God Helps Diaperless Little Boy

3-year-old Joshua Childers went missing earlier this week.

Thankfully, he was found by a volunteer searcher on Wednesday afternoon.

When found, Joshua was wet and covered in ticks. All he had on was a t-shirt and one shoe. He had lost his other shoe as well as his pull-up diaper.

Somehow, he survived the two-day, two-night ordeal. He’s listed in fair condition at a nearby hospital.

So, what brings this story to my attention?

The father’s response:

“It’s undescribable how grateful we are,” [Adam] Childers said. “I mean, you doubt if God’s actually with you for awhile, and then something like this happens, and you know he’s there.”

When your son is found half-naked and nearly dead, then God gets credit?!

What about all these people?

Hundreds of volunteers from as far away as St. Louis, 100 miles to the northeast, came to help in the search. So did professional search and rescue crews from dozens of agencies. The Missouri State Highway Patrol brought in planes. The state Water Patrol brought in divers and sonar. Dozens of dogs, horses, ATVs and even donkeys scattered in the miles around the tiny home that sits along the wild, rocky terrain of the Mark Twain National Forest.

They didn’t do shit, apparently. It was all the good work of the Lord…

*sigh*

I get that it’s a news article and quoting is selective, but I wouldn’t be surprised if thanks went to God first and foremost. Maybe only later (if that) would the dad thank the volunteers and rescue workers.

Why can’t people give credit where it is really due? (And what would have happened if the boy died? Would that be God’s doing? Doubtful.)

(Thanks to Chamonix for the link!)

MaleficVTwin

Why can’t people give credit where it is really due? (And what would have happened if the boy died? Would that be God’s doing? Doubtful.)

Well, hopefully he wouldn’t blame the volunteers……..
Bunc

God should get the “credit” for having stuffed up in the first place and letting the boy go missing and causing all that trouble.

God is a goddamn nuisance. He’s always breaking things and messing up stuff ( Like New Orleans etc.) He thinks if he saves a few souls occassionally then we will all forgive him.
Tony

It’s like when people say things like “He had both legs amputated but he’s lucky to be alive!”. Yeah, lucky me, I have no legs, I’m off to buy a lottery ticket!
Ron Brown

Oh c’mon, Hemant. I’m fully on your side when it comes to the ridiculousness selectiveness of thanking God for things that go well and forgetting to give him credit for things that go terribly. But lets be honest here, do you really think that only “maybe” later “if that” he thanked all the people that helped? I would be shocked out of my mind if he wasn’t overwhelmed by how much help he received from so many people, and didn’t express his gratitude to them profusely.

I’ve read you for a while. I know that you’re not a glove-off no-holds-barred brash take-no-prisoners religion basher. In fact, you appear to be more mellow and calm than I am in these dealings. So it’s strange to see you doubt that a person who just received an incredible amount of help from people may have neglected to do anything less than shower them with gratitude.
Jennifurret

But don’t you know? It was part of God’s plan that those people helped. And they’re all helpful people because God instilled them with those morals…so it all comes back to God eventually.

…*head explodes*
SarahH

I’m sure he thanked the volunteers, but that doesn’t negate the complete ridiculousness (and tackiness) of thanking God in a situation like this. What about all the people who lose their children and don’t find them? What about the people whose children die of birth defects, rare forms of cancer, etc?

God gets the props no matter what good thing happens, and none of the blame for the bad things.
Robert Madewell

What about all the kids that are found dead or not at all? Maybe, their parents didn’t have enough faith.

I’m glad the boy was found.
Eamon Knight

So, what does God have against Tori Stafford’s family? Or Madeleine McCann’s?
If he gets the credit for the one, he also gets the blame for the others.
MikeTheInfidel

Oh, I loved this one when I heard Nancy Grace start up about it:

“There is a God! Little Joshua has been find alive and well“…

This after her endless banshee rantings about all the missing and murdered kids around the country? Is she serious?
Tony

Nancy Grace is evidence that the devil exists. Or at least evidence of the existence of shrill harpies.
Sarah

If the boy had died I’m sure the parents would be suing the search and rescue people for damages for not finding him soon enough. I’m also fairly certain the S & R teams won’t get so much as a thank you card from the father.
Sarah

Ron Brown:
My friend used to volunteer to do search and rescue. Once, her team rescued a little boy (about 6 years old if memory serves). I distinctly remember how livid she was that the parents did not once thank the rescuers. They prayed while everyone else was out searching and when they brought the little boy back, they snatched him out of the rescuers arms (a natural reaction I suppose) and began praying to god thanking him for finding their child. Not one member of the S & R team received a verbal or written thank you. Not so much as a letter to the editor to thank them.

So, point being, don’t be so sure about basic human gratitude when dealing with religious nuts.
PsiCop

It’s all part of the effort to discredit humanity. Human beings, you know, can NEVER do anything good. They NEVER find lost kids. They NEVER rescue people from burning homes. They NEVER rush to the side of a heart-attack victim and resuscitate him. They NEVER evacuate people from floods or pull them to safety after one has started. No human being … in the minds of religionists … ever does anything good for anyone or anything.

Ever.

If by chance a human being is involved in such an event, it’s because God was somehow there. Either God inspired a paramedic to become an emergency worker and save people who have heart attacks. Or God made sure the 911 call was placed just quickly enough that aid could arrive. Or God ensured the firehouse was built close enough by that firefighters could reach a burning house in time. Or God saw to it that enough rescue-boats had been bought in a flood-prone town. And so on.

By continually discrediting humanity and representing humans as incapable of doing anything out of compassion or a sense of duty to each other, religionists perpetuate their (false) belief that what they call “humanism” is not beneficial to anyone, and that only God … as viewed through the lens of the right religion (their own, of course, never another!) … is capable of doing anything good.

They are, to put it bluntly, lying about people. Why they think God wants them to lie in his name, is something I will never understand … but they do it nonetheless; they do it happily; and they are incensed when asked to stop.
brielle

There was a story back when the plane went down in the Hudson in NYC. A woman wrote a piece to her newspaper on how angry she was that ‘god’ was not given credit for saving all those people.

Cause, you know, the pilot didn’t touch the controls at all, and the plane magically made its way down and safely landed in the water. No skill at all on the part of the pilot…

If I was that pilot, I’d be pretty pissed.

Amazing how some people attribute skill, training, and human nature/behavior/kindness/whatever to a mythical being who noone has ever seen or talked with (hallucinations, delusions, whatever don’t count in my book).
Doug

I was once friends with a guy I was trying to ‘save’ from one of these holy roller preach in the streets groups, and he told me a great story.
One day they were all in their bus on their way to ‘testify’ downtown, when they got a puncture!
That, of course, was due to Satan, trying to stop them bringing the word of the lord to people.
Then they discovered they didn’t have a spare: Satan had caused them to forget about it and leave it behind.
They sat by the side of the road wailing and lamenting the wiles of Satan.
A passing motorist stopped to offer a hand, and fixed the puncture.
Hallelujah, God had come to their rescue and sent a man with a puncture repair kit.
There’s no reasoning with these people.

BTW I ‘saved’ him eventually – though he occasionally reminds me that God is pissed at me for doing it !!