If one is called by their God to run a country, but doesn't get elected,

[Ikonoklast]

does that mean they worship a false God?

Or are they just delusional psychotics who hear voices in their heads?

[XanaDUer]

1. Or maybe God bet on the wrong horse?nt

[Ikonoklast]

2. Thus proving fallability, therefore, not a god.

Besides, I see the Judeo-Christian God more as a slots type of guy; random for the most part, but the House always wins.

[toddaa]

3. Devine practical joke

She's doing this for the lulz.

hail eris


fnord

[Kalidurga]

4. Then clearly...

the electorate is made up of a bunch of ungovernable heathens and it is God's will she should not be subjected to ruling the unrulable.

[toddaa]

11. It's the governable that you got to keep your eye on

They scare the shit out of me.

[Ikonoklast]

21. So. you'd advocate God employing a "Sodom and Gomorrah" type remedy again

if we are unable to govern ourselves?

If so, this country is in deep doo-doo.

[Obamanaut]

25. 'divine' nt

[Ikonoklast]

28. Gahd haites speling Natsis.

[Obamanaut]

41. Response #2 (yours) states there is no god. Pick a position, and stick to it. nt

[Ikonoklast]

44. God also hates binary thinkers.

"Mysterious Ways" and all that, no black/white, all is shades of gray...

[Obamanaut]

45. How do you come to speak about what god hates having said there is not one?

[Ikonoklast]

46. God spoke to me last night.

She told me to change my ways.

[Obamanaut]

47. "Or are they just delusional psychotics who hear voices in their heads?"

You might recognize this from your OP.

Or, maybe not.

[Ikonoklast]

49. See post #22, or #23, for that matter.

Oh, and I never stated that I heard 'voices in my head'.

I said I spoke with God last night.

[undeterred]

5. Narcissism from a religious perspective aint all that different

from non-religious narcissism. We all know people who think they are God, but aren't the least bit religious, don't we?

[Ikonoklast]

22. Look, this isn't about me.

Or...maybe it is, after all.

[Ikonoklast]

23. Look, this isn't about me.

Or...maybe it is.

[Zax2me]

33. I weigh each side about equal... n/a

[Sheepshank]

6. I posed this very same question to a bagger

The response was that God wanted to give them a trial to improve their character...or some such nonsense.

[Ikonoklast]

7. My usual response to that little bit of sophistry is

"So God just messes with people for the hell of it? Or is he actually just a spiteful prick, making people miserable with demands he already knows people will not fulfill?"

[Sheepshank]

8. An apparent pattern of behaviour. Look at what he put Abraham through n/t

[Diclotican]

19. Sheepshank

Sheepshank


Wel, Abraham had his hand full thats true.. But I would say Job in the Old Testamente had a far worse time, when he was used as a tool between Yahwe and the Devil in a bet between them..

Diclotican

[firehorse]

9. I remember when Bush claimed God talked to him - should have had a psych evaluation

or maybe he was drunk.

[Kurmudgeon]

10. "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain"

"for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain."

I'd say they just didn't read too deeply, or they'd be more cautious.

However, no way near as "psychotic" as those who assume the Universe just popped into existence all by it's self.

[bengalherder]

13. From nothing, eh.

I am NOT an atheist, but am mush more inclined to believe scientific theory than God barfing the thing up from nothing one hungover morning or whatever.

[Ikonoklast]

14. If one believes a god that is eternal, and always existed

it is not much different from believing in a Universe that has existed in the very same way.

[COLGATE4]

12. No, it just means God has a wicked sense of humor.

[Diclotican]

20. COLGATE4

COLGATE4

Sometimes he do have a wierd sense of humor.. Other times I dosen't know what to say really...

Diclotican

[Obamanaut]

15. Maybe it means the voters voted for someone else, using the 'free will'

they were given - the same free will the candidate used when he decided to answer the call.

[saras]

16. God calls you to run a country by giving you a country to run, not by voices in your head.

Those voices are only delusional if you come to believe that something other than your mind generates them.

But it's a shitload of fun overstimulating them ol' temporal lobes, ain't it? IT's like LSD without having to associate with hippies.

[Ikonoklast]

32. I'd tell him to stuff it if he asked me to run *this* country.

Too many jerks here, and you can't deport them all or put them in camps, something about the Constitution or other...



I'd rather run Tahiti.

[JVS]

17. God is tricky like that. Remember what he told Abraham to do?

[Ikonoklast]

18. Abe fucked up. He was *supposed* to tell God, "I'm not going to kill my kid, you nuts or something?"

THAT was the 'test', but the senile old fool thought God actually wanted his son dead.

God was catching a Baywatch re-run marathon right up to point Abraham was raising his hand to kill Isaac, when he suddenly realized that the crazy old fart was actually going to go through with it.

[Diclotican]

24. Ikonoklast

Ikonoklast

I don't know really.. But I am allways inclined to be suspectious when politicans is talking about that they are been told by God to run a country. In US it is a tradtion, going back all the way to the "founding fathers" to claim god want them to do that, or this.. But in Norway, you would at least be "castrated" political speaking if anyone claim that god wanted them to run Norway.. It have never been a tradtion in Norway, at least not after the parlamentaric system was put into power (in 1884) to play god want me to do that card.. In fact, if you claim it, the road to a asylium is far more posible, than the highest office in the land..

Leaders who claim that they are shoosen by god, to lead a country are either outright nutters, or peopole who have great sins in their minds.. I for one was really conserned when Bush jr was telling that he had been told by Crist (or god) that he was planing going to war, either way.. And many americans, just say yea to it all, and managed to get him "elected" twice!.. The man is totaly mad, and enough americans voted for him twice??????.. Guess what a lauthing stock US for the most was the 8 year he was president (thankfully he could not be elected more than 2 times)

Diclotican

[Ikonoklast]

26. There are many in this country religiously insane.

I agree, anyone saying God called them to political office are either pandering or psychotic.

[Diclotican]

27. Ikonoklast

Ikonoklast

Wel, US was after all, build up by extreme religous zealutz who emigrated from Europe when the new world was up for grasp.. It started with Mayflower... And after that, it have allways been a underground thingy in US, the whole thing with extreme religous belife..

Diclotican

[Ikonoklast]

29. People forget that here.

A nation of religious outcasts, misfits, and the oppressed who became oppressors, first chance they got.

[Diclotican]

40. Ikonoklast

Ikonoklast

It is little wierd, that forreigners have more knowlegde about US history, than most americans itself.. But yes, US was the place where everyone who else was misfits, or outcasts, and opressed could have more freedom than they ever imagined in the old word..

And then, they becore the opressors first chance they got themselfs...

Diclotican

[Drew Richards]

30. It means they failed god and should kill themselves for the good of the nation

[calimary]

31. I'd say both. The God they claim to worship isn't the God I learned about in Catholic school.

Doesn't sound much like Him, anyway. And it sure doesn't sound like they're honoring or following His Son's teachings, either. They know NOTHING about that "least of My brethren" stuff. NOTHING!

The other day I actually heard somebody on Ed Shultz's show refer to The Beatitudes and the Sermon on the Mount. FIRST TIME EVER!!! And that nasty, shrill, blond Las Vegas heidi creature he has on to represent "the other side" shouted out something to the effect of - "yeah, the Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat!" Isn't that kinda Old Testament-y? If they claim to follow Christ, He didn't come along til the second half of the book, and with an entirely different message as I recall.

[Ikonoklast]

35. God put Heidi Harris on Earth to test your patience.

Plus, it's illegal to stuff your socks down people's throats, no matter how much they deserve it.



Besides, I've heard that some people pay good money to have dirty socks shoved in their mouths, and I'm not going to do it for free.

[LeftishBrit]

38. The 'If a man shall not work neither shall he eat' quote is from the NT but not the Gospels

It is from Thessalonians, and seems in the context to be not a general social prescription, but an attack on people who joined early Christian communities as hangers-on without intending to contribute.

There are actually quite a few bits in the OT which don't fit too well into Republican ideas. E.g. this bit from Isaiah 32:

"Scoundrels use wicked methods,
they make up evil schemes
to destroy the poor with lies,
even when the plea of the needy is just.
8 But the noble make noble plans,
and by noble deeds they stand."

I'm not a religious believer myself; but the Bible as a whole clearly does not support the current Religious Right.

[lunatica]

34. God is such a prankster

[Ikonoklast]

37. Well, he did give Donald Trump that ridiculous hair.

There is that.

[LeftishBrit]

36. From their point of view, it probably means that the voters are sinners and will go to Hell.

While this attitude is thankfully less common in the UK than in America, there is a particularly loonytunes Tory MP called Nadine Dorries, or to many people 'Mad Nad', who once said in an interview with a Salvation Army newspaper:

'My faith keeps me grounded. I am not an MP for any reason other than because God wants me to be. There is nothing I did that got me here; it is what God did. There is nothing amazing or special about me, I am just a conduit for God to use.’

And in Oxford, a local church organized an Election Prayer day just before the General Election, stating: 'We are asking that God individually hand picks each person who aspires to be a Member of Parliment; for when the righteous rule, the people rejoice.' (And, knowing the views of certain people connected with that church, I am sure that there was an element there of: 'Please God, strike down evil left-wing Gordon Brown in favour of the Tories, and in particular strike down our evil atheist pro-choice MP and instal the Tory twit who happpens to be a member of this church'.)

[Ikonoklast]

39. I think I found a pic of the Tory candidate taken at the church picnic.

[annabanana]

42. God says "PSYCH!"

[Major Nikon]

43. I've had conversations like these with religious fanatics and gotten the standard answer

"God works in mysterious ways."

Belief in god requires one to suspend logic and reason.

Trying to reason with these people is like trying to polish a turd. It does no good and you just wind up with shit all over yourself.

[Matariki]

48. Too bad that can't fit on a bumper sticker!

Excellent and quotable!