Refreshing change: Survivor blames God

[CFLarsen]

The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 49 people near Lexington last week asked family members from his hospital bed, "Why did God do this to me?" but he hasn't mentioned the crash, a close family friend said Wednesday.
...
He has asked about various family members, Cruz said, and has questioned his relationship with God.

One of the first full sentences he said after regaining consciousness was, "Why did God do this to me?" Cruz said.

Cruz said Polehinke's mother, Honey Jackson, told him: "It was not God. It was just an accident."
Source (http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/09/06/kentucky.survivor.ap/index.html)

Usually, it's the other way around...

[Didaktylos]

I'm waiting for the time when we get a sole (or rare) survivor (who happens to be a sceptic) of some disaster publicly attributing their survival to a second-order effect of Murphy's Law.

[Beady]

'The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 49 people near Lexington last week asked family members from his hospital bed, "Why did God do this to me?"'

"Refreshing"? Too bad he didn't die immediately afterward, it would have been downright invigorating.

[Marquis de Carabas]

Usually, it's the other way around...
Usually, God blames survivors for plane crashes?

[Garrette]

'The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 49 people near Lexington last week asked family members from his hospital bed, "Why did God do this to me?"'

"Refreshing"? Too bad he didn't die immediately afterward, it would have been downright invigorating.I suspect you're being intentionally provocative, but what the heck.

Considering a survivor's reaction to be refreshing can hardly be reason for considering the survivor's (near) death to be invigorating.

[Garrette]

Usually, God blames survivors for plane crashes?If he didn't want them to survive, then yes.

Didn't he blame those pesky iron-chariot drivers for winning the battle?

[RenaissanceBiker]

Didn't he blame those pesky iron-chariot drivers for winning the battle?

Exactly. It sure wasn't because he forgot his holy hummingbirds of death.

[I less than three logic]

If he didn't want them to survive, then yes.

Didn't he blame those pesky iron-chariot drivers for winning the battle?
Eddie Izzard, as

Jesus: “The Holy Ghost has been worthless recently, running around with a sheet on his head he is.”

Holy Ghost: “Holy Ghooost! Holy Ghooost!” (Running around stage)

God (James Mason voice impersonation): “Holy Ghost, this is not an episode of Scooby Doo.”

[Brainache]

"Why did God do this to me?"
What an ungrateful bast**d. At least he wasn't one of the 49 dead people, who god must really hate.

[Tricky]

What I found most intriguing was his mother's reply, "It was not God. It was just an accident." You have to wonder if she is a non-believer or if she (like so many believers) only gives God credit, never blame. Most likely, she wasn't really thinking about it, she was just trying to comfort her son.

Also as to the question of why he thought he was being punished when he should have been happy he survived, well maybe he shouldn't. He was the co-pilot. Perhaps he would have preferred death to the thought of living with guilt for having killed all those other people (whether or not he was actually responsible.)

[Beerina]

'The sole survivor of a plane crash that killed 49 people near Lexington last week asked family members from his hospital bed, "Why did God do this to me?"'

Kirk: Khan! You keep killing everyone around me, but, like a poor marksman, you keep missing the mark!

Oh, that'd've been sweet. Well, Yahweh, my old nemesis. We meet again. I see you're up to your old Biblical ways again, slaughtering everybody around the target just to teach the target a lesson.

[Katana]

He is upset that he survived the crash only able to move his head. To some, this is a fate worse than death. It seems he feels this way. :(

[elliotfc]

"Why did God do this to me?"
What an ungrateful bast**d. At least he wasn't one of the 49 dead people, who god must really hate.

Or, you could see it as the 49 dead people are now in heaven, and the other guy is left to live with permanent injuries and scars?

Not that I see it that way, I'm just saying is all.

-Elliot

[elliotfc]

What I found most intriguing was his mother's reply, "It was not God. It was just an accident." You have to wonder if she is a non-believer or if she (like so many believers) only gives God credit, never blame. Most likely, she wasn't really thinking about it, she was just trying to comfort her son.

The English presider at funerals at my church says a variant of this constantly. Recently and memorably he said it at the funeral of a teenage girl who died in a car crash. He mentioned that he overheard some people saying that the girl died because God needed another an angel, or something like that. No, no and no. The girl died in a horrible accident. End of. God doesn't sit around all day thinking about his needs, and then deciding to snuff people out because he "needs an angel".

As for credit vs. blame, it sort of follows from the dogmatic belief in God's nature. Given the dogmas, you *ought* not blame God for anything, although certainly humans, even the most religious, do that at times. It can be argued that even Jesus blamed God for certain things.

We will all die. Some deaths will be more horrible than others. Some will be extremely horrible. Will God intervent because he has some threshold in his head, where some deaths are acceptable, and some aren't? I suggest not, and I think most Christians would agree.

Also as to the question of why he thought he was being punished when he should have been happy he survived, well maybe he shouldn't. He was the co-pilot. Perhaps he would have preferred death to the thought of living with guilt for having killed all those other people (whether or not he was actually responsible.)

I think his is a *very* human and very understandable reaction, and I don't have any desire to overly judge or psychoanalyze the guy. If it happened to me I might be thinking and saying the same things.

-Elliot

[Garrette]

He is upset that he survived the crash only able to move his head. To some, this is a fate worse than death. It seems he feels this way. :(
Is he paralyzed now?

[alfaniner]

The story said he had not been informed of the fates of the other passengers. Therefore, he did not know he was the only "lucky" one.

[Katana]

Is he paralyzed now?
I have only read that he cannot move anything besides his head and that paralysis is a "possibility". Nothing I have found has elaborated further than that. Whether he has the chance (or what his chances are) to regain limb function is unclear.

[Dave1001]

I'm waiting for the time when we get a sole (or rare) survivor (who happens to be a sceptic) of some disaster publicly attributing their survival to a second-order effect of Murphy's Law.

I don't know what a second-order effect of Murphy's Law would be, but isn't Murphy's Law woo?