Monday, February 14, 2005

A Pleasure Seeker

Here's further proof that the living dead walk among us:

A Christian minister claims the tsunami of Sunday, Dec. 26, killing at least 160,000 people, was direct result of "pleasure seekers" breaking God's Sabbath...."Some of the places most affected by the tsunami attracted pleasure-seekers from all over the world. It has to be noted that the wave arrived on the Lord's day, the day God set apart to be observed the world over as a holy resting from all employments and recreations that are lawful on other days."
I'd like to suggest that the Rev. John MacLeod, of the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland, is a "pleasure seeker" of a considerably more loathsome type: he takes pleasure in imagining that he's privy to the workings of "divine justice." And having found that this "justice" bears a gratifying resemblance to his own petty revenge fantasies, he allows himself to view an unimaginable catastrophe as a feather in his own cap. How flattering it is, after all, that God has the good sense to agree with him!

I'm tempted to wish that all the suffering and grief of tsunami victims, and their survivors, could be visited upon MacLoed in a paroxysm of agony that would blast the despicable old hypocrite's carcass into its constituent atoms. But I really prefer not to travel even that small distance in his direction. I'll merely paraphrase Isaac Asimov, and say that it doesn't matter whether God exists or not: MacLeod won't be getting the reward he expects in either case.

9 comments:

Aquaria said...

Phila:

The other obvious retort is that a substantial majority of these people were not Christians, so they wouldn't necessarily be worshipping on a Sunday. Jews don't. Muslims don't. Hindus don't. Buddhists don't. People of genuine faith did their holy day thing on other days.

Thers said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Thers said...

For a Scottish sermon, that actually sounds kinda cheerful...

Aquaria said...

What I don't have to say, of course, but will, is that the real implication here is that it's okay for brown non-Christians to die a terrible death according to these asswipes. They have it coming, you know, for not being white and Christian.

Anonymous said...

In the space of a few weeks, back in October 2003, I heard Osama say that God was telling him to continue killing infidels; the Pope saying that God wanted him to continue in the papacy; Gene Robinson, that God wanted him to become Bishop of New Hampshire; and G.W. Bush (as reported by a friend) saying that God had wanted him to run for president. All of this confirmed my long-held belief that people who think that God talks to them are hearing merely the voices of their own deeply-held desires.

MAG

robin andrea said...

I don't believe in god. But even the god I don't believe in is more powerful, good, decent, kind, and merciful than the god these people speak for.
Their god scares the living daylights out of me.
Rexroth's Daughter

Phila said...

Rexroth's Daughter, great comment! That's more or less where I'm coming from. I really don't consider myself to be a materialist, let alone a "freethinker" (which has to be the most obnoxious, self-aggrandizing name ever!)...but all I know is, whatever I do believe in, it doesn't allow me to me gloat when huge numbers of people die. And re: Speechless's post, I don't know that we need a hell of a lot more common ground than that!

It's my view that results are a lot more important than beliefs. As long as a person is compassionate and tolerant, I couldn't care less how he or she got to that point. Thus, most of the "debates" between religious and nonreligious people of goodwill seem really irrelevent and counterproductive. To me, anyway...I don't mean to imply that everyone else should feel that way!

Phila said...

Speechless,

"Counterproductive" was the wrong word. Exchanging ideas is productive..and often fun, too. But I really do think that in this day and age, endless ontological debates are a luxury good people can't afford. Lives of "grace and peace" are too rare and valuable to disdain, no matter what their motivations are.

I don't care how life began, and I don't care what happens when we die. I care what we do while we're here. And sometimes, I confess, I wish people would spend less time quarreling over undecidable philosophical propositions, and more time on solving practical problems.

The again, I suppose people do have to talk to each other to reach that point. I don't know...I've devoted so many years to arguing such simple, demonstrable logical propositions...I'm a little burnt out, I'm afraid. But I suppose I need to get over it and keep plugging away.

Phila said...

PS, the peevish tone of that last post shows that I do need to get over it. Please be assured that it's not directed at you, Speechless! I was thinking back to an long, exhausting debate I once participated in, and, I think, reliving certain frustrations. It's nothing personal!