God's Not Listening, Folks

These past two months have been difficult for our family.  My brother was diagnosed with Stage 4 Liver Cancer and given 6 months to live.  My husband's nephew died suddenly from a massive seizure.  Two days later, we got a phone call from my husband's niece who said that her younger brother had just died from a heart attack.  He was only 49 years old.  Then a family friend died from colon cancer - she was 39.  Oh, and I forgot to mention that my husband was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma and just completed six months of chemo.

Throughout all of this, everyone kept saying, "We're praying for you."  On Facebook, requests were made for everyone to "say a prayer for fill-in-the-blank."  Even after a death, people are still praying.  Doesn't anyone ever realize that if there is a God, he's not listening to all those prayers?

The most fervent Catholic members of the family plead for prayers every time their daughter, who has cystic fibrosis, is in the hospital.  They ask us to pray for her lung function to improve, when all her life they have known that it is the doctors, nurses, and medical technology that bring her lung function back to normal.  Do they ever, ever, post something that says thanks to the medical team?  No, they thank all those who prayed.

As for me, I try to stay open to new knowledge.  I talk to others about their experiences.  I read about new approaches in genetic treatments, since I have come to understand that your DNA has more to do with your health than your reputation with God.  Recently, I did some research on cannabis oil as a treatment for cancer.  Perhaps God directed me to google "cannabis and cancer."  

I wish someone could tell me what their feelings are when all their friends and family members are praying their asses off for a person and that person still dies.  Do they think God didn't pay any attention?  Or did God decide that He/She needed that person in heaven to do some tasks that only they could do?  

God Took Her Eye Off the Ball

Be careful what you wish for, the old adage goes. An Arizona family that was fed up with government control in the U.S., decided to sail away and "see where God led us." God allowed a series of storms to damage their boat and leave them adrift. But then God provided a Venezuelan fishing boat to rescue them. Perhaps God was dropping a hint that she wanted them to go to Venezuela, but they didn't think much of that idea, apparently.

 They were transferred to a Japanese cargo ship where they spent three weeks before being taken to Chile. Good thing God speaks Japanese, huh? The family was on a flight back to Arizona arranged by the bad old US Embassy. Mom said they will go back to Arizona and come up with a new plan." I guess the plan is to give God another chance since the first one didn't work out too well.

What does God's voice sound like?

Kudos to Aaron Sorkin for writing an amazing rant for the character of Maggie on the HBO series Newsroom.  If you haven't caught any of the episodes, watch for HBO to run it again and be sure you don't miss a single line of this well-written script.

In this episode, the staff is rehearsing possible questions for potential Republican candidates if their network is awarded the presidential debate.  Maggie's suggestion for a question for Michelle Bachman is "What does God's voice sound like?" She convinces the staff that she is serious by pointing out that if Bachman is being truthful when she says that God told her to run for President, then she is a prophet and we should pay attention to everything she says.
 

And, of course, if she cannot answer the question, then she is not telling the truth and no one should vote for someone who lies to the American people. In response to criticism that the news anchor could not denigrate Christians in such a way, Maggie responds that she is standing up for herself, her family, her church and her congregation by revealing this "false prophet."


You may say that Aaron Sorkin is simply one of the liberals that run the media and television and so, of course he is going to get his punches in against the conservative Bachman supporters.  But the important question here is "What DOES God's voice sound like?" Would you want your news anchor to ask such questions of candidates and hold their feet to the fire of public scrutiny?


Does anyone out there remember Ross Perot?  In 1992, 20 years ago, he gained a following by talking to voters as if he believed they could actually understand the issues.  I remember because it made such an impression on me.  He went on national television and for one half hour did a presentation that now would be done with Power Point, but he used charts and an old-fashioned pointer to explain in clear language what his economic policy was. He advocated a novel idea: that we do away with Medicare and Social Security for "those who don't need it." those like Warren Buffet, no doubt.  Twenty years and we are still having the same conversation!