Theists, why does God allow suffering..

by The Quiet One 754 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Robdar
    Robdar

    ). ROBDAR: I'm questioning the belief in a loving God designing creatures that cause each other to suffer. I can agree with people who believe there's a Creator who doesn't care for individual creatures.. But I can't feel any warmth towards a God that designs living beings to tear each other apart/poison/eat from the inside out etc.. I appreciate your point about the snake having a defense, but can I assume that you wouldn't be phased at all by seeing a rabbit being poisoned/crushed to death/eaten alive by a snake? I doubt that you could feel nothing.. Does God have less empathy for animals than you or I ? (I'm not trying to be inflammatory, honestly.) Thanks for the reply.

    Quiet (Dear) One: I've had the same questions, doubts and fears. I've finally decided that if there is a God (and I believe there could be) that we will never be able to understand him/her and there is no point in even trying to understand.

    I just know that I am here, on this lovely, dangerous earth, having an adventure. While I am here, I will show empathy to the animals and I will do my best to do that which I wish God would do. And if, as I believe, WE ARE GOD experiencing himself in this dimension, I will know that God is loving and kind because I will be loving and kind (at least most of the time).

  • The Quiet One
    The Quiet One

    Any further thoughts on this?

  • The Quiet One
    The Quiet One

    Anybody left here on JWN who's a theist?

  • tec
    tec

    Well, I haven't been around in a while, but I am still here :)

    Sin and death entered the WORLD. Death did not just enter man. But death entered the WORLD. Animals, plants, etc... all these things are in/of the world - and when death entered the world (the physical universe), then it also entered these ones.

    Another thing to consider, is that all of these things were given to Adam as well to rule - though this means to serve and care for... as Christ did and does for us; man has just changed the meaning in word and deed so that ruling means ruling over/dominating man and beast - so that his decisions affected them as well as his offspring.

    When death is no more, then it will be no more for these ones either.

    I realize that many people will find the above foolish, or perhaps look for a more spiritual/symbolic meaning, and I have no problem with that. Just sharing as to the understanding I have been given, limited though I might be in fully grasping and communicating it.

    Peace to you!

    tammy

  • The Quiet One
    The Quiet One

    Death spread to all men as they had all sinned.. No mention of animals committing sins in the Bible. (except that talking snake)

  • LisaRose
    LisaRose

    I have been giving this some thought lately, as I started attending church. At this point, all I can say is: I don't know. I read the description of Thiest, and I can't say that I am one. I think it is pretty clear that God, if he exists, does not concern himself with mankind in any meaningful way. I believe in science, and evolution, and I do not believe you can prove that God exists. But still, I feel a spiritual need, I still believe there is something besides the physical world. Maybe it is not God in the way we have thought, maybe it is just a.....being, or a force. Maybe this being exists on a spiritual plane that cannot interact with the physical world. Maybe Jesus was just a Jew with a God complex, or maybe he was a manifestation of this being. I do not know.

    I probably sound crazy, no, I am sure I sound crazy. But I have been trying to reconcile my desire to attend church, and the fact that I enjoy it very much, with the fact that I am not sure I believe in God. I just know that being with others to think about God, to explore spirituality, makes me feel good on a deep level. It is a Christian Church, because that is where I was drawn to. I was happy to find a church that is OK with my doubts, in fact many of the group share such doubts. I am willing to give it a try and see where it goes. It is very much the opposite of Dubism, where I believed something that never felt right, this feels right even though I don't know if I believe it.

  • Deputy Dog
    Deputy Dog

    He doesn't simply "allow" suffering. He decreed it in Gen 3.

  • The Quiet One
    The Quiet One

    Thanks, and you don't sound crazy to me. I used to believe the Bible could answer everything, now that's crazy ;)

  • The Quiet One
    The Quiet One

    I agree.. Animals are slaughtered needlessly throughout the 'old testament', for God, yet Jw's say that he cares about all creatures..

  • tec
    tec

    Animals are slaughtered needlessly throughout the 'old testament', for God

    "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

    Just because something is written - in the bible or anywhere else - does not make it true.

    Death spread to all men as they had all sinned.. No mention of animals committing sins in the Bible. (except that talking snake)

    Sin and death is in the flesh (these bodies; and this world), so death does spread to all men as all sin. But death also entered the world.

    The 'talking snake' was not an actual snake. But rather a serpent/seraph/spirit creature -> the adversary. He did not take the form of a snake to talk to Eve; he spoke in his regular form... and because of scribes and men in their lack of understanding... this encounter and this adversary has become a talking snake.

    peace,

    tammy

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