Why believe?

Question

Most Christians talking in Yahoo answers have pretty soft lives and have many luxuries for which they are thankfull. They will likely have full lives with plenty of good choices in those lives.

But people in the dry lands of Africa who are starving with their children wasting away - suffering and dying in front of their mothers' eyes.

There are millions of people caught in the middle of horrible wars hoping they will survive an other day - their children getting blowen up by bombs and artillary or shot by soldiers?

How do these people believe in a benevolent God? Where is the goodness you give thanks to? Why would you worship a god who allows all this and, at the same time gives you so much?

Answer 1

Agreed. God is fictional.

Let's prove it.

Let's get all the jesus-freaks and even all the muslims (any religion at all that has a god figure) on YA to pray together at ... OK let's make it a GMT time and you can work out your own local time yourselves, even if it means staying up until the early hours or getting up at even earlier hours depending on where you are.

Let's make it five minutes to midnight exactly on March 29th. A mass prayer to your god.

You can all pray that something will happen that doesn't benefit you as individuals. You can all pray that the thousands of displaced and suffering children in Darfur are saved by a miracle. the miracle of the immediate ceasing of conflict and all sides pulling together to solve the problem AND by announcing this to the world's media.

Ready? If you agree to do this, tell your religious friends AND attach a note below to show that you will ...

I'm waiting for CNN to release the Breaking News.

Answer 2

It is also the fact that the element of good is more in the creation than the element of evil. We all see that there are more people who are healthy than those who are sick. There are more that eat well then those who starve. There are more that live decent life then those who commit crimes. Goodness is the rule and evil is the exception. Virtue is the norm and sin is the aberration. Generally trees bear fruits, the flowers bloom, the winds move smoothly. .

This is a temporary world and every thing here has a time limit. When its times comes it will die, come to an end and finish. Neither the good things of this world are forever, nor the bad things eternal. We are here for a short time and we are being tested. Those who will pass this test they will find an eternal world that is perfect and permanent. Those who will fail this test they shall see the evil consequences of their sins and corruption.



How many times it happens that we are not careful and still we reach safely to our destinations. The way people drive in some cities, it is a miracle that more accidents do not happen and more people do not suffer. Allah says: (Allah) Most Gracious! 2- It is He Who has taught the Qur'an. 3- He has created man: 4- He has taught him speech (and Intelligence). 5- The sun and the moon follow courses (exactly) computed; 6- And the herbs and the trees both (alike) bow in adoration. 7- And the Firmament has He raised high, and He has set up the Balance (of Justice), 8- In order that you may not transgress (due) balance. 9- So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance. 10- It is He Who has spread out the earth for (His) creatures. (al-Rahman 55:1-10)

Abu Yahya Suhaib bin Sinan (May Allah be pleased with him) reported that: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said, "How wonderful is the case of a believer; there is good for him in everything and this applies only to a believer. If prosperity attends him, he expresses gratitude to Allah and that is good for him; and if adversity befalls him, he endures it patiently and that is better for him".

[Muslim].

Answer 3

The message is that life is short, The Earth is hot and not suppossed to last forever. Do what you got to do to make yourself happy. If you succeed in that thank the Lord and try to help people who are starving, do this and you have victory. For everything that is bad in the world, I can name 10 things which are good. I don't have any idea how men can kill other men, I'm not even sure why we eat other animals, we are crooked creatures. It's time to start to change the way we think and it starts with ourselves.

Answer 4

I think that a lot of you completely missed the meaning of this question. There are more people suffering greatly in this world of ours than are living well. Many of them are Christian. And many converted. These people are living in Hell on earth. I think it takes a giant leap of faith to believe these people are being treated by a benevolent God. It is incredibly illogical and arrogant to believe you deserve better than they.

Also, there are many, many Christians sitting in church pews that are mean and vicious in the outside world guilty of crime to fill their pockets and abuse of the scriptures by beating their children and by mental abuse.

There are many God fearing people that make weapons and land mines and sell them to nations at war while they make big profits and contribute to your life style as they boost your economy.

There is much reason to believe there is no God.

Answer 5

If the people who truly believe in God are living up to their belief, these questions wouldn't have been necessary. Everyone has a reason to be thankful to God, but some have more reason. To whom much is given, much resposibility toward good is expected. But to the world standard, to whom much is given, much more PROFIT is expected. e.g. why build a multi-million dollar church in Newyork that is already saturated with mega churches while we can use half the money to give education to thousands in Sudan? The reason is because 1million$ church in newyork will make 1bilion in 5years which is a business investement in the guise of God and salvation. But the investment in Sudan is considered non profit.

Answer 6

It often beats me silly! One can't but wonder what is the value of belief, if any. If I refuse to believe any of the dogmas propagated by numerous religions, then what? Perhaps it's all delusional, as Richard Dawkins contends in his "The God Delusion" (Hope you've read it). My own mom is dying of cancer, and medical science is at its wits end! And I keep asking: did God create cancer - and several terminal illnesses - to aflict man too?

Answer 7

Belief means accepting a claim without evidence.

When you discipline your mind to think like an adult, you do not believe things so much as you form conclusions on the basis of evidence. Believing without evidence is behavior of a child-like immature mind. It is called "faith".

Answer 8

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good. In this he sees the trials of men. His ways are higher than ours and even in destitution there is his glory at work. If you only had the eyes to see. May you gain in understanding and know that God hasn't forgotten them, but loves them also.

Answer 9

it is interesting that there have been some studies done and the poor almost always have more faith than the rich. Why? I don't know. But it has been said this is why "blessed are the poor"

Answer 10

The idea that 'the next life will be better' makes more sense in that context than an American one.