On Thursday, January 19, yet another mining tragedy emerged in the land of West Virginia. A fire attributed to a defective conveyer belt wildly broke out at the Aracoma Coal Co. in Melville (about 60 miles southwest of Charleston), W.Va. Unfortunately, two out of the twenty-one miners on location did not make it out alive. Though rescuers were able to enter the mine more readily than in the case of the Sago Mine explosion, smoke difficulties restrained them from seeing farther than 3 feet ahead and the art of rescuing was made exceptionally difficult. After two days of continuous battle against flames, smoke and heat rescue teams finally stopped the fire and recovered the bodies identified as Donald Bragg, 33, and Ellery Hatfield, 47. The ten other members of that particular mining group had decided that they were not about to let another Sago incident happen again; they were bound and determined to get out of there alive. It was then decided that they would all hold hands and stick together until they were sure they had made it out. Somehow, nevertheless, two miners had been detained (most likely by smoke complications) and left behind. The five rescue teams worked as hard and fast as they could, but with a temperature of about 400 degrees (F), little vision, flames to fight, a deteriorating mine, and no clue of the whereabouts of the two miners, finding the men in time seemed almost impossible. Though each of the two miners had their own oxygen tank (containing about 1 hour's worth of air), they did not have nearly the amount of air needed for the incredible temperatures. Jimmy Marcum, a retired miner, agrees with most of the nation that better equipment and safer environments is an absolute necessity to mining companies as it is becoming more evident through the recent tragedies. In his own words,
"I mean, they can send a man to the moon but they can't make a (oxygen canister) that will last at least sixteen hours... That's what they need to do."
The death of these two men adds to the list and, sadly, makes a total of 14 deceased miners in West Virginia alone in a matter of three weeks. We will mourn for the dead and we will cry for the weary, but we must never let down our hope. We must press on and keep our trust in God regardless of the circumstances around us.
13 comments:
Well, god didn't seem to give a damn about these 14 people, did he?
I think it's time people railed against god.
He is obviously a mean, sadistic beast.
According to the notes the miners left, their deaths were pretty much painless....so apparently prayers were answered....maybe not as you think they should have been answered, but still answered.
The nature of a God who allows free will is that both good and bad, happiness and great sadness are possible outcomes in this world....sadistic would be not allowing us free will.
Still, I'm not so sure that's true.
Free will? These poor guys WANTED to die?
I don't get it.
No, but they knew that mining is inherently dangerous...and will always be.
God did not make make anyone dig a hole in the ground and then go into it.
We are not puppets being manipulated by a grand puppeteer. We make our own decisions, and sometimes suffer the consequences of them. Prayer is not a magical "do-over" when things go bad.
Would you prefer that the cost of mining be pushed to a level where it would simply not be cost efficient to do so, meaning the mines in these regions would close, raising the spector of massive unemployment and suffering in the region?
If mines have violated the laws already in place, juries will award the families who have suffered losses, but kneejerk legislation, and more regulation are not necessarily the answer to what has happened.
I agree that mining IS inherently dangerous. And I understand that these folks choose to go into the mine.
But it's not "puppetry" for god to save them IF he knows what's going on and IF he CAN save them...and IF he cares.
That would just be common decency.
And, of course, you are exactly right: prayer is NOT a "magic do-over..."
It's a waste of time.
You are rather dogmatic on this issue...
Yeah, Still, I guess I am at that.
Some things just seem obvious to me...and though I understand that viewpoints differ, I can't for the life of me understand people's devotion to a god that obviously couldn't care less.
At least they should embrace reality. IF there is a god he's either too busy or doesn't give a crap...or can't do anything to help...or just doesn't exert sufficient energy to find out what's going on.
If a parent behaved toward his kids the way god behaves toward HIS "kids" we'd all point and condemn the parent and call CPS.
Yet, christians, especially, find excuses and rationales for things that they KNOW are un-acceptable...or who's real and obvious explanations they don't care for.
Unacceptable to whom? That God does not choose to "intervene" as you think he should is really not a concern to me.
I personally prefer that God continue to allow free will, which sometimes mean that bad things will happen...and the fact that God sometimes decides that the answer to a prayer is "no", is neither evidence of vindictiveness or apathy.
Life is a gift from God in the first place. God created man with a purpose- mainly to have a relationship with Him. But He wanted this relationship to be real. He wasn’t looking for a mechanical/robotic friendship in which all people will love Him no matter what automatically. That would be fake and untrue love. God has such great love for and over us that He wanted to really know us and have a relationship with us. For that reason, He created man with free will or volition to freely choose to have a relationship with Him. With this free will, man can choose for or against a relationship with Christ- it’s their choice. We can choose to obey God as our sovereign Lord, or we can choose to disobey Him (sin) and violate His creation. This free will also applies to all areas of life. We can choose, for example, to tell the truth or get away with a lie. We can choose to sit in an office all day, or dig a hole and go mining though we know it is dangerous.
If God did not love us, He would not have given us free will and we would not choose anything for ourselves. Yet, because He did give us a free will, sin does occur and tragedies do come out of it; that’s what brought death in the first place. That, however, does not make God a sadistic beast or a bad father. A good parent is one who sets limitations and provides consequences. If there are no consequences, the child will not learn.
Life is a gift from God. We don’t deserve it. The payment for sin is death, but God has provided us with life. As human beings, we are not immortal. We are not gods that live forever. Death is a part of what happens to us. It is simply a passage into a different life – eternal life in one of two places. Just because God does not save everyone from dying doesn’t make Him a non-loving God. We need to understand who all of God is completely, not just in one area. He’s the God of the entire world- everything. Everything that happens is part of His perfect plan. We may not understand God or His plan fully, or even partially, in our whole entire life, but that does not make Him a sadistic beast, a bad father, a non-loving being, or a powerless god.
I see.
But what about the free will of the little girl brutalized, raped, and beaten to death in this story?
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060122/ap_on_re_us/child_death
So, the logic of your argument is that she chose all this for herself, huh?
And you think that a god that sees and allows this to go on is a LOVING and GOOD god?
I don't understand how you people can think this way.
I don’t remember saying that everything that happens to a person is their choice. No, this girl did not choose to have all of that happen to her – it was a consequence of the evil in the world. God, in His never ending love, gave us free will, as previously stated, for a real/true relationship with Him. We, as human beings, have taken that free will and twisted it all around to do whatever we want. We often disobey, we often do wrong – we sin, that is our nature as human beings. Because of that, bad things happen to everybody.
Abraham Lincoln, for example, did not choose to be assassinated by John Wilkes Booth. That was not his choice. But Booth, with his own free will, thought it best that this President be terminated. One man chose to disobey God’s laws with his volition and a very important President was killed as a consequence. John Wilkes Booth, in turn, had a consequence for his action of free will. Not only was the guilt of a dead president on his shoulders, but he also met his fate when he, too, was shot 12 days later.
People think ideas, actions emerge, and consequences result. You can be sure that the father of that girl will meet his consequence whether it happens now, or later. Understand that your sins will find you out.
I don’t doubt that God sees this sin, tragedy, and evil in the world. He does, however, do something about it. For one thing, we as human beings initially brought sin and evil into the world. So, really, evil is all our fault but God is so loving that He sent His one and only Son to earth to die for the bad things we did/do. He paid the penalty and became the ultimate sacrifice for the wrong actions we take. God does not just leave us to fend for ourselves here. He intervened and allowed His son to undergo innocent suffering for us. And we don’t deserve any of it!
So, yes, God allows bad things to happen, but it’s ultimately our choice that those things occur. To give us free will, yet keep us from sinning at the same time, God would need to prevent all evil. But really, how could He do that? “What would you have God do? Intervene every time you tried to do something wrong…? Freeze your mouth with the divine cattle prod when you cursed? Make you say nice things whenever you tried to gossip…?” - Greg Koukle (Founder and President of Stand To Reason) If life in all actuality was like this, you really would not have free will at all. It must be understood that you can not have it both ways. Either you make your own choices and have evil, or you have no evil and you complain about a forceful God who does not allow any sin or fun at all.
Interesting.
And frustrating.
I understand how you folks think.
(I'm not being condescending here...I get what you are trying to say to me.)
And what I see are people who are good and decent who, for their own reasons, believe in a god...and have created a huge, hard-shelled rationale for explaining the things that aren't explainable by the attibutes of the god they've created.
We are at impass here, I'm afraid.
I don't doubt your sincerity, but your logic is non-existant -- which doesn't surprise me, since you guys yourselves have spoken directly and indirectly about your "faith." And, faith doesn't have to be logical.
Not to YOU, I understand, but to ME you are simply talking in circles, trying to build an explanation (within your definition of your god) for the un-explainable and impossible.
Rock, you ask where the basis of morality comes from if not from a belief in god.
Well, our peace-loving muslim brothers believe in god, don't they? They believe in god so deeply and with such devotion that they are willing to blow themselves up (and plenty of other folks too) to prove it.
I don't think a belief in a god is a necessary element for decent behavior.
What IS a good motivation is trying to build a society where people are treated well, not subjected to pain or violation by others, where it's relatively peaceful and calm...where folks can live their lives and be left relatively alone to enjoy them.
It's a social "arrangement" we all agree to, impicitly or not. We get along to get along.
We behave, or try to, like decent, civilized folks.
It's true that many people don't act the way it would take to get along in the world without hurting others.
You call those people "evil." I call them "assholes."
What's in a name?
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