Before the verdict:
Lay then bowed his head, eyes closed, and appeared to pray as the eight-woman, four-man jury entered the courtroom to deliver the verdicts that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.
After the verdict:
God's got another plan right now," Lay could be heard telling each of his five children and other family members.
Perhaps, the notion of having a personal relationship with God lead Mr. Lay into this. I mean, when you believe in a interventionist supernatural being who actually listens to you, doesn't it become dangerously easy to justify good fortune as rewards from God.
The professional American athlete who defers the crowd's applause to God by pointing to the sky from the end zone after scoring a touchdown--isn't he actually claiming that his actions were preferential treatment from God, as though God really likes certain NFL teams and players over others? Seen that way, it's not at all the act of humility and deference that a player might believe it to be.
It's difficult to be objective about oneself already. Believing that there is a God who gets involved with your personal events easily lends itself to believing that your privileges in life show how God perhaps sees you as a little bit better. From there, it becomes a slippery slope to rationalizing one's own transgressions.
Perhaps God doesn't have any plan for you at all, Mr. Lay. Perhaps you are just another one of the rest of us who happened to be in an extremely fortunate position that allowed you to justify your deeply aggregious transgressions.
