{"id":1867,"date":"2015-08-19T13:30:46","date_gmt":"2015-08-19T13:30:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/?p=1867"},"modified":"2015-08-19T13:30:46","modified_gmt":"2015-08-19T13:30:46","slug":"god-has-never-let-me-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/2015\/08\/19\/god-has-never-let-me-down\/","title":{"rendered":"God has never let me down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;God has never let me down.&#8221; \u00a0A friend told me this some time ago, and I asked him what he meant. \u00a0What was <em>this thing<\/em> that God had never done? \u00a0What would it look like if God\u00a0<em>had<\/em> let you down? \u00a0If God ever did\u00a0let you down, how would you tell? \u00a0I couldn&#8217;t get this guy to tell me a single hypothetical event that would constitute\u00a0God letting\u00a0him down.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;ve all seen this\u00a0in action. \u00a0If you get a new job, it&#8217;s because God\u00a0always provides for you. \u00a0If you didn&#8217;t get the new job, it&#8217;s because God wants you to experience hardship a bit longer so you&#8217;ll truly appreciate happiness when it eventually comes. \u00a0If your aunt survived cancer, it&#8217;s because God healed her. \u00a0If she didn&#8217;t, it&#8217;s because God wants to teach you an important lesson about relying on him in difficult circumstances &#8211; maybe he helped you cope with your loss.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;God has never let me down&#8221; hypothesis seems to fit\u00a0any data. \u00a0X happened &#8211; God has never let me down. \u00a0X didn&#8217;t happen &#8211; God has never let me down.<\/p>\n<p>I raised this with a different friend, and they told me of tsunami victims who had lost everything\u00a0&#8211; possessions, homes, friends, family &#8211; yet they\u00a0praised God because they were still alive! \u00a0There&#8217;s a whole <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Book_of_Job\">book of the Bible<\/a> about that&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Well, if you&#8217;re ever wondering if God has let you down, I&#8217;ve prepared a simple flow chart. \u00a0It may seem specific to one particular situation, but with a little creativity, you can adapt it to anything. \u00a0I hope it&#8217;s helpful.<\/p>\n<p><strong>1. \u00a0Have you experienced any natural disasters in your life?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God has kept you safe all your life! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><b>Yes? \u00a0<\/b>Go to Question 2.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>2. \u00a0So, you&#8217;ve experience a natural disaster. \u00a0Was your town\u00a0kept safe?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God saved\u00a0your town! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>3. \u00a0So, an earthquake wiped out your village. \u00a0Did all your family members survive?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God is looking after your family! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 4.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>4. \u00a0So, you&#8217;ve lost a family member. \u00a0Did you cope well?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God was there for you! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 5.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>5. \u00a0So, you spiralled into depression. \u00a0Did you get through\u00a0it?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God helped you through your dark times! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 6.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>6. \u00a0So you&#8217;ve been troubled by depression ever since. \u00a0Have your friends helped you?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God has provided you with helpful\u00a0friends! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 7.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>7. \u00a0Have you resorted to substance abuse?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God has helped you steer clear of damaging behaviour! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 8.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>8. \u00a0Did you eventually give up your destructive habits?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0God has helped you conquer your demons! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong>Go to Question 9.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>9. \u00a0Are you at least still alive?<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Yes? \u00a0<\/strong>Praise God! \u00a0Um,&#8230; \u00a0you&#8217;re still alive! \u00a0God has never let you down.<\/li>\n<li><strong>No? \u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>You could go on like this for your whole life: making excuses, fitting any situation perfectly to the &#8220;God has never let me down&#8221; hypothesis. \u00a0Unless everything &#8211;\u00a0<em>absolutely everything<\/em> &#8211;\u00a0has completely fallen apart, you&#8217;ll always be able to\u00a0find something to give\u00a0God credit for. \u00a0Even if you&#8217;ve lost all\u00a0you own and all the people dear to you, <em>you&#8217;re still alive.<\/em>\u00a0 You can (selfishly?) thank God for keeping <em>your<\/em> life in tact, and repeat the mantra: &#8220;God has never let me down&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>If you&#8217;d only consider\u00a0that God might have let you down if you&#8217;d lost everything,\u00a0<em>including your very life<\/em>, then\u00a0how could you ever know God had let you down? \u00a0You&#8217;d be dead before you could ever realise! \u00a0But if you wouldn&#8217;t even count\u00a0<em>that<\/em> as God letting you down, then it&#8217;s hard to imagine what <em>could<\/em> constitute God letting you down. \u00a0And if there is no imaginable scenario that would count\u00a0as\u00a0God letting you down, then it is completely\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Vacuous_truth\">vacuous<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>to proclaim that God has never let you down. \u00a0Such a statement translates to: &#8220;See this list with no items on it? \u00a0Well, God has never done any of those things!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Now, a Christian might say, &#8220;Ah, but there is one way God could let me down &#8211; he could send me to Hell, despite promising not to.&#8221; \u00a0But if the only way God could conceivably let you down occurs\u00a0<em>after you die<\/em>, then it is still vacuous for a living person to say &#8220;God has never let me down&#8221;. \u00a0Such a statement translates to: &#8220;God has never done to me, a living person, a thing he could only do to a dead person!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>If you think your\u00a0God has never let you down, then you&#8217;re not alone. \u00a0Hindus, Mormons, Muslims, and even <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster\">Pastafarians<\/a> are just as warranted to say that\u00a0<em>their God <\/em>has never let them down. \u00a0They could similarly define &#8220;letting you down&#8221; as something their God couldn&#8217;t even conceivably\u00a0do, and then triumphantly proclaim that their God has never done it. \u00a0A being does not even have to exist in order not to do an impossible\u00a0thing. \u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/2012\/10\/30\/unicorns\/\">Unicorns<\/a> have never let me down.<\/p>\n<p>If you still disagree, if you\u00a0still think your God has never let you down, and if you still\u00a0think there is something impressive about this, then please\u00a0nominate a scenario (no matter how hypothetical) that would convince you\u00a0God had let you down.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/files\/2015\/08\/hasgodeverletyoudown.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1868\" src=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/files\/2015\/08\/hasgodeverletyoudown.jpg\" alt=\"hasgodeverletyoudown\" width=\"580\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/files\/2015\/08\/hasgodeverletyoudown.jpg 580w, https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/files\/2015\/08\/hasgodeverletyoudown-300x176.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;God has never let me down.&#8221; \u00a0A friend told me this some time ago, and I asked him what he&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,178,12],"tags":[189,191,194,197,206,212,39],"class_list":["post-1867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atheism","category-christianity","category-featured","category-god","tag-atheism","tag-christianity","tag-faith","tag-god","tag-reason","tag-religion","tag-skepticism-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/reasonablyfaithless\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}