When accepting an award, noting a milestone, eating a meal, or celebrating general life, something many people do is thank God. That might seem like the act of a good and humble person. After all, Christianity maintains God forged this world and continues looking down beneficently on humanity. Shouldn’t we be grateful for the richness and happiness this provides our lives?
Yes, to a point. For those who believe in God to thank him for the overall health of the human race is nothing to disparage. But most individuals are not so liberal in their thanksgivings. They thank God for their accomplishments, their talents, their awards, or their food. Americans have an inclination to thank God for the success of their country.
How colossally arrogant!
Open the Bible, and what are we likely to find? One tale or another about God finding someone, or a whole civilization, unworthy. He then arranges their deaths by various means, through floods, pestilence, wars, etc. Afterwards, God’s wrath still burns, so the souls of those who perish face damnation.
Let’s also consider the modern temporal world. In Africa and Asia, millions face starvation and death at the hands of corrupt governments and fanatical terrorists. In areas of the West and Latin America, poverty runs out of control. For much of the world’s population, life isn’t like a box of chocolates, as Forrest Gump might say. It’s like a box of rocks with a grenade surprise inside.
Apparently, however, according to those who thank their deity for their fortune, God has chosen people and nations whom he shields from misery and enhances with ability. God might not care about everyone else, even other Christians, but he certainly loves them. That’s horrifyingly crass, but it’s the necessary implication of thanking God for what only a fraction of humans possess.
We should acknowledge that what we achieve in our lives isn’t the result of divine providence. It’s the fruit of our own industriousness and ingenuity. Studying or practicing enough to achieve greatness, constructing infrastructure to improve quality of life, ameliorating diseases, stopping tyranny, and thousands of other awesome events aren’t the acts of an invisible man in the sky. Instead, our destinies are what we make.
About the Author
I'm Jason Vines, a web developer at a research institution in Washington, DC. I graduated from George Washington University with a bachelor's degree in political science, with a minor in journalism. I enjoy philosophy and web scripting, as well as reading, writing, history, video games, travel, and photography.
