors?
 
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