Haitians thank God rather than rescue workers

Discussion in 'Religion Archives' started by Enmos, Feb 2, 2010.

  1. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    I saw this on the news a couple of times.
    People are being saved from underneath the rubble by the hard working rescue workers, and the first thing they say is "Thank you, God, for saving me." Sometimes it's the bystanders too.
    It's embarrassing!

    Can anyone help me understand why they would thank God rather than the rescue workers?
     
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  3. PieAreSquared Woo is resistant to reason Registered Senior Member

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    God sent the workers

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  5. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    One could say that God sent the earthquake as well. I don't hear them thanking God for that..
    God sent the workers.. Ok, so they just made that up.. why?
     
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  7. PieAreSquared Woo is resistant to reason Registered Senior Member

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    hey it was just a simple explanation

    but just because someone says thank god doesn't really mean they are thanking god
    might be they just don't know what else to say..but yes a thank you to the worker is in order
     
  8. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    I can understand that they would say "Thank God" as an expression. But it was more than that. They were really thanking God.

    If I go out of my way to help someone in need, out of the goodness of my heart, I would be utterly insulted if the people I helped would just turn their backs on me and started thanking God for it. I wouldn't need any thanks, but to thank 'someone else' for it.. I think it's embarrassing.

    I noticed it's a trend though. Believers in God tend to thank God if other people do something good, but they tend to blame it on the person if they do something bad. Perhaps believers in God that read this can comment on this.

    (If this comes off as a rant, I apologize)
     
  9. PieAreSquared Woo is resistant to reason Registered Senior Member

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    buried alive for a few days might bring that out in someone

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    like the expression....no atheists in foxholes
     
  10. Enmos Valued Senior Member

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    So you're saying it's a kind of escapism?

    That expression is bull.
     
  11. 786 Searching for Truth Valued Senior Member

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    Can you show proof that they did not thank the helpers?

    If someone thanks God doesn't show that they did not thank the helper. People tend to do both. I believe people thank helpers as they are being helped.

    Sick Haitian-

    - Helper- Would you like water?
    - Sick Haitian- yes please.
    - Helper-- here you go
    - Sick Haitian- thank you

    (sick haitian goes home)
    - Sick Haitian- thank you God for the help you sent.

    Peace be unto you

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  12. PsychoticEpisode It is very dry in here today Valued Senior Member

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    Because like most believers they thank God just in case He was responsible for all the bad stuff. No one wants a repeat. Kind of says something about God's perceived character, not from atheists but from the theists themselves.
     
  13. Michael 歌舞伎 Valued Senior Member

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    Cause effect error. Under the rubble they think over and over. God, save me. God, save me. Please, Please oh I need a miracle. Oh God, ohhhh baby Jesus... just save me. I won't be a sinner. God please. Oh God. Oh God.

    Most of these people die. One lives and starts thanking God!
     
  14. Tiassa Let us not launch the boat ... Valued Senior Member

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    Is it really that unusual?

    Same reasons Americans thank God instead of the people responsible.

    No, really. I know a guy who once ran marathons. He got up early, trained, went to work, went training again, came home, ignored his kids, annoyed his wife, went to bed, and then got up to do it all over again. For months. And then he ran his first marathon. To this day, he truly believes that he never ran a marathon, but that Jesus did. None of them. I mean, he only did a few before he decided to leave his wife, shack up with a cougar, get herpes, and move to Indiana, but, yeah. Even after all that, he still believes that he didn't run the marathon.

    And if you ever watch American televangelists, you'll find such sentiments are not uncommon. People putting in all sorts of labor and toil, and apparently it's all "God's work", so people send in their money. Because it's God asking, and not other people.

    I don't think either of us could, with a straight face, assert that Haitian society is as generally well-educated as, say, American, Dutch, German, or English societies. I find nothing odd that an exceptionally poor and abused people should have a superstitious worldview that resembles the outlook of many of my lesser-educated American neighbors.

    Yes, it is often embarrassing when other people fail to live up to the standards one assigns them. But, at least, it's an internal embarrassment. And, heck, if it was really that embarrassing, would you really be confessing the embarrassment? Indeed, there are some humiliations I happily endure. You know, like wild nights drinking make for fun, but often embarrassing stories. Or the time I learned how difficult it is to get pequin off your hands. Others I prefer to keep hidden. I don't know where this falls in your personal spectrum, though.

    I think if you spent even a little time studying theology, this wouldn't confuse you so much. The earthquake is a test from God; the rescue an acknowledgment of faith or a preservation to learn a future lesson.

    It's tragic that every Haitian is so blind in their faith, kind of like it's ridiculous how everyone who protests health care carries signs denouncing white slavery.

    More reasonably, I don't know how the media works where you are, but in the States, reporters look around for the most sensational or dramatic thing they can find, and that often—usually—means finding the biggest dolt in the crowd.

    And, of course, when the drama—the rescue from the rubble—is over, the cameras go elsewhere, looking for other things. It is inappropriate to conclude that Haitians aren't, at some point, thanking the resuce workers.
     
  15. Orleander OH JOY!!!! Valued Senior Member

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    Are they thanking god for being rescued or for being spared?
     
  16. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    The fact that it keeps me out of foxholes is one of the reasons I'm an atheist.
     
  17. PsychoticEpisode It is very dry in here today Valued Senior Member

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    Both.

    Now is not the time to wonder why God delivered the knockout punch. Later on they can blame themselves for it as theists are want to do.

    When has mass carnage not been a good thing for theists and religion? I swear that events such as earthquakes are tantamount to proof of God for all theists.
     
  18. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    From An Outline Of Intellectual Rubbish:
    http://www.solstice.us/russell/intellectual_rubbish.html

    A few years ago, there was a bus accident where some cheerleaders on board were killed, and others were injured. One of the survivors made the news by thanking god for saving her. When the story was featured on Portal of Evil, the headline was "Thank you for saving me god, but screw that sinning slut in the seat in front of me." The cognitive dissonance necessary to believe that a kind and merciful deity really is responsible for all of the pain and suffering that we humans suffer boggles my mind.
     
  19. S.A.M. uniquely dreadful Valued Senior Member

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    Last edited: Feb 3, 2010
  20. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    You're right however its the nature of calamity to more effectively erode illusion than good times.
     
  21. Asguard Kiss my dark side Valued Senior Member

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    there is a funny joke about this (slightly australiaised, BOM= Bureau of Meteorology, SES = State emergency service)


    "the BOM pridict a massive flood which will wipe out town x in the next 24 hours, there is nothing which will stop the wall of water from comming once it breaks the dam wall. The goverment declares a state of emergency and the SES and police start evacuating the town when they come across one man who refuses to leave. The SES vollenteer calmly and rationally explains that the flood will kill him if he doesnt leave and the man responds "Christ will save me". The SES volley is to busy so he leaves to help other people.

    The flood waters begin to rise and now the only safe way into town is by boat and another SES crew find this man and beg him to leave telling him that he will drown if he doesnt leave. He responds "Christ will save me" and the SES boat leaves.

    The water is now up to the second story of his house and the SES try again to reason with the man but his responce is the same "Christ will save me"

    Finally the water reaches the roof of his house and the rescue chopper is called in but he pushes the SES worker away again screaming "christ will save me" and the chopper leaves him to his fate.

    The man drowns and is standing before god and Jesus and demands to know "Christ, i was faithful to you, why didnt you save me"

    Jesus looks at him in surprise and responds, "I sent you an SES crew, 2 boats and a helicopter. What more did you want?"

    Moral of the story, god helps those who help themselves"

    By the same token, if it helped the people hold on till they could be found isnt that a good thing? Other people have been pulled out of collapsed buildings saying it was only the thought of seeing there partner or children which kept them going (thinking specifically of those 2 minors in tassie). The human mind can endure a fair amount if its given a reason to, wether that is waiting for family to come to a cancer pt to say goodbye before they die or holding on for days to be rescued anything which can give them that strength, even if its just a placibo is a good thing
     
  22. Repo Man Valued Senior Member

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    It's akin to an abused wife thanking a husband for bringing her flowers after he put her in the hospital with a jaw shattering right cross. I really fail to see how Haitians have any reason to be grateful to any deities at this time.

    "Not too sure about the whole bit of collapsing a building on top of me and killing most of my friends and all of my family, but thank you god for allowing me to suffer starvation and dehydration for days only to have me rescued at the very last moment. I'm sure in time I'll learn to appreciate how killing my wife and my two year old son was all part of your majestic plan."
     
  23. lightgigantic Banned Banned

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    Its only due to thinking that all issues of self hood are determined by the body that one gets besieged by the concomitant issues of attachment. Kind of like a delirious criminal that can't comprehend that they are in jail.
    :shrug:
     

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