Question about God

[SF1900]

The answer from Christian Answers, which Coach posted here, says exactly that...

Awful. 

[The Abdominal Snoman]

Most of the so called "horrific" deaths only look horrific in the eyes of us...Pain sensors get shut down within seconds in a lot of cases...

[avxo]

Most of the so called "horrific" deaths only look horrific in the eyes of us...Pain sensors get shut down within seconds in a lot of cases...

Even if that is true (and I certainly agree that the science shows that nerves quickly depolarize and then, on top of that, the brain shuts down fairly quickly once pain thresholds are exceeded) death isn't always the end result.

If you're brave, read this. Then ask yourself "why would God allow this to happen?":

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/4369509/I-gave-my-baby-90-per-cent-burns-years-on-she-has-forgiven-me.html.

[Rhino]

6 teens also died in a crash here in Canada. The lord works in mysterios ways I guess.

[calfzilla]

Allah.

[Griffith]

I'm sure a lot of Moslems have died horrifically the last few days as well.

[Cleanest Natural]

There are no accidents

[bigmc]

life is a serious of random events

if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time you are fucked

religion has nothing to do with it

[ESFitness]

god is a superstition.

some crazy dude names a religion after himself and it lasts 2013 years (Jesus Christ.. Christ-ians).

Didn't David Koresh do the same thing? what's the difference? None.

all 'theist' religion's are based on superstition and fear. all a bunch of crap.

[NarcissisticDeity]

Oh boy... here we go with a copy-paste from Christian Answers. Let's dissect this irrational, nonsensical bullshit point by point, shall we?

It sure is... and something tells me that after we're done dissecting the wall of text you copy-pasted, we won't be any closer to an answer, let alone a good answer.


Hardly. The most potent weapon is the most trivial one: one single question. "Define what the term 'God' providing attributes that we can use to understand what this entity is. Ready? Set! Go!"


LOL... yes... if "rightly understood" "true science" and "history" support the "fact" of "God." Can you define "God" for us? Just so we know how to "rightly understand" "true science" and "history" so as to make sure it supports him.

Good thing you didn't reproduce it without authorization here, then...


No. Most atheists without any objective evidence on which to base a faith in God - or even a definition of what they're supposed to have faith in - simply see no point in faith/belief. Atheists don't assert God exists. Christians do and so the burden of proof is on them.


It's not what atheists claim. Either the Christian God is a god of love and mercy or he isn't. It's not surprising if you can't tell us which Coach; apparently, even your deity isn't sure...


Nice try. Atheism doesn't claim to be the answer - or even an answer. And most atheists don't think that the question "why do bad things happen to good people" requires an answer, since the question is loaded to begin with: it assumes a guiding force.


They do, don't they? Which raises the interesting question of "why". Why do Christians do that when the after-life is so very much better and more preferable to them? They get to hang out with the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost, and they can have all the cotton candy they want!


What does this even mean? What's "higher order of truth" and how is "good" higher than "bad" on this scale?

Objection. Assumes facts not in evidence. But let's see what comes next...

In other words: "Your puny mind cannot possibly comprehend God so don't even try - and if you do, it's an insult to God and you're questioning him. Who are you to question God you foolish little ant?"

This is the religion you claim to follow? A religion that requires that you don't use your brain and you don't ask questions? Ask yourself, why would your God endow you with intellect only to, then, require you to forego its use?


So far he seems to be doing a piss-poor job. Why would you assume any differently going forward?


Yes, why not?


And that's your problem. You assume that things like "right" and "wrong" come from some mystical, supernatural source. Therefore, an action can be right one time and wrong another, depending on the whims of this mystical, supernatural source.


You haven't settled anything.


No, of course not. There's no such thing as the “innocent” suffering. A one year old little girl dying of cancer isn't “innocent” and didn't suffer. The millions of children in Africa, dying of starvation aren't “innocent” and didn't suffer. I could go on quoting...

You offend me Coach. You offend me just by copy-pasting this fucking bullshit. And you should offend every rational human being for saying and believing this bullshit.


Ah yes... sin. The great weapon of Christianity. The weapon with which Christianity keeps its children in bondage. The noose on the neck of everyone - a noose that's there by birth - by the virtue of being born. I've quoted this part of Ayn Rand's writings before; time to quote it again:



Your ideology is vile and contemptible - see the above quoted text for the proof.


A very loving God, your God. He curses his creation for doing what he knew they would do...


Even if God didn't create the world this way, why doesn't he change it? NOW, not some future day. Oh, wait. I forgot. You're not supposed to ask questions of your Lord. Only to obey and worship.
 

Did he now? He suffered more than a girl who suffered horrific burns when she was only six months old? He suffered more than a victim of a horrible acid attack? More than Sgt. Travis Mills who lost all his limbs in an IED attack?

Again. You offend me. You revolt me. You are a disgrace and a pitiful excuse for a human.


Yes... he did all this for us - to save us. Sounds amazing, until you realize that he's, supposedly, saving us from himself.


Yes... your god is very good. He lets children suffer and starve, infants to get horribly burned and disfigured or die of cancer, women to be raped or disfigured, and men to be brutally maimed or killed.

Your God, if he exists, is full of something. Love isn't it.
 

Yeah... no biggie. What's a bout with cancer. Or the pain of a child dying. God is so loving and merciful! How can you believe this shit?


I'll close by repeating: Joe, you offend me. And those who believe this bullshit you pasted offend me too.

Damn lol that was brutal 

[Cleanest Natural]

exactly we all die anyway, so this whole life thing is either a test, hell itself, o we just have this one life and thats it.

the fear of eveyone,the fea to die is testimony to how "stong" eveyones belief actualy is(or not).

see, the suicide bombers muslims, their belief is stong, their education is shit, they dont mind dying.event aking innocents with them,which would ender them to be selected for hell anyway,theye so extemly daft.

now in the cultured world, where ppl ae educated, eligion is ather looked at as guideline how to live peacefuly

well observed

[ukjeff]

This is one of the most difficult questions for Christians to answer.

The “problem of pain,” as the well-known Christian scholar, C.S. Lewis, once called it, is atheism’s most potent weapon against the Christian faith.

All true science and history, if rightly understood, support the fact of God. This evidence is so strong that, as the Bible says: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).
Photo copyrighted.

Most atheists, therefore, without any objective evidence on which to base their faith in “no God”, must resort finally to philosophical objections. And this problem of suffering is the greatest of these.

That is, they say, how can a God of love permit such things in His world as war, sickness, pain, and death, especially when their effects often are felt most keenly by those who are apparently innocent? Either He is not a God of love and is indifferent to human suffering, or else He is not a God of power and is therefore helpless to do anything about it. In either case, the Biblical God who is supposedly one of both absolute power and perfect love becomes an impossible anachronism. Or so they claim!

This is a real difficulty, but atheism is certainly not the answer, and neither is agnosticism. While there is much evil in the world, there is even more that is good. This is proved by the mere fact that people normally try to hang on to life as long as they can. Furthermore, everyone instinctively recognizes that “good” is a higher order of truth than “bad”.

We need also to recognize that our very minds were created by God. We can only use these minds to the extent that He allows, and it is, therefore, utterly presumptuous for us to use them to question Him and His motives.

    “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (Genesis 18:25).

    “Shall the thing formed say to Him that formed it, why hast Thou made me thus?” (Romans 9:20).

We ourselves do not establish the standards of what is right. Only the Creator of all reality can do that. We need to settle it, in our minds and hearts, whether we understand it or not, that whatever God does is, by definition, right.

Having settled this by faith, we are then free to seek for ways in which we can profit spiritually from the sufferings in life, as well as the blessings. As we consider such matters, it is helpful to keep the following great truths continually in our minds.
There is really no such thing as the “innocent” suffering.

Since “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), there is no one who has the right to freedom from God’s wrath on the basis of his own innocence.

As far as babies are concerned, and others who may be incompetent mentally to distinguish right and wrong, it is clear from both Scripture and universal experience that they are sinners by nature and thus will inevitably become sinners by choice as soon as they are able to do so.

Elderly woman in wheelchair. Photo copyrighted. The world is now under God’s Curse (Genesis 3:17) because of man’s rebellion against God’s Word.

This “bondage of corruption,” with the “whole world groaning and travailing together in pain” (Romans 8:21-22), is universal, affecting all men and women and children everywhere. God did not create the world this way, and one day will set all things right again. In that day, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain” (Revelation 21:4).
Jesus on the cross. Click here to read about Jesus. (Illustration copyrighted)
Learn about how much Jesus Christ suffered

The Lord Jesus Christ, who was the only truly “innocent” and “righteous” man in all history, nevertheless has suffered more than anyone else who ever lived.

And this He did for us! “Christ died for our sins” (I Corinthians 15:3). He suffered and died, in order that ultimately He might deliver the world from the Curse, and that, even now, He can deliver from sin and its bondage anyone who will receive Him in faith as personal Lord and Savior. This great deliverance from the penalty of inherent sin, as well as of overt sins, very possibly also assures the salvation of those who have died before reaching an age of conscious choice of wrong over right.

With our full faith in God’s goodness and in Christ’s redemption, we can recognize that our present sufferings can be turned to His glory and our good.

The sufferings of unsaved men are often used by the Holy Spirit to cause them to realize their needs of salvation and to turn to Christ in repentance and faith. The sufferings of Christians should always be the means of developing a stronger dependence on God and a more Christ-like character, if they are properly “exercised thereby” (Hebrews 12:11).

Thus, God is loving and merciful, even when, “for the present,” He allows trials and sufferings to come in our lives.

    “For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28).

Coach, can your God do anything no matter how impossible it seems to us?

[bigmc]

Coach, can your God do anything no matter how impossible it seems to us?

what like making dj181 muscular and handsome

that would surely be classed as a miracle

[ukjeff]

Coach wont answer the question, they always get nervous trying to validate their Gods.

[_bruce_]

 these people all died horrific deaths        doing some thing for god   not while doing any work for evil    does this make sense to any one?     no 'they went straight to heaven' replies     god has to have a better way of sending you up stairs  

God and faith doesn't work in an exact input/output scheme - at least according to scripture.
Faith is bending over and taking Ford truck with pleasure... must be an olympia competitor's scheme.
This is the reason why so many folks flee into a more New Age'ian version of religion.
An advanced ape demands somewhat of a reward or he doesn't comply. Old religions require compliance with minimal to negative benefits.
Hence they relegated all wonders, spirit beings/apparitions/etc.,  to the devil's realm to force people to a non benefit deal with religion bonded by fear.

Christianity wasn't always the "set in stone/no go pubic area" trauma fest - there were times where it was edgy, scientific, daring and fun... this of course was dangerous for people in power.

[Wiggs]

Arce, Jesus said in the end times, Christians would be persecuted everywhere. If you look you'll see it's even happening here in the states. It will get much worse.

[BIG ACH]

Bus drivers of peace 

[dyslexic]

These people are resting in peace and no longer have to deal with the stresses and uncertainty of this fallen world.

God is omnipotent and omniscient. Humans cannot fathom this. We don't have the intelligence because it was not given to us, hence the word "Faith"


Trying to understand how and why God works the way he does is pointless.

If you're day is filled with worry and you do not believe in God, you definitely have GOOD reason to worry. We humans control nothing.

If, on the other hand, your day is filled with peace, this is more often than not for the shear fact that you have laid all of your pointless worries in His hands.


Worry = waste. It changes nothing. It never has, it never will.


God does what he does. It's not up to us to question Him. We couldn't handle the answers anyway.

[Wiggs]

These people are resting in peace and no longer have to deal with the stresses and uncertainty of this fallen world.

God is omnipotent and omniscient. Humans cannot fathom this. We don't have the intelligence because it was not given to us, hence the word "Faith"


Trying to understand how and why God works the way he does is pointless.

If you're day is filled with worry and you do not believe in God, you definitely have GOOD reason to worry. We humans control nothing.

If, on the other hand, your day is filled with peace, this is more often than not for the shear fact that you have laid all of your pointless worries in His hands.


Worry = waste. It changes nothing. It never has, it never will.


God does what he does. It's not up to us to question Him. We couldn't handle the answers anyway.

 

[The Ugly]

God does what he does. It's not up to us to question Him. We couldn't handle the answers anyway.

Seems, then, He isn't quite as loving and merciful as He claims to be.

[jwb]

Our lives are no more meaningful than any other species. Enjoy it while it lasts.

[The Ugly]

Our lives are no more meaningful than any other species. Enjoy it while it lasts.

Makes more sense.

[The_Punisher]

no one says Christians were immortal.

[avxo]

Arce, Jesus said in the end times, Christians would be persecuted everywhere. If you look you'll see it's even happening here in the states. It will get much worse.

Wiggs, Jesus also said that the mustard plant is a tree and has the smallest seed... he was wrong, on both counts. Why would you think his silly end-times predictions (which, we've been told are just about to be fulfilled anytime now since shortly after his crucifixion more than 2,000 years ago) are any different?

These people are resting in peace and no longer have to deal with the stresses and uncertainty of this fallen world.

How comforting... tell me, if you really believe the tripe you peddle, why haven't you tried to off yourself, so as to go rest in peace and no longer deal with the stresses and uncertainty of this fallen world?

God is omnipotent and omniscient. Humans cannot fathom this. We don't have the intelligence because it was not given to us, hence the word "Faith"

If he's omniscient, he created people who he knew, in advance, would never be saved and therefore, would suffer the punishment he has decreed. How very loving and merciful of him.

If he's omnipotent, he allows horrible things to happen, like little girls getting immolated by fire and infants starving to death, and to what end? How very loving and merciful of him.

Your omnipotent, omniscient God, if he exists, is an immoral thug.

It must be a sad existence you live - looking around at a world that you believe in beyond your comprehension. I'd ask you why your God created you without the ability to comprehend him but demands that you do, through some mystical, unknowable way, but I've had my fill of tripe for this week and it's only Monday.

Trying to understand how and why God works the way he does is pointless.

So you believe in something that you cannot define, comprehend or understand? What good is your belief then? You may as well assert that you believe in UGRANAGANOTH, whatever that is.

If you're day is filled with worry and you do not believe in God, you definitely have GOOD reason to worry. We humans control nothing.

My days are filled with peace and I'm quite content. And look! No belief in God required. As for what I control - I control my life to the extent I can, and that's just fine. I don't want or need more control than that.

If, on the other hand, your day is filled with peace, this is more often than not for the shear fact that you have laid all of your pointless worries in His hands.

Do you lay your bills at His hands, and if you do, how's your credit? Shearing forces aside, the sheer fact is that you spout this nonsense but you're a hypocrite.

God does what he does. It's not up to us to question Him. We couldn't handle the answers anyway.

Of course. Don't ask questions. Just obey and worship... what could possibly go wrong?

[The_Punisher]

God is only a figment of your Imagination...