I believe in god , but if god is there why such horrible and bad things happens in this world ,why people became so much evil today ,if he is there watching all this, he could be out of power or he might abandoned us ? i can't understand why ?

10

10 Answers

Call me Z Profile
Call me Z answered

While we can only guess at which incarnation of God you believe in, look to the nearest Holy Book:

The Quran says, "Allah causes whomsoever He wills to stray in error, and sets whomsoever He wills on the straight path." This portrays a capricious, meddlesome God.

The notorious contradiction between freewill and an omniscient God might be cause to just resign yourself to the incomprehensibility of God's thinking, as per Isaiah 55:9 -"For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts". Likely why there is no Bible passage which praises human intelligence. Surely a handy passage for squashing inquiry.

Deists believe that a Creator being exists, but one who doesn't intervene in earthly affairs. Deists also reject revelation and authority as sources of religious knowledge. 

Then we have Epicurus, who famously posited: 

"Is God willing to prevent evil, but unable? Then He is not omnipotent. Is He able but not willing? Then He is malevolent. Is He both willing AND able, then whence cometh evil? Is He neither able nor willing, then why call Him God?"

You owe yourself a serious evaluation of what it is you believe; does it really make sense to you, does that even matter, or are there other ideals that might be more persuasive for you.

If there is a god, surely He could withstand the puny test of mortal scrutiny. If there isn't a god, then you aren't risking offending one by inquiring.

5 People thanked the writer.
View all 30 Comments
Call me Z
Call me Z commented
The likelihood of a supposed Supreme being is so extraordinarily small as to merit no credibility. Believe what you like, faith is basically an old excuse to not examine evidence nor truly wanting to know the reality. God is a myth, and you are gravely misled.
Darik Majoren
Darik Majoren commented
Debbie How does man have "Free Will" in a universe run by an Omnipotent, Omniscient Perfect being? . . . It would be impossible . . feel free to explain.
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
With ref to DB's last post:
Scientists tell us that the likelihood of the conditions at the Big Bang being just right for the universe to form is so extraordinarily small as to merit no credibility. Yet the universe exists. So it's no big deal if God exists even though "The likelihood of a supposed Supreme being is so extraordinarily small as to merit no credibility."
PJ Stein Profile
PJ Stein answered

I believe in God in as I believe there is a higher power. I am not so big on organized religion as I believe it has been twisted over the years to fit to the agenda of those in charge. With that said, God does not have power over man and his/her decision making. Organized religion tells you God gave man free will. It is up to us to make the right choices with it. Many people don't. Many not only turn away from God, but human decency as well. To be clear, I am not saying everyone who doesn't believe is evil. There are far more great people who are atheist than there are bad. There are also too many evil people who use God and other religions to hurt others. Unfortunately to is just some evil people.

7 People thanked the writer.
View all 4 Comments
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
"God does not have power over man" even though God created man? Isn't that a bit like the fear some people have of man manufacturing artificial intelligence which man then has no control over?
PJ Stein
PJ Stein commented
I suppose it is. I personally don't think anything that has artificial intelligence should be allowed to run freely. Everything should have an off switch.
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
Good thinking. So if man can think that way and retain control/power over what he manufactures, why can't God have power over man?
Cookie Hill Profile
Cookie Hill answered

Revelation 12:12 explaines why,  "On this account be glade, you heavens and you who reside in them!  Woe for the earth and for the sea,because the Devil has come down to you,having great anger, knowing that he has a short period of time."  Soon God will rid the earth of all evil and suffering cause by Satan and those who are wicked, Psalm 37:9 -11, "For evil men will be done away with, But those hoping in Jehovah will possess the earth. Just a little while longer,and the wicked will be no more; You will look at where they were, And they will not be there. But the meek will possess the earth, And they will find exquisite delight in the abundance of peace,"  Many feel that God is slow, about his promise, the Bible shows that he is not slow but he is,  "Patient with you because he does not desire anyone to be destroyed but desires all to attain to repentance." 2Peter 3:9

Darik Majoren Profile
Darik Majoren answered

So, you raise a good point in asking this question.

The problem is in asking the question based upon your faith . . . Most faiths will have you accept that God is Just, Righteous, and the source for this would be the characteristic of Omniscience. If God did know everything . . . He is Righteous and Just in the deaths of millions . . .

Here is a good reference that I absolutely love:

3 People thanked the writer.
View all 17 Comments
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
1- I'm glad we're finding common ground here. However, although "it is easier to just accept as true than to examine or question the entrenched message, particularly when advocated by respected elders or peers" the HQ criticises those who do. To those who say I don't want to examine what you have brought because I'm happy following what my elders followed the HQ asks "what even if your elders understood not?"

2- Absolutely. I have no ifs or buts on this one. Islam can, and if we want to get the most out of it, SHOULD be taken to the best of our understanding. The HQ urges people to ponder and question and thereby increase their understanding. It is these kind of exhortations that inspired the early Muslims to push forward the frontiers of human knowledge in every field, create new fields of inquiry and lay down the foundations of what we call science today.
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
@Just Ice

{There are no objective criteria against which we can measure how "true" or "false" someone's religion [Islam, say] is. That's why everyone claims that their version is "true" and all others are "false"}

I think reality is not so nebulous. I think those objective criteria exist---it's just that we can't seem to agree as to what they are.
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
TJ

it's partly because "we can't seem to agree as to what they [the criteria] are" which renders them subjective. There is no objective measure.
Walt O'Reagun Profile
Walt O'Reagun answered

The problem with the God of the Bible, starts in Genesis ... With the story of Adam and Eve.

If god created their nakedness ... Why would they be ashamed of it?
Why is nakedness "bad", if that was the state god created and there was no corruption at that point?

From there on, the Bible just gets more ridiculous.

3 People thanked the writer.
View all 9 Comments
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
Walt, you have created a problem with your interpretation.

An alternative interpretation is that man had a one column mind that could NOT distinguish "good" from "bad". The splitting of the single column into two columns headed "good" and "bad" was to occur ONLY when man had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of "good" and "bad" [the pill that was going to split the single column into two headed "good" and "bad"] That is why it is only AFTER they ate from the tree of the knowledge of "good" and "bad" that they saw in their mind that disobedience was in the column headed "bad", giving in to temptation was in the column headed "bad" and so was being naked. Humanity, generally speaking still thinks that being naked in public, school, shopping mall, prayer halls, etc, does not belong to the column headed "good".

You will notice that I have put both good and bad in quotes, because this is not about disputing what really IS "good" or "bad"

Notice also according to this reading of the Bible Adam, not knowing "good" from "bad" CANNOT have sinned, and therefore there really was no original sin.

No original sin by a perfect man means no need for Jesus as a perfect human to die in atonement for that sin.
Walt O'Reagun
Walt O'Reagun commented
But again ... they didn't hide because they disobeyed god.
According to the story, they hid because they were ashamed of their nakedness.

So even following your theory ... since god created them naked, nakedness was not "bad".
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
well I was trying to avoid the argument over what really IS "good" or "bad" and I said so in my comment.

The fact is we humans, in general, of ALL religious beliefs and none, still think that being naked in public, schools, shopping malls, prayer halls, etc, does not belong to the column headed "good".

To solve YOUR dilemma - if God created them naked then God must approve of nakedness. First, God knew that they would not know the difference between being naked and not being naked, because He knew that they had not yet eaten from the tree of the knowledge of "good" and "bad". Maybe He wouldn't have created them naked if they already had the "good" and "bad" concept. Also, we read further on that God Himself made clothes for them so that they would not be naked. That btw smashes this other widely held belief among Christians that God is so holy cannot have in His presence those who have sinned [they (mistakenly) believe that Adam sinned].
Ray  Dart Profile
Ray Dart answered

Organised religion is palpably ridiculous. Particularly the need to work "free will" and "unquestioning faith" into the Abrahamic religions.

With regard to the existence of a higher being, I am agnostic, I cannot prove there is no such thing, and occasionally, I even think some higher "intelligence" must have been necessary for the creation of the "Universe we know".

BUT.... If such a being exists, why would he/she/it care about lesser beings? What would be the point?

Please do not quote badly-interpreted scripture at me. I went through all that 40 years ago.

2 People thanked the writer.
View all 7 Comments
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
I used the subjective mood for the verb in my "if" statement to indicate it may well be contrary to fact.

But the object of that verb then became a "given" in the light of the "then" statement.

I will accept the sarcasm of "I'm obviously unable to think up to your level."

I did not mean to offend---it was a long day on these sites yesterday and had become a little "cranky."
Ray  Dart
Ray Dart commented
I also was a little cranky yesterday. Allergic rhinitis (sounds SO much more interesting than hayfever) sortofkindof ruined my day yesterday. I apologise for the sarcasm (although I really wasn't clear about the point you were making).
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
RD you asked "If such a being exists, why would he/she/it care about lesser beings? What would be the point?"

why would God care about lesser beings? Because there is a connection between this God and the lesser beings. The connection of creator and created. We didn't will ourselves into being. We have a right to point a finger at someone who did. If we as a lesser being know that then I'm sure the Higher Being [HB] does so too. I think there is evidence that this HB knows that and cares. There is evidence, for example, is in the provisions for the sustaining and protection of life that we see around us. None of which is of our doing, of course.
Michael Poland Profile
Michael Poland answered

god is a particle not a person.

You are the god you seek.

Just Ice Profile
Just Ice answered

I believe in god , but if god is there why such horrible and
bad things happens in this world ,why people became so much evil today ,if he is
there watching all this, he could be out of power or he might abandoned us ? I
can't understand why ?

============================================================

1- The “horrible and bad things” are either part of the laws
of nature, things like volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, droughts, tsunamis etc,
or part of what we humans do because we have been given free will and left to
do all the evils we want to, and there is no species on earth which has done
more evil than we humans.

2- God is defined with the attribute of omnipotence. So He
can stop humans doing all these “horrible and bad things” but if He did so then
He cannot say we have free will to choose between doing good things and doing all
these “horrible and bad things”


1 Person thanked the writer.
Gokula krishnan
Gokula krishnan commented
It makes sense ,but good and innocent people around the world are often susceptible to bad one, they even get killed by these bad people ,my question is would the people who gets spoiled by the bad ,gets justice ?or the bad one alone cherish in this world? the truth is this everywhere even in my country India , only the bad cherishes .Even knowing this , the god giving the free will to humans ? I know its apart from human sensation and knowledge.
Just Ice
Just Ice commented
yes, it is very tempting to do bad when we see how "successful" the bad have become in the world.

A sincere belief in God AND judgement by God in the hereafter stops a person from being tempted by the fruits of being bad. One can fool one's fellow beings and avoid justice in this life but one cannot fool God in the final and true judgement of the hereafter. it's the only formula that works - if we sincerely adopt it.
Tom  Jackson Profile
Tom Jackson answered

If god exists, and he has created us as immortal, then we have (at least) two modes that we will have eventually existed in---this world that we now live in and a world that is called---for purposes of this answer---"the afterlife."

We can all see the evil that exists.  But what we can not see is how that evil maps into the second mode of our existence and how it might be resolved there.  (Perhaps this is what  Isaiah 55:9 is saying -"For as the heavens are higher than the Earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts")

If that is the case, Epicurus may have asked only a misleading question that doesn't cover all the possibilities.

A god who is less than omnipotent?---not worth praying to.

A god that has abandoned us?---not consistent with the nature of "good," and again, one not worth praying to.

"It needs be that evil must come, but woe to him through whom evil does come" and "Vengeance is mine says the lord" are comments that indicate (to me) the full picture is not available to us while we are here.

I think we will possibly all be surprised when we finally understand (maybe) the role of suffering in God's plan for His creation.

Even God's own Son suffered and died.  And Christ's prayer in the Garden was that if possible that he would avoid that suffering, but Christ said "Not my will , but yours be done."

1 Person thanked the writer.
View all 4 Comments
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
@The Z

Well, we have different understandings and explanations of most of the realities we have come across, so I don't think that can be avoided. I try to do so gently these days, but that's probably not always possible.

I haven't seen you at the mug in a while. I recently saw this post from a "Benedict Arnold"---apparently the generic name for someone who canceled their membership and then returned. The question was about the concept of a "soul."

....over the years I have learned equally much from discussions with both Zee (atheist) and Tom Jackson (Catholic), for example, both have such beautiful wisdom...which they both developed from their own DIRECT experience.

I consider that our having been able to provide such an outcome testifies to our equal and significant contributions to the issues we discuss.
Call me Z
Call me Z commented
I stand in complete agreement with your comment, our differences have made for great discussion.

I am pleased we can debate with this level of thoughtful civility that has become the norm in our exchanges.

I deleted my Mug account, as I found no worthy respondents save you and Glis. Too much is lost on that site in the tide of RosieG and her insincere queries.
Tom  Jackson
Tom Jackson commented
My interest in the Mug has definitely waned. I can scroll past Rosie just as I scrolled past the spam here when Blurtit was circling the drain for that brief time.

I was on amirite and answerbag for a short time, but they have become a pure waste of time.

Blurtit remains my first stop when I go online..

Answer Question

Anonymous