Comments on Why Does God Let Bad Things Happen To Good People?

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Also, mmm-w, just to clarify...
the vast majority of the questions were not written by me, as much as I'd love to take ALL the credit. Occasionally, I do "edit" them however, to make them more "interesting". (The answers, of course, are 100% me.)

The only questions I completely wrote myself were the second "Neighborhood Watched?" one, the "Night Calls" one and the "boy on the leash" one. Plus, maybe, two others.

posted by Mademoiselle on July 7, 2005 at 6:51 AM | link to this | reply

That is an excellent analogy, Wordwizard.
However, I needed to use one more suited to american audiences. Referring to the Queen might have come off as a tad "stuffy".

posted by Mademoiselle on July 7, 2005 at 6:28 AM | link to this | reply

Gubby, all my sea monkeys...
died from water pollution. Which probably does say something about me.

posted by Mademoiselle on July 7, 2005 at 6:24 AM | link to this | reply

No, Krisles, sea monkeys do not...
look like primates at all. They are, in fact, tiny shrimp-like creatures with bug eyes and a skeletal frame. Quite cute, actually.

posted by Mademoiselle on July 7, 2005 at 6:20 AM | link to this | reply

So happy no one was troubled by the unusual analogy...
Cause, you gals/guys may not be aware of this, but I actually write these 20 to 25 at a time. And, by the end of the day ... frankly, things start getting a little weird.

For instance, here's some other "brilliant ideas" I have come up with, after my mind began to wander:

* a column written entirely in Russian (with no translation)

* a series of Yoda-ish answers (every sentence partially backwards)

* an entire column where every sentence was a line from a song by either Nirvana, Hole, Smashing Pumpkins or Garbage

posted by Mademoiselle on July 7, 2005 at 6:16 AM | link to this | reply

Or as a Rabbi once said to me...
It's rather like the Queen of England. She really doesn't care a mite about the plight of her individual subjects. Collectively, she might be concerned about a trend to do, but really she has a kingdom to run! :)

posted by Wordwizard on July 7, 2005 at 1:33 AM | link to this | reply

great post, although the comments were equally as entertaining...... esp. joe_loves... although i too, like you, have wondered why the king of pop has had such a tough time of it... all he wanted was.... well- nevermind....

i so long to send you a letter and seek your wisdom and advice, but oh how i fear it as well. :) (Besides i would need to come up with something REALLY good, and i just can't. you are SO much better at that then i.....)

i take a bow now, dear madame, and say goodnight....

posted by mmm-w on July 6, 2005 at 10:03 PM | link to this | reply

Madame_P.O.
Well, I think it is a quite brilliant post....and I have never actually heard of sea monkeys...do they look like monkeys at all?  I mean, I have this picture in my mind of itsy, bitsy little monkey shaped creatures but it doesn't make any sense really...not under the water...oh well...still an excellent post.  Sounds like Talion is talking about the Diestic school of religious belief....hmm Conan and sea monkeys....I do believe I'll go read my astrological forecast for tomorrow....

posted by Krisles on July 6, 2005 at 8:59 PM | link to this | reply

It's a sorta thing I'd been wanting to say... but you seem to have a knack for these old analogies. Trouble with me, I could never be bothered with the sea monkeys past the inicial ten second excitement. Eh.. I hope that doesn't say anything about me..

Then I would go on to say, now how about good things happening to bad people? Alright. Good explanation. But ponder this: Good people and bad people seem to get an equal share of good, bad and neutral things happening to them... sooo... where does god come in?... Why do you need him to explain all this anyway?

^^

But don't let me spoil your fun. I confuse christians as a hobby.

posted by Gubby on July 6, 2005 at 4:11 PM | link to this | reply

Madame, what a totally inspiring entry!!!
Your seamonkey analogy warmed my heart. I think I'll ponder further down by the bridge.

posted by Joe_Love on July 6, 2005 at 12:29 PM | link to this | reply

Hopefully, third time's the charm!
No, the real question is... why do good things happen to bad people? Like Kim Jong Ill and Michael Jackson.

P.S. There really should be a way to edit comments, sans deleting them!

P.P.S. I am such an perfectionist it's not even funny.

posted by Mademoiselle on July 6, 2005 at 10:04 AM | link to this | reply

The real question . . .
"Why do we cause bad things to happen to us?"

And another question could be, "What makes us think we are good people?"

posted by archiew on July 6, 2005 at 8:57 AM | link to this | reply

Yeah, I can buy that.
Although, generally speaking, you're probably wise not to base your spiritual philosophy on anything you read in "Conan the Barbarian". "Tarzan",maybe... but not "Conan".

Don't knock Scientology, til you've tried it.

posted by Mademoiselle on July 6, 2005 at 8:36 AM | link to this | reply

Madame_P.O.
The most compelling idea of religion I've ever encountered is from Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian series. Conan's god, Crom, created a person, but that's all he was ever going to do for him. Don't bother praying to him, to give him a tribute, the epitome of the old don't call me, I'll call you. It's up to the individual to carve his own destiny, unhelped and unhindered. Now I don't go around basing my religious concepts on the work of popular fiction writers (there's always scientology if I wanted to do that), but this makes a lot of sense.     

posted by Talion on July 6, 2005 at 8:23 AM | link to this | reply