Act of God or Freak Accident?

Act of God or Freak Accident?

Do you think if you enraged a higher power, that they would have the power to get revenge? Or do you think that things just happen for a reason? Like being at the right place at the right time? Let us say that you were walking in front of a 140-year-old religion institute and then aleatory death strikes you. Preferably, by a decorative statue from a church’s steeple. That’s what had happened to 34-year-old Sarah Bean, when she was walking with her fiancé in front of a Second Presbyterian Church on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago. As Sarah and her boyfriend were heading to lunch, they were waiting to cross the street. Suddenly, a piece of the church’s structure fell off the church’s steeple and hit a gargoyle’s head, which broke off and the 30 pound struck Miss Bean on the head.

She was killed instantly. 

A Buildings Department spokeswoman said a chain reaction caused the tragedy. "A corner of one of the metal decorative pieces on the exterior of the building gave way. When it fell, it struck the gargoyle on the southeast corner of the steeple causing a portion of the gargoyle to fall, striking the victim.” 

Surprisingly, this didn’t get to the whole well, she had it coming in the eyes of God, since Sarah was walking in front of the church and the odds of being hit by the piece of the building was really slim to none.  This left her future fiancé and their nine-year-old on their own. Now he is currently seeking to sue the church and make bank while the church continues to struggle. Why would God want to do that to the mourning family and the church?

What is act of God? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines act of God as “an extraordinary interruption by a natural cause (as a flood or earthquake) of the usual course of events that experience, prescience, or care cannot reasonably foresee or prevent”. This was obviously unforeseen, but could something like this be preventable? 

This religious landmark was built back in 1874 and passed a number of inspections recently, regardless of its citations in 2011, one including failure "to maintain the exterior walls of a building or structure free from holes, breaks, loose or rotting boards or timbers and any other conditions which might admit rain or dampness to the walls.”

So building maintenance is not the culprit here but could God possibly be the cause of this death? God has had his commandments and his “Thou salt not…” but he does not condemn anything that Sarah Bean has done, not even the premarital sex. He does make comments on how a “Man should leave his mother and father to join his wife, so their flesh can be one.” but nothing against actually premarital sex and having a child. Sarah Bean also helped many people at her job, where she worked as a Nursing Support Services Technician at the Lurie Children’s Hospital. Certainly not one who deserved to die. If I were to blame this on the act of God, what good would it do for humanity and society? Probably give them another scapegoat to point fingers at and try to get themselves out of a bind, almost like the cases with Slender man.  

What about a freak-accident? According to yourdictionary.com, a Freak-accident is “an incident, especially one that is harmful, occurring under highly unlikely and unusual circumstances.” Many examples of freak-accidents include the 6-year- old boy in the MRI machine. The machine was turned on and the magnets in the machine created a magnetic force field and pulled an oxygen tank and smashed the child’s head. That’s freak-accident. Or even the 3-year-old who was crushed by a metal fence when going into a water ice shop. That is a freak-accident. So can this specific situation be considered as a freak-accident? Well, sure. I think this fits  the situation and more realistic than the act of God. Even if the building was rotting away, would it be possible that a decaying facade would be able to maintain a precise aim for Miss Sarah Bean’s head? Definitely not. I can’t possibly believe that God had a plan to wipe out these specific people, especially the two children in my example. As far as going back to the act of God, I highly doubt that God would attack a human, a mother, who works day by day, saving lives as a Nurse Support.  So this type of situation would definitely qualify as unlikely and unusual

In conclusion, I think that saying God is responsible is a bit off beat and even uncalled for, even if God was having a bad day because his son was out of hand or whatever the case may be. I think this definitely qualifies as a freak-accident, especially given the circumstances of possibly being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don’t agree with her getting struck with a gargoyle, being a good samaritan and a mother. Admittedly, I don’t practice any religion, but I would think Sarah Bean would be a person, God would want to keep on this earth or at least someone, I would like to keep around to help fight the dangers of this world. Unless we would go as far as God would kill children as well. 

References

Ford, Q. (2014, September 4).  Stone Gargoyle Falls off Landmark Church, Killing Mom of Two Walking Below. from http://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20140904/south-loop/falling-stone-from-south-loop-building-kills-woman-35

Charles, S. (2014, September 8).  Boyfriend of a Woman Killed by Chunk of Gargoyle Sues Church. from http://www.suntimes.com/news/metro/29770147-418/boyfriend-of-woman-killed-by-chunk-of-gargoyle-sues-church.html#.VBYi32RdVwQ

Gastaldo, Evann. (2014, September 5). Falling Gargoyle kills Bribe-to-be from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/09/05/newser-chicago-gargoyle-kills-bride-to-be/15125143/