Dear Editor,
Our naivety with respect to certain matters never ceases to amaze me.
Now, there is talk all over the place that, on account of our prayers, Jamaica was spared the ravages of Hurricane Matthew.
While those of us who prayed for the Hurricane to miss us are still celebrating the “power of God”, I think I have to be the one to burst that prayer bubble and announce that prayer had nothing to do with Matthew’s path.
Christians are a very interesting lot, you know. If the Hurricane had hit us, we would have heard that God is punishing us for our sins. And since we were spared, it is because he took pity on us. You know, the Christian never loses with his God. Either way, Matthew’s path was pre-ordained by the Almighty.
Of course, ours is not the only Christian country in the region. The Haitians, Bahamians and others in the region that got a good whipping from Hurricane Matthew also prayed their lungs out. However, God did not seem to take any pity on them. Are our Christians in Jamaica telling me that their God listened to us, but not to these other people? Are they saying that their God thought that we deserved to be saved, but not them?
Also, if prayer worked, as these Christians are now boasting, why did the Christian God not listen to us when we were screaming our lungs out, rolling in the dirt, and jumping up and down when we were “punished” during hurricanes Gilbert, Ivan and the others? If prayers do work, should they not work all the time? Or is it a case that we deserved all of the destructions that those hurricanes brought on us then?
Leaving climatic conditions like hurricanes and the like, why is it that the Christian God has not answered all the prayers that are being sent to him to bring peace to our crime-torn country from as long as I can remember? Is it that, after all of those prayer breakfasts, crusades, fastings, and the customary rolling around in the dirt and the regular getting into the spirit, the Christian God is somehow convinced that we Jamaicans do in fact deserve to live in a crime-infested country?
We need to get rational about these things like hurricanes and crime. Prayer never alters anything.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com
Our naivety with respect to certain matters never ceases to amaze me.
Now, there is talk all over the place that, on account of our prayers, Jamaica was spared the ravages of Hurricane Matthew.
While those of us who prayed for the Hurricane to miss us are still celebrating the “power of God”, I think I have to be the one to burst that prayer bubble and announce that prayer had nothing to do with Matthew’s path.
Christians are a very interesting lot, you know. If the Hurricane had hit us, we would have heard that God is punishing us for our sins. And since we were spared, it is because he took pity on us. You know, the Christian never loses with his God. Either way, Matthew’s path was pre-ordained by the Almighty.
Of course, ours is not the only Christian country in the region. The Haitians, Bahamians and others in the region that got a good whipping from Hurricane Matthew also prayed their lungs out. However, God did not seem to take any pity on them. Are our Christians in Jamaica telling me that their God listened to us, but not to these other people? Are they saying that their God thought that we deserved to be saved, but not them?
Also, if prayer worked, as these Christians are now boasting, why did the Christian God not listen to us when we were screaming our lungs out, rolling in the dirt, and jumping up and down when we were “punished” during hurricanes Gilbert, Ivan and the others? If prayers do work, should they not work all the time? Or is it a case that we deserved all of the destructions that those hurricanes brought on us then?
Leaving climatic conditions like hurricanes and the like, why is it that the Christian God has not answered all the prayers that are being sent to him to bring peace to our crime-torn country from as long as I can remember? Is it that, after all of those prayer breakfasts, crusades, fastings, and the customary rolling around in the dirt and the regular getting into the spirit, the Christian God is somehow convinced that we Jamaicans do in fact deserve to live in a crime-infested country?
We need to get rational about these things like hurricanes and crime. Prayer never alters anything.
Michael A Dingwall
michael_a_dingwall@hotmail.com