Scenario 1: Something bad happens to you but you survive, and you thank God because he has chosen to help you.
Scenario 2: Something happens to you together with the people around you - like the devastation of a tornado - and you are saved but your neighours are not, and you still thank God that he has chosen to help you, but not the others, implying that you are special to God, more valuable and worthy of being saved than the others.
Scenario 3: You simply lead a very comfortable life, while the news, day in day out, shows a miserable majority of the world's population mired in poverty - in a living hell, and you thank God that he has chosen to help you lead this favoured lifestyle.
Before you recount to others about how God has been so good to you, just ask yourself, how does this stand up in the light of all the people that God clearly hasn't chosen to help. They can't all be bad and unworthy of God's good grace surely!
Think of all the innocent babies and children who know no better!
What exactly are you thanking God for?
To quote a certain Jesse Hazelton on the evening of Thanksgiving:
"While you proudly pray to your god this evening and thank him for answering your prayers for the food that you are about to eat, ask yourself why you think your prayers were answered while at the same time your god neglected to answer the prayers of the 26,000 to 30,000 children who will die of starvation today who are praying to that same god for food."
Excellent commentary and observation.
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