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Religious
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Thunder, by some, is thought to be the voice of God. To speak lightly of it, or jokingly, would be apt to provoke God’s wrath, and the offender runs the risk of being punished by getting struck by lightning.
It is supposed that God sometimes punishes people for sin as soon as it is committed, and with unmistakable suddenness. Ananias and Sapphira, struck dead for lying, have many modern counterparts. Sudden death which comes to a bad man, or a man who has just been swearing or doing something evil, is by many thought to be a punishment inflicted by God. On the other hand, a man who narrowly escapes death is said to escape by reason of God’s intervention,
Ministers tell such stories as the following: A man was chopping in the woods. His axe slipped, and gashed his foot. If the cut had been a quarter-inch
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