Troll Needs to Give Japan a Break

CYNTHIA LUONG
Staff Writer
Recently, a 9.0 earthquake struck the country of Japan, triggering tidal waves that left the country in almost complete ruins. As of April 6th, the death toll was 12,648 and 15,107 people were missing; more than 360,000 people are in temporary shelters.
One particular response to the Japanese disaster came from vlogger “tamtampamela,” real name Pamela Foreman, who posted her video on YouTube. During the Lent Season, she prayed that God would open the hearts of atheists and non-believers to see and experience for themselves who He is. Foreman believes that her prayer was answered a few days later when the earthquake, “a symbol of God’s wrath,” shook the whole country of Japan and others who heard about the devastating results.
In her video, Foreman says that if God punishes America, our country would be doomed. Because of her provoking words, the young lady is portrayed as a “troll,” an internet slang term used to describe a person who posts inflammatory messages, whose main intent is to cause others to respond emotionally. Lucky for her, that just means she didn’t mean any hard feelings.
Even though the girl says that she is Christian, her video contradicts her beliefs. There is more to religion than just praying for someone’s downfall because they do not meet up to a typical Christian’s requirements. Her attitude toward non-believers shows that she does not genuinely follow religion.
While she and many others who share her same beliefs are twisted in their ways of thinking, they do not embody the Christian faith. There are many other Christians out there who exemplify the faith, for they show and encourage love, grace and forgiveness.
Yet, she seems utterly devoted to her beliefs but in a way that is the opposite of how she should truly act. It may be true that God punishes to maintain justice, but He is also extremely merciful and does not like or want to make anyone suffer, showing grace to those who do not deserve it. The inconsiderate girl contradicts her own beliefs because she prays for the destruction of “godless” people when the Bible tells her that she should be forbearing and loving.
Instead of being so ignorant and claiming that she loves God even more because of the destruction of another godless country, Foreman should learn to love her enemies just as China put aside its differences with Japan to help the ruined country after the catastrophe. The troll should not let emotions take the best of her, but rather find ways to aid the troubled nation in every way possible, even to the best of her ability. She should remind herself that she is living under grace and mercy, which should overflow from within her, causing the female to share that privilege with others. The dissembler should also review her basic fundamentals of her belief and know that God came to earth to save sinners, not to abolish them.
In a response video to those who criticized and threatened her, the troll with a heart of stone does not feel that sorry about anything she said.
Her original intentions were to arouse anger. Her actions cause non-believers to not want to seek the God that she worships, since she portrays him as a God of revenge and injustice. Those who left comments and provided feedback for her video even said that her beliefs were “satirical and stupid,” something that was not worth learning about. It makes others hate religion for what it is, since they have experienced so much ignorance from people like Foreman. This defaces religion in general with her cold mockery of both a natural disaster and the belief system itself.