4 sincere questions for those that believe there is a God

by S EIGHT 89 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  S EIGHT

  Greetings.

  Allow me to set the questions up.

  After 30 years in the truth (I'm now late 40's) and having established the truth about the truth I consider myself agnostic going on atheist.

  I struggle to believe there is a God when I observe life yet I try to convince myself there must be something out there.

  Here's the basis of my question: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23583116

  In summary, 2 young boys have been killed by a snake that escaped from a pet store in Canada. It made it's way up through the ventilation into the apartment they were staying in. The two little boys (aged 5 and 7) were strangled to death.

  Facts:

  • God saw the snake escape.
  • He saw it crawl up through the ventilation.
  • He saw it heading for the little boys.
  • He saw it take hold and kill them right before his very eyes.
  • He did not intervene and stop it from happening.
  • He knew what terror the boys would experience.
  • He knew what terror the family are now experiencing.

  Q1. So you think there is a loving God that sat and watched this happen, correct?

  Q2. If I told you that "I" sat and watched this happen but did nothing, what would you think of me?

  Q3. If God is going to sit and watch something like this without doing anything, why do you think he is going to listen to your prayers and provide you with an answer on matters which quite frankly are trivial in comparrison?

  Q4. Do you honestly think it is good enough to conclude that the prospect of a resurrection cancels out this tradegy and precludes God from any negligence?

  For me the story is significant as we are not talking about evil selfish humans that are out to get what they can get. This is an animal created by God and two children that are not old enough yet to know their own mind let alone take sides on the big issue.

  S8
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  Kool Jo

  Good day:

  Great line of thought...question 2 really gets ou thinking...I'm sure the other faders like myself and those who've left the cult are unsure at time what to beleive.

  Peace

  Kool Jo
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  goodsoul

  IMHO..

  ..could it be, that God is not loving? I mean, the god, who create such dangerous environment, where children could easily died and where are dangerous animals everywhere?

  maybe, he is not nicest god; maybe, he is not highest God..
  maybe, he is just selfish god who wanted to play real God?
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  DATA-DOG

  Forensics will probably exhonorate the snake. Constrictors kill to eat. To eat a child, a snake must be incredibly large. The odds of a large snake crawling through a ventilation system and killing TWO people is nearly impossible. One person as a meal is possible, but an extra person just for kicks, or perhaps to eliminate a witness? Snakes do not do that. They kill,eat, and rest. They do not kill again, planning ahead for their next meal.

  I am sure there is more to the story, a child predator of the human variety perhaps. Even so, your reasoning stands. Why was nothing done? God doesn't need more angels. People all through history have been asking " Why?"
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  Laika

  S Eight,

  I've opted not to talk about faith on this board too much recently because sometimes it can feel that there are people keen to call you a delusional idiot for opening up which isn't exactly my idea of a good time or a valuable discussion, but since I do feel your sincerity, here goes...

  I don't know why exactly God allows for these kinds of things to happen. In the prodigal son story we all recognise a father who desperately and absolutely loves his son, yet in that same love he allows his son to fulfill his request at great personal suffering to himself and his son, I think we've asked to be lords of our own world, and God has reluctantly agreed, but you're right, this doesn't always seem to adequately apply to every situation, especially for children, yet for your question 2, can you really say you've never allowed a great injustice to happen, that there really aren't things you could do or already could have done in your own power to make the world and many people's (even childrens!) lives a better place?

  You say that you try to convince yourself that there must be something out there, why? Do you have this sense that somehow you are homesick for some place or somebody that you've never actually known, or a place you've never been? A sense that the world you live in is not quite right, that the world with all its violence and darkness, like you wrote about, that something's not quite right about it, that you were created for something different, something better? Have you ever felt like, it seems as if your own life has been cut off from the source of life?

  I think there is something to that homesickness and disconnection, you should trust that and believe in that thing inside you that recognises that we were made for something more. In Christ we are taught that God has not sat and watched and done nothing, but instead that God was willing to do anything, even suffer and die himself, to reconnect us to the source of life and restore this world and our lives to the way in which deep inside we all know everything was meant to be.
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  Witness My Fury

  

  
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  S EIGHT

  Hi Laika,

  Many thanks for your comments. You got me thinking again.

  In response to your point on question2, yes absolutley I've allowed an injustice to happen at some stage in my life although I have the excuse of imperfection on my side. To clarify though, theres a difference between making poor decisions that cause pain and suffering and situations where you allow an injustice to take place, but like i say - I'm no wise person nor am I perfect and although that sounds like a big get out, it's actually true.

  Yes I feel homesick and long for something better. I used to love being a "spiritual" person and adored the bible but I wasn't a thinking man back then. My eyes have been opened and I am more dissapointed than I have ever been. I have been defrauded by the "society" and left with a gap that cannot be filled. When I break things down to barebones I'm left with the questions raised in the initial post.

  It may sound haughty but I expect more from an Almighty being. How can he possibly watch these things happen for over 2000 years? It's almost as if death is like a mobile phone dying. It's ok, it dies but just put it on charge again and it will come back to life.

  S8
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  Comatose

  I agree S Eight. It's why I'm content being a good person and living without religion now. But, I don't miss it. I have accepted it and I live each day as best I can.
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  Laika

  Hi S8,

  I don't think you sound haughty at all, they are absolutely valid questions.

  If you have the money to feed a hungry family in your neighbourhood but instead choose to spend it on buying a nice new jacket is it fair to see a starving child and complain 'Why won't someone do something about it!?' If humankind has the resources to end hunger and then opts not to, why is it fair to criticise others for doing what they assume is the same thing?

  I'm certainly not trying to claim I'm righteous or better than you, I too am neither wise or perfect, I have to rely on the same get out...
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  Ding

  Paul writes that God has demonstrated his love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died to save us. (Romans 5:8). The Bible also indicates that God's final judgments on all the evils of this world have not yet taken place, so the current situation is not the end of the story.

  That said, I have thought often about questions similar to the ones in the OP. I wonder how I would run things if I had God's power. If we conclude that an almighty and good God would not have allowed such a thing to happen, then I think we would also conclude that a good God would be obliged to intervene continually to make sure that no injustice (or at least no significant injustice) occurs, that the only evil that befalls any human being is a just and proportionate penalty for the evil that person has caused. God would be required to prevent all murders, muggings, thefts, and so on. Tornadoes, if they occurred at all, would only take the lives of people who were so wicked that they deserved immediate, violent death. If an evil man decide to rape someone, angels would always intervene to prevent it, or perhaps the man would be instantly paralyzed.

  That sounds very fair, but we would be living under constant forcible control. I don't even know how I would fare under such a system. I consider myself to be a pretty nice person but if -- as Jesus indicated -- our angry, self-centered, hateful, and evil thoughts are significantly unrighteous in God's judgment, I might well be doomed. In fact, judged by that standard, which of us could stand?

  The Bible does not claim that we live in a just world. Quite the opposite. The book of Job is the best biblical example of this.

  My own thoughts now are that, just as it is beyond my power to right such wrongs, so it is beyond my capability to understand how the world should be ordered and run. I'm not saying this sarcastically. There are so many variables and things to consider that conclusions that seem right to me may be completely wrong once all the implications and consequences are known.