Atheists & Agnostics
Related: About this forumThat poor kid...(VENTAGE WARNING)
The kid being 7-yr-old Sailor Gutzler. On the very rare chance some people may not have heard of her - she survived a plane crash last week that killed her parents, older sister and cousin.
Even news anchors at the major networks were throwing around the M-word: "Miracle! Miracle!"
No, you dumbshits. Nothing miraculous about it. Maybe if some deity had been able to tear Itself away from the football games and save the whole family, it could qualify as a miracle.
Do people ever think before they throw around the M-word? Guess not.
Then there was this comment from Kent Plotzner, the Gutzler family attorney: We are devastated by this loss, but are confident that they rest in Gods loving arms..."
I'm pretty sure Sailor Gutzler would rather have the family back in her loving arms.
But for prize dumbassery...as usual...we can turn to a local preacher in the Gutzler's community. He said God obviously saved Sailor for a special purpose.
How'd you like to grow up with THAT albatross hanging around your neck? If Sailor grows up to be just an ordinary human, like most of us, I suspect she'll always wonder if she failed at her God-awarded special purpose. Probably constantly be thinking she should at least come up with a cancer cure or a formula for world peace. To pay back God for, you know, saving her while wiping out her family.
Thanks for listening to my ramblings. The unthinking tendency to credit Gawd (while never, EVER blaming it) just annoys me severely.
arcane1
(38,613 posts)They never take their thoughts to their logical conclusion.
JDDavis
(725 posts)How do they know?
Maybe this poor kid's parents went to that other place because they were... doing stuff that a god does't approve of. (Like being a shitty pilot, or worse.)
Not to cast aspersions (or asparagus) on the pilot, but over 90% of plane crashes are chocked up to pilot error along the way, taking bad risks, not attending to the weather or other conditions, etc.
Arkansas Granny
(31,517 posts)After the death of my infant son, many years ago, people would try to comfort me by telling me he was in "a better place". I just wanted to scream at them that "NO, HE ISN'T. HE'S DEAD"!!!! Or they would say that he was so special that gawd wanted him back. Or, he's with the angels now. Or, a dozen other inane pronouncements from people pretending to know why gawd took my baby.
Just a hint for those who don't know what else to say, just say I'm so sorry. Is there any way I can help.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I am so sorry that you had such a great loss. I agree that people mean well, and people who are believers may actually believe what they are saying, although I think that if they were in the same position, they would not think that God had made a very good choice in taking their child.
I have had losses, but the ones that you expect---parents, a brother, all my aunts and uncles. And yet, I cringe every time I hear someone say those "comforting" comments, and not just to me but to anyone. Better place, my ass.
Warpy
(111,267 posts)to the people who still want their family here instead of on a cloud, scrubbing a harp.
And even if you keep your trap shut and just stare at them, they're just so hurt.
I wish there were a way to retrain them to follow your suggestion, which is a great one.
onager
(9,356 posts)I'm so sorry for your loss. But I thought some other people might find this stuff tacky and annoying. It sure bothered me on the occasions I've had to put up with it. I just spent a month in my home state of South Carolina, where this Reflexive Xianity is as common as fire-ants and just about as irritating.
I've heard claims that the religious boilerplate is supposed to help the sorrowing deal with their pain. But some kinds of pain are so huge they aren't easily dealt with.
This came across on a TV show I recently saw, about the brutal murder of a young child. The TV Talking Head started blathering about "finding closure." The grieving parent shut that right off, saying something like: "There's no such thing as closure for me. I live with this every day of my life. And I always will."
LiberalAndProud
(12,799 posts)will seek out unbelievers exactly because they know they will not have to listen to that particular palaver.
I'm sorry that you grieve even now. How can I help?
PassingFair
(22,434 posts)Hugs are good.
I am so sorry you had to go through that.
I have suffered loss, though nothing so great as yours.
I have had to hear those platitudes as well.
Why is it OK for them to offer their prayers, but
disrespectful for us to tell them that they do not help us?
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)is in a better place, I just want to say, yes in a better place if you consider 6 feet under a better place.
Curmudgeoness
(18,219 posts)I will have to see the giant hand of God pick that little girl up and deliver her to a hospital on the wings of angels. All seen by hundreds of witnesses (me included). "Luck" is not a miracle. It was luck that this plane went down close enough to a house, and that this house had lights on that could be seen. Luck is random.
I also have a hard time listening to the miracle wishers. It always makes me think of all the missing miracles....why some are saved while others are not. It makes it seem as if God is playing favorites, and to be honest, too many of the vilest people are still breathing while some good people and innocent babes are dead. It just makes no sense. God's will.
Warren Stupidity
(48,181 posts)Why Wont God Heal Amputees?
Cartoonist
(7,317 posts)What resiliency children have. And medical science is awesome. God, not so much.
AlbertCat
(17,505 posts)Of course if you eliminate god from the equation altogether, the mystery just evaporates.