The Detroit News—A bomb threat today forced about 200 worshippers at the church of City Council candidate Andre Spivey to host services in its parking lot.
Spivey said police informed officials of St. Paul AME about 9:30 a.m. that at least one anonymous caller claimed three bombs were inside the church on Hunt near Chene. Three canine units found nothing, and the church is expected to re-open Monday.
Christians can’t even trust God to protect their families while attending church. Yet virtually every Christian prayer includes a request for God’s protection. Why?
I receive a weekly spam email from a Christian friend with a list of prayer requests for his family and friends. Most of these prayer requests are for God’s wing (or hand) to shield and protect them. What purpose does this type of intercessory prayer serve? They are a pointless waste of time. Even if you are convinced a god exists, there is absolutely no reason to believe he or she cares at all what happens to you here on earth.
Tags: Atheist, Bible, Bomb, Christian, Detroit, God, Intercessory, Jesus, Parking Lot, Political, Prayer, Threat
October 27, 2009 at 1:06 am |
The age-old question “Why does a church need a lightning rod” comes to mind.
Or “Why does the pope need his pop-mobile?”.
Have faith in a god, but trust in science apparently..
October 27, 2009 at 8:05 am |
Or pray for miraculous healing, but take advantage of every modern medical treatment available to you. Then give God credit for the healing.
Or pray for God’s protection, but always wear a seat belt.
Praying for God’s protection is little more than false security or a spiritual insurance policy. “God never protects people, but maybe I’m special.”
October 27, 2009 at 8:17 am |
There are no true Christians in hospitals.
October 27, 2009 at 9:16 am |
As Spock so elegantly put it in Star Trek VI; Why does God, need a starship?
Reginald Selkirk Says:
There are no true Christians in hospitals.
I am so stealing that line. It is the perfect comeback to there are no atheists in a foxhole. A true Christian would know that evil spirits causes sickness and the only way they get better is to pray them out of the person.
In fact, the people that don’t believe in evolution should just be given old fashion penicillin. Why would someone need amoxicillin? Things don’t evolve.
***sits back and waits for the “True Scotsman” lecture***
October 27, 2009 at 9:28 am |
In fact, the people that don’t believe in evolution should just be given old fashion penicillin. Why would someone need amoxicillin? Things don’t evolve.
Hear, hear!
Of course, if you say this, you’ll get the ever-equivocal “micro-” versus “macro-” evolution response.
October 27, 2009 at 10:12 am |
Every Christian should know the best treatment for epilepsy is an exorcism. Just ask Jesus.
October 27, 2009 at 3:32 pm |
So if God chooses to protect a congregation through a warning, this isn’t dramatic enough? You want him to keep the bomb blast away from each person while inside the building, when the most practical thing to do is move everyone outside in the parking lot?
You want Superman? Like a comic book?
Maybe he won’t be God for you until he shows off…
October 27, 2009 at 6:06 pm |
So if God chooses to protect a congregation through a warning, this isn’t dramatic enough?
1. Err…I’m pretty sure that its the police who chose to protect the congregation, but whatever…
2. Why do you presume that TheBeattitude wanted something that is “more dramatic”?
You want him to keep the bomb blast away from each person while inside the building, when the most practical thing to do is move everyone outside in the parking lot?
1. I’m curious to know how exactly one judges the practicality of an action when one is omnipotent?
2. I can think of a more practical thing; defuse the bomb. And maybe teleport it to the Sahara Desert or something; everyone would be happy then.
You want Superman? Like a comic book?
We want a psychic bomb squad.
Maybe he won’t be God for you until he shows off…
Maybe he doesn’t exist?
October 27, 2009 at 4:31 pm |
Actually Paul M, a deity who would do anything at all would be something. But a deity whose very best is an old mythology book and armies of apologists…???
October 27, 2009 at 4:38 pm |
Maybe a bible quote would help you to understand Paul M.
In Isaiah 41:23 the prophet is issuing a challenge from YHWH to other gods. The part I’m thinking of is, “Do something, whether good or bad, so that we will be dismayed and filled with fear.” Seems a fair ‘put up or shut up’ sort of challenge. Old YHWH supposedly came off pretty well when some prophets of Baal took up this sort of challenge.
So yeah, if your imaginary friend ever actually did stuff like he supposedly did in that old, Hebrew story book, I’d definitely pay attention.
But just sending Paul M to explain away the complete and utter inaction and inefficacy of his imaginary friend. Phhhbbbtttt.
October 28, 2009 at 12:08 am |
It appears there never were any bombs.
So one side here claims that God did not protect the congregants from a non-existent bomb. The other side claims God did protect them from a non-existent bomb. Which is sillier?
But really, the supposed bomber himself protected the congregation by only calling in a warning as a hoax and not planting any bombs at all.
October 28, 2009 at 7:50 am |
This post isn’t about the imaginary bomb, but how the church reacted to it. The actions of this church illustrate how trust in God’s protection is silly. When it comes down to human self preservation, faith in God’s protection always takes a back seat.
October 28, 2009 at 11:27 am |
Safety does not stop being a personal responsibility just because there is someone around to help.
Consider the real-world people from whom one expects help, such as police and firefighters. If you find a fire in your house, after you call the emergency services number you do not simply go back to what you were doing, watching television or blogging or sleeping or whatever. Rather, get yourself and your family out of the house (if you did not do this before making the emergency call). Then you do any other safe thing you can do to make the firefighters’ job easier, shutting off the gas, unlocking doors, opening gates, moving cars, etc.
There is no reason to take a different attitude if a god is helping out. You posit trust in some kind of absolute protection and then say such trust is silly. Apparently such trust is in fact quite rare. Even the most ardent believer does not imagine that God is some kind of magical servant who will do everything, leaving his human master free of care and effort. In any case, they do not think it is wise to irritate God by making his protection job harder by ignoring those things they can do for themselves, such as evacuating the church in this case.
Relying on God for any protection is a mistake. But the response to this bomb scare is not evidence of that. It is evidence that most people consider that safety continues to be a personal responsibility even with the assistance of God.
October 28, 2009 at 5:40 pm |
You guys just don’t get it! This news story isn’t literal history; its a parable: the 3 bombs are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit because “they’re the bomb.” And in good Athenasian creed fashion each bomb is individuallt “the bomb” yet there are not three bombs but one bomb.
October 29, 2009 at 5:41 pm |
And none of them exist!
October 29, 2009 at 11:20 am |
Why didn’t God just prevent the anonymous caller from being angry or crazy enough to make the bomb threat? I wonder if he has a personal or financial grudge against the church? – there’s a story here, waiting to become a TV show.
November 5, 2009 at 12:21 pm |
“Christians can’t even trust God to protect their families while attending church. ” Gods ways are as far from ways as the heavens are above the earth. We can question them all we want, and to question his ways is a GOOD thing, but at some point we must have faith. That’s the hard part. And man is it hard sometimes.
November 5, 2009 at 1:53 pm |
I don’t personally see any foundation to build faith. I passionately believed in Jesus my entire life, always ignoring or explaining away anything that challenged my faith. I just couldn’t do it anymore.
“It will all make sense in heaven”, or “God’s ways are not are ways” doesn’t justify the atrocities of our world. We witness children die from cancer, people perishing from contaminated drinking water or starvation, and innocent people slaughtered in acts of violence every day. All while America sits in their big, warm and comfortable homes with 2 cars in the garage.
Not only does the Bible give no foundation to build faith, the world only further confirms the lack of truth in this book. A deity that allows a fallen angel to tempt and destroy his children while he watches from afar? That is not a beautiful picture of love. It is a picture of malevolence. A god that required a man to be butchered to earn his forgiveness? Even if this god is real, I can’t see how he is worthy of worship.
November 9, 2009 at 3:02 pm |
Keep seeking the Truth, BE — I believe you’ll find it (2 Peter 1:3, Proverbs 25:2, 1 Corinthians 14:33)
November 9, 2009 at 2:59 pm |
Sounds a lot like, Matthew 4:6, “And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in [their] hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. ”
And JC (v 7): “Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. ”
It’s funny how God has an entire book (I’m thinking Proverbs) — at the minimum — dedicated to helping Christians live with wisdom, yet when a Christian *does*, the are called a hypocrite.
(And that’s not even to ask: Is there a devil? Are Christians in a spiritual war? Does God cause bad to happen?)
July 4, 2010 at 7:13 am |
Are any of you christians? Baptists? It doesn’t seem like it. We wear seatbelts in cars because its the law, God tells us to obey our authority; the governmnt is our authority. And we ask for protection, because in this world nothing is a sure thing, not even seatbelts. We ask God to give our doctors to wisdom to know what they do. And praying is telling God what he already knows. You don’t need some pope to confess your sins (no offense, to the catholics) God wants YOU to tell him. And my God is not a god of anger. God is a god of love and of second chances. God is a just god, God does certain things to get to your heart. And God does not bring bad things to us, the devil does. The devil temps us and when we fail he accuses us, and (metaphorically speaking) looks to God from hell and brags on how he made you fail. We christians(Baptists) are in a spiritual war to save lost souls to Christ and then God gets them ready to fight for lost souls.
July 4, 2010 at 7:31 am |
You’d be surprised at the number of claimed Christians who come here to speak out against the blogger and Atheism – and how un-Christ-like they carry themselves whilst doing so. Sometimes, even the holiest of people are tempted by the devil and they don’t even realize it, eh?
In any case:
“And praying is telling God what he already knows.”
I think you’re still missing part of the interpretation in this statement, but what do I know, I don’t call myself a Christian.
(It has something to do with “a direct request for intervention” since God does have a hands-off-unless-asked policy. IIRC).
July 4, 2010 at 7:35 am |
Oh and about the penicillin subject, i know for a fact that scientists didnt believe that penicillin evovled into amoxicillin or whatever. They studied and made it better to benefit us. It sounded ridiculous on that subject. Plus you can’t prove that we evovle. And the “Mr. I always ignored and explained away anything that challenged my faith” how much Bible do you know? Did you know the easter eggs come from a queen in the Bible(KJV) named Ishtar? Wow. Amazing that a 13-year-old knows so much more Bible than all of you combined.
July 4, 2010 at 7:36 am |
Oh and about the penicillin subject, i know for a fact that scientists didnt believe that penicillin evovled into amoxicillin or whatever. They studied and made it better to benefit us. It sounded ridiculous on that subject. Plus you can’t prove that we evovle. And the “Mr. I always ignored and explained away anything that challenged my faith” how much Bible do you know? Did you know the easter eggs come from a queen in the Bible(KJV) named Ishtar? Wow. Amazing that a 13-year-old knows so much more than all of you combined.
July 4, 2010 at 7:40 am |
I can prove that we evolved: how do you know that this is not the case, that God didn’t make evolution a rule to be discovered by Darwin, that the Creationist theory isn’t a misleading thing put there by Satan?
One thing I have to ask you to ascertain, if you deem yourself a 13 year old more intelligent than any of us here, is whether there is an exact date in the old testament. Go read it, and perhaps you’ll see the truth.
Do unto others, my friend, do unto others – and all you’ll get are responses that only a 13-year-old can come up with.
July 4, 2010 at 1:27 pm |
Yes, Amoxicillin is a synthetically improved penicillin, not the product of evolution. As I read elbogz’s comment, it is about the need for a new antibiotic to treat some diseases because the pathogens that cause them have evolved resistance to penicillin and other early antibiotics. The relation of amoxicillin to penicillin makes the comment ambiguous.
But evolution is a factor in medical treatment. Some pathogenic bacteria have evolved resistance to penicillin (and also, therefore, amoxicillin) so that treating disease caused by those bacteria requires a new antibiotic (either natural or synthetic) which operates in a different manner. This is some of the knowledge that you are praying that your doctor has: the knowledge of how evolution affects disease and the treatments for it.
So, there was until now no need to comment on the ambiguity in the amoxicillin comment because knowledge and wisdom allowed most readers to understand the point in spite of imperfections in its expression.