How can one have faith in God, or the battle of good and evil when there are evildoers who are prospering, yet you have little innocent children die of cancer or some other debilitating disease?
2007-12-27 08:51:04 · 12 answers · asked by butterfly234 4 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Because this life is only temporary. All will be justified in the end. Those who died innocent, will be rewarded in heaven, those evildoers will be punished.
God sees all. He sees the suffering, he sees the evil and he sees those who love him. His compassion, his mercy and his judgment are perfect, something we cannot comprehend. We have faith that his will, his mercy and his love will prevail. We trust him and know that none of us have more love and compassion than he does.
God does not see suffering as we do. He is not bound by our fallible finite minds or limited by the bounds of time. He has a perspective unique and unimaginable. So, when we have faith, it is in the knowledge that his love is greater than we can ever hope for.
2007-12-27 09:04:23 · answer #1 · answered by Misty 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some people believe in God because they have proof. These people also know the real reasons why God allow suffering. They have understood these from the books of Genesis and Job.
On the other hand many do not believe in God because they want physical proof the same way they believe there is car because of its physical existence. A greater number, perhaps, don't want to believe in him because they don't want to be accountable to anybody for their actions. And, according to many scientists-- who "see" the hand of a creator in all the complex things in the universe--many have been brainwashed by the teachings,and spurious evidence, of evolution. That is why they don't belive in God
2007-12-27 09:03:43 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
For us to FREELY believe and love him.. we have to be FREE to reject and hate him. The 2 extremes are inseparatable.
This is the principle of freewill.
If we have Freewill, then we HAVE to have the freedom to do some VERY evil things, in order to have the freewill to do equally GOOD things. -- correct?
With freedom, comes the extremes of human behavior. Only way to surpress the extremes of human behavior is to deny freedom -- correct?
God COULD FORCE us to love him and be perfect little angels..but by removing freewill -- what is the point? I mean, why even let us live? -- he'd have no choice in how we live our lives. -- We'd be little robots, so why waste time even creating us?
I understand your frustration with seeing Evil doers prosper, I sometimes feel the same way.
Just remember that they may APPEAR to be prospering here on EARTH, but what will be their level of prosperity in heaven? -- So you get your reWARD now, OR later, your choice. Life here on Earth is 70-80 years. Our life in Heaven is eternal -- I personally, am going for the long haul reward? What about you?
The way I SEE it, you get 1 reward -- you either get it here on Earth, or you get it in heaven...the 2 are mutually exclusive
That is, as far as I can tell, they are contradictory -- the things that make you sucessful here on earth are NOT the type of things that make you "sucessful" in heaven.
As for the innocent children thing....
That IS hard to reconcile.
All I can say is probably what OTHER people have said...
God doesn't directly cause bad things and does not rejoice in anyone's suffering. BUT...Adversity often times brings people CLOSER to God. -- This he DOES rejoice in.
So he doesn't like it when I'm deeply saddened by my grandmother deing, but he DOES rejoice when her death makes me turn to him and pray.
The basic idea is that We don't know what GOOD will come from each of these situations... that is to say, maybe it brought the child's parents closer to God?? Maybe a Nurse or Doctor seeing the child's struggle prayed to God or started exploring their faith.
I'm sure each of us, if we really try, can think of a situation in our personal life or the life of one of our family members, that out of something BAD, came something unexpectedly Good.
Since we are linear beings (that is to say, we can't see the future) so it's hard for us to KNOW what good will come from each adversity. God, however is Omniscience so he knows EVERYTHING -- so he CAN see the good that will come from things even if we can't.
So while God doesn't ENJOY it when bad things happen, he A) Has to allow them for there to be free will and for people to choose to follow him AND B) Only HE knows the good that will come from each tradegy
If you focus on only these 2 ONLY... your faith will be rocky.
There are a lot of OTHER aspects of faith that are easier to reconcile / believe in then the whole, "why do bad things happen to good people"
2007-12-27 10:01:53 · answer #3 · answered by John S 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I have faith in a higher being because I'm convinced that things don't end in this world, and that there is life beyond death that is wonderfull for those who endure sufering in this world and hose hearts are pure.
2007-12-27 09:04:05 · answer #4 · answered by Lestat 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
2 Corinthians 5:10 (New International Version)
10For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
2007-12-27 08:59:57 · answer #5 · answered by Pooky 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Only someone who is not fully rational can have faith in anything. Faith is the ultimate evil: it is the intentional rejection of the one essential characteristic of humanity: the ability to apply reason to evidence and arrive at useful conclusions.
2007-12-27 08:56:15 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋
"Faith" is a word that can be twisted to amuse the audience.
The "battle of good and evil" is personified in the person of the biblical deity who will promise to "smite" you to make you "believe" "of your own free will."
Mathmatically: "Faith" = "Rationalization"
2007-12-27 09:01:50 · answer #7 · answered by Suzanne 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Pretty obvious, isn't it? Religious people will often point out that bad things happen to non-believers as God's punishment, but when the same thing happens to them is not punishment, but "god's plan." They deny reality, all so they don't have to take responsibility for their behavior.
2007-12-27 08:56:02 · answer #8 · answered by Fred S - AM Cappo Di Tutti Capi 5 · 4⤊ 2⤋
If you understood the history of humanity, God's intentions and promises, and how we came to these circumstances, you would also know how it is possible to have faith in God. Ask God to allow you to learn and understand these things. He gives wisdom and direction.
2007-12-27 08:55:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
Sure, you can have faith in god, Jesus and many other things that are not real. All you need is a non functioning brain.
2007-12-27 08:56:20 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 2⤋