I see people of faith always posting these “Thank the Lord,” or “Praise be to Allah,” or “In the name of Yah,” type post, which I don’t really have a problem with, really.
Issues and questions arise in my head because the events and occurrences Believers are thanking their Gods for seem to be extremely pedestrian, It seems like you believers degrade your Gods with the kind of shit yall attribute to them.
I see believers thanking their Gods for closing on a new home….; What God got to do with it?!? (In my Tina Turner voice.) Your God actually worked to secure you a home on stolen land, in a nation that was set up with slave labor. God put it on the heart of the corrupt lending institution to approve your 30 year mortgages at inflated interest rates? Your God was really invested in all that while those praying for a drop of water, to not be raped, to cure their children of cancer were not addressed by God?
What about when people thank their Gods for a new job, or a promotion? That shit really blows me away. God wants you, just you, to do better in the most corrupt and ecocidal economy ever created? He wants you to be able to be able to buy even more shit produced in the sweatshops of the Atheist Nation of China? God really is invested in your advancement in a Government position within an Imperialist Nation, or a heartless Multinational Corporation? God ignored the billions of other prayers for shit that’s essential for life, but interceded on you getting a boost in your pay rate and maybe a plaque to go on your office wall?
I could see if the faithful said shit like…
“Oh, thank the lord for helping me to close on my new home. Now I can open the extra rooms for strangers or family members who don’t have decent or secure housing. I now can cultivate the land around my home to grow some local food. The lord has blessed me with home-ownership so that I can be part of a community which I intent to make stronger and more productive! Tank Ya Lawd!!”
I ain’t never seen no Believer send up them kinda praises.
What about…
Praise be to Allah, I got the promotion! I’m gonna use every single extra dollar I get to build the local community and make sure everyone in my community has the resources they need to live a life of basic dignity. I’m gonna use the new power my promotion grants me to fight to move my agency/company away from exploitative and greedy practices. If my company/agency dosen’t move towards Righteousness, I’m gonna, in Allah’s name, do everything in my power to destroy them form the inside out. Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!!
Nope, I ain’t seen Believers say or do any of that kinda shit, when they get, what they claim are, blessing from the Almighty Creator. I ain’t telling yall what to do with your blessings, but I’m just saying, that shit really degrades your God, if he helped your or not.
Look, most of the shit people thank their Gods for is shit they coulda got without Gods help at all….how do I know, because people like me, who don’t pray to or expect any blessings from God do a lot of the same shit yall do.
I got into College/Grad School without God, I have a beautiful wife and two healthy sons and a strong marriage, I built (and sold at a profit) a successful business, I’ve been approved for home and auto loans, all kinds of shit; all the while rejecting Gods existence. So, that’s how I know yall coulda done some of the same shit without God. (My life is far from perfect and shit don’t always work out for me, but it’s all on me, my family, my allies, and my larger community; that’s who helps me and that’s who I’m obligated to and give thanks to for all that I am and I got; I ain’t got no God.)
I ain’t saying yall gotta reject Gods interventions in your good fortunes, but you gotta do more if God gave some shit to you, than if you just worked for and earned shit for yourself, or if other people helped you, or got it outta luck…right?
If God did help me, I think I would do shit way different, I’d feel obligated to do some super shit if God gave me some shit. If God helped me to secure a car, I think I’d have to do more than just use it to run errands, take my sons to their music lessons, and for the occasional road trip, I think I’d have to like at least give free cap service to random strangers, or use it to run down Evil pedestrians…something.
Yall are either ingrates, or just saying “Thank God,” out of a reflex and don’t really believe God is all up in your business like that. IJS.
I could be wrong, but that’s how the shit looks to me.
Let the Community say: Amen…..Ra!