In the end, it is what it is and perhaps I will one day be lucky in another life to get a full disclosure. Until then, everyone’s welcome to their opinions.

Alternatively, were God to review all the unfolding events across his creation, perhaps it coud be seen that in all of them, across time, a reestablishment of the Jewish state in their homeland would be seen to ALWAYS occur. And the prophecy might reflect that, or might reflect God’s promise that if necessary He will intervene to cause it to occur.

(By the way, who is to say that THIS particular establishment of a Jewish state in the homeland is the one that is reflected in the Apocalyptic vision? This vision very well may refer to a *tenth* such Jewish state being established, and at some distant point in the far, far future. No human can possibly know for sure, and I am certain that any arguments for or against any particular viewpoint are futile. If the Apocalyptic vision is true, it will happen when it happens.)

Similary, my view on God does not preclude the power or importance of prayer from having an effect, be it solely by the power of prayer or as a trigger for God’s direct intervention. I simply don’t know, and I’m willing to leave it at that. (Except that the fervency of any particular prayer does not guarantee a better outcome - that does seem clear. God doesn’t grant your prayer simply because you’re a better Christian nor because you prayed better. Based on the nature of tragedies we see all around us, that much seems clear.

Is everything that happens, including Hitler and the Holocaust, a part of God’s plan? Even down to the exact millisecond that one particular Jewish child was gassed and then burned in an Auschwitz oven?

Does God simply *allow* bad things to happen, or does God *require* certain bad things to happen so that His precise plan unfolds exactly as expected?

You’ll certainly get no definitive answers from me. All I can say is, there are a lot of things that happen in my life that I could chose to control but I do not. And our universe seems to be one where ‘chaos theory’ reigns, especially at the quantum level, and a certain randomization seems hardwired in. So I personally am very comfortable with my concept of God as a being who has created a universe where probabilities collapse nondeterministically: meaning, just about ANYTHING can happen, and God wants it that way. Therefore tragedies do occur, and we learn humility and empathy from them. Evil can flourish, and we can fight against evil and even triumph sometimes. Accidents are in fact accidents because in this, God’s, universe, they are allowed to happen.

You could say in my view that God could have kept his hands on the steering wheel of every atom, molecule, compound, and creature, but that he deliberately took his hands off the steering wheel to ensure that life, free will, and chance, in this universe, all have purpose.

Rev. Hagee doesn’t know the mind of God; he didn’t land a quickie interview with God the morning he made that statement about Hitler. I don’t know the mind of God either. But that doesn’t stop us from trying, and occasionally making outrageously offensive statements.

The Republicans react like good little trained slaves to the commands of the Master. Slaves do not get into the “OODA loop” of the Masters, after all, for slaves are only there to react to commands, not to give them.

The NYT decides to publish a story. The Republicans react. The NYT publishes another story. The Republicans react.

This is called going into the cycle of defeat, where the end result is not “perpetual cycles” but “perpetual defeat”.

It’s the same thing as the Greenhouse effect on the Supreme Court. Eventually, even the staunchest conservative judges seemed unable to resist the lure of a favorable mention in one of Linda Greenhouse’s NYT court reports, even if it meant jettisoning their principles. Interestingly, the current crop, Scalia, Roberts, Thomas and Alito, seem immune to her wiles. Maybe it’s because they have a critical mass, or maybe it’s because they’ve realized she’s a critical mess.

Nobody cares what Hagee said: it isn’t necessary for McCain to have a thing in the world to do with him, because he in fact does not.

I don’t like John McCain, but I’ll give him credit for being bright enough to see where the mainstream media’s going to go with this, and stepping on its neck quick. Obama’s already been out there blathering about “McCain’s pastor,” and it just ain’t so, Barry, but McCain lknew it was coming so he got on it quick.

I don’t have a problem with this - unlike the problems I have with ninety percent of McCain.