Something seems to be absent. The blazing rhetoric of televangelists and others proclaiming the wrath of God on New Orleans when Katrina blew ashore are strangely silent as a massive outbreak of tornadoes has ripped through the Bible Belt... I do not make light of this disaster... There is, however, a lack of continuity.I'm not sure whether Meredith, Flurry or Pack will feel any such constraint, but time will tell. More interesting will be whether fundagelical pin-up boy John Piper finds the hand of his punative god in these events - considering what he wrote, for example, a couple of years ago.
Steve's whole entry appears on Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.
And just how would they know if God actually mitigated some of the damage? What if it would have been a lot worse if He had not intervened? It is tornado season after all. And next month begins hurricane season. We can hardly wait.
ReplyDeleteNo one can prove these meteorological events are supernatural, in spite of the Winchester Brothers. I mean if Dean and Sam aren't involved and Bobby didn't call them, just how can this be other than natural weather?
Some how the association between cause and effect of the uber conservative religionists escapes me.
Now if they had predicted the specifics three weeks ago, I'd be impressed. As it is, they are just opportunists picking and choosing which time and chance event happening to all they will emphasize to prove their asinine insane assumptions.
Last I heard, Sam and Dean were tied up in Oregon.
ReplyDeleteAt last report; 373 dead, 571 missing.
ReplyDeleteIf any members of the PT forum from Mississippi and Alabama are reading this, please check in, we're worried about you.
If Sam and Dean are still tied up, they will be loose soon. The Mojo of Armstrong will probably be involved, since he came from those parts (we can count both Iowa AND Oregon!). Maybe one of Armstrong's silver inlaid demon worship object will be the key to their release. There are so many of them.
ReplyDeleteCorkey, have faith. The forum members are likely OK.
But I'd be really worried about the Armstrongists, if I worred about such things.
Besides, I don't think most of us are real members. Don't you have to be working on some sort of religious degree to be a real member?
Or am I confusing that with the UCG? I forget.
It was "Satan the Destroyer" -- so concluded the UCG Pastor I heard this afternoon. He reasoned Satan was angry at the end of a "wonderful" Spring Holy Day season on Monday.
ReplyDeleteAs for the comparison with N.O. and Katrina: the Pastor said all of the U.S. is suffering for its sins, because sin is everywhere.
He added ministers in general are "not preaching about sin" -- and don't know that sin is the transgression of God's law, anyway.
The pastor confirmed one UCG member died from the tornadoes in the Chattanooga, TN-GA area - an 81-year-old woman.
And perhaps not surprisingly, he threw in a quick political dig - wishing President Obama would announce specific actions to move relief supplies to Alabama, instead of simply "feeling the pain" of the grieving.
wishing President Obama would announce specific actions to move relief supplies to Alabama, instead of simply "feeling the pain" of the grieving.
ReplyDeleteAnd the UCG didn't see the irony in that, considering that United won't even feel the pain of the grieving, let alone pitch in with time and money?
"He reasoned Satan was angry at the end of a "wonderful" Spring Holy Day season on Monday."
ReplyDeleteThat is insane, and way more self-centred than the sermons I remember, touching on disasters around the world in the '80s. In fact, other than "It's prophecy come to life!" the ministers of the congregations I attended never personalized such events to that degree.
"He added ministers in general are "not preaching about sin" -- and don't know that sin is the transgression of God's law, anyway."
That's more in line with the messages I remember from the Church. Although your UCG pastor being overly-concerned about the world's government (and its politicians) with his remarks about Obama is somewhat worrying, Richard; time, perhaps, to jump the sinking ship?