Crosswords3 mins ago
God's Plan
304 Answers
Following on from the horrific news of a little boy killed by lightning -
I am genuinly intrigued to hread how any of our Christian contributors can begin to reconcile this tragedy with the notion that their 'loving' God, who clearly allowed it to happen, could let such a loss be felt by his parents and family.
What part of 'God's Plan' is working here?
I am genuinly intrigued to hread how any of our Christian contributors can begin to reconcile this tragedy with the notion that their 'loving' God, who clearly allowed it to happen, could let such a loss be felt by his parents and family.
What part of 'God's Plan' is working here?
Answers
Best Answer
No best answer has yet been selected by andy-hughes. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.
For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
Is it not conceited to expect others to question their faith because you choose not to think similar though?
If a belief system works for an individual is it not better to let them continue believing what they believe? How does another persons belief ... faith affect you and your belief?
If (as you believe) bad things happen for no good reason OR bad things happen for a bigger (unknown) reason .... the result is the same. The tragedy has still occurred.
If a belief system works for an individual is it not better to let them continue believing what they believe? How does another persons belief ... faith affect you and your belief?
If (as you believe) bad things happen for no good reason OR bad things happen for a bigger (unknown) reason .... the result is the same. The tragedy has still occurred.
eve - // Is it not conceited to expect others to question their faith because you choose not to think similar though? //
I don't believe so, no.
The conceit would be if I derided you for not thinking as I do, which of course I do not.
But surely, if you hold a faith, it is robust enough to respond to a few basic questions - otherwise it is hardly a faith worth having in the first place. The bible is choc full of people questioning Jesus, and him answering every single one of them - surely any Christian who holds a faith can explain a little about it.
// If a belief system works for an individual is it not better to let them continue believing what they believe? How does another persons belief ... faith affect you and your belief? //
I have no belief to affect, I am an atheist, but I am also a curious individual who is interested in how people think, and why, expecially people who think differently from me.
I am not in the business of trying to make anyone think as i do - sadly Christians cannot say the same - far to many of them spend their lives wringing their hands and fretting for the souls of unbelievers - it is they who are looking to change beliefs.
// If (as you believe) bad things happen for no good reason OR bad things happen for a bigger (unknown) reason .... the result is the same. The tragedy has still occurred. //
Indeed - but not attributing it to a nameless deity who could have stopped it, makes the tragedy a lot easier to live with.
I don't believe so, no.
The conceit would be if I derided you for not thinking as I do, which of course I do not.
But surely, if you hold a faith, it is robust enough to respond to a few basic questions - otherwise it is hardly a faith worth having in the first place. The bible is choc full of people questioning Jesus, and him answering every single one of them - surely any Christian who holds a faith can explain a little about it.
// If a belief system works for an individual is it not better to let them continue believing what they believe? How does another persons belief ... faith affect you and your belief? //
I have no belief to affect, I am an atheist, but I am also a curious individual who is interested in how people think, and why, expecially people who think differently from me.
I am not in the business of trying to make anyone think as i do - sadly Christians cannot say the same - far to many of them spend their lives wringing their hands and fretting for the souls of unbelievers - it is they who are looking to change beliefs.
// If (as you believe) bad things happen for no good reason OR bad things happen for a bigger (unknown) reason .... the result is the same. The tragedy has still occurred. //
Indeed - but not attributing it to a nameless deity who could have stopped it, makes the tragedy a lot easier to live with.
Theland - // When sin entered the world, the creation was spoiled and death entered in, in so many forms in moral and natural evils.
God does!not stay the hand of the evil murderer, nor does he withold the power of nature.
That is the fallen world we have inherited //
A pat answer from a fervent - I would expect no other, and you won't be at all surprised to read that it really doesn't cut it as a valid argument.
God does!not stay the hand of the evil murderer, nor does he withold the power of nature.
That is the fallen world we have inherited //
A pat answer from a fervent - I would expect no other, and you won't be at all surprised to read that it really doesn't cut it as a valid argument.
Andy
//I have no belief to affect, I am an atheist/// so you believe there is no God - that is a belief system surely? That you believe in no deity? A belief system is not always religious.
//Indeed - but not attributing it to a nameless deity who could have stopped it, makes the tragedy a lot easier to live with. //.
You're correct that it makes it easier to live with for SOME people (you included). Yet for OTHERS (eg my husband when his daughter died) a belief that there is a bigger purpose helps them deal with grief.
//I have no belief to affect, I am an atheist/// so you believe there is no God - that is a belief system surely? That you believe in no deity? A belief system is not always religious.
//Indeed - but not attributing it to a nameless deity who could have stopped it, makes the tragedy a lot easier to live with. //.
You're correct that it makes it easier to live with for SOME people (you included). Yet for OTHERS (eg my husband when his daughter died) a belief that there is a bigger purpose helps them deal with grief.
eve - // Yet for OTHERS (eg my husband when his daughter died) a belief that there is a bigger purpose helps them deal with grief. //
I accept that a belief in God and his 'plan' is a mystery that I will never understand, but of course, i do accept that for some peopple, such a belief is a comfort.
I simply would need something more than man-written texts telling me that I am suffering this agony because God wants me to for some benefit I am never going to see or experience.
But I am always respectful ot Christians who don't treat me as though I am lacking in something - I am married to one.
I accept that a belief in God and his 'plan' is a mystery that I will never understand, but of course, i do accept that for some peopple, such a belief is a comfort.
I simply would need something more than man-written texts telling me that I am suffering this agony because God wants me to for some benefit I am never going to see or experience.
But I am always respectful ot Christians who don't treat me as though I am lacking in something - I am married to one.
21:04, no, pp, I'm sure you understand it really. Nobody needs to prove a negative. Let alone when it has never been proven positive in the first place.
//But equally, if tragedy had never existed, we would, as you say, be 'perfect' - and had the human race gone that way, that is what we would be, and we would know nothing else, so it would be as normal to us as our own human condition.//
Yes, Andy, but it would also make us robots.
I suspect my answer was more evolution than religion.
//But equally, if tragedy had never existed, we would, as you say, be 'perfect' - and had the human race gone that way, that is what we would be, and we would know nothing else, so it would be as normal to us as our own human condition.//
Yes, Andy, but it would also make us robots.
I suspect my answer was more evolution than religion.
Peter - // Does that child not have the 'free will' to elect not to suffer blindness in this unfathomably cruel way? (*) Does Andie H have free will not to come out unfathomably stupid non dequiturs?
I believe he does: he may think he does not //
Does Pere Penant have the ability to write as though English is his first language?
I believe he does, he clearly thinks he does not - that's the only explanation I can offer for the random posts he produces.
I believe he does: he may think he does not //
Does Pere Penant have the ability to write as though English is his first language?
I believe he does, he clearly thinks he does not - that's the only explanation I can offer for the random posts he produces.
pixie - // Atheism is an absence of belief, not a belief in "no God"- although many do. It literally means "without a god". That's all. //
The fact that you (and I, and others) constantly have to point that out only shows how perturbed Christians are at the notion that people actually don;t believe in anything.
It appears that they are so wrapped up in their belief that they find it incomprehensible that anyone could actually not believe in anything at all.
That's why so many of them constantly insist that atheism is a belief system, it comforts them, even if they think it's wrong.
The constant correction that it is not a belief must be really upsetting for them.
The fact that you (and I, and others) constantly have to point that out only shows how perturbed Christians are at the notion that people actually don;t believe in anything.
It appears that they are so wrapped up in their belief that they find it incomprehensible that anyone could actually not believe in anything at all.
That's why so many of them constantly insist that atheism is a belief system, it comforts them, even if they think it's wrong.
The constant correction that it is not a belief must be really upsetting for them.
//That is the fallen world we have inherited.//
Humanity is not to blame for random unforeseeable tragedy. The ones to blame are those who attribute unfortunate events to acts of God using that as an excuse to do nothing to prevent similar events in the future. They are the depraved, the fallen from grace of humanity.
Humanity is not to blame for random unforeseeable tragedy. The ones to blame are those who attribute unfortunate events to acts of God using that as an excuse to do nothing to prevent similar events in the future. They are the depraved, the fallen from grace of humanity.
Khandro, I seem to have vexed you in a way that has prompted a most non-Christian attitude!
It is ironic that you as a fervent accuse me of misinterpretation of Christianity - my views are mine and not some pat standard platitude from the manual that you and your cohorts trot out like Pavlov's dogs.
It is ironic that you as a fervent accuse me of misinterpretation of Christianity - my views are mine and not some pat standard platitude from the manual that you and your cohorts trot out like Pavlov's dogs.
0716- MIBs, everybody tries to foresee and prevent tragedies, even if not met with much success.
Nobody sits around coin nothing as far as I know.
If anything, the cup de sac of logic and reason you have driven yourself into, prevents you even beginning to understand the worlds problems or the solutions.
To the atheists whose default is no belief at all in any supreme being, do you not have a natural curiosity to find answers to the big questions that science pursues, but has so far failed to answer?
Nobody sits around coin nothing as far as I know.
If anything, the cup de sac of logic and reason you have driven yourself into, prevents you even beginning to understand the worlds problems or the solutions.
To the atheists whose default is no belief at all in any supreme being, do you not have a natural curiosity to find answers to the big questions that science pursues, but has so far failed to answer?
// // Does that child not have the 'free will' to elect not to suffer blindness in this unfathomably cruel way?//
yeah stupid as hell andie as ever - and that was not me (PP) - I think that was YOU - - still too many as not
are we still at
A child was killed by lightning - that proves God does not exist
I believe we still are - - discuss on and have fun boys and girls !
yeah stupid as hell andie as ever - and that was not me (PP) - I think that was YOU - - still too many as not
are we still at
A child was killed by lightning - that proves God does not exist
I believe we still are - - discuss on and have fun boys and girls !
Latest Posts
Quizzes & Puzzles40 mins ago
Connections 314 - Sat 20 April
Quizzes & Puzzles42 mins ago
