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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWoman Said she Redirected Tornado to Another Neighborhood When God Gave her authority over winds
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/12/texas-christian-claims-she-diverted-tornado-to-another-neighborhood-god-had-given-us-authority-over-the-winds/snip:
Texas woman says her Christian faith gave her the power to redirect a tornado away from her home.
Sabrina Lowe, of Rowlett, said 10 family members were visiting her apartment Saturday when they heard the distinctive train noise of the approaching tornado, reported NPR.
We actually went outside and started commanding the winds, because God had given us authority over the winds, the airways, Lowe said.
Just wow.
.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)From where I stand. ALL religious beliefs are as absurd as this.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)"Serve one another in love." Talk about absurd. Absolutely bizarre AND crazy. Don't even get me started on that feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, or housing the homeless. As if! People that do that are the very height of absurdity, and should be given a wide berth.
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)...towards the homes of other people?
catnhatnh
(8,976 posts)I feel a lawsuit coming on...
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Who have fooled themselves, along with many others, into believing they are genuine Christians.
Didn't Christ teach, "Avoid thine own misfortunes and miseries by first inflicting them on others"?
Blus4u
(608 posts)Home to countless mega churches, and way more than our share of televangelist, money grubbing end-timers AND this state is proud as punch to have launched Ted Cruz.
There are plenty around here willing to fool simpletons.
Now, please excuse me while I go throw up.
Peace
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Only those YOU determine are "genuine Christians" are?
You better tell about a billion or so people that they aren't "genuine Christians."
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Who are self professed Christians, I'd estimate that as many as 3 to 5 actually walk the walk.
The rest? Well those would be like my sister in law, an aunt and a co-worker who donate a couple dented cans of unwanted veggies to food drives once or twice a year. They vote for the repub candidates who made their careers doing the very opposite of what their precious Jesus teaches, in the form of inflicting suffering on the poor, the elderly, the infirm, even the children they profess to care so deeply for, in the form of budget cuts to food, heating, housing assistance, the denial of medical care. Especially when the savings of those cuts is too often passed along as tax breaks to folks who already sit on more wealth than they could burn through in 10 lifetimes. Their votes are tantamount to hiring the elected officials to inflict these miseries, in direct conflict to what the bible teaches, and to do it in THEIR names as THEIR representatives. They're fine with that concept or they wouldn't vote that way. If you hire someone to commit a murder for you. you are legally and morally responsible. If you hire, ( vote for) someone to starve children, freeze the needy and elderly, you are also morally responsible and are in no way a genuine Christian.
Then there are the ones who insist gay marriage/life style is an abomination,and condemn those engaging in it while eating their ham dinners. Leviticus lists both as abominations, as well as things like laboring on the sabbath or have tattoos. These pious people mow yards on sundays, eat pork, in the form of BBQ, or on the 2 holiest if Christian days, Christmas and Easter, settling in for traditional baked ham dinners. These are the genuine Christians which you speak of? The ones who cherry pick which biblical "rules/laws" they'll live by and which ones YOU should live by? Please.
The routine hypocrisies displayed by such people aren't worth mention, being so obvious and numerous. The calls for prayers for elected officials to die horribly in plane crashes or slow, painful cancerous deaths cannot be described as genuinely Christian in any fashion connected to reality. Yes, I see and hear these types of things around me all the time. The prayers for a horrible end times to come soon and be mostly visited on those who differ from them. Michelle Bachman? Christian? LOL!
I suggest that anyone who attended sunday school/church as a kid knows the bible says when the time comes, few will be called. I understand how easy it must be to fool oneself, and other like/weak minded folks, into believing they are genuine, but they certainly are not.
Viewed in that light, which I can't help but do, the idea of a billion genuine Christians is laughable. It's my long considered opinion and conviction that there aren't more than a relative handful worldwide. Claiming to be one does not make it so and the vast bulk of the ones I encounter make the claim, but that's all.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)In my eagerness to qualify my remarks I failed to address what you actually said in your reply.
It seems you may be implying that I just arbitrarily make a determination who is genuine or phony. Nope. Sorry. I go by actions and words exhibited. War mongering members of Congress/Senate who make the claim and the public at large which vote for and support them. No. Hell no. Jimmy Carter? I'd say genuine. PBO, who I voted for twice and mostly support even now and who makes the claim? Nah. Or the KKK, which has at times purported to be a Christian organization? Come on. The white supremacist gun humpers, who make the claim, and who then shoot up planned parent-hoods and abortion clinics and their supporters? No. Pat Robertson or any of his televangical contemporaries? The very notion any one of them is or ever was genuine makes me giggle convulsively.
As far as telling a billion or so people that they are fakes and why? Given a platform to speak from that would command the attention of those billion, I'd relish the opportunity and try my best to make the most of it. However given their short attention spans, lack of focus and complete inability to exercise independent thought, given my experiences, it'd do little good.
Like my sister in law, my aunt and my co-worker, who all eat pork, labor on the sabbath and sport tattoos, they will see the glaring hypocrisies of others while failing or refusing to recognize their own, they just won't get it.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)If someone says they're a christian, then they're christian.
It's not rocket science, it's religion.
atreides1
(16,066 posts)That's really a low standard to go by!
For one thing a Christian is defined as "someone who follows the teachings of Jesus Christ", there are many who claim the title, but fail even that simple definition!
But, you are free to have your opinion, just as others are free to have their opinions!
Even religion has standards!
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Everything else is other believers trying to dictate if said belief is good enough or not.
Just like you and your friend are doing here.
YOU don't get to decide who is and isn't a believer, only the one saying they believe gets to do that.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Then if I say I'm an astronaut, then I'm an astronaut. I expect to be taken at my word.
And speaking of religion, I also currently serve as an assistant Pope.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Being a believer of a religion takes only belief.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)following or living by the teachings of the bible.
I believe in unicorns, flying elephants and ghosts, so by your reasoning they are real. Gotcha.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)If you cannot see the absurdity in your position, further discussion is futile.
Unicorns are just as real as your God.
The "teachings" of the bible are a personal interpretation, not a universal understanding. That's why there are thousands of different sects of Christianity; everyone has their own interpretations
Of what the bible means to them.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)Aha. Finally a single point we can agree on.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)At least I know that you can use reason.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)So thanks for that.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Reason has not been used at all.
So thanks for the compliment.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)I not only made no such comparison, but also never once mentioned God, as such, as anyone capable of reading at an 8th grade level would easily and immediately recognize.
Reading comprehension has not been used at all.
Apologies for the length of time in responding. I had pressing Asst. Pope duties to attend to.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)That if you believe in them, they must be real, and I respond with they are just as real as your God. You then ignore your own comparison.
I took your unicorn comment to be sarcasm. Was I wrong?
If it was sarcasm, why is belief in unicorns any more absurd than belief in a god?
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)As I recall, you made the assertion that if one has the faith in the assumption that one is a genuine Christian, one is. Simple as that, not rocket science, I believe is how you phrased it. I never intended to call into question anyones belief in God, only self proclaimed Christians devotion and sincerity, which I percieve as lacking in the vast majority of those self procalimed. I stand by that.
I believe one can believe in God, yet not follow the teachings of Christ, conduct ones self in a thoroughly hypocritical manner in the ways I described and more, and fool themselves and others into honestly believing they are genuine Christians, when they are decidedly and demonstrably not.
That's been my position through this entire back and forth. And as I said earlier, it is said in the good book, I'm told though not sure of the wording, when the time comes, FEW will be called. Few and billion do not reconcile in that context, or in any other context I can imagine. My issue and amusement stem from your contention that there are a billion "genuine bona fide Christians" and that they are genuine because they believe they are genuine, even though the words and actions of the vast majority, in my experience, show they are not. Either way, few and billion are at far opposite ends of any conceivable spectrum and are not and cannot be synonymous. Therefore if few will be called it will not and can not amount to anywhere near a billion.
Is it possible that we've each failed to fully understand the others position and have been arguing based on faulty perceptions?
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)questioning their belief in their God.
That's the thing about religious belief; if you believe it, there's nothing anyone else can say whether you are a "genuine" believer or not.
That's why there are so many sects of each religion; people like you didn't agree with how others chose to live their faith so they started a new denomination. To say someone is not a "genuine Christian" smacks of arrogance and condescension, and demonstrates an inability to understand exactly how or why other believe differently than you.
And those same folks you don't consider "genuine Christians" don't consider YOU one either.
I take it you're a believer, and consider yourself a "genuine Christian". Have you ever heard of the No True Scotsman fallacy? I think you should look it up.
Blecht
(3,803 posts)It goes something like this:
It is not possible to have a rational discussion with religious people. If they were capable of rational thought, they would not be religious.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)But I do try. Occasionally, the light comes on for one of them.
lindysalsagal
(20,583 posts)Hey- It must be true, cause I said it.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Yet another one that can't see past their privilege.
meow2u3
(24,759 posts)I feel she needs to find the nearest psych hospital and check herself in. That woman's not quite right in the head.
Logical
(22,457 posts)NYC Liberal
(20,135 posts)Either religious people do it for that reason (not getting punishment), in which case I don't quite see it as very noble; or they would do it regardless of their religious beliefs, in which case the religion is irrelevant.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Oh wait, they're not. Only the absurd beliefs in the supernatural are.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)Also, if you think a belief in exercising personal power over a tornado is exclusive to religious persons, I'd say you need to get out more.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Being good to others isn't a belief, nor is it religious, it's a behavior.
Belief in dead people coming back to life, miracles, power over tornadoes....all religious, all absurd.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)You can determine when a person's religious beliefs inform their behavior or when their behavior is independent of any religious belief or practices? Amazing! One might almost say mystical or miraculous.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)What makes it super easy is when they say their religion informs their behavior, like the woman in the OP did.
Or when one fiercely defends religion from critique, much like you're doing.
Have a nice day!
yuiyoshida
(41,818 posts)And I am quite sure her Cousin has it too...
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)yuiyoshida
(41,818 posts)icy cold...it could freeze your beer!!
Politicalboi
(15,189 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)I doubt you are truly unable to distinguish between the Beatitudes and controlling weather. No rational person is.
AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)SoLeftIAmRight
(4,883 posts)do not kill
be kind
...
paint with that big brush often?
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Uhm, no, they're not. Just the absurd beliefs in the supernatural are.
panader0
(25,816 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)Your turn.
Response to rug (Reply #75)
truebrit71 This message was self-deleted by its author.
RockaFowler
(7,429 posts)I don't understand how someone could brag about this
ChisolmTrailDem
(9,463 posts)...11 people killed and she's bragging about it!
Fawke Em
(11,366 posts)Which, obviously, is the reason she believes she has this kind of power. She doesn't "think."
Is she Vayu?
Chemisse
(30,803 posts)But apparently, God only cares about HER family (and probably her sports team, her country, etc).
Whiskeytide
(4,459 posts)... and so they kind of deserved it? I don't know. Have to be some kind of narcissist to think like that.
matt819
(10,749 posts)Of course, the trade-off is that she directed them elsewhere, where they killed other people. Kind of like Ben Carson telling the Popeye's robbers that they wanted to threaten the clerk, not him. Good Christians all.
uriel1972
(4,261 posts)why not just make it fade away instead of directing violence towards innocent people?
LonePirate
(13,408 posts)Is it because we have been programmed to accept religious views as mainstream and normal regardless of how cuckoo they are?
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)Which is why sensible people must never fall for the bleating complaints that "harmless" religious make-believe should be held above reproach and criticism and ridicule. Because giving into that makes room for the theocrazies to claim the same respect. Respect is earned. Make-believe deserves none as an adult modus operandi.
rug
(82,333 posts)You consider this woman to be the vanguard of theocracy?
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)But I do know her statements show a level of delusion that, were it not based in religion, would warrant at the very least total and complete rejection from all quarters and quite probably serious consideration of mental health needs. The fact that it and others of the same ilk are not routinely treated like that outside some left-leaning internet forums like this one is precisely why those who definitely are on the vanguard of theocracy get to keep pushing their anti-science bronze age regressive nonsense onto a supposedly secular society, because almost everyone is too scared of the usual vicious Christian backlash, or too cowed by convention-driven "respect" for religious claptrap, to call a delusion a delusion.
rug
(82,333 posts)whatthehey
(3,660 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)She ain't it.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)She is a deluded idiot however, or do you find her claims credible?
She should be treated as a deluded idiot, as should anyone who makes such patently absurd claims of magical murder, or do you find her attitude either believable or laudable?
People who do seek a US theocracy should likewise be treated when they make deluded and idiotic statements, or do you either believe no one wants theocracy in the US or that they are not deluded idiots?
Those are my opinions clearly stated. I wonder if you could share yours equally clearly about the truth, laudability and desirability of either her statements or theocracy in the US, or both? I bet not.
rug
(82,333 posts)(pause for cigarette break)
You seem miffed at "left-leaning internet forums like this one". Why is that?
To answer your questions, I wouldn't call her deluded any more than I would call that statement deluded. Whether she is mentally ill or not, I leave to professionals. I suspect she's gullible, ignorant and needy. Just mho of course.
As to theocracy, its core component is political and social control through the harnessing of religion. To what end? Hint: it's not salvation. In any event, it will not appear riding on the backs of some poor woman cursing clouds. It begins with the classification of humans into groups, proceeds to demonizing one or more of those groups, and is consolidated by elevating those within the selected groups. By all measures, this woman is counterproductive to that end.
Now, how much did you bet?
skepticscott
(13,029 posts)When people say they hear a voice in their head, and do what it tells them, we usually classify them as mentally ill, unless they call the voice "god" or "jesus", in which case people think it's just wonderful and defer to them obsequiously.
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)With a jury from those parts, they might win.
ladjf
(17,320 posts)The victims might have a chance.
whatthehey
(3,660 posts)It's either mental illness or lack of social support alternatives.
Religion cannot make you do stupid things according to DU, even when religious people give religious reasons for their actions. They are simply misguided.
Poe is becoming Moebius.
uriel1972
(4,261 posts)Too true. They were probably not True Scotsmen anyway.
rug
(82,333 posts)whatthehey
(3,660 posts)jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Go ahead, pull my finger.
Orrex
(63,172 posts)Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)Whatever that is, it ain't divine...
PatrickforO
(14,559 posts)So.........does this mean that God likes this lady better than the people in the neighborhood the redirected tornado ended up in? Because those people suffered mightily. Tornadoes suck. Both figuratively and literally.
Seems like instead of just redirecting the tornado into another neighborhood, maybe she should have used that 'authority' to calm the winds for everyone.
Just a thought. But I guess most Christians these days don't think about other people quite so much unless they are a target for conversion. The harvesting of souls, you know. And, as to salvation, it is not considered to be collective in this perversion of what the faith probably was once. Salvation is now individual - the person says a 'sinner's prayer' and then is guaranteed entry into heaven.
But...what about the state of our earth now? Doesn't that mean something? And what about all the economic and social violence? The abject poverty, the wars? Shouldn't 'salvation' be collective, and shouldn't it be for all of us right now, right here?
Just saying...
onecaliberal
(32,779 posts)KentuckyWoman
(6,679 posts)From Genesis on it's all about God picking the winners and losers. Jews in the old testament were told to kill everything living thing in a certain village and then take it over countless times. American fundies consider themselves the favored ones just like the Jews of the old testament.
Unfortunately I understand this bunch better than I'd like.
CoffeeCat
(24,411 posts)She's a delusional freak who thinks that she controls the weather.
If God gave her authority over the winds, why didn't she simply stop the tornado?
She does realize that her special power killed several people? What does her God have to say about that? I suppose they deserved it, or God just wanted them up in heaven.
Oh brother...
underpants
(182,615 posts)ryan_cats
(2,061 posts)I've got authority over winds and all it gets me are pained expressions from my wife and cats.
dembotoz
(16,785 posts)lpbk2713
(42,737 posts)Just be sure to send him an appropriate "love offering" for using his powers by proxy.
uriel1972
(4,261 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,006 posts)When I used to watch TV, local news always had this "god spared me" stuff when the neighbors got killed. don't get me started....just incredible narcissism - toxically blended with religion.
kairos12
(12,843 posts)Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)MrScorpio
(73,630 posts)Don't have to be bipolar or schizo to be crazy you know. Lot's of people achieve it without a biological disorder!
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)valerief
(53,235 posts)Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,311 posts)spanone
(135,792 posts)SammyWinstonJack
(44,129 posts)PasadenaTrudy
(3,998 posts)Enrique
(27,461 posts)this lady knows the real way to deal with tornados: take control of the wind!
Rex
(65,616 posts)Hey why not? Batshit crazy deserves it's day in court too.
bowens43
(16,064 posts)leftyladyfrommo
(18,864 posts)I think people who are the off from reality are just sad to me.
tularetom
(23,664 posts)Just think, if we all did that, we could direct them tornadoes to countries where only Moooslims live.
Rex
(65,616 posts)Just thought about this, if God did so then he was testing her to see what humans would do. Sadly she failed and humanity is doomed for another 1000 years to ride without Jesus.
Thanks lady!
Response to kairos12 (Original post)
Io1989 This message was self-deleted by its author.
hobbit709
(41,694 posts)Ecclesiastes 8:8
As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
cali
(114,904 posts)JunkyardAngel83
(72 posts)She's amazing.
Vinca
(50,237 posts)Initech
(100,039 posts)annabanana
(52,791 posts)uriel1972
(4,261 posts)Hmmmm....
ladjf
(17,320 posts)that most of the time, God will again give her power over the tornado direction.
DetlefK
(16,423 posts)This is acceptable?
Insane and demented rantings are suddenly and magically no longer insane and demented if somebody connects them to some religion?
WhiteTara
(29,692 posts)instead of destroying a different neighborhood.
Iggo
(47,534 posts)She must be very special.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,596 posts)Lots of Christian love right there.
MADem
(135,425 posts)I've noticed that the word "actually" is sometimes, though not always, accompanied by a load of horse shit that can be smelled from Los Angeles CA to Bangor, ME!
napkinz
(17,199 posts)MADem
(135,425 posts)Amazing how people can profess to be from a faith and not understand a flipping thing about the tenets of it!!!
3catwoman3
(23,949 posts)...beyond batshit bonkers. It's rubber room time.
napkinz
(17,199 posts)my guess is Ted Cruz
randr
(12,409 posts)With great power comes responsibility.
Liberal In Texas
(13,532 posts)She sounds more like the Wicked Witch of the West.
rurallib
(62,382 posts)and not some others that I am sure they had that were more - I guess I'll say normal?
NPR everyday sounds more and more like all other media promoting the crazies and the conspiracy theories.
Listened to their afternoon show today and turned it off after @ 10 minutes after an interview with really crappy followup questions. Can't even remember what it was about - oh yeah bullet proof backpacks for kids. Interviewer never asked the parent if they were doing anything to stop shootings or working for gun control.
Takket
(21,528 posts)Last edited Mon Dec 28, 2015, 09:28 PM - Edit history (1)
Blue Owl
(50,263 posts)A mighty flatulent wind...
actslikeacarrot
(464 posts)AtheistCrusader
(33,982 posts)So I guess it's just happy fun thoughts or something.
Skittles
(153,113 posts)you can be made to believe anything
Orsino
(37,428 posts)Bet they're sorry now.
truebrit71
(20,805 posts)...but I repeat myself...
yuiyoshida
(41,818 posts)sane people cringe. She is probably a Trump Supporter, and low information..everything!
suffragette
(12,232 posts)La Lioness Priyanka
(53,866 posts)bobthedrummer
(26,083 posts)NCLefty
(3,678 posts)lindysalsagal
(20,583 posts)wendylaroux
(2,925 posts)abakan
(1,815 posts)She can redirect, the wind bag Trump?
CanonRay
(14,084 posts)After all, they directed the winds! These people are seriously deranged.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)floriduck
(2,262 posts)Was going to be about Hill. What a letdown.
JanMichael
(24,873 posts)...bullshit it is what it is. religion period. no excuses.
WhaTHellsgoingonhere
(5,252 posts)...on the other hand, she didn't seem to care that she fucked it up and killed her neighbors.
lindysalsagal
(20,583 posts)Quick! Somebody build a wall around her!!!!!
rockfordfile
(8,697 posts)I think that religion is a scam and built upon greed. I think that the woman has some sort of mental problem, but then again this is Texas.