Religious Origin Metaphors 401 God
Hand of God. God of Cricket, God’s gift to Mankind, God Forsaken, Man Proposes God Disposes, God helps those who help themselves, God works in mysterious ways, Put the fear of God into someone, God said Let there be Light and there was Light, Cleanliness is next to Godliness
My 101 blog post focused on expressions with a religious origin that have the word ‘Devil’ used in them, my 201 blog post had those with the words ‘Angel’ or ‘Heaven’ and my 301 blog post , the word ‘God’. Since there are so many phrases with reference to God, this blog post is a continuation. My regular disclaimer for these posts is that religion is complicated and there can be different versions of stories and beliefs. The intention of this blog post is not to hurt anyone’s sentiments or feelings.
The Hand of God
The famous Argentine soccer (Football in many parts of the world) star , Maradona’s 1986 World Cup Goal against England in the quarter finals will forever be imprinted with “The Hand of God“. 25 at the time, the young Maradona appeared to the referee to have headed the ball against his taller opponent, but he had really hit the ball with the tip of his fist. England called for handball, but the goal was allowed to stand by the referee. Maradona claimed that the goal was scored ” a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God“. Maradona went on to score what is known as “the goal of the century” a few minutes after this goal in the same match.
The match happened four years after England claimed victory in the war over Falkland Islands against Argentina.
In the 2019 Asif Kapadia documentary about his life, available on HBO Max, Maradona showed no remorse for his nefarious goal.
“We, as Argentinians, didn’t know what the military was up to [during the Falklands War]. They told us that we were winning the war. But in reality, England was winning 20–0. It was tough. The hype made it seem like we were going to play out another war. I knew it was my hand. It wasn’t my plan but the action happened so fast that the linesman didn’t see me putting my hand in. The referee looked at me and he said: ‘Goal’. It was a nice feeling, like some sort of symbolic revenge against the English.“
The phrase is still used on occasion, as the following news headline shows:
“Messi tries to recreate Hand of God goal”
This article uses it in the context of a defining moment for an English soccer play,
“What are the defining Rooney moments? The big performances in finals? The reality-bending wonder-goals? What is Rooney’s Istanbul 2005, his Villa Park 1999, his Euro 96, his Hand of God?”
You can read more football metaphors in my blog post dedicated to them here.
God of Cricket
Sachin Tendulkar, a past cricket captain of the national team in India, is popularly referred to as the “God of Cricket” in India. A batting maestro who scored over a hundred centuries, he is frequently referred to as such in headlines and articles,
“Will there ever be another God of Cricket?“
“Best And Memorable Innings By God Of Cricket Sachin Tendulkar“
I also have a blog post dedicated to metaphors in cricket which you can read here.
God’s Gift to Mankind
Devoted fans have sometimes described Maradona as a gift from God. Merriam-Webster defines God’s gift to mankind as “used to describe the attitude of people who think that they are very talented, attractive etc.”
A beautiful example of its usage from Satya Nadella, the current CEO of Microsoft , when he was talking about a day in the late ’90s when Microsoft was the most valuable company in the world by market capitalization,
“People would walk around our campus thinking we are God’s gift to mankind,” relates Nadella. “And, unfortunately, whether it’s in ancient Greece or modern Silicon Valley, there’s only one thing that has brought companies, societies, civilizations down, which is hubris.”
Another example is in this article exalting the virtues of Cabbage,
“Cabbage is a superhero among the category of leafy vegetables. You can add them to your diet by various means; be it boiled, cooked, steamed, sautéed, or even juiced. It has numerous medicinal properties, which could be credited as god’s gift to mankind“.
Godforsaken
The very opposite of God’s gift to mankind is godforsaken. The literal meaning would be ‘abandoned by God’, but more commonly the phrase God forsaken is used to mean a place or something that is dismal, desolate, neglected.
An Op-Ed on refugees has the headline “God’s forsaken people”
A state lawmaker had the following quote in a news article about militant activity in Kerala, a state in the southern part of India,
“From God’s own country, Kerala has transformed into God’s forsaken country“
Here are other examples,
“We have something to lift our spirits after this God-forsaken year of 2020”
“As we close out this sprawling conversation, and as this Godforsaken year finally comes to a close, I wanted to take a second to acknowledge 2020’s global box-office champion”
“I commuted into Vox Media’s New York City headquarters for what would end up being the final time during the godforsaken year of 2020“
Man Proposes, God Disposes
Per Wikipedia, “The phrase Man proposes, but God disposes is a translation of the Latin phrase “Homo proponit, sed Deus disponit” from a fifteenth century book by German cleric Thomas Kempis. It means that humans can plan all they want, but it would require God’s will to make those plans successful. The news articles below show its common use,
“Man proposes, god disposes. Having to cancel his India trip deprives Boris Johnson of the chance of sticking another feather in the cap of his Global Britain project”
“When the calendar date changed from 2019 to 2020 and the clock struck 12, we all looked forward to a year of traveling, being with friends and family, going to our normal work routine. But, as they say, man proposes and God disposes. All our 2020 plans were crushed by the coronavirus pandemic”
“The year 2020 kicked off with a lot of positive energy and hopes, a lot of set goals and major moves to better my life and family. But you know man proposes, but God disposes. He has the final say. The pandemic cut short a lot of dreams and aspirations. People died in thousands, jobs were lost in millions all over the world. In all I thank God for where I am today, I tried to recalibrate and navigate all the huddles caused by the effect of the pandemic“
“I now have learned that unlike what the poem Invictus says, we are not the master of our fate and the captain of our soul. Thomas Kempis said it rightly, Man proposes and God disposes. There we were with our strategic plans so organized in a Gantt chart and logical framework. But they were not meant to be”
For context, Invictus is an English poem written in the Victorian times by William Henley. It has been used to inspire nations and people during times of crisis.
God Helps Those Who Help Themselves
A somewhat contradictory phrase to the one described above, this phrase was made popular by its inclusion in a 1736 edition of Benjamin Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac.
Poor Richard was a character created by Benjamin Franklin in his writings and used in his yearly Almanac, which was published yearly for twenty-five years. The Almanac, like many others, featured monthly calendar events and lists. It also contained many proverbs, written with charm and expression.
The phrase continues to be in popular use, as evidenced by the following news articles,
“The development of vaccines for COVID-19 in record time should reinvigorate our belief that those kinds of miraculous-seeming innovations are indeed possible — but they are far from certain. As the expression goes, God helps those who help themselves. If we want more of them, we’ll need to turn away from a politics of complacency and resentment“
An article from Sports Illustrated describes what it would take to get a surprise victory over another team in American football.
“As 7.5-point underdogs to the Pittsburgh Steelers, according to SportsBetting.com, if the Broncos are going to emerge from Heinz Field as the victors, they’ll have to invert Murphy’s Law and extract their best performances in those key moments. Perhaps they’ll need a little help from the Football Gods but regardless of one’s beliefs; God helps those who help themselves.”
God Works in Mysterious Ways
Humans can propose and hope that God will indeed help those that help themselves, yet sometimes they are lost feeling that God disposes in mysterious ways.
The proverb God works in mysterious ways comes from a hymn written by William Cowper in 1773, “God moves in a mysterious way.”
Wiktionary describes this proverb as ” Expressing confidence that a conundrum has a solution despite it not being apparent or Commenting that a seemingly unfortunate or unfavorable situation or change may be beneficial later or in the long run”.
The headline of a heartwarming story,
“God works ‘with mysterious people’ as stolen items returned to church“
The article goes on to state “We’re pretty stoked at what God has worked through mysterious circumstances. We often say God works in mysterious ways, but he also works with mysterious people“.
Former American President Trump has also used the phrase at the presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom when describing his youth,
“But as we know, God works in mysterious ways . His wonders to perform — and in my first year of running, I became the national high school record holder“.
Put the Fear of God into Someone
It is because of this uncertainty on the mysterious ways in which God operates, that the phrase Put the fear of God into someone is used to alarm or terrify someone, badly.
Some examples from news articles are,
“Experts in the estate planning industry estimate that the number of people drafting wills and trusts is also on the rise because of the pandemic, which has raised awareness and put the fear of God in people“
“Mike Flynn says he put the fear of God into Obama“
For context, Mike Flynn was a former national security advisor in America and former President Obama warned his successor not to hire him.
And in this excerpt from the book, “A twist of the knife”, written by Peter James MacMillan, the feared becomes the fearer.
“For 353 days a year – and 354 in a leap year – N.N. Kettering put the fear of God into restaurants around the world. On those dozen remaining days, something put the fear of God into him“
And God said Let there be Light and there was Light
The shortened form of this phrase is used most often “Let there be Light“. The full expression is originally in Hebrew and found in a book sacred to both Christianity and Judaism. The phrase is now humorously used in the context of illumination as the following articles show,
“Let There Be Light, and Art, in the Moynihan Train Hall”
“Let there be light At a glance, it looks like any other TV remote control from Samsung but the tech magic lies on the back of the clicker“
“Let there be light UNM researchers discover certain materials combined with UV light can kill coronavirus and other viruses”
“Let there be light: Take a drive around the Chicago suburbs to enjoy holiday displays“
Cleanliness is next to Godliness
Considered a old proverb and popularized in a sermon in 1978 by English preacher John Wesley, the phrase is primarily emphasize physical cleanliness, as the following examples show.
A quote from BBC travel story that describes how clean Japan is,
“In the West, we are taught that cleanliness is next to godliness. In Shinto, cleanliness is godliness“
A Wall Street Journal article that describes the history of cleanliness goes on to say,
“The saying cleanliness is next to godliness—credited to John Wesley, the founder of Methodism—was a great piece of free advertising, but it was soap’s role in modern warfare that had a bigger impact on society. During the Crimean War in Europe and the Civil War in the U.S., high death tolls from unsanitary conditions led to new requirements that soldiers use soap every day“
And this sums up my fourth blog post on Expressions with a Religious Origin. Here are links to Part1, Part2, and Part3 here and do keep an eye out for Part5.