An iconic landmark of Christchurch is the cathedral. The spire of which lies scattered on the ground with an estimated 20 people crushed beneath it. A common sentiment expressed in the wake of the quake is 'let us thank God for saving us' and I have to wonder 'what is wrong with these people'? They really didn't get saved, they just didn't get killed. And if they were saved - from a collapsed building for example - then it wasn't a god who did the saving, it was the combined work of hundreds of highly trained Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) personnel, or in many cases everyday citizens who happened to be in the right place to be able to help. To give credit to some supernatural being who in thousands of years of human civilization has never once given humanity concrete evidence of her existence is just ludicrous. By that rationale God made her own house fall down causing the deaths of 20 of her most ardent admirers not to mention making a hell of a mess on her floor. Oh, and making sure no one will be going to church for the next couple of months!
I would question why a benevolent god would allow such things to occur. Freewill! God gave us freewill when Eve ate the forbidden fruit - at least that's the story. But if we didn't have freewill before that event then it must have been God's choice for the fruit to be eaten because Eve didn't have the freewill to make those kind of choices. Anyway that is the most common reasoning I have heard from Christians - that God doesn't make these things happen and neither does he stop them because after we gave up our freewill (that we didn't really have) then God no longer intervened in the affairs of the world, he merely oversaw things running on the divine version of auto-pilot. Looks like the plane is headed for a bit of turbulence Jesus H!
I don't think I'll be heading to Christchurch for a while. On top of the privations of a shaken up and seriously damaged city there are all these nutters running around. First the Christians, then the scumbag looters showed up (at the home of a trapped woman whose family were out standing vigil at her collapsed workplace), and now this crazy pederast fuckwit Ken Ring who is scaring a large number of frightened, fragile, albeit not very intelligent people who are living through the trauma that is their life in post-earthquake Christchurch by saying he predicted this quake and he thinks another one will hit on March 20. This guy usually sticks to predicting the weather - something most people would not be surprised to find that the forecast was wrong about - but now he is talking about people's lives. He is saying he can predict earthquakes based on the movements of the planets (particularly the moon) and the corresponding actions of the tide. I would hesitate to call what Ken Ring does pseudoscience because it would be more accurate to call it 'Lucky Sometimes Correlation Identification' or maybe just 'bullshit'. One of the first things every scientist learns is 'correlation does not equal causation'. This means that because two events happen at the same time that fact is no reason to believe that one caused the other or vice versa. For example - every morning at 8:05am when I get in my car to go to work the weather forecast is playing on the radio. If I was Ken Ring (The Moon Man) I would say that my getting in my car caused the weather forecast to play on the radio - but of course that is absolutely absurd. By claiming there will be an earthquake in Christchurch he can't help but be right because there are a lot happening every day beneath NZ (over 4500 just in the Canterbury region in February). Instead there is a far more common force at work - Greed. This sick cunt just wants to drum up some publicity to sell a few more of his books and what better way than playing off peoples fear. I'm off to pray to God for deliverance!
To Chch Residents - I will not pray for you but I am thinking of you and doing what I can to help. The things that make Chch a great place are not the buildings and the roads but the hearts of the people and the natural beauty. Those things can be hurt but they are not destroyed. You guys will get over this. For some it may mean moving to another town or city and if that is the case for you then I will fully support your decision. There is no rush. Take all the time you can to heal and recover.
Your friend, Lucien
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