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if god realy existed why do things happen like rape and murder and animal abuse? doesnt he care?
According to Peter Kreeft, the problem of evil is the best argument against the existence of God. However, he does a decent job of answering that argument in his book "Yes or No". His answer is better explained than mine for the sake of brevity.
He begins by dividing up the question of evil into 2 parts. Question 1: why does evil exist? Question 2: what is God doing about it?
The short answer to the 1st question: Evil exists because of the abuse of freedom.
God gave some creatures the faculty of free-will so that they could "know love, and serve him in this world and be happy with in the next." In giving us the freedom to accept his plan and say "yes" to him, he also gave us the ability to reject him and say "no." Without the ability to say no, the freedom to say yes is not truly freedom. However, because the "yes" is the intended answer, the "no" is an abuse of that freedom.
The saying of "no" to God is he definition of Sin. It is through man's free choice that sin entered the world with its deleterious effects. Thus, "through one person sin entered the word, and through sin death, and thus death came to all..." (Rom 5:12)
Why does God allow it? He gives us the power to say no in order to give us the power to say yes. All God's activities, including his aloowing suffering, are diected towards eliciting our yes. "...But he said to me, 'my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast more gladly of my weaknesses, in order that the power of Christ may dwell in me" (2 Cor. 12:9).
Answer to question 2 (What is God doing about it?): When the fullness of time had come, God sent his only Son born of a woman, born under the law, to deliver from the law those who suject to it (Gal 4:4).
God sent us his Son, Christ Jesus, for several reasons. To demonstrate the Father's love for us, to serve as our model of holiness, to remove the world's sins, and to make partakers of the divine nature.
In serving as our model of holiness, Christ shows us what it means to suffer because of authemtic love. He was willing to suffer for us out of the pure goodness of his heart. He paid a debt he didn't owe because we owed a debt we couldn't pay.
Our God isn't some distant God who doesn't care about our sufferings. He's been here. He knows what ot means to suffer, and he did it perfectly for our sake. What's more, he calls us to take up our cross join him. This command led St. Paul to say, "Therefore, I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake bretheren, for in them I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body which is the Church" (Col 1:24).
By the power of his passion, death, resurrection,and ascension, Christ gives our suffering power, and he is the hope of our vindication. He is the first fruits of the resurrection, and through him, our suffering, if done with love, can become an offering of love.
And rember this: all earthly suffering is temporary. He has promised that he will return and "wipe every tear from our eyes." If we join ourselves to him, he has promised us that we will suffer, but he will never let go of us (unless we say "no"). As my father used to tell me as a child, "The inconvenience is temporary; the repairs are permenant."
Nothing finite can be infinite (eternal). Since the universe is made of finite things (matter, time, space), it therefor must be created by something without time (timeless), thus making it eternal. If it is eternal, it must be infinite, and if its the Creator, it must be God.
The universe changes, and time is the measure of change. How many changes have happened before right now? If you claim an infinite number of changes (which is impossible because you can not have an infinite amount of finite things), it is a logically impossible to conclude we could ever have reached this moment in time. In a world of cause and effect (which we live in), there can not be an infinite regress (an infinite amount of cause and effect reactions to get to a certain cause).
Allow me to rephrase. Imagine that the Earth orbits the sun every 365 days (it does). Now, on Mars, a year is much longer than an Earth year, being 687 Earth days (basically double). So, for every 2 years of Mars, Earth has circled the sun approximately 4 times. Now, imagine that this has been going on for eternity. By your logic, they would both have circled the sun the exact same amount of times, because its been going on forever (this is clearly impossible). This shows the impossibility of an infinite regress, whereby there could not have been an infinite amount of (x) before right now, in a finite universe based on time.
Now, back to God. God exists outside of time, in Eternity. God created time, and time is irrelevant to Him. God is Eternal, not created. Firstly, you have 2 choices; either everything came from nothing (which is impossible), or something always existed and created us. You have no other choice. Take a moment to think about that, remembering that it can not exist in time, that would be impossible. Time can not be eternal.
This thing that always existed would be considered Eternal, having transcended time, space, and matter, being everlasting, having always existed. If you argue this is impossible, I would argue the contrary; it is impossible for this Eternal 'thing' to not exist, because the alternative is that nothing existed, which could only produce nothing. So, something always existed, and is therefor Eternal.
Now, for something to be Eternal, it can not consist of time, because time must have had a beginning. We exist in a universe of causality, so an infinite regress is impossible; there could not have been an infinite amount of time before right now, because we never would have reached this moment in time. That means time had a beginning, and whatever created time exists without time, beyond time, in timelessness; Eternity.
So, this Eternal Creator, created time, and the universe. This Eternal Creator clearly is extremely powerful, because the energy of the trillions of stars in the known universe were created by this Creator. And obviously, the Creator is extremely intelligent, having created an intelligent being such as mankind and a world in which to populate with it.
james53,
The human eye is the result of millions and millions of years of evolution. It started out as maybe a light-sensitive patch of skin on some microscopic creature then evolved over time as creatures became more complex. Since evolution is a continuing thing, the human eye could evolve further but only if such mutation would be beneficial to the survival of the human race.
There are hundreds of billions of galaxies out beyond ours. They go to the end of the universe which is finite. What is "outside" out universe is a big unknown. Space and Time are constraints of our universe. God exists outside of our universe and is not concerned with its daily functioning.
No, we cannot fully comprehend God. But, there is no factual history for the evidence of God. We cannot prove the existence of God, but, we also cannot disprove the existence of God. Therefore, those of us who choose to believe in a God do so as a matter of faith that there really is something greater than ourselves and that there is a purpose beyond evolution and our simple 100-year lifespan.
I am a Deist. One who believes in the existence of a God, but denies revealed religion; a freethinker. de·ism (de'iz'?m, da'-) n.
The belief, based solely on reason, in a God who created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life, exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.
I also believe in reincarnation.
From my chosen path I stray, Yet my God any'er turns away; For I have learned -- and understand, That where God is -- is where I am!
"If God is good, why are people bad?"
God is neither good nor bad. God just Is. It is man's conceptions and perceptions that assigns the state of goodness to God.
Again, it is man's perceptions that attributes people and things/events as being either good or bad.
"Is evil real?"
No!
Evil is where we classify those events in out lives that "seem" to be negatives to our existence or reality.
In reality those negatives are events which might be hurdles we are meant to over come but were preordained "possibilities" that were programed into the existence of our current entity prior to our incarnation but with our approval.
I choose
I chose to be born, – to live or die, Even the sex, that would be I; I chose the race, from which to appear, Also my wealth, my health and my fear.
I chose my trials and stumbling blocks, And the legs I would use, in all of those walks; I chose my sadness, my joy and my love, I chose to serve and not be above.
I chose this life – with all of its dues, And with each dawn, again I choose; The experiences for me that wait ahead, To be alive, or be claimed dead.
And of the future lives I've yet, It is my choice that I begat; All the things, however pleasin', That shall befall me in those seasons.
Ponder this one thing.
If God does not exist then explain to me how something as complex as the human eye just came into existence. Did that just evolve over time. And if it did it, is it still getting better?
Ponder one more thing. This one is much deeper.
Consider space above and beyond the earth. On this planet we always have an end to every road, correct? There is always a stopping place.
Beyond our atmosphere as far as we can see with a telescope we know of several different galaxies that are light years away, correct. Then the thing to think about is this. What lies beyond what we can see? How far does it really go. And does it ever end. If not, why not.
We are limited finite beings. We cannot comprehend fully who God is. We must rely on whatever evidence that history has provided for us. Then and only then we must take a step out into the darkness of the unknown. Walking forward into the darkness requires faith. If you cannot see you have to trust someone else besides yourself to be able to see where you are going.
Sleep on these thoughts and let us know back what you think.
I should know better than to argue with a scripture quoting christian and who chucks the 'sin' word at me. :)
However,
What I cannot understand is how an innocent, newborn baby can be classed as sinful?
Surely as a christian you believe that God created the miricle of birth, why would he also create it in a way that every child is sinful even before it draws its first breath?
Why should this innocent child be partially blamed for the sins of others?
Could any responses be in plain, basic English without any quotes from the bible. I would like to hear individual replies not robot like quotes from a book written by, and put together by man.
See if it is possible to do this without using the 'sin' or 'faith' words. :)
PS I think I am happy to live and enjoy this life rather than risk the remotest possibility that there will be a next life that may be better.
OK, I'm all ears...go easy on me...
Because man is born a sinful creature - You bet He CARES !! - God being pure cannot even look upon sin - man, even in his very best state is a sinner - on judgement day, either: your sins are covered by the blood-shed sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross (salvation and only salvation - being a nice person isn't good enough - even at our very best, we are but filthy rags), and remembered no more or they are not (your sins are not covered) - where God's great love comes into play is, He provided a WAY (Jesus) for us not to perish and live in Heaven with Him (He certainly didn't have to do this but did because He loved us so) - if you read carefully John 3:16, this is exactly what it says - each person will either accept or reject, you must decide for yourself and yes, it's so important, it has eternal consequences - He Loves you and wants you to accept God's free gift to man - Jesus...Hope this helps !!
God created man in his image, we all know this to be a well beleived fact? Well what we should all think about is that God did not create us in his mind set. He gave man the free will to do what we want and will do in the hope and beleif that we would worship him because we wanted to, not because we had to. It was the fault of man and woman that we were cast out of the garden of Eden. I beleive that God gave us the free will to worship him because it would be much more satisfying to have people worship you because they wanted to, rather then they had to. So yeah, maybe God is an ego maniac, but don't you dare say he doesn't care. God cares for those that beleive and care for him, those few people that with the free will, they were given by God , choose to worship him. If you want to reap the benefits of his love then you must first accept the arduous task of worshiping him with all your heart.
That's a question that people have been asking for centuries.
Unfortunately, there is no clear answer. In the book of Job in the Bible, that question is brought up by Job himself. He asks God why the righteous seem to suffer. Ultimately, God's answer is not very satisfying. He basically tells Job, where were you when I created the heavens and earth, and who are you to question me?
The question was also asked by Buddha, who really struggled with it. While he gives interesting answers on how to deal with suffering, his ultimate explanation was that we bring it on ourselves and that it's a state of mind. Again, not a very satisfying answer when you look at actual suffering in the world.
If there is a supreme being or beings, it's pretty clear that being is not completely benevolent. It would have to be amoral, unconcerned with both righteousness and with acts of evil.
He cares he is up there and he is watching our every move and he is not letting things just go by him he knows exactly what we are doing and the reason why things like that happen is because the people that are doing it are evil and GOD said that we would sin because we are not perfect, and we also need to help others to know him and love him and plus those things you listed are not GOD's fault, it is our fault and this is the world is coming to an end and GOD does not want rape or murder or animal abuse to happen, he just wants us to learn from our own mistakes and he wants us to help the others who are lost and make them know him and then that person will do better, and GOD IS REAL!
I think your God has a lot to answer for.
It is claimed that he is all powerful, it is claimed that he made the earth and the sky in 6 days, yet he is unable to stop a poor 3 month old baby in Africa starving to death in a slow and agonising manner.
I suggest that he is not doing his job too well.
Please dont give me that free will, you need faith or everyone (including babies) are sinners type of speech. (Or post a lot of links to bible passages)
This is purely a smokescreen used by christians when they cannot explain something about their belief.
Maybe your God is a cruel and conditional God
Maybe your God is often fallible which put the pope one level above him.
I believe that god exsists I know that he cares for men and woman because through peop[le he has showed us that he exsists like Moses and Jesus which includes the Virgin Mary I know that not all the time is there going to be all good things happening all the bad things that happwn are do to the devil God cares for animals other wise the ark wouldn't have been created and the animals would have died do top flooding. I believe that god can't stop everything bad from happening and thats why some bad things happen and because of the devil. So when people say well gods doing that because you wer bad to me thats not true its the devils wrk
Pipet your comment serves no purpose except to promote intolerance, and your ignorance. What a sad world it is if people seriously think one needs to believe in god in order to be ethical.
of about 10% in the general population, less than 1% of the US prison population is 'atheist'. Religion and ethical behaviour are obviously not related on that level. Perhaps you should pray for all the religious criminals in prison, maybe they are suffering from psychosis, like the sexually misconducted priests.
Alyssa, hold your tongue
there is a God, I dont think he doesn't cares, you dont see him walking down the street helping anybody
before humans are born, they pick who is going to be their father/mother, they (you) choose what is going to happen in each aspect of life
don't call me a liar and whatever, im not saying any religion is wrong, I am stating what I believe and im not saying that you are wrong either
because he doesnt exist. those things arnt acts of god, nothing is theres just bad things. but the world needs the good and the bad. if everyone in the worls was bad the world would suck but it would also suck if everyone in it was good. you need all sorts of people to make it a world. people who do that are just mentally f*ucked-up and also people can be cruel
becasue there are people in the world that don't believe in any higher power but themselves so they have no problem with killing, raping and murdering using other people to satisfy their own wishes. God will only help those who believe He is there and ask for His help. He unlike others don't go where they are not wanted. this is a simplistic answer.
God created the earth, and everything that is within, and he gave man dominion.
Does that answer your question?
Fact... He is coming back one day, and man will give an accounting for his earthly reign.
God intervenes in mans affairs, when he is invited, and only according to the precepts in his word.
Many thanks middleschoolpastor , I will have a read through now.
Just to help others find this, here is the link: http://www.rbc.org/uploadedFiles/BibleStudy/DiscoverySeries/PDFs/whywouldagoodgodallowsuffering.pdf
I have only read the first few pages but it looks promising...:)
:)
So according to silverwings, god will only intervene to help people who believe, pray, and adore him. Otherwise you can just go to hell, regardless of all the good things you do in your life.
That god of yours is one sick, egotistical, SOB.
Because we all were given our free agency and if God intervened that agency would be gone. The powers of Satan are strong in the earth and many people follow him. The day will come when he will be bound and these things will be done away.
No matter who controls the world, its never going to be perfect. Bad things are going to happen no matter what. Just because bad things happen, doesn't mean anyone, including god, wanted them to.
If you're looking for a detailed answer
then Google the question: Why would a good God allow Suffering?
There's a well thought out answer to your question at the top.
I lol'd @ jazlovestoskate
to seriously answer this question look up and read some books from world renowned psychics
I would go with Sylvia Browne
yes he does but he can't stop us from sinning thats why theres satan he takes advantage of us when we don't know it so thats why people do it
human nature my friend, what you do on earth is entirely up to you. just remember when you die you better be ready to answer for your sins.
God does exist
he just lets everything happen cause we humans, as a whole, brought this upon ourselves
Jesus
is my homie...
he does defintally care!! but those are the acts of people! no him!! dont blame mans acts on God!!
psychics dont specialise in god lonewolfoftyme they have nothing to to with anything to do with god
Hahaha good ice breaker there smoke959 wasnt expecting that one. Came out of no where.
because god needs some entertainment and we are like a tv progame to him/her/it
It's all in our hands now. God is out of the picture.
Sorry of the subject I know. Hows the baby?
wow ther are so many difrent opinions
If God existed he doesn't care.
