Why do Christians say God views "every life as precious" but then dismiss?

Question

his slaughter of 230,000 in the Asian tsunami as some kind of a cynical "teaching tool"

Either he values life or he plays games with it. Which is it?

Answer 1

I asked a pretty religious guy once what he thought of the tsunami, and hurricane Katrina and you know what answer I received? He told me they were locations of sin (with Mardi Gras in New Orleans, and I have no idea what the sin was in Asia) and God was wiping them out, then he said something about Las Vegas being next. Isn't that a sad, sad thing to come from the mouth of a Christian. I always wondered the same thing you're asking right now, that's why I asked (apparently I chose a very unkind person to ask). According to a lot of the Christian people your life has no value if you're gay or any other such supposed abomination as well. Very sad.

Answer 2

Well Christians are people and don't REALLY know what "God said". I mean is God just a person sitting on a cloud saying things and then killing? It's a natural disaster, the ocean made a big wave. It's sad that so many lives were lost but weather is weather. I mean what if someone left the hose on and all the gophers in the area drowned? All of us will die in some way.
Grief comes in stages...shock (OH NO !) denial (this can't be happening!)bargaining (Please God, if you stop this, I will never be bad again) depression (sleeping, crying, not speaking) anger (why did God do this if he is merciful!!!) sadness (feelings that come and go in varying strength for maybe years) and acceptance. (They are gone and I must move on).
I list these because a question like you ask is a common stage of grief. Sometimes I think the idea of God exists so we will have someone to blame or love depending on the situation.

Answer 3

I don't know, but I think it's awful--even worse than some of these answers, which is saying a lot. I can't believe that anyone would believe that a "kind" and "loving" god would punish people for not having anywhere else to live (prays toward funky), or kill someone to show someone else a spiritual lesson (wisdom of deception). Do these people even think about what they are saying?
Impossible Princess: The other christians who answered this question dismissed the lives lost in that tsunami--just read the answers.
Nurse: You want to know who makes fun of us for not believing? Take a look around this forum. Pretty much everytime I come on here there is someone condemning, mocking or threatening us with eternal damnation.
Gods Girl: He does what he wants is precisely the point. If you believe that god has complete control of this world, then you pretty much have to accept that he wanted those people to die. Why? What did the infants and children of that land do to piss him off? Hundreds of people died who had not even reached the age of accountablility, so why did he want them dead?

Answer 4

That's an original question. Who has dismissed these people dying in the tsunami? Please tell me who said this. I don't think anyone has. Death is a part of life. Sometime death occurs in a natural disaster or because another human being decided to end that life. People have been dying since the beginning of time. If you have a big issue with death, talk to God about that. It's not up to every Christian or religious person to explain why people are killed who are seemingly innocent. You're laying way too much at people's door. If they dimissed deaths like that, it's probably because they didn't have the balls to say "I don't know why". All people who believe in God can't be expected to justify all the bad things that happen in the world. If you can't handle that, chalk it up to there being no God whatsoever and the world is just a sucky place.

Answer 5

I don't know who called the tsunami a teaching tool but I sure disagree with that. People die every day. From accidents, sickness, violence, old age, you name it. That doesn't mean they are forsaken. Life is eternal. I don't know when I will die. It might be tonight, it might be 40 years from now. When it does happen God would not have played a game with my life. He will have taken me home.

If you want to know what God does when a tsunami strikes, He send His people to help the sick, homeless, grieving and anyone else in need. You can see the work of God after a disaster in those ways. That is how He worked after Sept 11, and after Katrina. God is in the Love of those who are helping to make a difference. That is where you find Him.

Answer 6

I think we should be greatful for good weather and a wonderful Earth, rather than criticize God for allowing Tsunamis. The Earth has to shift occasionally as part of nature. Even God would not control this, even though I am sure he is capable.

Answer 7

Most Christians I have met do not dismiss natural disasters as a "teaching tool". That is the type of rhetoric one would expect of a Pseudo-Christian cult like the membership of the Westboro "Baptist" Church of Topeka KS who are celebrating that 20 people died due to tornados and 6 more due to a bus crash in the same day.

The same thing happened with similar groups commenting on the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. REAL Christians (who followed the teaching of Jesus when he said "If you do it not to the least of these my brethren, you have done it not to me") rolled up their sleeves to help their fellow man in a tangible way.....

Answer 8

first of all, you certainly need to look right into a distinctive version of the Bible than the KJV (and that i do no longer recommend the NKJV). 2d, shop this line of thought up. this thought that "works" do no longer remember comes from some misinterpreted pauline theology. Paul stated that it replaced into no longer by skill of the regulation, yet by skill of religion that we are saved. people have examine this to recommend that each and every person we could desire to consistently do is have self assurance and without notice we are Christians. while in fact what Paul replaced into conversing approximately replaced right into an prompt fact against the thought the Torah replaced into the only thank you to salvation (undergo in thoughts Peter refusing to consume crimson meat after Jesus had died and then he had that imaginative and prescient that it replaced into ok? it rather is what Paul is addressing). It replaced into an fairly particular fact against an fairly particular Jewish custom. of direction then Christians examine Paul's words to assert we are saved by skill of religion on my own and then spend their days conversing approximately what's a sin and what isn't. humorous how this act is exceedingly plenty an prompt contradiction to what Paul replaced into attempting to rigidity. once you fairly look into what it skill to have confidence you will locate that faith seems to be an fairly tacit element quite than an undemanding thought. Edit: additionally there is a few great theological artwork performed by skill of Michael Polanyi (greater philosophical) and additionally Lesslie Newbigin that recommend that in the time of thought we could desire to consistently no longer separate faith and action. their artwork skill that in the time of fact faith is action. it rather is the reason I stated faith is tacit.

Answer 9

True, every life is precious, but we don't deserve to live our lives. It's by God's mercy that we're alive, If God chooses one day to cease being merciful, then we are in no position to protest. We got what we had coming to us. It was God who was keeping it back.

Answer 10

This is a very childish question, but for the sake of the argument, let's say we're not talking about people and God, but ranchers and horses. The rancher sees that one of his horses whom he loves and finds them precious has contacted gangrene on his feet. What does the rancher do? Takes out his gun ans shoots the horse dead. People in the world are like that. Some must die in order for the human race to survive, it's only logic. It's hard, but, if there is a God, then he's allknowing, and if God knows that them people will totally annihilate human race, he will dismiss the 230,000 to save the rest, don't you think? God wants to save everybody but left us free will. You can refuse to be saved by God, and you can choose to degrade yourself. That doesn't mean He's going to let you get away with everything. God warns that there is death at the end of a godless path. He's put a whole bunch of barriers and some people still don't get it. That doesn't mean God is going to let everybody go down with the flow, cuz of the 'bad apples' no? I am not calling people 'bad apples' in the sense it is normally used. All I am saying is that God sees stuff you don't, and that all people die, whether they do it at once of take turns...
I mean play this argument endlessly in your mind, we do some of the same things as God does, but it's so much easier to find something to blame God for, and tell ourselves we're netter than him... Well, if it only worked that way, but it doesn't... so guess who loses? I wish people will stop pointing fingers at God and look for the truth. Christians say things that they discover about God or what God said... but really, you can read the Bible on your own and have your own opinion about it, even if wrong, you know? So, don't pin it on the Christians... your problem is with God, really! If you're taking it on the Christians, you're misdirecting your problem. It is between you and God, not between you and Christians... It's your quest about God, don't try and find people to validate your unbelief, face your truth, be honest. Next you shouldn't care what people say about God when you already have your own decision as far as God is concerned. You are angry with God, take it up with him. See, you can respect what others believe without mocking them for it. Nobody makes fun of you for not believing, no? It's only fair. Good luck!