Prayer Hostages of Japan

To start out I just want to say that my heart breaks when I hear about what has happened in Japan and the pain that continues to be present there. I encourage anyone reading this to donate to help https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052&idb=0

With the tragic and sad events in Japan many people online have been saying "pray for Japan". I understand that this comes from peoples hearts and is a sincere desire to get help for the people of Japan. I do not wish to offend the people that wish Japan well, but I do want to analyze prayer and tragedies using Japan as an example.

I don't hold belief in a god so I am going to make a few assumptions about the idea of god (the one people are talking about when asking others to pray) in this scenario. First, I will assume that god didn't cause the tragedy, but that god created the system of nature that works on its own and that it occurred in the natural movement of things. I know some people think of a god that caused it to punish sin or to teach us a lesson, but the first one sounds less evil and I assume most think of god in that way. Second, I will assume that god had the power to stop it before it happened and has the power to intervene at any time and stop suffering at various levels of the tragedy. Third, I will assume that god responds to people praying and, because of the desire of people to have others pray, that the more that people pray the better. I think it is both safe and fair to make these assumptions.

So with these assumptions, lets think about what prayer is. People are worshiping and begging a god, who has total power, to help the people of Japan. He than determines, based on his divine knowledge of his perfect plan and both the quality and quantity of peoples prayers, if he intervenes. This is the part of the relationship that doesn't make sense to me and what I don't like about the whole idea.

He has the power to stop it and will only if he gets enough prayers, humility, and worship. So it is as if he is holding Japan hostage saying, "Beg for help. Please me with worship. Ask me over and over again and have your family and friends do it too. After that, I might help...I might not." And if this is not the case, why pray at all?

Is he up there with a prayer counter and a meter showing the humility and another for compassion? Is it like a PBS pledge drive where at different at levels we receive different miracles? Is god sitting there looking over the numbers saying, "Let's see here, 200,000,000 prayers from different individuals with 75% of them praying multiple times. Most seem sincere. compassion and humility are pretty high. How many of them praised me? Hmmm, lets see...not enough, let's let the tsunami hit." (not to mention the number of people who are praying to different ideas of god or gods)

It seems cruel. I can't see prayer not being answered like this from a point of view that is not cruel. The same applies to a child with cancer or any other tragedy that people pray about.

Now, to play devils advocate (I absolutely love that phrase in this situation). The only justification I can kind of see is that death is different from god's point of view and that salvation is so important that peoples lives and suffering are a worthy trade off. But than I only see a god who is committing sins of omission (i.e. A young child be raped and murdered who is praying for help but never receives any) and we just have to assume that the ends justify the means. But if withholding help, not giving comfort and taking lives are a means to bring us salvation and the way god does it is to get us so scared, broken and helpless that we praise, worship, beg and plead with tears in our eyes for help that may or may not come; than that is a god I don't want to worship.

I prefer to donate money that will for sure be used in an effort to help and, again, I encourage anyone out there to go here and donate https://american.redcross.org/site/Donation2?5052.donation=form1&df_id=5052&idb=0 Or, if go out there and physically help you have my utmost respect.

The Main Problem With Glenn Beck (and many others)

The main problem with Glenn Beck is that he sees the world through the glasses of his religion. He believes in the L.D.S. religion (Mormonism) with a passion and has derived his political philosophy out of his religious views. He sees the world (as many do) as a battle of good vs. evil with God and Satan behind the scenes trying to influence us one way or the other. This is where the problem starts.

If you think that you have the answers to how to live life (and the origin of the world) than anyone with differing opinions must be influenced by Satan. It doesn't matter what statistics, math, examples from other countries, or experiences of individuals say about the subject; it comes from Satan and is therefore, a trick. This is not unique to Mormonism, but applies to anyone with a close-minded religious view of the world.

This is why Glenn can connect Nazi's, communism, liberals, modern socialism, feminists, atheists etc.. so easily and see patterns and connections that boarder on paranoia. This is why the battle against Obama is so intense. He sees Satan trying to take over America and using people like Obama as puppets to get his way.

This is what scares me today. I see a large group of people who, instead of taking in variables and trying to make the best decisions (health care, taxes, schools, budgets, market crashes etc...), think they have God's answer and will fight anything else (including better ideas).

Unfortunately this is a common mentality for the religious. You even see very immoral behavior and manipulations of data and information to get their way. The sad irony is that the people who wear god, religion, and patriotism on their sleeves; too often are the immoral ones in the arguments and feel that the ends justify the means.