Tim Hudson, for those who don't care to RTFA.

From a fan's perspective, you're not too worried. It's just TJ surgery. He'll be back in a year, good as new. It's certainly a different perspective when you're the one going through that surgery and rehab.

So glad God heard Tim's prayers and used modern surgical techniques to fix his arm. Still not sure why God gave my mother-in -law cancer and made her die a horrendously drawn out death, but I'm sure that despite being the nicest person I ever met and being beloved by everyone who knew her, that she deserved it in a way only an omnipotent god could know.

How often do you thank God for the mercy He shows? All men are fallen (even the best of them). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All deserve instant and eternal death. God though, is patient, giving most opportunity for repentance. We have become presumptuous though and expect His unearned mercy. We are shocked when someone gets judgment. That you are shocked is evidence of the widespread mercy the Lord shows. Repent yourself before your time, for no man knows the day or the hour.

The key to good trolling is subtlety.

Still not sure why God gave my mother-in -law cancer and made her die a horrendously drawn out death,

Oh, I can answer that one.

You see, 6000 years ago a woman made out of a man's rib got conned by a talking snake with legs and ate a magic fruit. This displeased The Almighty and he damned all of this woman's offspring to suffer and die. Worse yet, even after they suffered and died they would still suffer forever! But then The Almighty figured He could give a chance to get out of the postmortem eternal suffering if you just sucked up to Him enough (although the rest of the misery while you were alive still held true). The end.

"That's what I've never been able to get about religion: that charmless combination of altruism and insanity. Give me a cynical, self-interested bastard any day of the week; at least you can play chicken with him and know he'll stick to the rules."
— Mike Carey

Worst six-comment thread ever?

Worst six-comment thread ever?

AROM tried to avoid taking it down the crapper.

Popcorn time!

We are shocked when someone gets judgment.

So...you're saying VA's mother-in-law's painful and drawn-out death from cancer was judgment from god? That can't be what you're saying.

Sure, why not? All men die. It's the just and required punishment for sin. In many cases God mercifully withholds judgment until after a long life. In this case it was a less long life. Does this mean she was a particularly grievously sinner? No. It just means that God's mercy on her did not hold out as long as it has for others. As the supreme authority you get to make these types of decisions without running it past humanity to see if they approve. The cure for all of this though has been provided in the gospel which is freely offered to all who will humble themselves before God, repent, admit they are sinful, they can not atone for their own sins, request that Christ's work on the cross be used as payment for sins rather than your own eternity of punishment, and commit to follow Jesus as Lord, as He truly is. So death can be a homecoming, a joyful event. For most of the world it is not. I'm sorry for the loss of your mother in law but I hope it serves as a tool to save you from punishment.

The key to good trolling is subtlety.

How often do you thank God for the mercy He shows? All men are fallen (even the best of them). All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. All deserve instant and eternal death. God though, is patient, giving most opportunity for repentance. We have become presumptuous though and expect His unearned mercy. We are shocked when someone gets judgment. That you are shocked is evidence of the widespread mercy the Lord shows. Repent yourself before your time, for no man knows the day or the hour.

Anyone who actually believes this statement has mental health issues and should seek professional help.



George Carlin probably had the best take on religion.

I'm sorry for the loss of your mother in law but I hope it serves as a tool to save you from punishment.

That's some new theology.

He's not trolling, Montero. He actually believes this silliness.

If I were omnipotent, I would probably be arbitrary, cruel, and unpredictable with my actions for my own amusement, so at least there is some plausibility there.

Christ's work on the cross be used as payment for sins

I don't think that's how morality works, you know.

It should be noted that Marty is offering some decidedly whacked stuff here.

It doesn't matter whether you believe in God or not, whether you identify within a religion or not, whether you engage in spiritual practices or not, I think we can all agree that

a) all people have committed immoral acts / have sinned
b) ???
c) all people deserve to die

is bugfuck insane.

This has become something of a commonplace is fundamentalist protestant theology, based on a tendentious reading of Romans 6.23 ("the wages of sin is death"). Romans is a complicated letter, but in chapter 6, Paul is arguing to his Gentile congregation that although he is telling them they are not bound by Jewish Law, they are nonetheless bound to moral practice, and that although they don't have to, for instance, keep the laws of Jewish table practice, they must refrain from visiting prostitutes or like. He (somewhat beautifully) connects this plea for Gentiles to be moral but not be Jewish to his theological argument - that Christ has, by his death, enabled the admittance of Gentiles into the community which will reap the promises of the God of Israel, through grace. The eternal life which is stored away for those people who have received the promises of God, is now available to Gentiles through grace. Paul's community has already accepted this "death/life" dichotomy in related to the eternal life made available through the death of Christ. Here he draws a connection between that belief, which they share, and his exhortation to moral action, but against the requirement that they follow all of the Jewish law.

Drawing the conclusion from that argument that all people, having sinned, deserve death, is wacky.

Deserve is an odd word there. Does it even matter if we deserve something that we will all get, no matter what we do? I assume the argument is "do we deserve any particular suffering while alive?"

"Deserve has got nothing ta do with it."

a) all people have committed immoral acts / have sinned
b) ???
c) all people deserve to die

PROPHET!

21 wins. Thread over.

#21, awesome.

Seriously though, I can't get too worked up over that 3 part statement. A) only way you can deny that everyone has sinned is to deny the concept of sin itself. As for c, well we all are going to die sooner or later. Do we deserve it? I think yes, because I can't agree with the opposite- we do not deserve to live forever. Part B is profound, I will say nothing to that.

Basically, my response is "yeah, so what?" instead of getting worked up about it.

You all are aware that the implemented idea today of fair/human rights is pretty much 50 years old at most and relegated to maybe half of the population of a single species on this planet.

Human beings are biological organisms, so regardless of what exists or doesn't exist in a spiritual realm, the things that happen to biological organisms here in the physical realm are going to happen to human beings. There's no reason why it would have anything to do with their morality or with God. If there is a God, He is concerned with how we live, not with how or when we die.

Obviously Tim Hudson is referring to the Gods of Baseball. They don't do the divine judgment stuff, just BABIP.

This God person sounds like a dick.

I would probably be arbitrary, cruel, and unpredictable with my actions for my own amusement

Thus, the penguin as proof of the existence of God.

Well, I like penguins.