People in many places are thanking their deity for surviving a storm.

[MineralMan]

When it's pointed out that their kindly neighbor lost everything, including his life, they say "Too bad, but that's God's will."

It's all down to the deity, which acts, apparently on whims. One is taken and the other spared. It's all praiseworthy, apparently.

I find it more than a little odd, somehow.

[Angry Dragon]

1. I prefer not to have a god that acts in that manner

[MineralMan]

3. Well, you don't, I think.

Neither do those people I mentioned, I think. What they have is some sort of belief in something they can't see.

[trotsky]

2. Shh, we aren't supposed to talk about things like that.

It's disrespectful.

[MineralMan]

4. I'm nothing if not disrespectful.

It's all part of my personal makeup, I suppose. I respect what I believe to be true, and not what I don't.

[wryter2000]

5. It's not odd

It's horrid and cruel. I wouldn't worship that sort of God. In my church, we'd say, "Look at the terrible damage the storm did. We have to help clean up."

[MineralMan]

6. That's good.

Not everyone attends your church, apparently.

[wryter2000]

7. Unfortunately, no

I'd hazard a guess (not substantiated by any data) that some of the people who say things like that don't attend church but have a child's understanding of God and religion.

[MineralMan]

8. I couldn't say, really.

I don't discriminate when it comes to religious belief. If someone says they believe something, I accept their statement. I never question the fact that people believe things, regardless of what they do based on that belief.

I can't believe any of that stuff, though. I do know that. It would be impossible for me to believe it.

[bitterross]

9. Frankly, I find that God rather Trump-like

He, and I do me HE, is very narcissistic, capricious, a sociopath, and very self-centered. If you've read the Old Testament you've noticed this already.

[MineralMan]

10. I'd agree, but that deity is actually only a creation of the human

mind, I think. So, it, like all deities, reflects human frailty, selfishness and mendacity.

[Sailor65x1]

11. "There but for the grace of God go I"

One of the most heinous concepts I've ever found in Christianity.

[MineralMan]

12. Yes. If you survive, clearly you were protected

by your deity, which proves that you're a good person. All those others...well...they must have done something bad.

[Sailor65x1]

13. Yes, or if I have all my limbs,

A job, enough to eat, etc...

[sprinkleeninow]

14. It's not wrong to give words of thanksgiving to The Diety, in private,

not making a spectacle of it, not blowing one's horn, and in addition, not pronouncing judgment on your neighbor's demise. Our community thanks God IN all things, but especially not "we got ours, too bad for you". Our Faith teaches that the person next to you is better than you. I find the virtue of humility lacking in our present society. Hey, I resemble that at times!

Our Faith teaches that we are currently living in a state of FALLEN, not perfection. You KNOW what's gonna happen. Doo-doo.

I have not hard & fast/cut & dry answers to everything concerning why this and what that in the grand scheme of things.

Any and all tragedies, heartbreak, needs, etc. are met with quiet responses and ACTION from members of our community.

Our community shows up for the most minor to the largest call for assistance. And we do not have a big honkin' communicating number. (Members.) They won't leave a body be until you relent and cave for their help. That's a root of pride on our part. DIYers get into trouble at times.

(If read after the following paragraph, it'll make more better sense!) Par.#2)--It was actually fun when our priest was calling the seminarian 'Art' as in Art Garfunkel. He had to clear that up for my airheadedness. Then our priest started singing, "Looks Like We Made It" in a half falsetto voice. He actually has a beautiful voice, plays bass guitar, recorded at least one CD, is in a band/group. His pre-Orthodox days he was in a sorta punk? band singing for Jesus. We're not stiff people!

Par.#1--Our move last year, on four different days, hired one paid small time mover of two people, two compensated guys that work for husband, our deacon, his truck, our priest and his van and a visiting seminarian, husband's Godson and his dad the last day who made multiple runs and wanted to stay as long as needed to wrap it up. We shooed them home. We didn't get to our new place till 2 a.m. NEVER AGAIN!! Oy, the move was brutal for me esp. We downsized big-time and it was still overwhelming.

We (church) get a good number of offerings, donations, gifting from donors requesting anonymity. Just sayin'.

I did do veer off post, did I not. 🙄

[msongs]

15. their god sends them tsunamis and hurricanes. why are they so ungrateful? nt

[gtar100]

16. "God brings both the good and the bad."

Heard that on a show once, from a Muslim show actually. That, to me, indicates a very different definition of what "God" is. Rather than God as some sort of psychotic being bent on driving us all nuts with bizarre rules that can be contradicted at any time, it's a succinct pointer to the origin of reality. The statement "God's will" meaning that we humans are moving in a much larger stream than what we observe as the daily routine of our lives. But our current practices humanize our definition of God more than we ought to and I think that's a mistake that leads to the nonsense you mentioned which, unfortunately, is the norm these days.

But that's still probably not going to sit well with anyone who has a visceral reaction at the mention of the word "God" if it brings to mind the orthodox definitions we generally hear all the time. The word has been abused up and down for centuries and it's likely an unwanted intrusion to ask anyone else to redefine it. That's up to the individual as far as I'm concerned. But letting go of the humanized definition of "God" makes more sense to me than to try and make the origin of all things into some sort of super-human with a mean streak. I guess it's easier than coming up with a new word for it.

[Iggo]

18. The same as if there was no god at all.

Weird.

[Iggo]

17. Why aren't they thanking him for knocking down the neighbor's house?