God is the name we give to that which we don't understand and (think we) can't control. This is not a new thought for me, but the following headline brings it out into the real world - as opposed to the long-suffering logic centres in my brain.
Surgeons ready but God to rule twins' fate, says father
The surgery is not without risk, and to a degree the success is outside of the surgeons hands. They will do their best, but it will either work or it won't. Whichever way it goes, the father will see it as God's will. Fair enough really.
Remember though, that illnesses we consider triffling, where there is no 'chance' in the treatment except in freak oocurrences, once upon a time these were major concerns and the success of their treatment largely chance. God was a bit more visible then, the scope of the unknown staggering to what we know today.
Or is that right? Before we look back five-hundred years and think, 'oh, what a bunch of god-fearing, ignorant imbeciles', or something like that, maybe we should look five hundred years into the future and think what a bunch of god-fearing ignorant imbeciles we are.
Exactly - "God" is a word, an imperfect word created by people with imperfect knowledge to describe what we don't know.
Good to keep that in mind when considering the "intelligent design" debate - the reality of evolution doesnt disprove the existence of "God", just an imperfect image of "God".. The metaphor of God as a human-like figure has ancient roots and is a has served purposes good and bad, but is not science or reality. Ditto the account of creation in Genesis.