Two 17-year-old kids in Florida skipped school on an unofficial “ditch day,” swam too far from the shore of a local beach, were stranded for nearly two hours, and feared they would die in the ocean… until a boat sailing to New Jersey saw them and saved them.

Because the boat’s name was “The Amen,” you know where this story is going…

“I cried out, ‘if you really do have a plan for us, like, come on. Just bring something.’” [the boy] said. … Their prayers were answered in the form of a boat, a God send, named ‘The Amen’. “The first words that came out of my mouth were, ‘God is real.’” … “There’s no other reason, no other explanation in the world other than God,” [the boy] said.

No reason. None. Except, maybe, those guys in the boat happened to see them. And the kids got lucky. And God decided to help them while ignoring a bunch of starving children in another country. And the boat’s name was a coincidence. (If the boat was named The Omen, would the teens start worshiping Satan instead?)

I’m not mocking the teenagers. They experienced something traumatic, were reaching for any lifeline they could find, and found one. I’m glad they’re okay. My criticism is more aimed at the inevitable slew of Christians who use this story as some kind of proof their religion is true.

Those people have the luxury of looking at this situation with a clear head yet how many will end up using reason? They’ll choose instead to believe the myth that God nearly let two teenagers drown… but then saved them in the nick of time. Just to prove a point. Whatever that messed up point might be.

(Thanks to Kealoha for the link)

