Divine Misconceptions

Some people give Christians a bad name...

I watched an episode of The Golden Nugget tonight. It was the final challenge before the finals, and so everyone was anxious to make it through to the end. The fates of four of the contestants rested in the hands of the other (safe) contestants. At the end of a vote, 2 of the 4 were saved- one of them, apparently, by God.

Now that must sound like the most atheistic thing I've ever said, but that's not the least bit my intention. The gentlemen of whom I refer, related to the camera how he'd prayed that he would be allowed to make it to the end. He went on to say that if one is genuine and committed and devoted to God, He will grant your wishes. At this point, I wanted to slap the poor fool upside the head.

There happened to be another gentleman on the show (if you could call him that), a UWI student, who was angry that the Christian was staying (the reason for his anger isn't relevant), and was also angered that Mr. Christian said that it was his prayers to God which allowed him to go through to the finals. The UWI guy went as far as to liken the actions of the Christian to that of an obeah-type man. He went on to attack Christians, which got me very upset. His referral to us 'Sunday church people' was quite disrespectful. But to an extent, I understood his viewpoint.

I am in NO way a perfect Christian, but there are a few things that I do know. One of them is that God doesn't just build you a house when you give Him bricks. There's a reason the Bible says 'Not my will, but Yours be done'. We don't always get the money we want, or the girl we like, or the opportunity to make it to the finals that we yearn for, just because we're devoted and we pray. It's something that's always annoyed me- for instance at the end of some sporting event when the winner or someone from the winning team says in the interview "God was on our side". So what, God abandoned the opponents??? And it's when us Christians give people that impression of God that we are shoned, because others see us as people who believe we're better than everyone else. Bad things happen to good people- our lives aren't automatically bump-free because we know the Books of the Bible in alphabetical order.

I say, if we're gonna make a statement, make one that doesn't involve God's alleged tendency to be partial. God came for sinners- I don't believe He'd make it a point of duty to turn them away. So, Mr. Nugget Man, don't go around saying that it's because you prayed that you made it through. While I agree that we should never underestimate the power of prayer, I also believe that we must be careful to not overestimate it either. If prayer were the ultimate power, God's role would be purely administrative. So instead, Mr. Man, just thank God for the blessing.