Benefit of Christianity?

[Monkey Napoleon]

I wanna know what a 92 year old woman is doing still driving.

 

[Sefarst]

All good points.

"Never posit more than the stated evidence will allow." I've blundered my own rule, eh?

So why get involved? It's just a well-dressed old woman sitting in a car talking to a shabbily-dressed man. Nothing to see here. Move along. Let's get that Christmas shopping done!

The mugger may or may not have shared her beliefs. What he believed is a matter for speculation. Never posit ... et cetera.

It's true that he may or may not have shared her beliefs, but as the title of this thread is "Benefit of Christianity?" it seems to suggest that there are two possibilities when it came to the intentions of this attacker:

1) He never intended to kill her, only take her money and use his weapon to intimidate her.
2) He intended to kill her, but something about her or what she said changed his mind (which seems to be the insinuation behind the story, that her sharing her religious faith with him somehow protected her).

Then there is the fact that the article states "'Yes, I sure would,' he said. 'But I'm afraid the Lord won't take me,'" which suggests to me that Ricky shared her religious beliefs at least to a small degree.

If I had to guess, he probably never intended to kill her, especially not in a crowded grocery store parking lot.

 

[joobz]

Never posit more than the stated evidence will allow.

People have told me to deny the existance of God and put my faith in humanity. When "dozens of people" fail to notice -- or refuse to act if they did notice -- that a tall, raggedy man got in to a 92-year old woman's car, threatened her, took her money, and then left, it only serves to re-affirm my faith in humanity as a largely, self-serving, indifferent, cowardly, and greedy lot.

That the woman is still alive and unharmed after she expressed her faith in God, in both word and act, to a man who threatened her if she did not give him her money, only re-affirms that my own faith in God has a purpose.

Note that no mere mortal can prove the existance or non-existance of God.

Sefarst hit upon my view. There is no reason to assume people would have seen it as an unusual situation.

But even if you are correct, and people did/were too scared or selfish to get involved, why is this a strike against humanity? Or what we really mean here, secular humanity? Considering that the majority of people walking past this care were christians (an assumption based upon it being TN), doesn't this fact speak more negatively about the moral codes that christianity teaches?

 

[Fnord]

Sefarst hit upon my view. There is no reason to assume people would have seen it as an unusual situation.

But even if you are correct, and people did/were too scared or selfish to get involved, why is this a strike against humanity? Or what we really mean here, secular humanity? Considering that the majority of people walking past this care were christians (an assumption based upon it being TN), doesn't this fact speak more negatively about the moral codes that christianity teaches?

Not so much a strike against humanity, as a lack of a stroke for humanity.

And that's humanity in general. No matter what cultural, political, or religious masks we hide behind, we're all just hairless ape-like beings looking out for our own self-interests.

 

[Sefarst]

Not so much a strike against humanity, as a lack of a stroke for humanity.

And that's humanity in general. No matter what cultural, political, or religious masks we hide behind, we're all just hairless ape-like beings looking out for our own self-interests.

Of course, I can't care about every person I pass on the street. Society would shut down if we obsessed about every person we saw every day.

However, if that same 92-year-old woman were being strangled in the middle of a crowded mall in plain view, do you really think that no one would have helped her? In my experience, people tend to be moderately good and often like to help other people, at least to a certain extent. Secular or religious, most people have done at least a moderate amount of charitable acts in their lives, it just depends on when and where. A good example is giving blood, especially after large tragedies like 9/11, Hurricane Katrina or the tsunamis.

 

[Autolite]

That the woman is still alive and unharmed after she expressed her faith in God.

My oh my, that certainly was a touching story of God's love. I'm still a bit puzzled though. God, in His infinite love, spared granny from harm but what was the deal with those folks at that mall in Omaha? I suppose that we could say that that was that just God's way of saying He needed a few folks whacked for no obvious reason? He certainly doth work in mysterious ways don't He ...

 

[m_huber]

Actually, one could argue that if someone had tried to interfere, it may have caused the guy to snap and attack. It's probably best that nobody tried to do anything.