Many of you have heard of the story in St.Louis of the woman who was killed, her baby cut from her womb and her three children drowned. My question, if God existed how could such an act occur. Please do not give me the free will argument. If God is a loving father figure and we all his children, no father would ever allow his children to murder each other.
My problem with almost all religions really are that for centuries, most have basically only been used for evil. Religions were used to wage war (jihad, the holy wars,ect) and thats pretty much it.
My explanation for organized religion is this-for as long as time has existed, there is always a few who have all and many who have none. To keep order with those who had none, religion was invented. In this way, you didn't feel bad that the king had everything because in the next life you have heaven. It is basically a life insurance policy so people feel better when they die.
2006-09-24 16:55:37 · 21 answers · asked by Skywalker_NatureBoy 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
I understand a lot of the counter-arguments you all propose. I am a good person. I have two children and raise them to do good deeds. I volunteer and believe in helping your neighbor. I do think some things about religion are very good for raising children though religion never influenced my life growing up. I did go to a catholic high school and my religion teacher even stated that he thought i was religious by my actions and behavior.
However, I can never get over the free will side of things and that the devil tempts us with evil and all that stuff. And who is to say which religion is even correct. I just always find it strange that we believe without a doubt the words of the bible. Words written by people from a time that were considered backwards by todays standards. And it also strikes me as hypocritical that each generation changes the bibles meanings to coincide with the current society morals. Thank you for all the answers and I wish i had more room to write but i don't.
2006-09-24 17:15:59 · update #1
God allows such things to happen just as he allowed Satan to test Job's integrity. He didn't cause it, but he did allow it. He will, however, put an end to all of the violence and badness very soon. You can be sure that if, with our imperfect sense of justice, we feel angry about the things that are happening today, God feels even more so because his justice is perfect. This all goes back to Adam and Eve sinning in the Garden of Eden. Satan challenged God's right to rule. Adam and Eve sided with Satan and thus we have sin and death. God told Adam that within the day of him eating the fruit, he'd die. God didn't lie. Adam died at 930 years of age which is within one day according to God's time (1000 years = 1 day with God -- see 2 Peter 3:8).
God gave the first prophecy in Genesis regarding the woman and her seed vs. the serpent (or Satan) and his seed. The serpent bruised the heel of the woman's seed when Jesus was put to death on the torture stake. His death wasn't permanent because he was raised up on the 3rd day, so it was only a bruise. However Satan's seed will be crushed in the head, showing that it will be dealt a death blow. This is yet to come, but it IS coming. Satan and his demons have already been confined to the earth as described in Revelation 12:7-12. That's what we have so much violence and badness here right now. That's why Revelation 12:12 says "Woe for the earth and for the sea because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing he has a short period of time."
You're right in that the religions of the world wage wars in the name of god, but that doesn't mean that God approves of them. What it does mean is that the end of this system of things ruled by Satan is drawing closer to its end. In fact, at Matthew 24:6 has to say: "You are going to hear of wars and reports of wars; see that you are not terrified. For these things must take place, but the end is not yet." So these these MUST occur before the end to all this badness comes. After that, Matthew went on that there would also be food shortages, earthquakes, people being delivered up and killed, God's people would be hated by the nations, many would be stumbled and betray and hate one another, false prophets would arise misleading many, there would be an increase in lawlessness cause love of the greater number to cool off. Then the good news of God's Kingdom would be preached as a witness to the entire inhabited earth (by the way, Jehovah's Witnesses are doing this work worldwide)...and THEN the end would come. That being the case, we must be pretty close, don't you think?
2006-09-24 17:25:00 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
Imagine for a minute that your existance is the direct result of God. You'd thank Him, right?
I am mormon and believe in two things that have helped me in finding a answer to this age-old question you have posed.
First is that our deeds in this life follow us into the next, meaning we "put on the very mantle of our existance" in this world. How we live in this life determines what we recieve in the next. That woman who committed the haneous crimes has been tested and failed. She followed a negative impulse and will probably recieve the lesser of what is available to us in the next life.
Second, without evil we cannot appreciate or savor the good. If you didn't know evil how could you know good? People will be people and a vast number of us are going to end up in prison because we followed an evil impulse. I for one am glad that I have a crystal clear picture of what evil is and what following and evil impulse can cause. Aren't you glad that you know too?!
Evil is not permanent. If you consider existance to be eternal, this life is but a pinprick in the eternal perspective.
It does get tiresome hearing of these things but this story is just another reason that solidifies my hope that a more peaceful world is just around the bend. Either way, I can be sure that if my actions are aligned with God's commandments, I can embrace the the greater part of what is available to us in the next life.
It's all about embracing an eternal perspective in trying to understand why God would allow evil to happen.
2006-09-25 00:19:10 · answer #2 · answered by AtOneWithNature 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
A man went to a barbershop to have his hair cut and his beard trimmed. As the barber began to work, they began to have a good conversation. They talked about so many things and various subjects.
When they eventually touched on the subject of God, the barber said: "I don't believe that God exists."
"Why do you say that?" asked the customer.
"Well, you just have to go out in the street to realize that God doesn't exist. Tell me, if God exists, would there be so many sick people? Would there be abandoned children? If God existed, there would be neither suffering nor pain. I can't imagine a loving a God who would allow all of these things."
The customer thought for a moment, but didn't respond because he didn't want to start an argument. The barber finished his job and the customer left the shop. Just after he left the barbershop, he saw a man in the street with long, stringy, dirty hair and an untrimmed beard. He looked dirty and un-kept.
The customer turned back and entered the barber shop again and he said to the barber: "You know what? Barbers do not exist."
"How can you say that?" asked the surprised barber. "I am here, and I am a barber. And I just worked on you!"
"No!" the customer exclaimed. "Barbers don't exist because if they did, there would be no people with dirty long hair and untrimmed beards, like that man outside."
"Ah, but barbers DO exist! What happens is, people do not come to me."
"Exactly!"- affirmed the customer. "That's the point! God, too, DOES exist!
What happens, is, people don't go to Him and do not look for Him.
If in your heart you think that God is just a fairy tale ..then nothing any man tells you is going to change your mind...you need to be open and free to believe that god is in control...and from the story I posted...take heed ...if you say that you don't believe..remember ..your unbelief will not make Gods word null or void...God bless
2006-09-25 00:03:18 · answer #3 · answered by soldier612 5 · 6⤊ 0⤋
Grow up Skywalker...people have been committing horrific sinful acts since the beginning of time and none of it has to do with God but rather the devil. Since the disobedience of Adam and Eve man has been born into sin and shaped into iniquity and therefore has a sinful nature. God has made a way for us not be be under the influence and bondage of sin by the shed blood of His precious Son Jesus Christ. When we accept Jesus as our personal savior, we become free from sin in that our minds are renewed and we do not practice sin....when we do not, hate murder, bitterness, & rebellion continue to strive in our lives. The Bible says we will always have the poor, but it's up to us, and religion has nothing to do with this, to help one another. In any war, and this is surely one of good vs. evil, there are causalities, such as the innocents, but we know...absent from the body means present with the Lord and those children are in no pain. Saints, keep fasting and praying as the move of God will make you take your stand as to whose side you are on.
2006-09-25 00:27:49 · answer #4 · answered by cheryl w 3 · 1⤊ 1⤋
I just have a very simple thing to say.
So many people say that we shouldn't blame God for the bad things that happen in life. Why then, do we thank him for the good things in life? Seems like a very one-sided way of thinking to me.
In my opinion, I find that ultimately, we need to depend on ourselves as human beings and common sense.
I've been baptised a Christian, but all I take seriously are the teachings of Jesus.
Everybody says that God gives us free will etc.
Where is the choice for the babies and children who die everyday?? Is he doing anything for the incredibly poor children in 3rd world countries who have dead-end lives?
2006-09-28 15:49:36 · answer #5 · answered by zlumos 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
What preacher pissed you off?
I myself am agnostic. but the free will argument is rock solid, bud. besides that, god doesn't do evil, right? that's bee-asshole-bub's forte. "the devil made me do it"
the contradiction in the bible lies not in the argument for or against free will itself, but rather in the co existence of free will with a God that is omniscient, who "Knew you before you were in the womb" -Isaiah and is possessed of infinite love.
These 3 things are the weakness in the story as they contradict each other. -- a God of infinite love which could see time, history and the result of free will (not stop corrupt or change it)as a singularity-from all possible perspectives, would not inculcate into the womb a soul which was already damned to hell ( and God -the Omniscient would know if that were the case before creating the soul).
So- if you want to be pissed off about something, be pissed off about THAT!
peace OUT
2006-09-25 00:07:15 · answer #6 · answered by douglas w 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Actually, there is no way to answer this question without speaking about free will. God gives us His law. THOU SHALL NOT KILL is one of the Ten Commandments. There is no possible way to deny that God does not want us to kill. The victims have gone to a much better place and the killer will live in hell for the rest of his life.
I know that God gives me peace. As a Christian, I can say that I feel good when I am in the sanctuary of my church, when I spend time with other Christians, and when I read the Bible.
Christianity is all about FAITH. Faith is believing what you cannot see. It is about relationship and love. If you do not believe, God cannot work in you.
2006-09-25 00:03:56 · answer #7 · answered by texasgirl5454312 6 · 4⤊ 1⤋
You seem angry about this.
I can only tell you this. God is Holy and Righteous.
It is Satan (the enemy) and his demons that prowl around looking for victims to devour. We live in the natural and a troubled world.
Scripture tells us it's only going to get worse.
You can blame God all you want...but it is not He that created sin, Satan or demons. That comes from evil, not from good.
You are placing blame in the wrong place. You need to blame the person that is doing this...
You are right, we do have free will. We will all be judged, too.
It's not "God's" fault anymore than guns kill. It's the person behind the gun, knife, machete, etc.
May everyone find the grace of the Living God and His Son Jesus!
2006-09-25 00:02:22 · answer #8 · answered by Salvation is a gift, Eph 2:8-9 6 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Why does God permit suffering?
Who really is to blame for it?
Humans are to blame for much of the suffering. They fight wars, commit crimes, pollute the environment, often carry on business in a manner motivated by greed rather than concern for their fellowman, and sometimes indulge in habits that they know can be harmful to their health. When they do these things, they hurt others and themselves. Should it be expected that humans would be immune to the consequences of what they do? Is it reasonable to blame God for these things that humans themselves do?
Satan and his demons also share responsibility. The Bible discloses that much suffering is because of the influence of wicked spirits. The suffering for which so many people blame God does not come from him at all.
How did suffering get started? Examination of the causes focuses attention on our first human parents, Adam and Eve. Jehovah God created them perfect and put them in paradise surroundings. If they had obeyed God, they would never have got sick or died. They could have enjoyed perfect human life forever. Suffering was not part of Jehovah’s purpose for mankind. But Jehovah clearly told Adam that continued enjoyment of what He had given them depended on obedience.
Obviously, they had to breathe, eat, drink, and sleep in order to continue living. And they had to keep God’s moral requirements in order to enjoy life fully and to be favored with such life forever. But they chose to go their own way, to set their own standards of good and bad, and thus they turned away from God, the Life-Giver. (Gen. 2:16, 17; 3:1-6) Sin led to death. It was as sinners that Adam and Eve produced children, and they could not pass on to their children what they no longer had. All were born in sin, with inclinations toward wrongdoing, weaknesses that could lead to illness, a sinful inheritance that would eventually result in death. Because everyone on earth today was born in sin, all of us experience suffering in various ways..
Ecclesiastes 9:11 says that “time and unforeseen occurrence” also have a bearing on what happens to us. We may get hurt, not because the Devil directly causes it or because any human does it, but because by chance we are in a place at the wrong moment.
Jesus performed many miracles to demonstrate that he was the Messiah. He even raised the dead. Those works attracted the crowds, but Jesus did not come to earth merely to do a social work. He came to bear witness to the truth. He knew that any material benefits he provided were temporary. Even the resurrected ones would die again. Only by bearing witness to the truth could he help some to gain everlasting life. (Luke 18:28-30) Today, some individuals try to imitate Jesus’ good works by opening hospitals or performing other services among the world’s poor. In some cases, they do this at great personal cost, and their sincerity is commendable; but any relief they supply is temporary at best. Only the Kingdom a Heavenly Government that Jesus talked about when He was on the Earth will bring permanent relief.
2006-09-25 04:15:33 · answer #9 · answered by BJ 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
We don't see the big picture. We don't know what is good for us. Your sympathy is admirable, but a waste of energy. Just have faith that there ARE NO ACCIDENTS.
I advise you to keep your attention closer to where you actually have some control, because we can never have mastery over the earth.
I apologize, because I can't convince anyone to have faith, but I encourage you to explore the possibility that God knows better than us what should happen in this world.
I'm sorry if I sounded condescending, because I respect the fact that you're adult whose opinions are as valid as mine, but I just thought I'd share mine like you shared yours.
2006-09-25 00:03:04 · answer #10 · answered by ThatGuy 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋