God and Distaster

[ib.me.ub]

Well, you have two (2) people here, with different beliefs, stating the opposite to what you are saying, and basically agreeing with each other.

[Skipper]

s necessarily loving of all things necessarily cares about all things.

So you're wrong, again.

Me and the whole of Christendom. Well done ...erm NOT.

Plenty of people believed in sun gods and that the sun revolved around the earth. Even these days millions believe in Islam or Hinduism, which obviously are not compatible with Christianity, so you can't all be right. Numbers means nothing, ignorance breeds ignorance. It just so happens Christians have managed to breed the most.

[fr0d0]

It seems we all agree to me ibmeumb

We have a logically established precedent, against your say so VOID. But then yours is a thoughtless and bland attack, not to be taken seriously.

[theVOID]

Please show me how you have logically established that "All loving" == "Doesn't want to stop thousands of people dying".

[Skipper]

Frodo, I don't see anyway you can equate an all loving god to a god that allows his creations to suffer in their millions while they die, drown and watch their loved ones perish in earthquakes and Tsunami's and the hellish aftermath without drinking water, food or shelter.

Open your fucking eyes. While it's likely to remain unknown if a god exists or not, Your idea of God...the Christian idea of god sure as hell dosen't exist.

[Thor]

If you were rescued from a life threatening event would you thank the person who saved you even though others may have died, I think you would and I know I would.

Let's say you were in a building that caught fire and dozens of people died in the inferno. However, you survived because someone dragged you out of the burning building. Would you be grateful and thank the person? I'm sure you would!

But let's say you later discover that the person who saved you is a pyromaniac and is responsible for setting the building on fire. Would you still be grateful? Or would you be angry that the asshole killed dozens of people, destroyed property and put your life in danger?

So why is thanking God any different?

Because your deity supposedly has the power to prevent disasters. Imagine there's a gas leak in your house which knocks out you and your entire family. The fire department shows up and carries you and one of your children outside to safety. However, they do nothing to stop the leak (when they could easily do so by turning a valve) and refuse to bring your spouse and other child out of the house. Finally, the gas ignites, incinerating your spouse and child, and burning your house to the ground.

Now, how do you feel about this turn of events? Do you praise the fire department for saving you and your child? Or are you angry that they did nothing to shut off the gas or retrieve the rest of your family?

Thanking God for ones life in an event such as this is only natural (no pun intended) for christians,

Yeah, well... this is kind of like thanking a maniac with a machine gun for not killing you when he indiscriminately killed people all around you.

however they did not stop there I'm sure, they have and are praying for the families and friends who have lost loved ones and are praying for those who need to be rescued.

Ah, yes.... prayer. How to do nothing and think you're helping.

for all you know God may have spared the lives of many nonbelievers and I personally believe He did.

This meaningless platitude could apply to anything.

So you see God is working to help the people of Japan, christian and nonchristian alike, He is doing this through the hearts of His people.

No, "God" is doing absolutely nothing to help the people of Japan. If he was, he could have easily prevented the tsunami. You want to credit your deity with cleaning up a mess he easily could have prevented. BZZZZZTTTT!!!!!

Min save your words and time we know what you think....God doesn't exist.

Well, he does have the truth on his side.

[OnlyNatural]

OnlyNatural, have you ever be in a church setting? It does not sound like it from your response.

Many, many times. I was a Christian for years. Churches, spiritual retreats, religious summer camps, you name it.

If you were rescued from a life threatening event would you thank the person who saved you even though others may have died, I think you would and I know I would. So why is thanking God any different?

Of course I would thank the people who saved me. I would be eternally gratefully to whoever pulled me out of the rubble, to the doctors who treated my injuries, to the caring people who supported me through the ordeal. Thanking God IS different, because there's no evidence that God DID anything. There's lots of evidence of people's altruistic actions, but assuming that God is behind it is just an unfounded inference based on your current belief system.

Christians...are praying for the families and friends who have lost loved ones and are praying for those who need to be rescued. I would say that the christian churches in Japan are already giving aide to those in need and helping in any way possible, I know that the churches from my area sent volunteers to the victims of Katrina and they where some of the first to arrive to that disaster. Please don't think of christians as selfish just because we are grateful that God spared lives, I would say that a number of christians died in the disaster also, for all you know God may have spared the lives of many nonbelievers and I personally believe He did. Many christians in America and around the world are giving of their time to pray for the victims of this disaster and the amount of money and goods donated to the relief effort will be awesome and all this is a good thing and guess what no strings will be attached. So you see God is working to help the people of Japan, christian and nonchristian alike, He is doing this through the hearts of His people.

First of all, praying for the victims does absolutely nothing, except make you Christians feel better, as if you're doing something constructive.

If your church (and other churches) sent volunteers to help the victims, bring water, donate money, etc. then that's great, good for you. That can be done just as well without prayer. In fact, in an emergency, prayer probably just wastes valuable time.

And are there really no strings attached? I find it hard to believe that the victims won't be required to listen to a sermon, or hear about how Jesus can save their soul. Or that God is merciful and that's why they were rescued. Unsolicited and just plain cruel, since they probably have loved ones who died horribly (where was God's mercy then?)

[Skipper]

If you were rescued from a life threatening event would you thank the person who saved you even though others may have died, I think you would and I know I would.

Let's say you were in a building that caught fire and dozens of people died in the inferno. However, you survived because someone dragged you out of the burning building. Would you be grateful and thank the person? I'm sure you would!

But let's say you later discover that the person who saved you is a pyromaniac and is responsible for setting the building on fire. Would you still be grateful? Or would you be angry that the asshole killed dozens of people, destroyed property and put your life in danger?

So why is thanking God any different?

Because your deity supposedly has the power to prevent disasters. Imagine there's a gas leak in your house which knocks out you and your entire family. The fire department shows up and carries you and one of your children outside to safety. However, they do nothing to stop the leak (when they could easily do so by turning a valve) and refuse to bring your spouse and other child out of the house. Finally, the gas ignites, incinerating your spouse and child, and burning your house to the ground.

Now, how do you feel about this turn of events? Do you praise the fire department for saving you and your child? Or are you angry that they did nothing to shut off the gas or retrieve the rest of your family?

This. Excellent post Thor.

Religious logic : "Well, that was bad, tens of thousands died, millions more will suffer, but I guess it could have been worse, PRAISE THE LORD!!!"

Sickening.

[Thor]

God did create a perfect world, Satan and people like you and me caused the imperfections that are seen in the world.

My bullshit alarm is going crazy right now.

Please present ANY evidence to support this steaming pile of fecal matter you just deposited.

yes God is benevolent but sometimes (especially) when there is judgement involved God may not seem to be benevolent.

And this explains children with cancer, babies with horiible birth defects and natural disasters that indiscriminately kill..... how?

Yes I do believe that God could have stopped this event, that however did not happen for what ever reason

I can tell you the reason.... your deity is imaginary!

and I guess you'll have to ask God why.

I can't ask "God" anything because he doesn't exist!

As for why doesn't He stop natural disasters, how do we know He hasn't, when and if He does we would never know because it never happened.

I've prevented many natural disasters! Every night I put on my magic hat and wave the Twig of Prevention. This protects Canada from hurricanes. It obviously works, because I don't even know when Canada last suffered a hurricane. Can you imagine how many disasters I've prevented? Canadians should be thanking me, but they never do.

[OnlyNatural]

I've prevented many natural disasters! Every night I put on my magic hat and wave the Twig of Prevention. This protects Canada from hurricanes. It obviously works, because I don't even know when Canada last suffered a hurricane. Can you imagine how many disasters I've prevented? Canadians should be thanking me, but they never do.

That was YOU all along?? All praise Thor for keeping Canada safe!! I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you!!!