Kent Brantly survived Ebola, cuz gawd

[EvolveOrConvolve]

I guess god was too busy saving old Kent to care much about the hundreds of Africans killed by the disease.

http://www.religionnews.com/2014/08/21/recovered-ebola-us-missionary-kent-brantly-discharged/

“God saved my life,” said Brantly, looking gaunt, at a press conference Thursday, at which the room applauded his appearance. He thanked his medical team and the millions of people around the world praying for his recovery. “Please do not stop praying for the people of West Africa.”

Fuck you Kent.

[PoutrageFatigue]

1. Yup. Had nothing to do with the hard work. ..

... of the folks that came up with the medication. .. it was prayer that did it.....

With football season upon us I'm amazed gawd had time to heal him what with all of the touchdowns he has to help score.. .

[EvolveOrConvolve]

2. And if pressed on the subject

I can almost guarantee he'd spout something silly like "god guided the hands of the researchers who discovered this miracle medicine!!!!!!"

And I have it on good authority that god doesn't care about the pre-season, so his schedule's wide open until next week.

[Rainforestgoddess]

3. And music awards, too!

Thank you god, for giving me an award for selling a million records about boinking my neighbour's wife. Never mind the outbreak in Africa.

'cos mysterious ways.

[Act_of_Reparation]

4. Well, he obviously prayed harder than 1,350 people who weren't as fortunate.

Obviously.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

5. Or those 1350 people prayed to the wrong god

There's only one true lard and savor, and he's a blue-eyed, blond-haired Caucasian.

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. Blue-eyed, blond-haired caucasian?

I thought he was a winged sky scraper-sized anthropomorphic cephalopod.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

7. No, that's just silly

He looks like this:

[Act_of_Reparation]

8. Wow. Just wow.

The big octopus is cooler imho.

[JoeyT]

10. That picture doesn't say "I am your lord and savior",

it says "Hey there. The four tabs of E I just took are starting to kick in. Want to go back to my place? No? Have you seen my kickass t-shirt though?"

[Act_of_Reparation]

11. Nah, Aryan Jesus be like...

..."Hey, any y'all seen my Lynyrd Skynyrd best of cassette? I'm drivin down to Ferguson tomorra and I'll be fucked if I'm listenin to NPR."

[Lordquinton]

16. I read that wrong

Thought it said "The four tabs of I E are starting to kick in" and got really confused.

[Rainforestgoddess]

14. My cousin looked like this

When he lived in a tent with his cat. No lie. We called him "Jesus in a tent"

[EvolveOrConvolve]

24. LOL, at least we know your cousin actually exists

[Rainforestgoddess]

32. Pretty sure. Ha ha

Though he's one of the biggest woos ever. His sister too. She's a "homeopathic doctor".

[Warren Stupidity]

36. Nah, he much more likely looked like this:

[OriginalGeek]

40. I have a Corrosion of Conformity concert shirt

with almost that same picture - except the heart is a hand grenade. It's fun when folks think one thing and then get a closer look.

[AlbertCat]

13. he's a blue-eyed, blond-haired Caucasian.

If you're talking about healing, I thought god looked like this:

[Act_of_Reparation]

15. I am told my ancestors worshiped a blue-eyed Caucasian god of ass-kicking

They thought he looked something like this:



Pray to Odin all you want. Odin don't give a shit.

[Lordquinton]

17. Saw this guy earlier today

[NeoGreen]

21. My god carries a hammer...

...

[Curmudgeoness]

26. Oh, no, that can't be the right god.

He's nekkid.

[AlbertCat]

29. He's nekkid.

He's wearing a hat!


Seriously.... (now that I actually look at it) it is an amazingly lovely sculpture, isn't it?

[Curmudgeoness]

30. I hadn't thought about it, but

it is a beautiful piece, except for the angle of his hand, which is rather creepy.

[kath]

9. Those other people just didn't kiss Gawd's ass hard enough.

[AlbertCat]

12. Is "medical professionals" the new definition of god these days?

What WILL they come up with next?

[Skittles]

18. I was very disappointed when I heard him speak

he sounds like a sanctimonious nutcase

[Curmudgeoness]

27. Well......

he was a missionary treating the people in Africa, so you be the judge. I don't disagree with people helping the less fortunate, but I have a problem when they are doing it for the purpose of spreading the word of God to those heathens in Africa.

[LostOne4Ever]

19. That is better than the guy who

was saved by an emergency response team, thanked god, and then proceed to sue his actual rescuers.

Brantly at least thanked his medical team, and to be honest I am hesitant to criticize a person who risked his life to go treat Ebola patients in Africa. I rather blast the submerged car asshole. I don't like Brantly's comments in that it makes it sound like he is saying that he is special and god gave him favor over all the people who did die, but having been a believer when I was younger I would bet he never meant it to be taken that way.

I doubt he gave his comment much thought at all and that is the real problem.

I would chalk those comments to the privilege believers in this country have to make thoughtless religious comments without really considering their implication. Our society not only condones making thoughtless statements of faith like that, but actively encourages it. When we bring up how insensitive these comments really are, we are the ones who are often made to look like we are being insensitive asses.

It how society protects this privilege, and tries to shut down those who don't buy into the status quo.

[rexcat]

25. On the other hand...

if he had followed protocol he would not have gotten infected in the first place. He was sloppy and it almost killed him except that being an American he was one of the first to receive the experimental product and was flown back the US and treated at Emory Medical Center at great expense. Gee, I wonder who is picking up the tab on that one.

One could say he could have American privilege, Christian privilege, or white male privilege but from the way he comes off probably all three! His arrogance is beyond the pale.

[LostOne4Ever]

31. No argument on the privilege aspect

Had he been one of the other victims of the virus he would have less than 50% chance of surviving.

That said, I still don't think he was being arrogant. Just thoughtless. Something I am more than willing to overlook in this case seeing as he was there offering medical aid to those in need. Honestly, I wish more people were willing to do that whether they be believers or atheists.

However, I do understand the criticism, and it is something that needs to be discussed. I just would personally rather do that in regards to someone I felt was more deserving of scorn, or society as a whole rather than someone like him. That said, that is just my point of view and I completely understand if anyone else here feels differently.

[rexcat]

38. I would say...

his thoughtlessness has to do with arrogance which comes from his religious views, just saying.

I do agree with you that more people should be responding to the crisis, be they religiously or secularly motivated. There should be a world-wide effort to help the people of West Africa but unfortunately this is happening in a poor area of Africa and it is easy for some to ignore the issue.

That reminds me, I have not contributed to Doctors without Borders this year and I will do so now. The link below.

http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/

[theHandpuppet]

33. Wow. Read that story... what an absolute JERK

Maybe he should sue God instead for sending all that rain.

[mr blur]

20. That's some Christian privilege right there.

What an arrogant dick.

[mr blur]

22. Check out this crap:

“As I lay in my bed in Liberia for the following nine days, getting sicker and weaker each day, I prayed that God would help me to be faithful even in my illness,” Brantly said. “Through the care of the Samaritan’s Purse and SIM missionary team in Liberia, the use of an experimental drug, and the expertise and resources of the health care team at Emory University Hospital, God saved my life.”

This guy's sicker than they thought he was.

[theHandpuppet]

34. Samaritan's Purse is a Franklin Graham charity

'Nuff said.

[Arugula Latte]

23. Why did gawd smite his ass in the first place?

[Curmudgeoness]

28. Excellent question.

From the other stories I have seen in the Bible, I assume it was to test him??????

[Warren Stupidity]

35. Believing that nonsense implies believing in psychopath Yahweh.

Which, come to think of it, is completely aligned with all the descriptions of el supremo's behavior in the OT.

[Rob H.]

37. “God saved my life.”

Yeah, the treatment consisting of an experimental drug, the efforts of 5 doctors, 21 nurses, and round-the-clock medical care at Emory were completely unnecessary and only tangentially responsible for his survival. (Yes, he thanked them, too, but giving most of the credit to The Invisible Man Who Lives in the Sky by saying he acted through them makes Brantly sound like a fundagelical nutjob.)

[Lordquinton]

39. If we look into this a bit

We can see how effective prayer actually is, assuming the majority of people who are effected in this outbreak pray to be healed, and all of them have people praying for them, we can see that the only ones cured are the ones who also receive this experimental treatment, and can safely discard the notion that prayer does anything at all.