how can I believe...........?

Question

I don't follow a specific religion but the last two years have made me doubt there is a God, My Father who was a quiet kind gentle man who worked hard even during his 4 year battle with cancer, has sadly passed away. My 5 year old Goddaughter is recovering from Leukhemia, and then there are bad people (murderers, rapists, peodophiles) who roam the earth. Why does God take the innocent when they have done nothing but good in their lives I'm finding it really hard to accept

Answer 1

In our human natures it is very hard to accept these things and believe in a loving God. I have been there myself.
What really helped me was the theology books by C.S. Lewis. Try those hun, and remember that while we might not understand, there is some reason behind this suffering we call life.
I can not say I believe in God as I did before seeing my mother and dad die of dreaded diseases, or see little children or animals suffer. Yet, I do believe that there is something better, higher we can seek to be.
Charles "That Cheeky Lad"

Answer 2

I know what you mean, I feel that way sometimes too. I had a religious teacher, when I was a child, who said."God allows evil as a comparison. How would we know good if we did not have evil to compare it to. So why not get rid of the worst evil'? Where is He suppose to cut it off? How do we know that He hasn't? Perhaps He has, that there is evil so evil we cannot fathom it, but He has not allowed it to take place"
It does seem, "the good die young', perhaps there is a better place after here and that's why ' the good' get to go there sooner. In metaphysics they say that only the very strong warriors come to this planet because it is the harshest planet.
But I don't know. I often get into the exact questioning as you are in right now.
I like to believe there is something after this plane that evens things out, because there are too many examples that life here isn't fair.And many times crime does pay, especially white collar crime. And yet so many of those who have only done good suffer.
Though I've only read it sporadically, I've enjoyed the book "Conversations With God" . Has a whole different take on things.
I'm so sorry for what you are going through.I loved my dad, as you obviously do too, and lost him. I wish you peace.

Answer 3

There is nothing wrong if you lose your faith, the truth is far far stranger than fiction.

The God which you believed in, did he/her/it create murderers,rapists, and child abusers, did it create life, the AIDS virus, mad cow disease?

Relax you cannot make a mistake, there is both free will, and destiny, the true road is so narrow you cannot fall off it.



All our eyes are blind to the whole truth, but lets imagine there is no God.
All the people who can imagine a god can imagine something which does not exist.
If our minds can imagine the impossible, it shows that there is more to existence than the human mind can comprehend.

It truely doesn't matter if you believe in a God or not, but if there is a God it allowed everyone who is here to be here, it allowed everyone who believes in God, everyone who doesn't believe in God, everyone who murders, steals, abuses, loves, hates.
If there is a God, having put everyone here, either the God is an horrible monster which destroys most of its creation, as predicted in the bible, or God destroys nothing of what it creates.

Our lifes here on earth are very short, life could have gone on for thousands of years, but the way life is, most people wouldn't want that. Would you be prepared to stay in a cell, for say 20 years, if at the end of it, you got to live forever in a world of your imagination, a world just like the world you would like to see, including being with the people who you have witnessed dying on Earth? Just imagine living as you are doing now, is that time in the cell.

If there is a God, it cannot be as limited as the religions predict.
If there is no God we are all beings searching for salvation, and the nothingness we think death is, is an illusion.

I am trying to help you to be satisfied whatever you believe, or don't believe. Time is the distance between changes, when someone dies they change. Having been something one could not bear being nothing, the turmoil would be too great.

I don't know if I have helped you here, I just want to reassure you it doesn't matter if you stop believing God, if you believe in God but hate God, or if you become devote in any religion, or any sect.

If there is an all powerful God, it knows everything you feel, but can do nothing for you, to ease your pain, except what it does.

If there is no God that nothingness people think they are going to has less pain than you have known.

Answer 4

As a refuge partaker in the Dharma, I do not subscribe to the notion of a creator god, only the potential within the human spirit (as in mind not soul).
Therefore my heart goes out to you for what has been (or still is ) a testing time.
The only God I could subscribe to, would be one who did not take the erroneous merit for creating a world of suffering and discrimination.
I have always had a sentiment towards the way Gnostic Christianity wrestled with this paradox.
Gnostic's believed that this earth we live in is hell and that through death we can attain another level of Consciousness, ( not life after death I hasten to add), whilst the ignorant and cruel are fated to be reborn in this world in countless lives (a similar belief to Buddhism).
As Jesus once remarked about separating the husks from the seeds, maybe the good are released from the a world of purgatory, yet still such a notion offers little conciliation for the loss of the people we dearly love.
Maybe it is more important for you to find a form of acceptance for what has happened in your life, rather than find or believe in a god.

Answer 5

I am sorry to hear about your father's passing. However, because of the curse of sin in this world, everyone must die, both the good and the bad. You say that the bad people roam the earth, but truly there are no "good" people, only degrees of bad. All this "badness" must be punished. Fortunately, when Christ came, he paid the punishment for this badness, this sin. Those who accept His sacrifice will be cleansed of this sin, no matter how bad they've been. Don't despair that evil people roam the earth, because those who don't get saved before they die will not escape punishment, and the punishment will be worse than any earthly government can dish out.
It has been said that God will never give us more than we can handle. Having a terminal disease is an opportunity to increase your faith and dependence upon God, and when you see someone with this attitude, who, even though they are dying from cancer, are always positive and prayerful, this rubs off on other people and increases THEIR faith in return, and may even save some of them. People have been cured of cancer after being prayed for or laying on of hands, and when this happens, it increases the faith of those around them, and some get saved. All the diseases we see around us are a result of Satan's work in this world; he knows he has but a short time, and wants to take as many humans with him as possible. As Jesus says, "Fear not, for I am with thee." If we are saved, we have no reason to fear sickness, war or death. We know where we're going, and we lift our heads up.

Answer 6

I am so sorry for your bad fortune. God does not make bad things happen to us though. Rather, he empowers us so that good can come out of the bad that has already happened. But, we must decide how to embrace the good. Sometimes this seems so hard when things are so bad. When I was a teen I was raped, and now I volunteer at a crisis center to help others.This is the way I choose to embrace what I can offer to others as a result of my situation. Your father was a man who had people who love him and was loved by many I am sure. Such a life is a blessing upon many. He is with his Father now, and away from the cares of this world. You are in my prayers, be well.

Answer 7

I will probably get bad reviews for my reply, but here it goes. One thing we frequently mistake when it comes to GOD is that, everything is all about us. It is not, it is about GOD. He created us to have fellowship with him, he delights in our happiness and is there for us in our sorrows. There is but one perfect place and that is Heaven. Although we all have bad things happen in our lives, take a look at your situation. Have you been blessed? GOD has given us all free will. Which means he uses people and situations in our lives that will eventually affect us in a positive way. GOD did not take away people who were close to you. He took away there pain. We are given these relationships for a short time so we must enjoy them. I have lost many important people in my life including children and I do not think it is fair, but I know I could not go on living without THE LORD directing my path and using my misfortune to help others. Read the bible please open your mind, realize how far apart the Old and New Testaments were written and hopefully you will realize Jesus is the truth, and that Satan only comes to Kill, Steal, And Destroy. I hope this helps and does not hurt I am not a zealot I just Love The Lord. I am truly sorry for your pain and hurt and hope that one day you will have your peace with it...

Answer 8

God takes the innocent and the righteous of heart and takes them to a better place where there is no sickness and death.

God loves all of us, and wants us to be our own persons. He gives us free will and loves ALL enough to let us make our own choices and live our own lives. Because we have free will, we HAVE TO CHOOSE to accept the fact that grace is given by God, not earned on our own, and we have to tell God that we want to go to heaven and be with Him.

The murderers, rapists, and pedophiles also have the same options we have, but have clearly made choices not to accept God-at least not at this point. God still loves them and they have the rest of their lives to come around just like the rest of us. But they will not get into heaven raping and murdering and preying on the innocent.

God respects free will and will not interfere because salvation is open to everybody who will take it and live correctly and righteously with a pure heart. But each man and woman must come to terms on their own schedule, if they ever choose to, and make that choice for themselves.

My own Grandmother passed away three years ago. She was an excellent person who really cared and loved her family. She also followed the occult, and explored religions. Will I see her in heaven? Probably not, unless she made her peace with God before she died. She lived 80 years and not a day went by when she did not hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ and did not do such a simple and insignificant thing as confessing the sins of her past and making her heart right with God.

If she did not, that was her choice. She made her own bed. It is not God I should be mad at. It is her. 80 years of living, and she chose not to do what needed to be done. I will always think of her, and I will always love her, but she made a choice and she has to spend eternity with the consequences of that choice.

Answer 9

God leaves certain people live longer so that they can repent, but leaves others live longer so that they can love and care for and teach many others.

On the other hand, God takes good people to Him, because this is better for them than his life, and He also takes the life of those who are so wicked that He knows they will never repent, and sends them to hell.

So there's really no way of knowing God's ways, which are not called mysterious for no reason.

What I would suggest for you is that, when you have such thoughts, direct them to God: "My God (or my Lord), why has my father battled with cancer for four years? Why my 5-year-old goddaughter has suffered from leukaemia?"

Answer 10

There's a saying that states "God takes the ripe not the old" which I think could apply here.
The truth is you can never know if there is a God and even if you believe in God with all your heart his ways will often be a mystery.
I believe, don't get me wrong I'm not a religious nut or anything, but I don't see the harm in believing.
Those who believe look forward to seeing loved ones again and it inspires them to live abetter life. There will always be muggers and rapists and murderers, but there will always be free will and this is Gods greatest gift to us.
We have the right to choose how we live our lives.

I'm not going to tell you what to believe. Just have a think about how you feel and reach your own descision.