current-events

Might does not always make right.

David with the Head of Goliath

David with the Head of Goliath (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The recently concluded Presidential election campaign reminds me of the story of the duel between David and Goliath. (Romney was Goliath and Obama was David). Goliath on one hand, was tall and brawny, one of the most feared in the mighty Philistine army. He had a reputation of tearing his victims apart. (Romney blew away his opponents in the primary). David, however, was just a boy in a frail body with a sling and a stone and an extremely weak Israeli army to back him up. At least, that was what Goliath and his army thought. (Romney underestimated the Obama campaign). Here, is what Goliath said when David approached him:

“Am I a dog that thou comes to me with staves?” The Bible says the Philistine curse David by his gods. He then entreats David: “Come to me, and I will give thy flesh unto the fowls of the air and to the beasts of the field” (1 Samuel 17:44). Then David said to the Philistine, “Thou comes to me with a sword and a spear and a shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied” (1 Samuel 17:45)

David had a secret weapon–his faith in God. He knew that the battle was not his. It was the Lord’s. Therefore, if he allowed God to fight the battle for him, he would be victorious.

Similarly, Mr. Romney is perceives as the stronger of the two candidates. He had the power of his millionaire donors behind him. Like Goliath, he was confident that he would rip his opponent apart. However, as we have learned in the David and Goliath story. Might does not always make right. Mr. Obama had the small donors–the people on his side. He knew that the greatest asset in any election was the people. Money is crucial, but money do not vote. People do.

In the end, David overcame the mighty Goliath and his Philistine army and did what he promised. He cut off Goliath’s head and gave it to the fowls. Likewise, Mr. Obama prevails over Mr. Romney. As I have said before, “Might does not always make right”.

Where was God in Aurora Massacre?

It’s been one week since the Aurora theater massacre, and people are still searching for answers. Some are even asking,” Where was God in Aurora massacre?” CNN asked the question on twitter. The following is some of the responses. What do you think?

By Dan Gilgoff, CNN.com Religion Editor

(CNN) – Where was God in Aurora?

It’s a fresh take on an age-old question: Why does God allow suffering, natural disasters or – if you believe in it – evil?

We put the question to Twitter on Tuesday and got some starkly different responses.

“In short, God was in complete control, exercising His will,” wrote @PastorRileyF, who leads a church in Bethune, Colorado.

That riled @TheTrivia Jockey, who tweeted, “If that was God’s will, God is definitely not deserving of my worship.”

Watch: Survivor of massacre says he forgives gunman

@trentpayne also took issue with the Colorado pastor: “I’m going to respectfully disagree with you Pastor. God gives free will to man, but it wasn’t his will that they die.”

The back-and-forth provoked other believers to chime in on the theological issue of God’s sovereignty vs. human free will, with many Christians seeking to explain how a sovereign God could preside over seemingly senseless bloodshed.

“It is not God’s will or want that people died in Aurora,” wrote @GospelBluesman20m. “God allowed man’s inhumanity to man, rather than intervene.”

The conversation and debate continued in the comments section of this post, with some insinuating that the massacre might be a kind of divine punishment, or at lease divine neglect:

Lenny
We as a country have been telling God to go away. We told him to get off our currency, get out of our schools, get out of our Pledge of Allegiance, take your Ten Commandments out of our courthouses, get those Bibles out of hotels and no graduation ceremonies in our churches. How can we expect God to give us his blessing and his protection if we demand that he leave us alone?

Jesse R
Liberals have made it impossible for God to be anywhere during the upbringing of a child. Can’t have any religious connotations in schools, libraries, government offices, etc., etc. Young men (and women) are growing up with no real sense of right and wrong. … We no longer have the right of religion, but rather the right from religion. Parents no longer have the ability to discipline their children. We are always looking for the excuses … violent video games and movies, bad teachers and schools … when we should be looking in the mirror. We as a society are the reasons these massacres happen. We have allowed our children to become social misfits that lead to the kind of carnage we have seen on several occasions since religion and God disappeared from what the Founding Fathers once said was a necessity of a successful democracy … faith.

Lots of readers used religious takes on the shooting to challenge the whole idea of God:

Who invited me?
How do you know the people that were killed didn’t go to hell?, and how exactly does any of this show there is a reason? Reason is obviously something that you have replaced with belief, and you threw out logic with it.

Kyle
“God doesn’t exist, so he wasn’t anywhere. Get over it. A man was evil, and he was evil because he was crazy.

Plenty of others said the shooting was the devil’s work:

Harleyxx
Evil things like this happen because Satan is the god of this world … for the time being. God will undo all the damage caused by Satan’s rebellion and man’s disobedience when the time is right. In the meantime we all experience trials and tribulation due to living in an ungodly world. That is why Jesus taught his followers the Lord’s Prayer … ‘to pray for God’s kingdom to come.’

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Rush Limbaugh issued public apology to Fluke

Talk show host, and leader of the Republican Party, Rush Limbaugh, has issued a public apology to Sandra Fluke for derogatory comments he made against her a week ago.

Fluke had recently testified about contraception before a Democratic panel, which placed her in the conservative talk show host’s crosshairs.

Fluke, a law student at Georgetown University who was advocating for health insurance plans to cover the cost of contraception, became the target of a series of attacks by Limbaugh. Besides calling her a “slut,” he also called her a “prostitute,” said that he wanted her to make sex tapes and post them online, and speculated that she only had a problem paying for contraception because she was having “so much sex.”

Limbaugh’s comments caused advertisers to flee from his show, and even promptedPresident Obama to weigh in. The statements also became an issue in the Republican presidential race.

Limbaugh — who has a long history of making incendiary remarks, and is not known to take them back — issued the rare apology on Saturday afternoon, saying he was “sincerely” sorry about his “insulting” characterization of Fluke. But he maintained that the birth control debate was about “personal sexual recreational activities,” not any broader health questions, and compared contraception to sneakers.

“For over 20 years, I have illustrated the absurd with absurdity, three hours a day, five days a week. In this instance, I chose the wrong words in my analogy of the situation. I did not mean a personal attack on Ms. Fluke. I think it is absolutely absurd that during these very serious political times, we are discussing personal sexual recreational activities before members of Congress. I personally do not agree that American citizens should pay for these social activities. What happened to personal responsibility and accountability? Where do we draw the line? If this is accepted as the norm, what will follow? Will we be debating if taxpayers should pay for new sneakers for all students that are interested in running to keep fit? In my monologue, I posited that it is not our business whatsoever to know what is going on in anyone’s bedroom nor do I think it is a topic that should reach a Presidential level.

My choice of words was not the best, and in the attempt to be humorous, I created a national stir. I sincerely apologize to Ms. Fluke for the insulting word choices.”