But then today I read this:
A photographer with a telephoto lens helped me get a good look at that sticker, and in addition to a pre-printed image of Howard's face, his initials, and his number, there was handwritten marker. Not too big. In fact, even with the lens it was very tough to read.Right. Because while millions of people are starving and being shot and suffering all over the world, this all-powerful benevolent being decided that it was very important to help a multimillionaire jump really high in a ridiculous contest.
In this life, you always have to read the fine print. And the fine print on that sticker made clear that Howard, at least, doesn't believe he did it alone.
"All things through Christ" Howard had written in marker. Then "Phil 4:13." That's Philippians 4:13.
Asked about it, Howard recited in a heartbeat: "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."
8 comments:
It would, of course, be ridiculous to claim that God cares more about the results of a trivial athletic contest than he cares about the fact that "millions of people are starving and being shot and suffering all over the world". But I doubt seriously that Mr. Howard would make such a claim. Nothing you've written persuades me that he ever made such a claim.
Caring about extremely important things (such as the suffering of millions) and caring about relatively unimportant things (such as whether or not Dwight does well in a "ridiculous contest") are not mutually exclusive. God made the entire world. It is entirely rational to believe, therefore, that God cares (on some level) about the entire world, ranging from things of enormous cosmic significance to things which are really only important to one or two people (and maybe not all that important even to them).
Does God take sides in athletic contests? Does he really care who wins and loses in such events? My answer would be that God doesn't really care about such things. The Bible makes it clear: "God is no respecter of persons."
However, there may be rare cases in which God helps one team to defeat another, not because the outcome of the contest itself is important to God, but because the effects of the outcome of the contest on the people who are involved in the contest are important to God.
God cares about people. That includes caring about the mundane and sometimes trivial aspects of our lives which can affect the ways in which we look at life.
It seems to me that you're reading things into Mr. Howard's statement that he never actually stated. He didn't claim that God had promised that he would win. (And judging by your comment about his "inexplicably low scores", I take it that he didn't win.)
All Dwight was claiming was that God would help him to do things which he could not easily do without God's help. It must have worked, since you seem to have been impressed by his performance.
Instead of egotistically claiming that all of our accomplishments are of our own making, it is important to acknowledge that we often need God's help in order to do our very best. It seems to me that Mr. Howard was merely reminding himself of that fact.
I find it sad that your ideological commitment to atheism has rendered you incapable of reading about Dwight's attempt to honor God without distorting his words and misrepresenting his intentions.
I find it even sadder that you would jeopardize your own eternal future by using the word that you used in order to describe the one who loves you more than life itself, so much that he died an agonizing death on the cross to save you from your sins.
"But I doubt seriously that Mr. Howard would make such a claim. Nothing you've written persuades me that he ever made such a claim."
He didn't directly make such a claim, and it wasn't my intention to say that he did.
"It seems to me that you're reading things into Mr. Howard's statement that he never actually stated. He didn't claim that God had promised that he would win."
That is exactly what I'm doing. Sometimes there are implications of statements that the speaker doesn't realize, and it is those implications that I'm addressing. But I certainly never suggested that Dwight said Jesus was going to help him win.
"I find it sad that your ideological commitment to atheism has rendered you incapable of reading about Dwight's attempt to honor God without distorting his words and misrepresenting his intentions."
I certainly made no comment about Dwight Howard's intentions whatsoever.
As to whether I've distorted his words, I'll respond later.
Actually it is too hard to take anyone seriously who talks about what is "entirely rational" in the same breath as he says "God made the entire world." Rational people have evidence when they talk about this kind of thing.
Also, if some fanciful all-powerful entity is judging me based on the language I use in a blog and not on the deeds I do in life, he's a fucking asshole. If that "jeopardizes my eternal future," so be it.
(God helped me write this blog, by the way. He aslo helped me write Man Beard Blog. You obviously have an interest in facial hair so you might want to check that out. Jesus is a Man Beard.)
"However, there may be rare cases in which God helps one team to defeat another, not because the outcome of the contest itself is important to God, but because the effects of the outcome of the contest on the people who are involved in the contest are important to God.
God cares about people. That includes caring about the mundane and sometimes trivial aspects of our lives which can affect the ways in which we look at life."
Hahahah what an amazing statement. This cat clearly believes the problem of evil is no problem at all, and then in the very next passage (quoted above), he espouses the belief that god may very well intervene in things such as athletic competitions between millionaires. So basically, god may or may not intervene in anything, important or mundane, at any time, or never, and those interventions or non-interventions say nothing about whether or not god is an asshole. I love these people.
Last night on Wife Swap (yes, I had nothing better to do) one of the families lived in the middle of nowhere Iowa and had their own farm and ate a raw meat diet. Yes, a raw meat diet. Nothing cooked. When the new wife questioned if this was safe, the husband said "Do you really think God would put anything on this earth to hurt us?"
Seriously. Lions? Plague? Cholera? Poisonous snakes? Apparently this guy was unfamiliar.
What is the point of attempting to argue with these people?
The amazing thing is that he's probably a pretty nice guy who genuinely thinks he's doing something good by saying something so laughably stupid. Religion has an amazing ability to turn basically good people into raving fucktard.
This is OBVIOUS proof. Jesus loves David Stern. Oh wait, he's Jewish.
Senor Pettigrew also sells pre-paid legal services. One of the biggest crocks of all time.
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