{"id":5721,"date":"2018-01-08T13:33:08","date_gmt":"2018-01-08T19:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/?p=5721"},"modified":"2018-01-08T13:33:08","modified_gmt":"2018-01-08T19:33:08","slug":"whatever-will-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/08\/whatever-will-will\/","title":{"rendered":"Whatever Will Be, Will Be?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Trevor Major<\/strong>
\nThe following is not a\u00a0word-for-word recounting of a\u00a0story I\u00a0once\u00a0heard in my college-level class on natural hazards, but it\u00a0is very close:\u00a0<\/span>
\nWhen people in Illinois are expecting a tornado, they do the sensible thing and seek cover. When people in Alabama are expecting a tornado, they\u00a0sit\u00a0outside and\u00a0drink\u00a0iced tea.\u00a0People in\u00a0the\u00a0American South,\u00a0you see, are\u00a0know-nothing fundamentalists.\u00a0They don\u2019t buy into all that science-is-our-savior\u00a0jazz.\u00a0God decides who will live and\u00a0who will\u00a0die, not the National Weather Service.\u00a0<\/span>
\nI was offended. Some of my best friends\u00a0drank iced tea.\u00a0If they ever got close to a twister, I\u00a0could\u00a0count on them to\u00a0say it\u00a0sounded like a freight train. I\u00a0could also\u00a0count on\u00a0them to\u00a0duck and cover.\u00a0<\/span>
\nThe\u00a0tornado\u00a0story\u00a0can be traced back to a paper published in\u00a01972\u00a0by\u00a0John\u00a0Sims\u00a0and\u00a0Duane\u00a0Baumann.i<\/span>\u00a0They\u00a0were\u00a0trying to\u00a0explain\u00a0why tornados\u00a0in the South were\u00a0so deadly,\u00a0compared to other parts of the country.\u00a0As far as they could tell, it had nothing to do with\u00a0external factors such as population density or the severity of tornado outbreaks.\u00a0They began to look for cultural differences.\u00a0Surveys\u00a0revealed that people in the South\u00a0were\u00a0prone\u00a0to saying\u00a0things\u00a0like this: \u201cAs far as my own life is concerned, God controls it.\u201d\u00a0Sims and Baumann\u00a0detected\u00a0a commitment to fatalism: the belief that\u00a0God\u00a0is\u00a0actively determining\u00a0every aspect of\u00a0their\u00a0lives.\u00a0If a tornado were\u00a0going to\u00a0hit their\u00a0house, then\u00a0Southerners thought there\u00a0was nothing they could do about it.\u00a0<\/span>
\nMidwesterners,\u00a0they concluded, saw\u00a0God as a kindly\u00a0but distant\u00a0father\u00a0figure.\u00a0\u00a0Whether they survived a twister was\u00a0completely\u00a0up to them. God\u00a0was not going to\u00a0intervene.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nForty years later,\u00a0the\u00a0Sims and Baumann\u00a0paper\u00a0is\u00a0still widely cited,\u00a0but\u00a0is it true?\u00a0Is a\u00a0Bible-toting Southerner\u00a0his own worst enemy?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAfter conducting a thorough analysis of\u00a0tornado data, Walker\u00a0Ashley identified\u00a0a number of\u00a0external\u00a0risk factors\u00a0peculiar to the\u00a0American\u00a0South, including\u00a0the nature of the\u00a0tornado season and the\u00a0abundance of\u00a0manufactured\u00a0homes.ii<\/span>\u00a0The bottom line is that people in\u00a0the\u00a0South are more likely\u00a0to be\u00a0caught unawares\u00a0in vulnerable structures.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nIt turns out that\u00a0Sims and Baumann were wrong\u00a0about the\u00a0external factors. They were\u00a0also\u00a0wrong about the cultural differences.\u00a0According to\u00a0research\u00a0conducted by\u00a0Dov\u00a0Cohen and Richard\u00a0Nisbett,\u00a0people in the\u00a0South\u00a0are no more\u00a0fatalistic than\u00a0people in the\u00a0Midwest.iii<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnd yet the urban legend lives on\u00a0because it\u00a0fits our narratives.\u00a0It\u00a0plants the image in our heads of\u00a0Joe Bob leaving everything\u00a0up to\u00a0Jesus\u00a0while the\u00a0Big One\u00a0bears down on\u00a0his\u00a0doublewide\u00a0trailer.\u00a0But\u00a0this is not just\u00a0a story\u00a0about\u00a0stereotypes. It\u00a0is\u00a0also\u00a0a story\u00a0about\u00a0worldviews.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nFatalism\u2013\u2013the idea that\u00a0whatever happens, must happen\u2013\u2013is not a Christian\u00a0belief.\u00a0Sure, you can find\u00a0Christians\u00a0who think this way, but that does\u00a0not make it right.\u00a0Fatalism\u00a0is\u00a0fundamentally\u00a0incompatible with\u00a0a\u00a0Christian\u00a0worldview,\u00a0because it\u00a0denies\u00a0personal\u00a0freedom\u00a0and\u00a0responsibility.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nSims and Baumann\u2019s\u00a0Midwestern\u00a0alternative\u2013\u2013a benevolent God who leaves us\u00a0to our own devices\u2013\u2013is\u00a0no less\u00a0problematic. This is the\u00a0absentee landlord\u00a0of deism. This is the\u00a0God\u00a0who\u00a0wants\u00a0our love, but\u00a0not our prayers.\u00a0<\/span>
\nIf they are right, all\u00a0Christians\u00a0are\u00a0either\u00a0deists or\u00a0fatalists, depending on where they live in relation to the\u00a0Mason-Dixon Line.\u00a0As Cohen and\u00a0Nisbett\u00a0have shown, this is simply not right.\u00a0We expect a few people\u00a0here and there\u00a0to get\u00a0the basics\u00a0wrong, but how could so many\u00a0believers\u00a0miss the\u00a0core commitments of their own religion?\u00a0<\/span>
\nMaybe\u00a0it is not the followers of the religion who are to blame, but the people who frame the questions and interpret the results.\u00a0Academics\u00a0often\u00a0have a\u00a0hard time\u00a0getting the\u00a0questions\u00a0right\u00a0because they have a hard time getting\u00a0the\u00a0religion right.\u00a0As a group, college\u00a0professors\u00a0are\u00a0notoriously\u00a0secular, and\u00a0most\u00a0cannot\u00a0abide the\u00a0sort of\u00a0religious\u00a0conservatism that\u00a0prevails\u00a0in\u00a0the Bible\u00a0Belt.iv<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nEven the answer\u00a0\u201cGod is\u00a0in\u00a0control\u201d\u00a0is open to interpretation. Is this a concession to fatalism? Who knows? We would have to ask a few more questions. I suspect this much though:\u00a0Christians can\u00a0believe that worry is useless, especially when the situation is beyond their control\u00a0(Luke 12:29).\u00a0They can believe that\u00a0God\u00a0is\u00a0fully\u00a0in\u00a0control\u00a0of His\u00a0own\u00a0creation\u00a0(Hebrews 1:3).\u00a0They can believe all of that,\u00a0without contradiction,\u00a0and\u00a0still\u00a0duck into a tornado shelter\u00a0when the siren goes off, or buckle their seatbelts, or look both ways before they cross the street.\u00a0Southerners probably get that.\u00a0Sims and Baumann\u00a0apparently\u00a0never did.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>
\nAnd this is coming from someone who doesn\u2019t even like\u00a0boiled\u00a0okra.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Trevor Major The following is not a\u00a0word-for-word recounting of a\u00a0story I\u00a0once\u00a0heard in my college-level class on natural hazards, but it\u00a0is very close:\u00a0 When people in Illinois are expecting a tornado, they do the sensible thing and seek cover. When people in Alabama are expecting a tornado, they\u00a0sit\u00a0outside and\u00a0drink\u00a0iced tea.\u00a0People in\u00a0the\u00a0American South,\u00a0you see, are\u00a0know-nothing fundamentalists.\u00a0They […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[59,66],"tags":[1323,1324,1307,1235,1236],"class_list":["post-5721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christian-living","category-think-excerpts","tag-fatalism","tag-free-will","tag-march-2013","tag-smart-faith","tag-trevor-major","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nWhatever Will Be, Will Be? - Focus Press<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/tampaseo.expert\/focus\/2018\/01\/08\/whatever-will-will\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Whatever Will Be, Will Be? - Focus Press\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Trevor Major The following is not a\u00a0word-for-word recounting of a\u00a0story I\u00a0once\u00a0heard in my college-level class on natural hazards, but it\u00a0is very close:\u00a0 When people in Illinois are expecting a tornado, they do the sensible thing and seek cover. 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