There is no accounting for natural disasters obviously. Specific areas are more prone to such conditions because of the climate and location of said territories. any destruction is completely randomized. However how much data can be compiled comparing suffering by natural disasters vs suffering by hands of man? i would think the margin by comparison would be quite considerable. Do i have the answers why natural disasters occur? No. Perhaps it's mentioned in the bible somewhere. However since man has tinkered with it, i find no practical use in looking for it.
ever think suffering is the work of the followers of evil?
Quote from: M^tster on June 21, 2012, 08:05:28 AMMy point being so many people think there is a "blind faith" you must have to have a relationship with God. You don't, I talk to him throughout the day and sometimes I'm like "wtf is this about?". Not in those words per say but I do relay my doubts and complaints now that I know he still hears me.One of the key sources for skepticism on this point, of course, is that the world appears to function precisely as one would expect it to function if we primates were merely "talking" to our own imaginations, and nobody was really listening:Natural disasters affect the cruel and kind, the faithful and the faithless in identical proportions. Churches routinely collapse on believers who have congregated there for shelter and prayer during earthquakes just like any other building. etc. etc. etc.In short: there appears to be no external effect that would differentiate between such 'talking' really just occurring in your own imagination, vs. talking to a universe that is 'listening'.Quote from: M^tster on June 23, 2012, 09:09:37 AMThose laws were the old laws of the old testament, and do not apply now. The stoning part that is...after Jesus came all the old laws changed. Except for the part where Jesus explicitly stated otherwise: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled." -- Matthew 5:17-18Eschatologists and apologists of course jump through crazy hoops trying to parse this into some form that matches their current belief set.(Just as they try to do with the other multitude of Biblical contradictions.)And yet you can count the number of preachers and pastors who refuse to cite verses from the Old Testament as authoritative during their sermons on probably zero fingers.When they stop trying to have it both ways, and start preaching from Bibles where the Old Testament has been relegated to an appendix clearly marked with a large type disclaimer stating: "NOT TO BE TAKEN LITERALLY. JESUS CHANGED ALL OF THIS." then maybe your argument would have some force. In the meantime we both know it doesn't get preached that way.
My point being so many people think there is a "blind faith" you must have to have a relationship with God. You don't, I talk to him throughout the day and sometimes I'm like "wtf is this about?". Not in those words per say but I do relay my doubts and complaints now that I know he still hears me.
Those laws were the old laws of the old testament, and do not apply now. The stoning part that is...after Jesus came all the old laws changed.
So who are the "followers of evil" who have produced hundreds of millions of years of suffering in nature prior to human existence?
I have learned through observation and history that as God gave us free will he gave the earth and laws of physics free reign as well. Who is to say that a bolt of lightening was not supposed to kill me at twenty years old, but because I believed, and did something right or was ebullient enough that He spared me from that fate only to be hit by a bus when I'm forty and served my purpose? Ever heard Einsteins statement that if you match the frequency of a reality then that will be the reality that is real? I kind of see it in that light. And yes I was paraphrasing that.
VaeVictis:i find it funny that you even consider grammar a sign of intelligence, that itself is a very uneducated claim
Here's something into that as well: Not a SINGLE PERSON has reversed their cancer or AIDS by praying to "God" about it. EVERY PERSON has died who prayed to "God" solely to help them. You want to know who's survived with cancer or AIDS? People who go to hospitals, and get treated by doctors who know, you guessed it, SCIENCE.This whole "God" horseshit has to go if we as a race are going to survive. It's making our mentalities go backwards instead of forwards.
I suppose my continual hope for the best has some roots in the fact that at the same time I spent 2 + years in Southeast Asia learning just exactly how horrible we treat one another I at the same time met people who were supposed to be "the enemy" show compassion and love toward those who were supposed to be their enemy.
I was told by those same minions of science at the age of 23 I would not live to be 25. I gave up on their "help" at the age of 27 and turned to Jesus.
Howdy QD!Quote from: QuakeDuke on June 26, 2012, 08:35:49 PMI was told by those same minions of science at the age of 23 I would not live to be 25. I gave up on their "help" at the age of 27 and turned to Jesus.Ya know, I think you only posted that because I'm wearing my CORRELATION ≠ CAUSATION T-shirt today!