The Kind-Hearted Smart Aleck

“Prayers Unanswered” We thank you for poverty, Thank you for war, Thank you for cancer, For answering our prayers, For hurricanes, For pollution, We thank you for crime, For answering our prayers, For the AIDS epidemic in Africa, Thank you for the earthquake in Japan, Terrorist attacks in the Middle East, For answering our prayers, Clasping our hands, Closing our eyes, Wishes directed toward you, Hoping to stay alive, The sun rises in the morning, Some never awaken, Forever clasping our hands, Wondering if you’ll ever listen.

There are many things about organized religion that confuse me, especially the Christian faith, as that's the religion I grew up learning the most about, living in a country where the majority practice this particular faith. One debate I've always had problems with on a logical level is with regard to predestination vs. free will and also mixing in "God's plan" to the equation. I know people whom believe in predestination. I know some whom believe in free will. I know others whom believe in both. I know some that believe God granted us free will, yet he/she/it has a plan for every one of us. Breaking this down, I can understand if a person believes solely in one or the other, whether that be predestination, free will or that God has a plan for us. However, I have difficulty in understanding how we can simultaneously have both or all three. If our destiny is predestined by a higher power, of what difference would free will make in our outcome? If I was predes...

A while back, someone I know had been getting very lucky with certain things. It seemed as if they'd been catching all the breaks. So, I said, "Hey, you should go pay a buck or two and get a lotto scratch card" or whatever those things are called (shows how much I play). Her response? "Sometimes I think God doesn't want me to have money." I thought maybe she was talking about something else, so I said, "What? What do you mean?" She replied with, "I've never won anything before." I was going, "I know some people who have won more than their share of money, but they also spend more than they win or they lose it again to the slot machines. Do you think 'God' wanted them to have money?" I don't like that mentality. It's the mental state of putting your entire life into a supernatural being's hands and giving up. When I was born, should I have muttered to myself, "I don't think God wants me ...