I think, what is the reason why some people don't have food. For example Africa is one of the best places on earth to become prosperous, so, why it seems they have big problems in getting food.
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What do you think about this?
- Thread starter Madsaac
- Start date
I don’t find that to be true in my neck of the woods…
When they suffer, they shout, praise and pray the more loudly - praising God that in the midst of the storm they stand knowing that “this is the victory that overcomes the world (circumstances), even our faith”, and again, “we are more than conquerors through him who strengthens us” as we fight the one who steals, kills and destroys.
That is what my family did when there was no food to feed our three children with our mortgage past due along with the light bill.
That is also what I did when I had a back pain that left me immovable on my bed.
That some people were born into fortunate circumstances and the world is unfair.
Gargovic Malkav
Well-Known Member
What's wrong with being grateful for a warm, sunny spring day, while knowing that at the same time there are places on earth where it's dark and cold?
And that's one response to the message behind the meme: God just doesn't feel responsible for feeding starving people.
That would reflect on the character of God, though, and I'm not sure how easily that response can be reconciled with the (presumably) Christian beliefs that the meme is lampooning.
I don't understand your question.
It was a question, not a statement of knowledge.
Why are we assuming God is responsible for feeding the family in the meme? Why are we assuming that God is responsible for feeding anyone?
Maybe I misunderstood… was that a real question you presented? Or tongue-in-cheek?
Gratitude for an outcome implies gratitude for the process that gave rise to the outcome. Gratitude for an inequitable outcome - even one that favours you - implies gratitude for the inequity that produced the outcome.
Also, if we make the leap by assuming that the sunny day and the cold darkness were both deliberate choices by the same thinking agent, and then muse about the implications of this, things get very weird - and IMO pretty toxic - quickly.
We aren't (edit: or at least I'm not). We're recognizing that the family in the meme considers God responsible for feeding them (edit: and everybody else, despite the fact that starving people exist).
IMO, this meme is a criticism of religious belief, not necessarily God.
Sounds like you've jumped into this thread partway through without an understanding of what's happening in the conversation.
If it was an honest question… then my sincerest and most humble appology!
A few thoughts come to mind.
First, the most obvious point is that it is a fact that there are some parts of the world where there's plenty of food and a life of relative comfort and luxury, while other parts of the world live in utter destitution, impoverishment, and starvation. This has been pretty established; there's plenty of data to support it, along with much photographic evidence, which we can see from memes such as this one. So, it's not really any great secret being revealed here. I think most people are aware, at least on a superficial level, the general global situation as it stands.
It's meant to be provocative, but I don't have a problem with provocative memes (for the most part). On the other hand, it seems to miss the mark in that it doesn't really illustrate the reasons why such disparities exist in the first place.
And to be fair, many religious-based agencies and relief organizations do try to help many of the impoverished and starving people of the world. But many of them also seem to turn a blind eye to the causes of how the world got to this point.
On a related side note, I have also questioned the general practice of saying grace before meals. Jimmy Stewart's dinner prayer in Shenandoah had an interesting take:
Muffled
Jesus in me
Reminds me of the saying: "Clean your plate because there ae starving people in China."
Muffled
Jesus in me
Actually in the Bible God has been known to bring famine on people.
... as a punishment.
Is the implication that when someone is starving, they're being punished by God?
So let me get this straight.
You're not allowed to be thankful for anything or express gratitude about anything if all other humans don't also have what you have?
What a load of ridiculous nonsense.
Ridiculous nonsense.
Up next - celebration of birthdays is a celebration of inequality in life spans. How dare we celebrate birthdays when some humans live longer than other humans! Outrageous! No one should ever celebrate any birthdays because this is expressing gratitude for unequal outcomes in life spans!
God damn them for being happy and expressing gratitude!
I think you missed my point. I also notice you equated "gratitude" and "celebration," which I didn't do.
Gratitude is directed to something... generally to the thing that was responsible for the thing you're grateful for.
So who or what are you grateful for for your birthday? If it's to some invisible agent who doles out lifespans based on its own capricious criteria and your long life means shortening someone else's, then yes: your gratitude may imply gratitude for inequity.
OTOH, if your lifespan and someone else's are independent - or rise and fall together - then not so much.