After watching the movie Religulous recently , I have come to a strange question to pose to the” conservative-drill-baby-drill-praise-jesus-praise”! crowd. So maybe some of the effects (greenhouse gases and their potential consequences) are invisible but so isn’t your God? Although it’s not something we can immediately see, its something people continue to live and believe in based on what MIGHT happen with their lives.
One argument is that “God controls” the Earth and the Earth will come to an end when he wants it to and there is no way we can control. But according to these beliefs, we have this thing called free will that lets us have choices. If we “left everything to God” why would we ever work for anything when we’re eventually going to end up in a predetermined place? Perhaps we DO control our lives and just like we can get up and slap the person across from you, you also have the same power to do harm to the land that your survival depends on.
Quote from: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0510/36691.html
I feel like I may get some hate mail for this but I’m not trying to undermine anyone’s beliefs. I believe there is a God but I don’t have a religion. If I do, it’s practicing care and consideration for life around me and not letting conservative politicians send me contradictory messages. What Would Jesus Do?
June 15, 2010 at 5:31 am
Jesus would do as He did when on Earth. He stayed out of politics. He went about doing Good. He took notice of those in need. He helped them. He taught those who desired it…open theatre style. He was quiet. He was kind. He did not speak things which could not be understood, therefore, he spoke in story-form (parables) to the spiritually blinded and deafened Jews. He knew He came to be the ultimate sacrificial Lamb…the final sacrifice for sin. He knew that evil exists and that the majority of men would choose evils of the flesh over purity of the spirit man within. He recognized demons in men when He encountered them. He had power over ALL things while He was the Word with God..while He was flesh…and afterwards as He returned to the Father. At no time was He less than he was before…God. And he does ‘rule in the kingdom of men.’ Daniel 4:17..’and sets over it the basest of men.’ Man’s heart is free to choose good or evil. When His will is accomplished in the earth…it is a good and right thing…whether His will is to bless or curse. His will is ALWAYS just.
Concerning the oil disaster, nothing happens without God permission. Satan is fired up and bent on destruction of all things made by God. And the day will come (and I believe is started) when God will PERMIT Satan to cripple and destroy man governments, economies, health, and so forth…to usher in the final years of measured time….during which time evil will unview himself totally..along with those who are joined to him. Their only appetite will be for death and destruction. God will intervene and end Satan and his evil. Record-setting earthquakes, floods, valcanic eruptions, and the never before experienced..OIL gushing unstopped from the bowels of the earth are, seemingly, the destructive heart at work against all things living. And these things could not happen if God did not ‘let.’
And you are correct, we do have free will. But that will does not supersede the will of God. Our will is on a completely different plane that God’s. We deal in small things. He deals in universal and eternal things. ‘Father knows best.’
June 16, 2010 at 2:35 am
By that logic it was God’s will for Hitler to exterminate the jews. Who the hell were we, the United States to intervene?
We have a responsibility as citizens of this democracy, and of this planet to demand accountability of our leaders, governmental, business and otherwise. If there is corruption it is because we tolerate it. If there is tyranny, it is because we do not fight it. If our government is ineffective and does not properly oversee and regulate business, and catastrophes like this happen as a result, then we as citizens of this democracy are ultimately to blame. If the businesses we support by buying their products act irresponsibly, we are ultimately responsible for their actions if we continue to give them our money.
The BP oil spill in the gulf was not a natural disaster and it could have been prevented. It likely would not have happened if BP had taken proper precautionary measures. It would not have happened if the government bureaucracy (the MMS) intended to oversee the oil drilling was doing it’s job. In fact they wouldn’t even have been drilling there in the first place if our government had been doing it’s job and looking out for the well being of the country as a whole and not just the profits of a few.
But all this is only possible because we as citizens and consumers are not active participants in our democracy. This was not the first oil spill. Oil companies and government regulators have been acting irresponsibly for a long long time. We could have seen this coming, if we had chosen to be informed; and we could have put a stop to these irresponsible practices before this all happened, if we collectively would have stood up and demanded it. But none of that would have been easy, in fact it would have been work. But we Americans are lazy.
Before the spill no one cared about anything except the price of the gas they were putting in their tanks. We are not only lazy but we’re selfish. Supporters of our military often remind us that our “freedom isn’t free”; we as citizens of this free country have to be willing to take up arms and fight the forces that threaten us, and if necessary even sacrifice our lives to preserve the freedom of the whole. But the military forces of enemy countries and terrorist groups are not the only threats to our freedom, tyranny can come from anywhere and we have to be willing to fight it wherever it may rise up, on whatever battlefield necessary and using whatever weapons appropriate. Ultimately this disaster will be a greater blow to our freedom than 9-11 ever was and perhaps the BP executives should be treated as enemies of the state. But we don’t have to fight them with guns and bombs we just have to not allow them to destroy us. And we have to demand that our government takes every possible measure to ensure that BP pays the full price for their crime.
America spends more money on our military than the next 14 top countries combined. Maybe we are focused entirely too much on one kind of threat while completely ignoring another? Maybe if our country spent a little less on our military and instead, invested in things like clean, renewable energy, we not only wouldn’t have disasters like this but also wouldn’t have to fight so many wars in the middle east?
But ultimately it’s up to us, If we, the American people choose to be inactive and uniformed, rather than doing our duty, paying attention to what is going on and fighting and sacrificing when necessary, then we will pay the ultimate price; our land, our jobs, our natural resources will be destroyed. Like the fishermen of the gulf who’s jobs and way of life are severely threatened; and the people of New Orleans who’s city is even more vulnerable to the threat of hurricanes due to the oil’s destruction of the protective barrier of their wetlands; we may have greater concerns one day than the cost of fuel at the pump and the comfort of our automobiles.
Ultimately our own laziness is the greatest threat to our freedom and democracy.
When use religion to excuse things like the BP oil spill, religion becomes a problem. When we say the oil spill was God’s will, that it only happened because he allowed it; we are not only excusing the tyranny of BP and the ineffectiveness of our government but also our own laziness; and that is a big problem. If religion is to be a force for good it must serve to inspire us to act and speak out against tyranny and injustice, like it inspired some of our forefathers, otherwise it’s just another threat to freedom.
June 16, 2010 at 4:44 am
Who killed Goliath..God or David?
June 20, 2010 at 5:18 am
Religulous is awesome.