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35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

Sun, 31 Jan 2010 10:42:12 -0700

submitted by Pilebsa
[link] [19 comments]

BlueHollow on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T12:54:13.179242-07:00-0700

Before I start, I should preface this by saying that for all the criticism I have of Chandler's beliefs, I wish him the best and hope that he and his doctors triumph over the odds. But this story is as much about belief as it is about one man's struggle against cancer and so those beliefs are useful topics for this subreddit. One thing that I found really weird were things like this: >Chandler is facing brain surgery...Questions start to haunt him. Am I going to wake up and be me? Am I going to wake up and remember Lauren? I thought that Christians such as Chandler believed in immortal, immaterial souls that held (for lack of a better word) their personalities, memories, and so on. I can see a Christian worrying that brain surgery will leave him dead, but if everything that makes up Chandler as a person is distinct from his brain, why be concerned about functions of the soul? And then there's this: >Whatever happens, he says, is God's will, and God has his reasons. For Chandler, that does not mean waiting for his fate. It means fighting for his life. So God has a plan, which apparently includes not only Chandler getting cancer, but Chandler fighting that cancer. So literally everything that happens or doesn't happen, everything that Chandler does of his own free will or refuses to do is part of God's plan. There is literally no event, action, or decision, hypothetical or real, that could not be said to be part of God's plan. So just what is the value of claiming that there's a plan behind everything? It's like having a weather model that fortells clear, cloudy, raining, snowing, dry, warm, cold, windy, or calm weather tomorrow. All this reveals is that although Chandler is a pastor who councils others, he apparently hasn't given much thought to his own beliefs. I can't help but see this as a flaw of Christianity in general, which seeks to promote faith and conformity more than skepticism and criticism.

Pilebsa on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:15:30.046662-07:00-0700

>So God has a plan, which apparently includes not only Chandler getting cancer, but Chandler fighting that cancer. This is a good example of my argument that 99.9% of Christians don't really believe. If it truly was "God's will" then he wouldn't undergo a dangerous, invasive medical procedure that is undoubtedly an attempt to undermine God's plan in the first place. Brain surgery is certainly not based on divine inspiration. It's based on secular medical technology. So a pastor who talks about "God's will" and then tries to undermine it in his own personal life, is a hypocrite in my book. That notwithstanding, I wish the guy well, but I suspect he has one additional problem that us atheists don't: the added stress of trying to reconcile his dogmatic belief system with the reality of his predicament.

vincevonvice on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T15:36:03.556451-07:00-0700

As Eddie Izzard once quipped, "If there is a God, his plan is very similar to someone not having a plan." So if there truly is a plan, God must have chosen to create every variety of human suffering like genetic disease, viruses, bacteria, and natural disasters befall good people he apparently loves. God choosing to "test" someone's faith with a slow and painful death means he is sadistic and fucking evil. A God like that deserves no praise.

Pilebsa on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:18:40.557476-07:00-0700

This is what clinched my non-belief. After reading the bible and seeing "god's children" and what they've done throughout history, even if there really was a christian god, I would not respect, much less worship him. Any "omnipotent all-loving creator" who would test someone by asking them to murder their own child, is a total psychopath.

realgenius on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T21:19:39.632391-07:00-0700

I just stole that quote. Thanks, Eddie and Vince.

anomoly on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T16:37:39.077970-07:00-0700

In my opinion the concept of "God's will" is a completely fluid device used by religious individuals as a tool to cope with anything that happens in life. If something is bad, it's a test; If something is good, it's a blessing. Both outcomes can be used to strengthen faith and, to the believer, will lend a logical explanation for whatever happened. Your statement about "promoting faith and conformity more than skepticism and criticism" succinctly sums up religion as a whole, regardless of the specific belief system involved.

jefuchs on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T08:38:07.852731-07:00-0700

Two comments: First. My wife has brain cancer -- diagnosed around the same time as Chandler's, so I really feel for him. My wife was told that a combination of chemo and radiation is too aggressive, and the risks outweigh the benefits, so if that's the treatment that's been recommended for him, he has a very advanced case, and I feel doubly sorry for him and his family. Second. He made comments implying that god might well have given cancer to someone else, punishing them for their sins, but he got it, which, he says, could make a person start to question their faith. That's a pretty arrogant way of thinking. He's basically claiming that he is without sin, and has nothing to be punished for, and if there's a god, maybe he's making a mistake. Why not consider for a moment that if there's a god, he's punishing me for leading his people down the wrong path with my preaching? He doesn't seem to have considered that possibility. As someone whose life is affected by brain cancer, I can tell you this. It's just random shit that happens to people. Don't try to explain it away. Just fight back, and make the most of the time you have.

studiov34 on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T10:26:48.304540-07:00-0700

It's good he put his faith in science to use their magical powers to cure his cancer. The same people who lie to you about the universe being billions of years old, but are somewhat correct about how to harness nuclear medicine.

jherazob on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T13:27:22.738629-07:00-0700

Just as an aside, can we stop the stupid "The opposite of what i want to say... just kidding" meme? don't give material to quote-miners please

kencabbit on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T04:06:22.152018-07:00-0700

Agreed -- not so much worried about quote mining, though. I just find it annoying.

aerimus13 on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:42:48.764670-07:00-0700

I left the atheist subreddit because this sort of crap is all that is ever posted there. Please do not do the same thing here.

binary on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T16:57:07.263951-07:00-0700

I'm a free thinker, which means that I wish pain and suffering to anyone that dare says that there is a higher power or suggests he believes in one. Just because you call yourself a "free thinker" does not mean you are bigoted beyond all recognition under the guise of the same self-serving moniker-wearing idiots as the people you despise.

Pilebsa on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:20:07.366643-07:00-0700

>I'm a free thinker, which means that I wish pain and suffering to anyone that dare says that there is a higher power or suggests he believes in one. Nice strawman you created there.

BlueHollow on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:36:09.358305-07:00-0700

I hope you left off some sarcasm tags. I don't see anyone happy that believers in general suffer, or that this believer in particular is suffering. Do note that criticisms do not constitute rudeness nor persecution.

binary on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T18:40:37.907456-07:00-0700

Seemed to me that the poster of this story took great joy in the prospect of a pastor getting a brain tumor.

kencabbit on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T04:05:18.032508-07:00-0700

Seems to me that you are simply confirming a bias. I see no joy from the OP here of any kind. If anything the OP has taken offense -- criticize that if you like, but the image of the OP here gleeing over suffering certainly doesn't ring true.

Pilebsa on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T09:19:06.294219-07:00-0700

I do take offense. Every penny this guy solicited so he could add more to his pewter chalice collection, is a penny not given to the American Cancer Society or some other charity which actually does try to help people with illnesses rather than simply suggesting, "It's god's will." This is a sad, but poignant example that hits home as to the counterproductivity of religion and how it stifles science. Even at his stage, the pastor is trying to reconcile his beliefs with the scientific world. Also, I am one who believes that truth has priority over decor.

xkcddckx on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-01-31T16:59:34.996187-07:00-0700

Well said.

The_Vapour on 35 year old Evangelical Christian pastor who taught that God is the bringer of joy, had mysterious brain tumor spontaneously healed! ...Just kidding, he's undergoing radiation therapy and calls it "a test from God."

2010-02-01T02:12:15.591712-07:00-0700

Has he been promoting faith healing. If so, then this may be a poetic justice. Otherwise, kidding about someone's brain tumor is not cool.