If you haven't heard about the oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico by now, then you've been living on the moon without cable TV. This horrific disaster is resulting in the destruction of thousands of miles of coastland ecosystem, the deaths of millions of animals, the poisoning of the ocean waters, and the ruining of many businesses and families who depended on fishing for their livelihood. Many attempts to stop the spill have failed. The latest attempt involves placing a cap over the hole to slow down the flow of oil, and then drilling relief wells to drain some of it away. However, the cap is still allowing tens of thousands of gallons of oil to leak into the ocean. It is not only floating to the surface, but streaming out into deeper waters, where it will wreak havoc on delicate deep-ocean ecosystems. It is not just individual animals that are dying, but ENTIRE SPECIES may be lost to this spectacular example of human fuckery.
One just has to wonder, "Where the hell is God in all this mess?" Millions of Christians worldwide are praying for God to get off his lazy ass and do something. Well, they're not wording it that way, of course, because they're a bunch of scared little panty-waists who think lightning bolts will zap them from on high if they say anything bad to or about their cranky deity. But they are praying, as this article demonstrates.
Quoting Pastor Jeffries: “Life was so dark, so unfair,” he told the crowd of 100 who gathered in his newly built church Wednesday night. “I was filled with agony and loneliness. But every miracle in the Bible began with someone in a mess. We’re in a mess. It may be dark, the prognosis may not be good, but He’s still a miracle-working God.”
No, Mr. Jeffries, he is not. If he were a miracle-working God, we would have seen a miracle by now. I see no evidence of any god doing anything at all in the Gulf disaster, do you? Or is there something going on that CNN hasn't been telling us? Millions of your fellow sheeple are praying for an end to the spill. They pray, they beg, they plead, they nag, they have loads of faith and they are believing as hard as they can, with their eyes squeezed shut tight and their fingers crossed. Some, I have no doubt, are fasting and holding candlelight vigils and special prayer meetings, and sending out vast numbers of e-mails begging all their friends and relatives to join them in prayer.
Yet, for all that, the oil gushes out at the rate of up to ONE MILLION gallons per day. Try to wrap your head around that, Pastor Jeffries. It's like having a tank that holds a million gallons of water, and each day you drain it and then fill it with another million gallons. It is impossible for the human mind to grasp what one million of anything looks like, let alone that number multiplied over and over again for 49 days.
The relief wells will not be completed for another two months. This could go on until well into autumn. I guarantee everyone that, if it does, Pastor Jeffries and his loyal sheeple, as well as millions of Christians everywhere, will STILL be praying for the oil to stop, and STILL claiming that God does miracles. If there is evidence of a miracle in the Gulf, can someone please point it out to me?
Since this is a Bible Study site, let's take a look at what the Bible has to say about miracles. They were as common as mud back in the day...you know, back when God was supposed to have performed all kinds of amazing magic tricks, such as making the Red Sea part, or killing all the firstborn of Egypt. Ever notice how spectacular events like this happened ONLY in the distant past, and there is no external evidence to support them, so that we have no way of validating whether they actually happened or not? So why should we accept them as evidence of a "miracle-working God"? They are just fables to amuse children and the gullible. If God could part the Red Sea, he would surely have no trouble at all capping a lousy oil well. What we actually see is that, in spite of the faith of millions, God is as impotent as a butterfly. Just what does it take to convince him to ease a little suffering on Earth?
Jesus, himself, seemed to think that one could do anything at all through the power of prayer.
Matthew 18:18-20 "I tell you the truth, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. "Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them."
Well, there have been a LOT more than two or three coming together to pray for this horror to end, and God hasn't done squat. Jesus lied.
Mark 11:22-25 "Have faith in God," Jesus answered. "I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours."
Another verse where Jesus says you can have anything you want if you believe hard enough. He sets no limits here, and he does not exclude anything. I say this because Christians like to brush this off with, "Oh, he meant that you could get what you want IF it is in keeping with God's will," or "It has to be a completely unselfish request," and other such nonsense. Even if he had set such limitations, how could it not be God's will to stop the oil spill? How could praying for the welfare of other people and the lives of animals be anything but unselfish? Once again, Jesus lied.
John 14:12-14 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it."
This is the clincher right here. Jesus is very clear that you may ask him for ANYTHING in his name, and he will do it. So, why hasn't he done it? Pastor Jeffries has asked Jesus to stop the oil spill. I am sure he asked very nicely, which is much more than I would have done. Jesus made a promise that he would do anything Pastor Jeffries requested, but Jesus has not kept his side of the bargain. For the third time, Jesus lied.
I think Christians are going to have to face one of several ugly truths here. Either God does not exist, or he exists but cannot perform all the miracles that the Bible says he did, or--and this is probably the most painful--God hates Christians.
Why should he care about Christians? They use the name of Christ but don't do much of anything he said to do. They claim to follow the commandments of God, but actually ignore them. They claim to believe what the Bible says, but when it says something they don't like (such as when two or more verses contradict each other), they try to change what the Bible says so it makes more sense. Their entire history over the last 1500 years or more has been one of extraordinary violence, brutality, and hatred. So when some decent Christians do come along--and I have known many--they are overshadowed by all the crap that other Christians have done, and are still doing, in God's name. Maybe God has just thrown up his hands and given up on them. Maybe he never liked them very much to begin with.
At any rate, he is certainly ignoring their desperate pleas for help right now, just as he ignores their cries when they pray for a child to recover from cancer, or any other prayer for that matter. If there is to be any respite in the Gulf of Mexico, it will come from humans, not from God.
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