You may recall this story. Alabama was in the middle of a severe drought. Crops were withering in the fields and lakes were drying up. What do do?Governor Bob Riley, a Southern Baptist and "evangelical" Christian, decided the most important thing was to get all the people praying to their skygod to send rain. Why this was necessary when their skygod is all-knowing and all-powerful, is a conundrum. It is also not known whether they considered the possibility that their skygod was punishing Alabama for one reason or another by withholding rain.
Nevertheless, Riley proclaimed "Days of Prayer for Rain." This proclamation set "aside the eight days beginning last Saturday as a time to pray for rain."
Well, holy crap! Would you believe that it started to rain - a little? For two days. Saturday and Sunday. Then it stopped. Except for some drizzles.
The state climatologist, John Christy, was asked if the rain was an answer to prayer. He said he didn't know. "That's something ... the science part of our lives won't be able to answer." They did pray for rain on Sunday at the church Christy attends, however.
Who knows? Jesus said rain falls on the just and unjust. Just not enough sometimes, or too much. In Florida, thousands of people have been praying to their skygod to stop the rain. Hasn't happened yet. Lots of folks are swimming to work. The ones who didn't find their homes destroyed by flooding.
This prayer stuff sure gets confusing. Oh, Alabama did not get enough rain to end the drought. Maybe the skygod was just funning with them?
3 comments:
How does God decide which state to answer regarding rain? Florida overdid it. How do those praying know when to stop so we do not get flooding? Does God control the borders so as to not do excess damage to some and not others? I think there muust be a way to inform God of a proper amount for each area. In that way, we could know how to adjust our sprinkler systems to conserve water and still have our golf courses and go on picnics.
In the meantime, Florida got too much and I blame those that prayed without some thought to consequences.
Bob Poris
The prayer thing happened a while back -- like a year or so ago. You just now getting the news?
To anon: Yeah, the "news" was just published on a "Christian" news site.
Somehow, though, to worry about "when" it happened is to miss the point.
Jacob
Post a Comment