Cofty » If you are defining "god" as the creator of earth then he murdered a quarter of a million men, women and children in the 2004 Asian tsunami. He is a moral monster.
How do you define murder? And why would God be a "moral monster" for not stopping a tsunami? All people die, regardless of whether they're saints or sinners, good or evil. Christianity has never promised that man could escape death, pain and heartbreak. It does, however, argue that there is purpose in all things, even if you can't see it at the moment. You blame God because He could have prevented it and didn't. Or, that he may have triggered it Himself.
Of course one might ask what what responsibility God has to prevent disasters. None that I know of. In fact, He warned us of what was coming.
Jesus: And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many. (Matthew 24)
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. (Ibid.)
You blame God for not stopping the pain and suffering of mankind without knowing why we must endure it. Peter writes, "Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator." (1 Peter 4:19)
Even prophets are often put to the sword for their beliefs, having no promise of their lives once their ministry is finished. All men must die and God has never promised anyone their rewards in this life. If there is a God, one must know what His purposes are; also, why we're here and what the future holds. Again, if there is a God, and He's taking an interest in us, what should we expect of Him? You argue that if God brings death to man, or even allows it to come, then He's a "moral monster" for not donning a cape and coming to our rescue! But that's not what He's promised us.
What has He promised? First, He's promised all men, both the just and the unjust, a deliverance from death. That is through the atonement. As an atheist, you are completely free to say you don't believe in God and that such belief is delusional. That's your religion. But to accuse God of murder and say He is guilty of taking life when He, in fact, promises us deliverance from death, isn't accurate. First, if there is a God, He is the arbiter of what is murder and what is not murder. And two, He is the One who created the moral laws that condemn it; thus, you would have to be in a position of judgment to render that judgment. The basis of your charges rest on 1) the premise that God exists; 2) that He wantonly violated His own law by either creating or allowing the tsunami to happen; and 3) that if guilty, judgment ought to be unbelief on the part of the aggrieved (that is, the human race).
If God does not exist, the people who perished ceased to exist when the waves took their lives. Thus, no one committed murder. If God does exist and He is the God of the Bible, then those people did not cease to exist, but are as alive as they were in life; only without their bodies (which will be restored later). Thus in either case, God is not guilty of anything, neither can He be judged, for all things are subject unto Him.
Finally, according to Christian theology, nothing that happens to us on Earth is of any lasting harm. People don't go through eternity emotionally scarred. In fact, in the vast majority of cases, we humans are better off after our sojourns here. But to get there from here is, of necessity, a painful process -- one you don't presently understand. Thus it is, "that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2)
If I'm right, then your knee also shall one day bend. On the other hand, if I'm wrong, neither one of us will ever know because we'll be dead.
