"Rubbish!"

I received this in an artistically worked religious email during the week.

First my car broke down
I was very late for work
But I missed that awful accident
Was that Your handiwork?

I found the house I loved
but others got there first
I was angry, then relieved
When I heard the pipes had burst.

Yesterday I found the perfect dress
But the colour was too pale,
Today I found the dress in red,
would you believe, it was on sale?

I know you're watching over me
and I'm feeling truly blessed,
For no matter what I pray for, you always know what's best.
......... It continues but that's enough.  Here are two other examples of "Faith"

• There was a write up in the local paper about an accident. This man on a bicycle had entered a main highway, and then as I read it, had done a pretty unwise maneuver.  Some unsuspecting driver of a car hit him and wrecked his bike. The man survived with some minor injuries. The emergency workers attending the scene reported that he was "pretty lucky."  The man, a lay preacher in a rural church, said something like, "It wasn't luck. We know it was God looking after me!" 
• Some girls on a school trip to the beach found themselves swept away by the currents in the water. Luckily three surfers who were having a lunch break from work saw their plight and helped them to safety. A number had hypothermia.  They were exceptionally lucky, it could easily have led to the loss of several lives.  One saintly lady from the school is reported to have said, "Everything happens for a reason."

These are three examples of religious people's "faith".  Let me tell you how I feel about them. Please excuse the language but I have to express it strongly. They are BULLSHIT!  I get angry when people present or depict the Christian faith like some primitive tribal religion.  The God I worship is depicted as running around organising red dresses at sale price for his precious child!
I was talking to a man last weekend and he told me his wife was nursing a 21 year old young woman dying of cancer. "How does that fit in with your God then?" he challenged me. Go tell that 21 year old dying of cancer that "everything happens for a reason"!   Does God give 21 year olds cancer?  Was God running around protecting his child from awful accidents, by mucking around mechanically with her car, when thousands were being killed by earthquake in Japan? We have multitudes in Zimbabwe and other places in the world, struggling in poverty and oppression, often malnourished. Go tell them that "my God is running around organising cheap red dresses for me!" The cyclist who thought God was looking after him when he did unwise moves, should go chat to the widow of a lovely Christian doctor. He was cycling home for lunch and through no fault of his own was squashed by a truck. Where was this God then? Thats enough ranting. Such a view of God is primitive, superstitious rubbish! It does not face reality honestly, it turns us into little children and insults the true way of Jesus.  It turns God into our private super-hero who looks after us.  
Now I am sure there will be people who say that I have little "faith".  If being a believer means believing in this sort of superstition, count me among the atheists. I feel embarrassed, angry and ashamed when fellow "Christians" make such claims.