It has been used to rationalize everything from natural disasters, to poverty and hunger, to illness and loss, to brutal deaths bloody wars, to innocent babies born with cancer or AIDS, and every other bad thing that can happen to a follower of a God who loves them.
Why is one baby born healthy and another born into horrible suffering and death? There is no explanation, it's just God's will. After all, He works in "mysterious ways." Satan couldn't do a much worse thing to an innocent newborn. If that is God's "mysterious" will, then His mysterious ways are just plain evil.
Or am I wrong? And if so, tell me why...
2007-04-06 19:41:25 · 24 answers · asked by Don P 5 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
A response to "The Weasel" (below):
You wrote, "No bigger cop-out then saying atheism isn't a religion when just by looking at the organization by definition it has religion written all over it." Don't you know that atheism isn't "an organization?" It is a belief system, but it is not a religion. And it it were a religion, would that make it right or wrong?
You also wrote, "Remember evolution is just a theory." Did you know that gravitation and mathematics are also "just theories?" This shows that you know as little about science as you do about atheism.
I don't mean to attack your beliefs here, just to suggest that you learn a bit more about a topic before you expound on it, and about a belief before you attack it.
2007-04-07 20:05:12 · update #1
Spazewrangler wrote: "The evil comes from Satan, not from God." And where did Satan come from, if not created by God as stated in the Bible? If you choose to create a monster knowing it will destroy and kill innocent people, then you are at least as guilty of that evil as is the monster. Guns don't kill people, it is the person who pulls the trigger that kills people.
2007-04-07 20:10:19 · update #2
Folks, I'm really looking for answers here, not just being critical. But so many of the "answers" just restate the question, or don't even address it!
Deacon wrote, "AIDS is... because of the sin of one African man." That is simply a myth. AIDS spread very rapidly across many continents. One man could not possibly have infected that many people so quickly, even given the Amway effect.
And you wrote, "Sin came into the world by Adam and Eve's breaking of God's law. All suffering goes right back to the curse that the world is under because of the sin in the Garden of Eden." So you are saying that the reason a baby that is born with cancer, and suffers unspeakable pain and agony before dying after only a few months of life, is because God is punishing that innocent child because Adam succumbed to a temptation that God Himself put in his way? There must be another answer, because by any moral standard that is just cruel and evil.
2007-04-07 20:19:46 · update #3
Sure there can be a bigger copout than God works in mysterious ways, what about what we see as parents-because your mother says so that's why, you'll understand when you're older, some things we just aren't meant to know. The world is full of copouts, the reality is that most fundamental Christians really don't understand either the Bible or the world in any great depth. The evangelical style of Christianity appeals to the uneducated, unread and unsophisticated of the world, because of that naturally they fill whatever gaps in their own knowledge they have with things like God works in mysterious ways.
2007-04-14 14:11:21 · answer #1 · answered by Boston Bluefish 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Everything has a purpose/reason. Even though it may seem like the darkest situation/s, there always comes out some light...no matter what.
One just has to know how to see it. ^.<
Look, there are many things in this world that cannot be explained/ understood. But I see it this way, if there was no bad in the world, if there was no dark, black, cold, (call it what you will), no one would ever recognize the good, the white, the warm (call it what you will).
I have heard that every bad thing is so we can one to praise God, but i know this would only draw another question. Why? All i know is that not all is to ne understood, not all can be discovered, but in your question, all i know is that if there never was evil, if there never was unfairness, we, as humans, would never know, or come to appreciate what truly is good in the world. So i am thank full for the good, and the bad, because without the bad, i would still be a child, unable to grow, nor learn.
2007-04-10 13:41:41 · answer #2 · answered by CM 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I think atheism is as much of a belief in itself as someone who chooses to believe in a "higher being". An atheist can believe that there is no God, in the same way that someone can believe that there is a God. When people start to say they "don't know" then how can they truly say that they believe in God? It'd be much more reasonable to say that you don't know whether or not there is a God (going by your own argument) You can't say that "God works in mysterious ways" if you don't know that there is a God. In my opinion, when someone makes such an extraordinary claim such as there being a God, then I feel that you should have some hard evidence to back that up. Believing in something that can't be seen or measured or truly felt in the physical world is a very extraordinary claim. Having said that i'm rather open minded, and perhaps there is something that could be described as a "higher being" or something that is outside of our range of our perception. Although i also think it daft to make the solid assumption that said being cares about you or your well being or even knows of your existence. there is no true evidence to back claims of there being a God, and God being real depends very much on the how much a person chooses to believe. it doesn't really matter whether God is real or not, if it helps people to imagine/believe that there is a higher being who loves and cares for you regardless, then good for them. "each his own"
2016-05-19 02:24:17 · answer #3 · answered by ? 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Many people do say that God's ways are mysterious. .and they are. However, this is over exaggerated sometimes. Bad things can happen to people. .like a baby getting cancer and dying. These are things that God put infront of us to test our faith. After all, what is life but a test of your faith in God. Now don't get me wrong, God didn't create evil. From my understanding the devil was an angel first and from free will choose to become Satan. As does anyone who does something bad. Evil is a lack of something. (ex: sickness is a lack of health).
To answer your question "Can there be a bigger cop-out than 'God works in mysterious ways...'?"
Oh yeah, there are lots.
For starters. .when Christians talk about the complexness of life and of the human body and the world all together. .all Atheist can say is. ."Oh, yeah, well prove it. ."
That's a big one.
P.S. Before you start trying to be so critical of others beliefs. .try evaluating your own beliefs. No one really cares that you refuse to believe in God so why don't you just leave us alone.
2007-04-14 13:17:07 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Everything happens for a reason. Remember, God already knows everything you will do and everything that will happen because of what you decide. Multiply that times every human ever born on this earth. Now, consider this, if a child is born with cancer and dies within a year, one or both of his parents are not Christian and pray and bargain with God or rant and rave at him. God now has them at least acknowledging his existence. Then if they become saved or born again Christians, was that child's suffering and death worth it? I hope, giving you a scenario helps.
2007-04-14 15:26:01 · answer #5 · answered by Chloe 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You are wrong. God is sovereign. He made us and the world and He makes the decisions. His thoughts are higher than our thoughts. AIDS came into the world because of the sin of one African man. Sin came into the world by Adam and Eve's breaking of God's law. All suffering goes right back to the curse that the world is under because of the sin in the Garden of Eden.
2007-04-06 19:57:40 · answer #6 · answered by deacon 6 · 0⤊ 2⤋
It's called faith. It's this wonderful new concept that you don't need to understand or even see a thing to believe in it. Christians don't presume to know God's will(well, the kooky self-righteous ones do, but I'm not talking about them). No one knows why some things happen, they just do. Christians believe that God has a plan, and that everything that happens to us is a part of it.
2007-04-06 19:47:23 · answer #7 · answered by Chicken Little 2 · 1⤊ 3⤋
The evil comes from satan not God.
2007-04-06 19:56:19 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
How about the famous. It's in God's devine plan. Or maybe the legendary, God only knows. These are all timeless cop outs.
2007-04-06 19:53:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 2⤋
No bigger then saying he doesn't exist with all the evidence right in front of you.
No bigger cop-out then saying atheism isn't a religion when just by looking at the organization by definition it has religion written all over it.
Remember evolution is just a theory.
2007-04-06 19:51:08 · answer #10 · answered by Rick 5 · 4⤊ 4⤋