A week or so ago, my brother, Tom was driving from his Edwardsville, Illinois home to St. Louis, Missouri when he noticed a woman with a flat tire on the Popular Street Bridge. It seems she was one of a few folks who was victimized by a 'chunck' of missing pavement on this bridge crossing the mighty Mississippi River. The incident reminds me of the terrible Minnesota bridge collapse a few years ago, which claimed the lives of several unsuspecting drivers.
I recall when that tragedy occurred, as in the case of other tragedies, my very religious neighbor is quick to tell me that 'such-in-such' happened because God was mad at 'those' people; "It was just time for those people to die and God allowed the event to happen because it is His will." I am sure the neighbor fella watches Rev. Pat Robertson's, '700 Club' and subscribes to the belief that the colorful 'Tellie Tubbie' cartoon characters are causing the two-year old boy across the street to play with his Mother's purse!
I have a good Christian foundation and a strong belief in God's Kingdom and the words of Jesus Christ. However, that Minnesota bridge collapse and the pending collapse of the Popular Street Bridge has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with God's will or plan for some of His people. The responsibility for those bridges safety is in the hands of workers who build, engineers who inspect and law makers who release funds for necessary repairs. I told my neighbor that he was full of crap pontificating such a religious philosophy; I know, I could use better language but actually, I thought I did when I said, 'Crap.'
I heard a report several months ago that stated it would take about $441 billion to fix all the American bridges, which we continue to ignore. However, our government spent nearly twice that much on the Iraq War...please don't tell me that God made both those decisions. Let's stop rationalizing our failures by 'blaming' God for our bad judgments!
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