by confusedandalone 79 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
@ Seraphim23 - even human parents can decide to allow and even give some level of pain, suffering, challenge and so on to kids for developmental purposes.
Questions: So what lesson is god teaching by allowing thousands of abandoned children to die of death by starvation? In your worldview, would this not be the case if they were Christians?
Yes I totally agree , it would make sense , but I`m afraid that the evidence ,or lack theirof,shows that God doesnt exist it`s not going to happen.
smiddy
Of course it would!
But that would take time away from kingdom interests, like starving the African children and giving their parents AIDS. How is he going to finish next year's super virus if he has to perform all these miracles?!
Of course there are reasons why suffering and even death have to happen even to children. Everyone has to die because if they didn’t the resulting suffering would be far worse. Even those healed got sick again, and those resurrected died again.
Evolution works by having two sides to its nature so to speak. We humans call it good and bad. The good is the fact we have bodies that work reasonably well through past adaption, but the bad is the deaths of all our ancestors who were not adapted so well and our own future death. The same is true for practically everything. Gravity keeps us on the ground but also means we can fall and hurt ourselves. If the ability to feel pain is removed then so is protection from even more harm. If one is removed then so is the other. To put it another way, one cannot have left without right and if one is removed then freedom is also removed. Sure God could stop all children from dying but that would also mean freedom of choice is removed from everyone.
Mathematical equilibrium is how God created physical things, but to assume that God is not with the child or adult for that matter, who dies, is to see only with one’s physical eyes. Fact is God is with every child who is dying and dies, even if the human adults don’t do their jobs properly. If God completely removed their pain in ways seen by human adults, even more adults would complain about a God they don’t even believe in rather than trying to help children in need around the world. Without need there can be no generosity.
Sure God could stop all children from dying but that would also mean freedom of choice is removed from everyone.
The Asian tsunami wiped out a quarter of a million people in minutes. At it's epicenter it was nothing more than a slight swell that god could have calmed effortlessly.
Human choice was not involved in any way.
Your apologetics have been tried and found to be empty many times already.
Guess what would happen if God stopped all earthquakes?
God in his wisdom, which admittidly I don't fully understand has made faith a key component in declaring us righteous. Short of faith in the blood of Jesus ALONE, we remain God's enemies. He owes us nothing.
Notwithstanding that fact; He sent his own Son to perform miracles and raise the dead. He was rejected by a nation who had been prepared for centuries to receive him.
Perhaps the short answer is: Miracles don't work.
Perry,
If God owes us nothing, then I owe nothing to my children.
The moment I learned of the conception of both of my children I knew I had the biggest reponsibility and that as good a parent as I could be, they will owe me nothing. It is my obligation to care for them, I am doing no favor to them. Similarly, if God puts us here on Earth, then he owes at least a very basic care. Just tell us that you exist and the nature of our relationship with Him. I like the God of Einstein and Spinoza, a God of the natural order of the Universe who never interferes for good or ill in human affairs. That's the only way my life has any meaning.
A god that saves a person in a hospital (my dear one for whom I prayed) while millions of innocents die in wars, of famine, or by natural disaster makes no sense. It's plain stupid. Especially considering that years later I will pray for that same person and my prayer won't work. WTF. My prayers are supossed to get better with experience and yet seems to be quite the opposite. Is it possible that the natural order works (aging and decay) and that this idea of a God intervening in human affairs is just an invention by the superstitious, weak or self-righteous. The evidence indicates so.
If we replaced all the praying time for hours of study in the medical field we would be more effective in saving lives. Centuries ago people pray a lot more than they pray today and yet life expectancy has gone up. Isn't that evidence that the idea of God only serves as a psycological boost to the sick, but it is a waste of time when performed by others for the "benefit" of the sick person.
So Perry. Romans chapter 2. It doesn't apply to kids in Africa or India who have never even had an opportunity to know your Jesus? You think that children in other lands are enemies of god?
Perry it seems that you are supposing that all those things Jesus did really happened. Everything you are stating is based on words that can not be proven such as " God in his wisdom, which admittidly I don't fully understand has made faith a key component in declaring us righteous". None of this is factual(I am not being combatative). Someone wrote those words and we have no idea wether or not GOD actually told them that, or anything for that matter.
" Short of faith in the blood of Jesus ALONE, we remain God's enemies." - See point Above
" Notwithstanding that fact" - This is not a fact
He sent his own Son to perform miracles and raise the dead. - Did this really happen
Perhaps the short answer is: Miracles don't work. - This statement is based upon you believing the above stories.
Needless to say if we are going to have faith in things it should be based upon what we see happening consistently in society. For instance the sun rises every morning. I have faith it will tomorrow. I have noticed that CHILDREN ARE NEGLECTED WHEN THERE IS NO LOVING PARENT TO TAKE CARE OF THEM OR SHOW THEM LOVE. So as I look at the world and I see many children neglected I can only assume one thing.
If anyone decides to believe that everything in the bible is true then so be it, have fun. However when their are things in ot that are obviously not true how can you still accept it as solid fact.
Worse still is the idea that GOD chose one group of people to carry the message around for thousands of years while at the same time showing no concern for the other 90% of his creation? There is no fairness orlove in that. THerefore how can God Be Love.
God told his favorite people to KILL EVERY BREATHING THING WOMEN / CHILDREN / ANIMALS, yet somehow he loved them? As the Israelites ran swords across the jugular vein of children and spears through women scared in their tents that was a great manifestation of his love???? Why not just kill them in a painless fashion? Something doesn't add up
