Quote:Quoting the Bible at every possible opportunity is counterproductive, yet saying "I thank God for [something that goes your way]" may be fine.I am more comfortable with people quoting scripture than with the constant platitudes and 'thank god' statements. The former often indicates some familiarity with the Bible and possibly a person who tries to understand it. The latter seems more like an instinctive reaction. "Oh, something good happened? I'll thank god for giving me good things! Oh, something bad happened? I'll thank god for testing my spiritual strength! Oh, something horrible happened to someone else? I'll thank god for choosing him instead of me!"
The ability of people to contort any occurrence into a gift from god is fascinating, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."
-Stephen Jay Gould
-Stephen Jay Gould
