God's Will

"and especially Americans to feel some humanitarianism towards humans in general, and make it their personal responsibility to aid those that suffer."

Ha, we could probably feed and house and medicate every victim and even all Iraqis with the cost of the war and or a portion of our military budget.

Don't expect genuine humanity from anyone actually holding government purse strings. Sure, the citizens will, have, and do give money they don't even have.

America seems to be the worlds greatest natural disaster to me at this point.

As long as I know my soldiers are killing, thieving from and raping innocents, and my government is even killing our soldiers and not properly caring for anyone after the fact, then there is no such thing as American humanitarianism, just good ol american hypocricy.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

mm.. this might answer some of ur doubts?

If God is so good, why is there evil?

The thrust of this charge is that evil's presence disproves God's power. But is the presence of evil consistent with the God of the Bible? Consider:


God didn't create evil. Sin entered the world through Adam's disobedience (Genesis 3).


Evil is necessary for a free world. Freedom, or free will, gives humans the opportunity to make wrong choices.


God hesitates to stop evil for an important reason. Just as parents often allow their children to make mistakes and suffer the consequences, God acts in a parental fashion with his creation.


God has the solution for evil. Jesus accomplished the ultimate defeat of evil on the cross. But just as we don't yet have eternal bodies, evil has yet to be removed from the world.





Why is there suffering?

Many hold that pain is evidence against God's concern for humankind. However, pain can be used for good and bad purposes. Not all pain is bad. Pain is an essential mechanism for survival. Without pain, the body is stripped of vital protection. Pain is an important signal to warn of even greater danger.

Suffering is a signal. It also can be a spiritual signal that reminds us of the fragile balance of life and our mortality. In The Problem of Pain, Christian apologist C.S. Lewis writes, "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts to us in our pain; it is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world."

Some suffering actually helps to bring greater good. This is best seen in Jesus' own suffering. Jesus traveled down the road of pain, loneliness, and death—a road that led to the cross. Jesus isn't just a Savior, he's our suffering Savior. The cross is the ultimate example of innocent suffering.

At the heart of this issue is the underlying challenge that God isn't fair. The problem is, society holds pleasure as its chief goal in life. This philosophy is known as hedonism, and those who live by this philosophy find any form of suffering offensive. To say God isn't fair is an extremely dangerous charge.

If God gave us what we deserve, we'd be in trouble. It would be foolish to ask God for justice; what we need is mercy. God's mercy and grace are so taken for granted that suffering and pain shock us.

isnt it good to see people from all over the world being so united and help in the tsunami's incident? hee.. rejoice..

Rejoice as we simultaneously slaughter innocents elsewhere, yay for balance.

Its funny sort of, I hear so much in life that people need to take responsibility for their actions, but God gets a free ticket.

Nothing is ever God's fault, he just created everything and desinged everythings purpose, no reason for accountability though.

Not only that, he created man imperfect, meaning that THEY WILL SIN. But we still get bitched at for it. Yay catch 22.

Your notions of evil, its origins and its necessity make no sense other than balance.

In that case evil will never be "defeated". Under that logic its not ever going anywhere. So speak of good, peace, and love, and thank those who remind you that God is evil.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

so, the tsumani victims deserved to die?
why does God have to cause good and evil? why can't things happen fer themselves? If good happens, then God is good, if bad happens, then God is bad, sorry to say, this is really stuipid logic. If my toe is hit with a table, I don't go around wondering why God let it happen, and what did I do to deserve it.

"I'll heal ur woundz I'll set u free, I m jesus christ on xtacy"

As far as I'm concerned all of life's adversities make the plight of mankind much more noble despite the tragedies...All of nature strives for survival and, in doing so, becomes "better" in both an adaptative and spiritual sense...Maybe that's our purpose, to adapt to difficulties and evolve in various ways...Who knows?...But I guess I'm unwilling to lay the blame for tragedies like this tsunami on anyone, even a god of some kind....Harmonious forces and chaotic forces seem to be constantly battling for control in all aspects of life...These two elements are two necessary aspects of existence...like Yin and Yang...It's just the way things are...

"Each conscious mind is alone in the universe!"

"like Yin and Yang...It's just the way things are..."

The problem here is there seems to be a lot more yin than yang.

Sure, the whole world isn't evil, only half right (for benefit of doubt on balance), and that seems to be the half in control of the world.

How bout we change that up for a few thousand years, just for shits and giggles.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

what does the world being evil has to do with the tsumani?

"I'll heal ur woundz I'll set u free, I m jesus christ on xtacy"

If you are a religious person with a vengeful god, a lot, otherwise the tsunami itself could be an evil act, depending on your way of thinking.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

I started this thread to see what people thought about the tsunami issue. In times like these, a lot of people I know turn to religion for comfort. I wanted to learn how other people felt about this in connection with religion.

Some people blame God. Some people believe that there is wisdom behind everything and find comfort in believing in God and Heaven. Some remain confused. Others just don't care. Everyone reacts differently to a natural disaster. Times like these shake us and make us feel insecure. How people react depends a lot on what they believe in. And that's the conclusion I have arrived at after reading these posts. If you think I've got it all wrong, tell me. I'm listening.

"How can we be just in a world without mercy and merciful in a world without justice?"

i think you are dead on.

the day the tsunami hit, i woke up with a fog over my head. this was before i had even heard what was going on. i had the same feeling the day Columbine was terrorized. strange tho, on 9/11 i was very happy and content until i saw the television. i know their are (good?)reasons behind every event, but i understand only what i have experienced within myself.

"I am Akba-Atatdia"

Attolia, u forgot to mention there are some people(like me) who think the tsumani happened because of plain,simple and logical natural forces

one thing, there were prbably quite a few true followers of God and religion amongst the dead, so why'd they be killed by 'God'? I mean these sort of explantions of natural disastors happening because of God existed 5, 6 thousand years ago, wake up people!

"I'll heal ur woundz I'll set u free, I m jesus christ on xtacy"

Wake up to what, what is a natural occurance, that isn't any more of an explanation.

Whether religious or not, god can be defined as powers greater than ourselves, this including nature and the forces thereof.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

in that way, yes, agreed

natural occurance? well the tsumani resulted because of clashes of the tetonic plates

"I'll heal ur woundz I'll set u free, I m jesus christ on xtacy"

That is a definite maybe, there are other currently existing ways to cause that, I'm not saying that it was other than the plates, but these other man made forces do exist and are just as plausible, regardless of "God's actions" or inactions.

"The Greatest Enemy of Knowledge is Not Ignorance, It is the ILLUSION of Knowledge. Stephen Hawking"

yes, thats what I m saying. there are perfectly resonable explainations for natural phenomena, be it secret chemical tests underground or a freak of nature

"I'll heal ur woundz I'll set u free, I m jesus christ on xtacy"