god question
dunkman
Posts: 19,646
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 281616.stm
Can i ask a religious person their explanation for why their god allows his creation, i.e. the planet, to kill his other creations... via the method of Tsunami?
I'm genuinely interested to see if there is a theological explanation as to why innocent people would be killed by an earthquake causing a huge tsunami.
I understand that things like murder, rape, etc happen as a consequence of 'free will'... but this seems arbitrary... random... not as a result of man itself.
Can i ask a religious person their explanation for why their god allows his creation, i.e. the planet, to kill his other creations... via the method of Tsunami?
I'm genuinely interested to see if there is a theological explanation as to why innocent people would be killed by an earthquake causing a huge tsunami.
I understand that things like murder, rape, etc happen as a consequence of 'free will'... but this seems arbitrary... random... not as a result of man itself.
oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
Post edited by Unknown User on
0
Comments
Dusseldorf 21/06/07, Manchester 17/08/09, London 18/08/09, LA 06/10/09, LA 07/10/09.
Ain't gonna be any middle anymore.
Over the next couple of centuries, there's evidence of people suspecting supernatural causes of things going wrong in the natural world, or the role of the divine figure of the monarch in the disruption of natural order. In a lot of Shakespeare, you see fictional representations of natural disturbance, plague and pestilence attributed to the tragic downfall of corrupt kings, but such beliefs were paganistic rather than Christian in approach.
Sick Tattoo Hitch-Hiker!
Sorry, completely off topic
Philly 2 - 10/28/09 Philly 3 - 10/30/09
Philly 4 - 10/31/09
Boston 1 - 05/17/10
PruCenter - 05/18/10
MSG 1 - 05/20/10
MSG 2 - 05/21/10
Alpine1 - 09/03/11 Alpine2 - 09/04/11
This scenario reminds me of a scene from my favorite movie (The Ninth Configuration):
Colonel Kane: You're convinced that God is dead because there's evil in the world.
Captain Cutshaw: Correct.
Colonel Kane: Then why don't you think He's alive because of the goodness in the world?
thru all the terrible things that happen there is the opportunity for good and it comes and it connects more than all the bad ever could. Its the opportunity to LOVE which is the most powerful thing in our universe and it is GOD intention to have us connect and love and learn compassion.
what good can come from 170+ people dying randomly because of where there mother and father decided to live?
One question that I think about with my miniscule human logic is this: What if "IT" isn't really about our gone-in-a-flash lives here on earth. After all, everyone dies so the plan must be that our human lives will end.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
you do realise that entire families have been obliterated and that thousands of people have no home and are in danger of starvation, dysentery, etc..
what good will it do them when they have lost 4 of their kids for me to send them £10?
when 'we' reach out to them? where's god? he could have reached out to them before his planet killed them... as we apparently have 'free will' then any good shown to these victims is as a result of this 'free will' and therefore nothing to do with god.
None of us know. Anyone who claims to know is either trying to sell you something or is full of shit. Which one is it???
Pretty much nailed it. We're of no more consequence than a random blade of grass or Mt Himalaya and the delusion that we are is just our human mind projecting our own self importance and attributes onto "God" in order to justify and lend authority to our pretty arbitrary social, moral, and political philosophies.
so your belief is that god randomly kills people using an underwater earthquake which causes a tidal wave in order to connect us?
what good can come out of 100s+ of people dying for no reason?
so how long will it take god's random slaughter of innocents before we all 'connect'... Pompeii was covered by volcanic ash some 2000+ years ago... hundreds died... no lesson learned? and if it is his aim to 'connect' us via the method of natural destruction then its a poor communication method... its only because of modern advancements that we know these poor people even died... some 3000 years ago this exact event could have happened and the vast majority of the world would have literally no idea it even happened.. how would that 'connect' us?
I agree. Some of these guys need to watch "The Universe" on NatGeo to get a feeling of how insignficant we are in the grand scheme of the universe - which is just one in the infinite multiverse, according to most quantum physicists. We are no more important than a single-cell organism, but remember, no less important than anything else either. And another thing... how can we know about miracles without tragedies? They are one and the same.
The love that is shared is the love I will keep. I believe this to be true for all.
This is the connection- lets say you know me - you know my pain -something unjust and unfair or unspeakable
has happened to me and you understand this and connect with me - you truly help me through something awful- and love is the by product this is the connection- this is the good that comes from something awful.
thanks, but no thanks. that in no way answered my initial question of why would a compassionate, loving, omnipotent god allow his creation of earth, clearly flawed at best, to kill random innocents.
god created this earth apparently. this same earth that through a design fault has managed to kill 200 people on a tiny set of islands in the middle of the ocean.
this doesnt seem odd?
and its very ok for you to be angry that innocent people leave this world because you care- that is good-
that in itself is the good coming out of the bad
these are my thoughts as well.
don't know how that fits necessarily into the whole 'god question' though i do believe it probably could be used both for and against the idea of a god. of course, it's also a very simplistic question for what really is a complex idea. 'god' means many things to many different people. do i believe in one supreme entity lauding over life? hmmmm....on the fence about that one. do i believe in some universal lifeforce that connects us all? probably a lot more likely. life, of ALL organisms, is certainly more highly interconnected/dependent than we can even imagine. so in that sense, one who may believe in god might believe in his/her/it's support of LIFE first and foremost, and through devestation comes renewal of life. of course, this doesn't fit all that tidily into the whole idea that we are made in his image and he gave us dominion over the earth, we're his favorites, etc.....but not all faiths or people who believe in god, believe in that one idea of god. also, god has gotten a bit of a PR makeover
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow
no.
my life doesnt suck in any way... but i'm feeling kinda sad for those poor fucker in Samoa at the moment.
i know why it happened.
What causes a tsunami?... A tsunami is a large ocean wave that is caused by sudden motion on the ocean floor. This sudden motion could be an earthquake, a powerful volcanic eruption, or an underwater landslide. The impact of a large meteorite could also cause a tsunami. Tsunamis travel across the open ocean at great speeds and build into large deadly waves in the shallow water of a shoreline. This large deadly wave then wipes out hundreds of innocent lives including other animals who were just quietly minding their own business.
and yet you dont need to know why? if this happened off the east coast of america then i'm sure people might need to know why a bit more.
Then why not think there IS god(s) because of all the good in the world?
Wherever you are in space-time, that’s your reality. It’s not anybody else’s reality and there’s no sense trying to sell it to anybody else, or force it on them.
hmm am I being hypocritical? :P I'll defend myself by saying, I don't know!!! and none of this is true!!!
I attempted to answer it on the first page.
My answer was in the form of question. The question is, what if our human, earthly lives are really just a fraction of our existence and dying isn't an end?
Furthermore, EVERYONE dies, so God essentially set up our lives to have an earthly death. When you view it from that perspective, wondering about the particular method of death seems a little strange to me. In other words, why does someone who was killed by a tsunami provoke anger toward God while someone who dies of old age does not? They both died.
...are those who've helped us.
Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
I'm just pissed that I'm not going to be able to gloat and lord it over the believers when it turns out I'm right about the lack of afterlife
That is such an absurd statement I don't even know how to respond. You know the percentage of Americans that are atheist? It's miniscule, and most are afraid to admit it. Even the most "red" states said they would vote for a Muslim before an atheist. If there's any crusading or fanaticism it's solely a result of being tired of the condescension or fear from religious folks any time you meet one. Like the pathetic fuckers over the porch that keep posting about how they hope/pray every day that Ed finds Jesus and gets saved. Get the fuck over yourselves.
given your penchant for gloating....i don't think you'd be ending up in the same place as those believers in any case.
Let's just breathe...
I am myself like you somehow