Jeff says God sent this oil well to make him rich.
Jeff's Oil Well.
While this fundamentalist rants
“God’s oil well has fixed my finance!”
We must ask for whose sake
He sent this big earthquake?
And see that it's all down to chance.
As Forest Gump said: (quote from the movie).
Young Forrest Gump: Mama said not to be taking rides from strangers.
Dorothy Harris: This is the bus to school.
As God said: shit happens.
As I said: Sometimes wisdom awaits a paradigm shift, Jeff.
This post more or less continues on from the previous two.
Posts
So many interpretations.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there is truth in your words, perhaps not. What does it say, that I think the oil belongs to the people? Just as the natural disaster belongs to the people? Crazy world we live in? I tried to get news of the earthquake last night, hope you were OK.
ReplyDeleteIt's heartbreaking. Not god. Just powers we have no control over.
ReplyDeleteAll in a day's work on planet earth.
ReplyDeleteWe are here to stay.
so many earthquakes and other Mother Nature disasters coupled with the upheavals in the Mid-East does make one ponder and wonder just what we think we are doing to each other and our precious planet.
ReplyDeleteYes, I like that. Thanks for letting me know, as I am also waiting that paradigm shift.
ReplyDeleteNone of the links work - or is that how it is supposed to be? I am glad I don't live near these big fault lines.
ReplyDeleteIt may all be down to chance... but sometimes it's the risky chances we take that it really comes down to. And some of these we don't know about (getting on a bus that's going to get crushed) and some we do (digging around where perhaps we shouldn't be).
ReplyDeleteno one has sent anything,
ReplyDeleteThe sardonic side of me asks "Just what was it about Christchruch Cathedral that so displeased God?"
ReplyDeleteYou're probably about to publish another post and soon thinking of other topics. So this is as tardy as earnest. But still ...
ReplyDeleteFor us currently (in this life) it is unprovable and actually a matter of faith that God's will is present in the wealth of an oil well and the destruction of an earthquake. Indeed it may be a part of our collective weakness that we are unable to see God's purpose in each.
Human arrogance emboldens weak flesh to explain both unexpected wealth and random destruction as chance circumstances. Just saying my friend, I think your poem is wrong to read: "And see that it's all down to chance"
..
Thanks Qwkdrw, tardy or not.
ReplyDeleteMy refusal to believe the proposition that there is a divine reason for both Jeff's oil well and the earthquake, at least in my case, could not be attributed to arrogance.
I claim the opposite.
I don't go through life expecting to be watched over by my own personal superperson but do know I must be very very careful to avoid falling victim to those forces of nature that continually test my 'fitness' to live and in living, to serve the wellbeing of myself, my family, my community, other living things (including you) and our life support system, the biosphere.
(Every now oil well pushes the biosphere one step closer to becoming a less habitable place for life as we know it).
In that way, I increase my chances of living longer.
I also, despite many years of Christian indoctrination as a child (who was denied choice in the matter), do not believe I have the answers to the hows and whys of the meaning of life. But I also have seen no evidence anyone else does either.
There are plenty of salesmen out there who would 'sell me the Brooklyn Bridge' and I have bought a few, but I now like to see the deed of ownership, the evidence.
I also know that 'prayer' and meditation achieve much the same outcomes. I have experienced both. So, I suspect they are the same process, but call it what you find most comfortable.
Qwkdrw, for you one simple question: How do you know that God had a hand in Jeff's oil well and the Christchurch earthquake? While you think about that, consider there are millions of events every day that take people's lives unexpectedly, including two babies dragged dead from rubble in Christchurch.
So although I genuinely do consider you one of the good guys and know you are taking the trouble to research your beliefs, I find arrogant pronouncements by religious leaders an affront to the reality of an infinite universe that has little resemblance to that described in the Old Testament, Navaho lore or Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime stories!
Claiming to know about divine purpose, descriptions of an afterlife (there are many scenarios, all described in religious texts as fact)is my idea of arrogance.
So, my friend and I do think of you as a friend, I wish you well in our studies and invite you to jump on anything I say but I need more than your (or anmyone's) faith to convince me God kills babies as part of His Plan for that baby!
My question will always be; 'how do you know that?'
You have responded in such a pleasant manner, it is an honor for me to be thought of as a friend of Stafford. We have bantered about strongly held thoughts before and I regard you as a person of integrity with respect for the beliefs of others. And I'll be declining the current invitation to jump on any more of your words here. Just know this ...
ReplyDeleteFrom my position solidly in this life, the answer to your question will for me apparently always be; 'we don't know'
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your view is thought provoking..
ReplyDeletebest regards.
welcome join poets rally week 39, share a free or old random poem, make new poetic friends, have your work fully represented by the end of the rally..
ReplyDeletethanks for the time.
Happy Writing.
Hope to see you in.
xoxox