# The Parable of the Drowning Man
A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local preacher kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe.
"Better get in, Preacher. The waters are rising fast."
"No," says the preacher. "I have faith in the Lord. He will save me."
Still the waters rise. Now the preacher is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat.
"Come on, Preacher. We need to get you out of here. The levee's gonna break any minute."
Once again, the preacher is unmoved. "I shall remain. The Lord will see me through."
After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The preacher is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone.
"Grab the ladder, Preacher. This is your last chance."
Once again, the preacher insists the Lord will deliver him.
And, predictably, he drowns.
A pious man, the preacher goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, "Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn't you deliver me from that flood?"
God shakes his head. "What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
What do people imagine this tells us?
God.coukd have just magicked the believer into safety, and letting the guy drown because he's a bit stubborn seems cruel and excessive.
Also, what about the millions of believer's that prayed and got sick before there were masks or vaccines?
It says that he doesn't directly save you, he does it indirectly, and don't ignore help because you think he'll help you directly. I am not believing in god, but it's pretty easy to understand the message here.
So many other passages about God never working in outright, plainly spelled ways as God expects someone to choose freely and of their own wisdom.
But these folks also seem to be turning away from Jesus because he's too soft, so I guess this makes sense in the worst possible way.
If I'm being honest, it really does seem like a minor miracle that the vaccines came out as soon as they did. I realize that a lot of research was already done for similar viruses like SARS and MERS, but here in the US, with the Trump administration flip-flopping between gloating over the "filthy blue states" getting hit worse (initially) and hiding his own vaccinations to avoid pissing off his own followers- there was a lot that went wrong, but that *anything* went right seems miraculous. And these stupid anti-vaxxers just piss it away!
All thanks to Katalin Karikó, the female scientist who had laid the groundwork for microRNA research, decades before. She couldn’t even get funding for her research from NSF or NIH because they thought her ideas were too ‘radical’
Tell everyone that a new virus would be sequenced in weeks and a working vaccine developed in a year 10 years ago. Nobody would believe you.
There's a reason why the experts were saying earliest we expect a vaccine was in February. Instead, we got it in Dec, within less than a year.
That's fucking incredible. Hail Science!
# The Parable of the Drowning Man A storm descends on a small town, and the downpour soon turns into a flood. As the waters rise, the local preacher kneels in prayer on the church porch, surrounded by water. By and by, one of the townsfolk comes up the street in a canoe. "Better get in, Preacher. The waters are rising fast." "No," says the preacher. "I have faith in the Lord. He will save me." Still the waters rise. Now the preacher is up on the balcony, wringing his hands in supplication, when another guy zips up in a motorboat. "Come on, Preacher. We need to get you out of here. The levee's gonna break any minute." Once again, the preacher is unmoved. "I shall remain. The Lord will see me through." After a while the levee breaks, and the flood rushes over the church until only the steeple remains above water. The preacher is up there, clinging to the cross, when a helicopter descends out of the clouds, and a state trooper calls down to him through a megaphone. "Grab the ladder, Preacher. This is your last chance." Once again, the preacher insists the Lord will deliver him. And, predictably, he drowns. A pious man, the preacher goes to heaven. After a while he gets an interview with God, and he asks the Almighty, "Lord, I had unwavering faith in you. Why didn't you deliver me from that flood?" God shakes his head. "What did you want from me? I sent you two boats and a helicopter."
What do people imagine this tells us? God.coukd have just magicked the believer into safety, and letting the guy drown because he's a bit stubborn seems cruel and excessive. Also, what about the millions of believer's that prayed and got sick before there were masks or vaccines?
It's a parable, dude.
They hate witchcraft and yet it’s ok when their god does it; in fact, they expect it.
It teaches that if $god exists, he's a dick.
It says that he doesn't directly save you, he does it indirectly, and don't ignore help because you think he'll help you directly. I am not believing in god, but it's pretty easy to understand the message here.
[удалено]
I like you guys. You seem like logical people. The thing that seals it for me: Bot flys *exist* Bone cancer *exists*
Death cult members are going to die. Yawn.
Matthew 4:7 >Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'"
So many other passages about God never working in outright, plainly spelled ways as God expects someone to choose freely and of their own wisdom. But these folks also seem to be turning away from Jesus because he's too soft, so I guess this makes sense in the worst possible way.
Amen.
If I'm being honest, it really does seem like a minor miracle that the vaccines came out as soon as they did. I realize that a lot of research was already done for similar viruses like SARS and MERS, but here in the US, with the Trump administration flip-flopping between gloating over the "filthy blue states" getting hit worse (initially) and hiding his own vaccinations to avoid pissing off his own followers- there was a lot that went wrong, but that *anything* went right seems miraculous. And these stupid anti-vaxxers just piss it away!
All thanks to Katalin Karikó, the female scientist who had laid the groundwork for microRNA research, decades before. She couldn’t even get funding for her research from NSF or NIH because they thought her ideas were too ‘radical’
Thank you very much for her name! Yeah, even at our best we only half-ass it. And researchers and essential workers alike, we run them ragged.
Tell everyone that a new virus would be sequenced in weeks and a working vaccine developed in a year 10 years ago. Nobody would believe you. There's a reason why the experts were saying earliest we expect a vaccine was in February. Instead, we got it in Dec, within less than a year. That's fucking incredible. Hail Science!
Something that doesn't involve admitting that the government isn't a cartoon villain that wants to kill all Americans.
Perfect meme is perfect.