How do you comfort an organization when someone dies? Sean Taylor’s unexpected death reverberated through the Washington Redskins this week, leaving players, coaches and team personnel grieving. And as they mourned, many of them turned to their faith to help them cope with their loss.
The three men at the forefront of the grief counseling, team chaplains Lee Corder, Brett Fuller and Jerry Leachman, did their best to ease sorrow and make sense of the tragedy. Yet this cadre – most teams have one not three chaplains – was not enough to alleviate the organization’s collective ache.
“I have felt completely inadequate because there are things that man just can’t do,” Fuller said
Fuller, whose full-time job is senior pastor at Grace Covenant Church in Chantilly, is a volunteer chaplain with the team. Normally he spends 10-15 hours a week with the team leading Bible studies and counseling players and coaches. This past week, he practically lived at Redskins Park.
“I can give wisdom where I think it can apply,” Fuller said. “I can help out with perspective and how we need to look at things in order to heal better rather than bitter or maybe [when players are] accusing God of being out to lunch or neglectful of his responsibilities by allowing such a tragedy to happen to a guy who is on the way, I flip it and talk about how wonderful it was we had 3½ years [with Taylor], how nothing is promised.”
Corder conducted a Bible study Friday morning with about 10 members of the coaching staff. Using the Old Testament story of Ezra, he talked about how the coaches can provide leadership during traumatic times.
“What lessons can we learn on how do you manage crisis as a person of faith in a way that makes good out of what is so painful,” said Corder who has been with the team for 20 years.
“When these moments come, you go, okay, now in the times of pain is the time when people of faith can say ‘Let’s stand up and demonstrate our faith by the way we honor those who’ve gone.’ We think of Sean fondly. We remember him. I will tell you personally in my opinion he’s the greatest story the last two years at Redskins Park in terms of what was going on with him in terms of his own faith. He was a young man who was changing and I saw that. No question.”
Many of the players are having a hard time understanding Taylor’s death. No matter how strong or weak their faiths are, they question God’s role in the tragedy. Fuller understands this challenge is part of the grieving process.
“Right now, the whole earth just shook here,” Fuller said. “Everything upon which they trusted has been shaken. When everything you’ve known is not as stable as you thought it should be, yet there are people who have been through the same earthquake and are calm, then that becomes a why? No longer are they asking about God why? They’re asking why are you like this? How are you so stable? How do you make it? What I try to be is who God would be to them even though they don’t believe.”
As team chaplains, the men say they aren’t around the locker room only for those with strong religious backgrounds. They are there to counsel everyone whether they believe in God or not.
“Number one, it would be a poor chaplain who wouldn’t also recognize this is a time of real pain,” Corder said. “We’ve lost a wonderful young man. It’s a tragic and senseless loss. And now you’ve got to make sense out of the senseless loss. I think we become part of that anchor, where guys can go, okay, let’s start pulling on the rope together....You respect others place but you try to give hope in what you believe. Let’s cling on and go together. Let’s all row together and maybe if some of us can pull harder on the oars at this point, others can be blessed by it as well so we all can pull through together.”
Athletes don’t grieve differently than the rest of us. They mourn the loss of a teammate much the way we lament the death of a close friend. Yet in one respect, their grief in this situation is different than yours or mine. It hits close to home for them.
“In this scenario, they’re scared because they believe Sean was targeted because he was an athlete,” Fuller said. “Not because of the people presumably with whom he ran, but because he was an athlete of some notoriety coming from a background or coming from a relational environment where very few people made it but he did and the jealousy. Because most of them did, most of them, that’s where they came from. So they’re sitting there thinking: ‘Who’s jealous of me? I need my alarm system checked. I need my wife scared. I need to go sell my house and live in a gated community.’ That’s what is in the back of their minds beyond the grieving process.”
A game against Buffalo on Sunday followed quickly by Thursday’s game against Chicago with a funeral squeezed in Monday does not allow much time for bereavement. Sean Taylor’s father said it is what his son would have wanted. But should a team be playing games so soon after a death of one of their own?
“This just doesn’t seem right,” Fuller said. “But everybody’s committed. We’ve got to do it. It’s our job. There’s too much on the line. [ellipse] With that, you work through the discomfort. We have to figure out how to heal while we live. One thing that’s not often spoken is that when they’re on the football field even though it’s difficult it’s the place where because they’re so good they feel comfortable. So many of these guys are finding normalcy just by putting pads on. Not that they want to play, they feel the most natural they feel they can cope better there. They don’t know how to do this [grieving]. Life just doesn’t make room for death.”
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Comments (22)
JC -
I don't find you argumentative, just willingly uninformed. You make a good point in saying that there is much to explore in the universe. I would ask you just how much YOU have explored science and the scientific explanations for things. From your writings, you appear to be a young person who - once having found Jesus - decided to stop learning or even entertaining that there might, just might be answers to life that don't involve religion.
Re: your statement - "But if I say there's gold in Alaska, and Mark says there's none - how much of Alaska would he have to search to prove me wrong... All of it." - is an attempt to stack the argument in your favor through the use of a simplistic metaphor. I'm sure it wasn't by chance that you elected to speak of gold in Alaska to make your point. Everyone reading your post will think, "of course, JC is right...everyone knows that tons of gold was found in Alaska."
But the existence of god is not a fact like unto the existence of gold in Alaska. A more accurate metaphor would be the following:
"if I say there's gold on Jupiter, and Mark says there's no proof of that and that the science says that Jupiter is a gas giant that may or may not have a solid core capable of holding solid chemical elements like gold - how much of Jupiter would he have to search to prove my baseless assertion wrong? None of it, because my assertion has no more basis in fact than does the assertion that Santa Claus exists, and reasonable adults don't waste their time trying to prove a negative."
A more likely exchange would be the following:
• You assert that there is gold in Alaska
• I agree with you on this point
• My agreeing with you on gold in Alaska doesn't mean I agree with you on god's existence
You seem to be employing a strategy that has been raised to a state of high art by Dinesh D'Sousa, sprinkled with a penchant for confusing knowledge with belief. That strategy goes something like this:
• conjecture some hypothesis, the more ridiculous, the better
• employ anecdotal "evidence"/a leap of faith/deus ex machina to miraculously elevate conjectured hypothesis to the status of truth
• shift the burden from proving the conjectured hypothesis to disproving the same (ie: proving a negative)
A typical Dinesh D'Sousa argument might go something like this:
• Let's assume for a minute that crocodiles and hippos can dance the ballet (Me: OK, I'll play along)
• Since you AGREE with me that it's TRUE that crocs and hippos dance the ballet (Me: Er, wait a minute)
• Then wouldn't you agree that you can't disprove that the croc & hippo ballet in Disney's "Fantasia" isn't reality based? In FACT, we can't KNOW whether or not your BELIEF that crocs & hippos can't dance the ballet is true, unless YOU can PROVE that EVERY Disney film ever created is ENTIRELY fantasy based
Of course, the RATIONAL person's response to such arguments is:
• OK, I'll play along
• No. I don't agree that any truth has been established by your fast talking sleight-of-hand
• Huh? You've got to be kidding!
Take a look at the arguments you've presented and tell me how they differ from what I've outlined above.
:)
December 6, 2007 12:37 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 6, 2007 12:37
I'm sorry if this has come across as argumentative. But for those of you reading these...
I'm not trying to be arrogant - just truthful and honest.
Either Mark or myself are wrong. Clearly we disagree.
But if I say there's gold in Alaska, and Mark says there's none - how much of Alaska would he have to search to prove me wrong... All of it.
To say that God does not exist seems like a leap to me. You would have to search the entire universe to claim that to be true - which I don't think Mark has done.
As for me - I have not searched the entire universe either. But I have found God - because he searched me out in the person of Jesus of Nazareth.
I know him to be true - more powerfully than I know my own reflection in a mirror.
Science has not found him, not because he doesn't exist, but because science is limited, and can only search out the physical stuff of the universe. God is not limited by dirt or rock. Science can never show you your heart - your relationships - your soul. These are eternal, and invisible.
For those of you who are wondering if God does exist, or if Jesus knows anything about God - I'd encourage you to read the 4 gospels of the new testament - Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. And if you don't want to do that - just pray. Ask God himself if he exists... and trust that you will find the answer.
Jesus said, "everyone who asks will receive, whoever seeks will find, and whoever knocks, the door will be opened"
p.s. I'm not talking about religion - or christianity - I'm only talking about Jesus of Nazareth - the greatest life in human history according to all who know history - Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, Gandhi, etc...
I encourage you to take an honest look - what good is life if we can't be honest in our questions, and open to truth...?
May your search be blessed and fruitful.
December 4, 2007 11:31 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 4, 2007 23:31
Dear Reasonable -
You're actually quite unreasonable as it turns out.
I don't think you actually read my posts because you don't address any of the issues I raised, like the one about what is and isn't a "fact." You also betray a total lack of comprehension skills when you construe my positing that computers could have been invented 300 years ago had the Dark Ages not taken place as my saying - in your words - "Imagine where we would be without computers?" Surely you realize that my words had nothing at all to do with your take on them, or don't you?
This is another example of a Christian deliberately presenting a falsification of something written by an opponent, a matter I covered in my post on respecting the meaning of words (see my post above from 1:11 today).
In your usage, the phrase "plain truth" is the embrace of an unsupported delusion.
Speaking of gumption, would you have the "gumption" to exam whether or not Jesus even existed as a person? I think not, but if you have the "guts and fortitude" to do so, you can check out this site:
http://www.rationalrevolution.net/articles/jesus_myth_history.htm
I'll now address your issues of "faith, hope and love."
Faith - the most over-rated commodity in the world. Practically meaningless in the large scheme of things, except in instances where it becomes the catalyst for very bad things to happen.
Hope - a human quality shared by believer and non-believer alike.
Love - an easily defined and - contrary to your limited world view - eminently PROVABLE trait of the human condition.
Other "Reasonable" issues raised:
Why would you think that I "modeled my life" around Christopher Hitchens? If I recommended a book by Arthur Conan Doyle would you assert that I modeled my life on Sherlock Holmes? You are truly AFRAID of ideas that lie outside of your ken of experience, aren't you? You're creating boogeymen when none exist. How religious of you!
Reasonable also writes:
"Sounds like you never really believed any of it in the first place, or if you did, you just want to ignore it due to your own self delusion."
Judge not, my friend. You may well find yourself in the same position as do I. Who are YOU to decide whether one "really believed" something or not? Your fear-driven self-importance and self-righteousness are showing.
Sorry, Reasonable, but your arguments are nothing more than sophisms posing as examined truths, sort of along the lines of what passes for debating points from good old Dinesh D'Souza.
Keeping it as civil as I can...
December 4, 2007 4:44 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 4, 2007 16:44
Basically Mr. Mark, you are someone that does not have the guts and the fortitude to resist doubt when it comes. Doubt is a natural thing. What you fail to distinguish is scientific fact from just plain truth.
Truth - I love my wife. I can't prove it scientifically are you would want. But it is true. Not all things that are true can be established as fact. For someone that is supposedly as old as you are, this is a lack of maturity in your make up if you don't already know that. You think that all there is , is what you feel, smell, touch, see, etc?
Hitchens - is that who you model your life around? The person , like many militant atheists, that can't see beyond the physical?
Imagine where we would be without computers? Please. Everything that is out there- technology- can be used for good or evil- and computers are used to kill human beings even more efficiently than before. You talk of how supposedly more advanced we are- how? We still war against each other due to our own damn selfishness and coveting things and people that we shouldn't. It all comes down to that "little" thing called sin that is ingrained in each one of us, and you just throw it out the window. It is not that you don't rationally want to believe in God- this is just a excuse to put yourself on some weird pedestal where YOU can determine the supposedly rational way thing are supposed to be.
I will put this to you - you don't have the gumption to even consider that what happened 2000 years ago on the Cross where Jesus died was the solution to all of mankind's problems- and you want to put YOURSELF on the throne to make those types of decisions. Paul talks about putting away childish things, but one of them was not God's word. Sounds like you never really believed any of it in the first place, or if you did, you just want to ignore it due to your own self delusion.\
Nice talking to you too.
Like I said, Faith, hope and love, you did not address any of them. Sad, very sad.
December 4, 2007 4:11 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 4, 2007 16:11
JC writes:
"I still don't see how anyone can say life is meaningful if it's random and purposeless. If we're an accident, the people you love are no different than rocks or grass, or dirt. But you know them to be different - that is because they are valuable. They do have meaning. Meaning and purpose cannot just happen - they, by their very definition, must be given."
It's unfortunate that you view every aspect of life through the narrow prism of Christianity.
I don't hear atheists saying life is meaningless or lacking in purpose. What I hear is Xians saying that life lacks meaning and purpose if their imaginary god isn't involved in someone's life. The fact that the god is imaginary doesn't seem to give them pause, that pause being that any fiction-based "meaning" and/or "purpose" in life is itself something of a fiction.
JC also makes the common (pedestrian?) mistake of assuming that the thing that "gives" meaning and purpose to life is some supernatural being. Why couldn't our evolution over billions of years be the thing that "gives" life meaning? We are NOT just like the rocks, grass and dirt, even if we all share the common beginning of the Big Bang. Our purpose and meaning are different than the purpose and meaning of dirt and grass, and evolution has given us that purpose based on our SELECTION to do so (the religious would do well to realize that there is nothing "totally random and accidental" in any process that involves selection, including Darwin's theory of "natural selection.")
Our evolutionary-defined purpose may be as grand as the idea that we are evolution's attempt to add a reason-capable intelligence to the universe. In short, we are the intelligence in the universe that is here to NOTICE IT ALL. Without humankind, all other life is simply existing within the parameters of its unique sphere of existence. Without the human mind, the universe is stiflingly unaware of itself. In a very real sense, WE give meaning to the universe, even as we are part of the universe.
On the other hand, as George Carlin once said, we may have evolved simply to invent plastic and to provide Mother Earth with a covering that she will use to sustain her existence long after we have faded into history. Sounds like a pretty mundane purpose, but that could be what it's all about, couldn't it?
What there is no evidence for is the existence of gods outside of the realm of the human imagination. No one questions the value of religion in the ancient world. As Christopher Hitchens says, religion was our first - and worst - attempt at science, ie: the attempt to provide an answer for the great whys and hows of life. But if one gives religion its due, then one must also wonder where mankind would be had the religion-fueled Dark Ages never happened. Imagine if mankind's intellectual ascent didn't have such a huge hiatus sitting in its history! Imagine if computers had been invented in the 1700s. Where would we be now?
JC, you need to ask yourself if your life is meaningless because you don't believe in Allah or Muhamed or any of the major and minor gods of the Hindus. Seems to me you're ignoring a whole lot of "meaning givers" from other religions from around the world, religions who are applying your own standards in determining what entity gives meaning to their lives.
Ask yourself why you reject their gods' claims on your life's purpose, and you'll see why I (and they) reject your claims for the Biblical gods. When push comes to shove, you're probably an atheist on 99.999% of the religious beliefs out there. I just go that extra .001% further than do you in my rejection of gods than do you.
Looked at from that perspective, I have a lot longer way to go to agree with your beliefs than you need to travel to agree with mine.
Scary, isn't it?
Again, nice chatting.
December 4, 2007 2:29 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 4, 2007 14:29
Dear JC & Reasonable -
It helps if one reads my posts with a few ground rules in place. Those ground rules include a healthy respect for the meanings of words.
One of these words would be "fact," which Merriam-Websters defines as:
"the quality of being actual : actuality ; something that has actual existence; an actual occurrence; a piece of information presented as having objective reality."
The dictionary defines facts as being things that have an "objective reality." The fact that automobiles exist is an objective reality. Ditto with death and taxes.
The very fact that you and I disagree on god's existence proves that belief in god is not an objective fact, but a subjective belief/opinion, Ergo, one cannot posit that Yahweh's/Jesus's existence is a "fact," any more than one could posit the same for Zeus or Santa Claus.
On the other hand, if you wish to engage in the oh-too-often Xian conceit of redefining words to suit your purposes, then we really can't have a conversation, can we? If we go down that road, then I could redefine the word "Christian" to suit my purposes, couldn't I? Perhaps my personal definition of Xians would be "those people who drive trucks for city sanitation departments."
And who are you, JC, to say that the Greeks & Romans didn't "truly" believe their gods existed? That seems to be an opinion you're floating, not a fact. Hell, the Romans believed Julius Caesar was a god, a god born of a virgin, in fact. It seems that along with redefining words, you're also engaged in the enterprise of re-writing history. Please present evidence to support your statement.
As far as listening to god, I spent the first 40+ years of my life as a Xian, so I well know what it's like to imagine that god is speaking to you. It's the same experience we have when a dream seems real to us. Both experiences are figments of our imaginations. It's just easier to dismiss the sleeping version over the waking version.
But I've reached a point in my life where I've taken "god's word" to heart and have put away childish things - and the belief in supernatural beings is probably THE childish thing I've thankfully eliminated from my life.
I hold out hope for the two of you as well. As a former quasi-Bible thumper, I know that enlightenment can reach the most-resistant among us. Perhaps it is YOU who need to listen to other voices out there, rather than the ones chattering in your heads? I suggest Hitchens' "God is not Great" as a good starting point.
Of course, one must have the fortitude to fight the fear, ignorance and guilt that comes with breaking out of the religious delusion, and guilt is one of the biggest hurdles one faces in this regard. But, it can be done - and here I am to prove it.
Nice chatting. Take care.
December 4, 2007 1:11 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 4, 2007 13:11
Mark,
I appreciate where you're coming from. I respectfully disagree however, with your thought that the existence of God is not a fact, but an opinion. It seems to me that God's existence cannot be anything other than a fact - either He exists or He doesn't. Our opinions about the matter are irrelevant. Thinking him to exist, or not exist, in reality has no bearing whatsoever on whether He actually does exist. Even so, I don't think it's fair to say that God's existence is a matter of opinion, and then treat it as a fact that He doesn't exist.
To compare the God of the bible to Zeus is ridiculous. Even the greeks and romans did not truly believe Zeus or any other of their gods existed - they were always sort of examples of virtue, fables more than anything - and political tools with which to unify the people they conquered. Those who follow the God of the Bible have always sincerely believed Him to exist - and you're right - many things have been done by his followers that would seem to imply that He is not loving. But I have read the Bible - and if you're wondering whether love and compassion are central to Jesus - read the four gospels - particularly the parable of the prodigal Son - where Jesus basically says, if you want to see what God is like, look at the Father in this story.
You can believe me or not, but I know Him to exist. He does exist, and does love. You're right - I don't think I can give you the kind of proof that you want - but that does not mean He's not proveable. I would guess that you know certain things to be true without needing some sort of tangible proof. Consider the people you're closest with - you know they're meaningful. You know your love for them - without being able to prove either.
I still don't see how anyone can say life is meaningful if it's random and purposeless. If we're an accident, the people you love are no different than rocks or grass, or dirt. But you know them to be different - that is because they are valuable. They do have meaning. Meaning and purpose cannot just happen - they, by their very definition, must be given. A knife is made with the purpose to be sharp and cut. They don't just exist with that purpose. Likewise we are purposed to love - both God, and others. I know God exists, because He loves.
I hope you don't feel like I'm just arguing. I am sincerely hoping to respond to your thoughts in a respectful way.
Sincerely,
JC
p.s. if you don't think He's there to listen - I would encourage you to try and talk to Him - ask Him if He's there. Then listen honestly.
December 3, 2007 8:30 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 3, 2007 20:30
All I can say is, is Mr Mark is way off the bullseye as usual. Bad things happen to good people for many reasons, one of which is people are sinners and they do bad things to get what they want. Yes Mr Mark, love, faith(which you abhor to your own weakness) and hope are all things that come from the ALmighty God, that has revealed himself in the person of Jesus Christ. JC has it right. Atheists like yourself go through life thinking that all we are is an advanced member of the mammals that exist on this planet, and that we came here through some random series of events over the centuries. Actually, it is sad that there are bitter people like you that like to disdain those that have true love for mankind, and that ALWAYS see the failing of Christians but never look or even mention the good that they do.
Yes Yehweh is there to listen, and he loves YOU with all his being if you bothered to notice.
I agree Life is beautiful but the time after death will make this appear to be a very short stint and the entire beauty of God will be so overwhelming that this life will be just a footnote. At least for those that have the common sense to see it.
JC is right eternity does exist, and it is sad that some people just put their blinders on and refuse to see it.
December 3, 2007 2:00 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 3, 2007 14:00
Go get em Mr. Mark!
December 3, 2007 11:57 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 3, 2007 11:57
JC opines:
" to say that God doesn't exist, or doesn't care is a flat out lie."
A lie? A lie is something said in contradiction to a fact, not something said in contradiction to an opinion. Saying that Saddam had WMD when you knew he didn't have them is a lie. The existence of god isn't a fact, it's an opinion. Facts are provable, and you can't prove god.
Love and compassion are traits that come from our evolutionary past. What, you think love and compassion come from god? Right. Check out the Bible, especially the OT.
BTW - we're not meaningless. Our lives matter. It's sad that you feel that you must believe in imaginary beings for your life to have meaning. Would believing in Zeus add even a iota of meaning to your life? No, it wouldn't. Yet you think believing in the imaginary Biblical gods gives life meaning. You'll pardon me if I find your Biblical gods just as unbelievable as you find Zeus. One may as well pray to Odin as Yahweh. Neither one is there to listen.
Death is a part of all our lives, It's just sad that Mr Taylor's life ended senselessly.
Life is beautiful, is it not? Enjoy it while it's here as it's all we've got.
December 2, 2007 11:47 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 23:47
I'm sorry that so many people have suffered so much - but to say that God doesn't exist, or doesn't care is a flat out lie. As much as we feel loss or sadness, or confusion at Sean's passing - imagine how much more God feels sad at the way we treat each other, and how his heart feels toward Sean's family and friends who's hearts are troubled. Where do you think compassion comes from? Or love? These are impossible to explain if life has no meaning. The very thing that makes this tragic is that life does have meaning - it has been created and given meaning - that is why we all feel loss and anger and sadness and all the rest - these emotions are meaningless in a "matter only" world. The holocaust certainly was not meaningless - it was tragic because life is so valuable and precious - if life is meaningless, then the holocaust was meaningless - but not even the most callous of us would believe that to be the case. The loss of Sean Taylor is sad because life is so valuable. But the truth is that life does not belong to our bodies. The things that we can see are temporary. The things that are invisible are eternal. Sean Taylor's body will disappear - Sean Taylor lives in eternity. So don't worry about the few who choose not to believe this - because according to their way of thinking, we are all meaningless, and then I'm forced to ask the question - why should anything you say matter or why should I listen to you, if you have no meaning? I'm willing to bet this will upset you, as I say this - because you know, in your heart, that you are not meaningless - otherwise you would not be offended. What sense does it make to seek to justify or protect one's self - even if it's just an opinion - without that person having any meaning or value? My prayers go out for Sean's family, and they are heard by Sean's Father. He knows us, and loves us all - and listens to us - let's never be afraid to talk to Him.
December 2, 2007 10:11 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 22:11
From the OP:
"A game against Buffalo on Sunday followed quickly by Thursday’s game against Chicago with a funeral squeezed in Monday does not allow much time for bereavement. Sean Taylor’s father said it is what his son would have wanted. But should a team be playing games so soon after a death of one of their own?
“This just doesn’t seem right,” Fuller said. “But everybody’s committed. We’ve got to do it. It’s our job. There’s too much on the line."
Was there a choice? Does it matter that "Sean would have wanted" his team mates to play on? Would the NFL have countenanced canceling a game just because a player died, however tragically?
I don't think so, anymore than GM would shut down if a line worker was murdered in Detroit. As Michael1945 points out, football is a business. Moreover, it's a game. Yes, I know that fans and players treat it as some life-defining experience that serves as an allegory of the human experience, but it isn't. It's a business first and a game second. The allegorical baggage is just good marketing.
I didn't know anything about Mr Taylor before this incident, and I agree with Michael1945 that his death certainly has no impact on me on a personal level. Still, condolences are in order for those who did know him.
December 2, 2007 9:50 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 21:50
Football is a business. This death has no more impact on me than the death of another stranger in an office. Death happens all the time and will continue.
God doesn't allow or disallow anything. He gave man free will, except in totalitarian and islamic countries, and it is up to us to execute that free will, for good or evil.
December 2, 2007 5:42 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 17:42
KC,
Just what possible meaning does this death have? What possible meaning can be placed on the genocide in Darfur? I didn't say that people can't be comforted. What I was saying is that people comfort people, people help people thru the tough times. Having a delusion that somehow God will help you out may well offer solace, but ultimately, that meaning is subjective and personal. We live in a "stuff" happens world, and when the stuff happens, we are free to view it in any way that makes sense to us, but at the end of the day this death was senseless and meaningless. In response to the Frankl book, can you or anyone give assign a meaning to the Holocaust that has any positive spin? If God allowed it, He is despicable, if He exists and couldn't stop it, He is irrelevant, if He caused it , He is evil. Those are the only meanings that I can see. Frankl and you may see positive meanings in them, but I, frankly, cannot. Stuff Happens.
December 2, 2007 5:12 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 17:12
In response to the above poster that trying to find "meaning" is a waste of time. Viktor Frankl, who understood a thing or two about the importance of meaning in surviving tragedies, would greatly disagree with your comment. If you want to truly comprehend how important and life-saving "meaning" is, read Frankl's 1946 book, "Man's Search for Meaning." If anyone knows about living through tragic and horrific situations, it would be Frankl and how he survived life in a Nazi concentration camp. Prayers are with the Taylors.
December 2, 2007 4:37 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 16:37
Here we go again. How could God let this happen? The simple answer is that there is no God. God neither causes nor prevents tragedies. Trying to find "meaning" is a waste of time. God will not be comforting the family, it is people who will [properly] show compassion and caring.
December 2, 2007 4:03 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 16:03
Rather than wondering how "god could have let this happen," the faithful would be better off to contemplate how Mr Taylor's death reinforces that fact that we live in a world and a universe that is largely chaotic and unpredictable. Indeed, the convolution of variables - beginning with the fact that Mr Taylor was at his home in Florida at all - resulted in a perfect storm of coincidences that ended with his horrible murder.
There was no "intelligent design" behind Mr Taylor's life, nor was there any supernatural design behind his tragic and untimely death.
Surely, the fact that sh*t happens is a more-realistic explanation for this tragedy than the wishes or actions of some non-existent supernatural being. God has no more role in this tragedy than did the Easter Bunny.
My condolences to Mr Taylor's family, friends and fans.
December 2, 2007 1:10 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 13:10
Rest In Peace Sean! My thoughts and prayers are with Sean's family, his friends, the Redskins and all the hurting fans of Redskins nation, including me.
I'll see you all down there on Thursday.
#21
December 2, 2007 12:26 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on December 2, 2007 00:26
I'm not sure what the last guy said, but seemed to be somewhat comforting. I think???? I mean, I don't speak his language,..eerrrrr, or any of that gibberish, but I think he means, RIP Sean! Be with the boys on the field on Sundays (thursdays also). 5 to go!
November 30, 2007 5:58 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on November 30, 2007 17:58
May XTRA-PHOTONS shine at Brethren(s) , be SEANya Talyor's Side. [pbuh].
Look It Happened!
Remember & never Forget, that OUR Eclati-on Brethren was a SUPERSTAR here. And now, Brethren Taylor is with the SUPERNATURAL. A/k/A "EPONYMOUS-ECLAT"! aka SOURCE-ONE & Creator of the Holy Cosmic "FIAT-LUX"!
Yes. A 'SuperStar' with the 'Supernatural'! Is'nt that a MIRACLE or What??? Ya Ya.
Please Know Little Brothers & Sistars, that as Good HUMATE Kinds, locked in OUR Frontal Lobes For a TIME via our many many Holy Cosmic Eternal Planet Hopings, comings & Goings Phenomonon & Phenomena.
BEHOLD: Good News!
WE HUMATES, aka ELCATARIANS or Eclati-On's was never created nor can [Humates-Only] ever be destroyed!
It's TRUE (opposite of MYTH) that We Humates 'Never Can Die', no matter how one Dies.
Either at someones Home, or Street, or Battle Zone , that we simply go POOF & Instantaneously get knocked-out of out Frontal lobes & depart, (continue in CONTINUUM through the QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT Philosophy; a transfer of our mortal immortal spiritual finitys 'from place to place' in the Universe, Continuously so that the result is OUR 'TRANSFINITY' (a/k/a REALITY on the Holy Cosmic Move)] a Miracle in its own right, Sin Free, innately Pre-Baptised & Pre-Confirmationed, so to speaketh). So;
Hark: Bio-Finite Death is not TRANSFINITE DEATH!
Please know that "i" believe it
It was JEALOUSY that Killed Him "i" say! It was a Jealousy Psychosis!
Let's hope that the Perpetrator(s) is caught.
So leave the Police Work To the Police, the Religious to the religionists & Football to the Footbalists, like that!
Our O.ne Universal R.eligion LIFE[PHOTONS] goes on and Sean Taylor does not see Us anymore , but we see him! He is going to born again via other parents, in a Frontal Lobe, as here giveth, but on another Planet similar to Space-Ship Momma Poppa Earth but with also different Optica Hues. Example, We appear, in Miracle in the green/yellow Photon Spectrum but somwhere else can be Red or Brown!
P.S., "i" had 2 Near Death Experiences, so "i" saeth We never Die!
Death Awareness is also a Miracle as is Birth Awarenes! We cometh > From the Holy Cosmic MAGMAPERCOLATION OCEANIC MEGAPLUME WOMB phenomonon that was begot by the NEBULANIC Star System(s) maker/builder/CREATOR , aka eponymous ECLAT + "i". AND
WE Goeth out of 'Dodge' , so to speaketh, via the Holy Cosmic PLASMTRICULATION Entropy that is right-before the 5th Dimentional [Goal]of the Non-Gravity Place, by traveling between the Two points Of the Holy Cosmic Heart beat, a/k/a We travel between the grayish LINES of the Photonic Spectrums, wherever ECLAT + "i" is miraculously again placed & ESCHATLOGICALLY recreated. Hence
DUE TO BE AGAIN, somewhere, somehow, at some Holy Cosmic TEMPERATURE (TIME, not clock)! Hence, we Cometh & Goeth via the PALIINDROME in the WARMTH beat OF o.U.R. ECKATi.'
But, some (man made, not Eclati made) SINS via Evilizing behaviours are NONFORGIVING SINS!
But, Remember, One makes their own SALVATION, and the Perp will get apprehended or come forth, hopefuly before He or She comits suicide, & plead INSANITY for such a Crime of PASSION maybe? Something horribly selfish went wrong. We will get to the bottom of this.
Note: It is a Public Duty to Forgive a 'Corrected Sin!' Even a Non Corrected Sin, as long as the JUSTICE was rendered & payed-out to Society, aka Civilization. But
to Corect a Sin & to thus Forgive , is for the Victims close family & Close friends & layman fans alone to truly forgive or not or 1/2 heartedly. So The State does not go to a Celestial Place like a heaven, but ,religiously speaketh ,Humates think each individual does.
TIME is the best medicine. Keep busy keep busy. 1,2,3 HIKE! Brethren Sean wants us not to stop playing, just go for the Goal, not the Gold!
Condolences always. From Cyber World & the Real World Yo!
Remember: Bio-Finite Carbon Based Death is never Transfinite Holy Cosmic Feeler(s) Death (Reality in Planet Hopings Miracles).
November 30, 2007 5:08 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on November 30, 2007 17:08
I totally understand, and those words were soothing and spiritual to me as a reader. Dealing with death is so painful and I know from losing someone close that my faith in God is the only thing that gets me through. I want to share a couple of scriptures that help me get through -Proverbs 3:5-6 (Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.)
I didn't personally know Mr. Taylor, but his death hurts me as well. Not only is his death senseless, but it's also hopeless. Everything that he hoped and dreamed for has ended for WHAT? We will never find the answers. What goes through someone's mind when they decide to take someone elses life will remain a mystery, or it will never be understood. My prayers are with the team, staff, coaches, owners, family, and friends.
November 30, 2007 4:36 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on November 30, 2007 16:36
Of the dead and those who mourn for them,
De mortuis nil nisi bonum.
November 30, 2007 3:57 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on November 30, 2007 15:57