Why?

[Drakur]

Well, in that case it may as well be bollocks to God, we live and learn. We may as well live life to the full seeing as God isn't about to do anything about it so why should we live the way he/she/it decides.

That is actually the point. We live our lives as we see fit. She doesn't decide how we should live our lives. We should, as a human race, assist each other so that we can learn together, but it isn't a requirement from a higher power.

 

[The Phantarch]

That is actually the point. We live our lives as we see fit. She doesn't decide how we should live our lives. We should, as a human race, assist each other so that we can learn together, but it isn't a requirement from a higher power.

That seems contradictory to the ideology of most religious organisations.

 

[Mugen]

What's the base of religion? Fear and Hope.

Fear of death and Hope for an afterlife.

 

[Warbsywoo]

That seems contradictory to the ideology of most religious organisations.

Eh, I wouldn't say that's quite true anymore. You often hear phrases about 'doing God's work' and all that other stuff, but when can you ever hear anyone saying 'doing God's [insert specific work here] work because he said so'. From what I've seen, Christians work in different ways as a ways to a common end, and it really doesn't matter how we go about 'doing God's work'.

So, story short, I agree more with Drakur on this one.

 

[Mitsuki]

It's really all about faith. The meaning of faith is something permanent, but people can lose faith, so it depends on the matter of how strong your faith is. You can't just take away faith from those who are faithful towards their beliefs. That is the reason why people continue to believe in God.

Now, I honestly don't think it's about "Oh no, I'll believe in God anyway just in case there really is a God and be doomed in hell forever." This is just my personal opinion - I don't view it that way, myself. Because if that is how I see it, then I wouldn't have much faith at all, now would I? That's like me trying to save my own skin and force myself to believe in God just in case. Nope, no faith there.

However, people believe for any reason they want. That is up to them. If it's being comforted by the fact that someone is really there, then alright. People question every single day, and that's understandable. As humans, it is in our nature to question everything.

As for the question as to why God allows such tragic things to happen...well, number one, God did state that war and famine would happen because of sin. Look around us. There is sin everywhere, and those are happening because of people's choices. Everyone has a choice. Some choose to sin - believers or not. There are believers who are worse than non-believers. When it comes down to choices, whether you are a believer or not does not really matter. A choice is something that will affect others tremendously. Hence, the tragedies we see in our everyday lives.

As for why God lets those things happen, especially famine and natural disasters...again, this is where faith steps in. It is a test of faith. (I would like to elaborate more on that but for now, my mind can't exactly form what I want to say, so I may edit this later.) Now, for crimes that happens every single day, that is the humans own doing. You can't expect God to intervene because first of all, again...choices. It is someone's choice to kill, harm others, or do whatever they want with their lives, and everyone was granted that free-will. You have the choice to believe or not...because if God didn't give us free-wills, don't you think God would make everyone believe in Him? But what would be the purpose of living if that was the case? Would you rather have God control our every action or how we think..? We're all happy that we have free choices, correct? People are just as happy not believing in God as people are also happy believing.

Now, as for the statement as to why is God strangely absent for the past 2,000 years or so...I honestly think people just fail to realize that God is in action every single day. Everyone is too busy to notice these things because we have our own hectic schedules and various things going on in our lives. I admit, I sometimes fail to see also because well, the world is huge. I can't see what is really happening in these human eyes. We never really look at the big picture. But I believe and have faith that God is there, helping others.
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Yes, science and technology is needed as it is very much handy in this day and age. But so is God to many people out there. That’s just the way it is. You can’t always make it a “God V.S Science and Technology” scenario. God and science can co-exist. Some things just seem like a blur when it deals with phenomenal cases, but that doesn’t mean we can entirely give up the idea that God isn’t needed by others. Can science prove that there is no God…?
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Everything in science also isn’t always a proven fact, you know. One can say the same thing about God as well. “There is no proof that there is a God.” Science deals with theories and tests, but there have been changes. “Well, the Bible was written by men and there could have been changes as well.”
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So really, I think that people’s views about science and God can be similar in a way...to a degree. People are just more prone to believe in science more because it is men’s work and it provides us some of the “miracles” that we need to be cured of ailments, diseases, illness, etc. and basically survive. In a way, it’s there for us to see and touch – something reachable, while God is invisible to us, therefore others feel that there is no one there. That is the big difference between science and God. But hey, like I said, similarities and differences can co-exist. They have been co-existing ever since the world began. (ie. similar and different beliefs).

Again, belief and faith. It all comes down to that. That is why others can't take that away from the believers. If you really have a strong faith and is a strong believer, things such as, "proof and evidence" is not really needed since you have your faith and relationship with the Creator. But proof and evidence do exist – we just can’t see it, so please don’t ask me to prove there is a God because it is more to it than that, and frankly, I can’t prove it. =) But that is beside the point. Believers do not entirely depend on their eyes or what they see when it all comes down to faith. It may sound corny, but hey, there you have it. xD

I believe in God for many reasons, but I shan't state it here because this will become a book. All I can say is, if someone asks me, "Why do you believe in God?", my simple reply would be, "Why shouldn't I?" So you kinda see my point? You can't really make others stop believing, nor can people make others believe by challenging each others' ideas. It is entirely up to that individual, and we should leave it like that.

That is why I never really like debating when it comes to religion. Many people do take religion seriously, and many do watch how they handle a discussion. Some don't, however, so that's where tension and argument arises. It is a very serious discussion, and I don't intend to offend anyone by anything I've said so far...this is just my own personal views and how I look at such matters.

And no, I'm not a Bible thumper. I know how those people are. Believe me, I lived with two a couple years back, who kept yelling, "The world is gonna end soon!! People should do this and that blah blah blah!" No, they have no right to say such demeaning things to others because that makes them so damn hypocrites. They're good Christian people, but they have the wrong idea about other people, and that I do not appreciate. So yes, I do understand where others are coming from when they say that many Christians are just bleh.

Even now, I'm still learning, and I do consider what others have to say whose ideas are not the same as mine. And that's fine. I enjoy hearing what they have to say, but that doesn't persuade me from my own beliefs because that's just me...that's how it works for many people like me.
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To end this, I will state that not all Christians are good people, and not all good people are Christians. I guess what I'm trying to say is, no one is perfect or higher than the other, and people should stop assuming that this group or that group thinks this or that about others, therefore think that they are more superior. You can’t generalize one group because of someone who did something stupid in that one particular group. People are different and the same, believers or not. You have to look at the individual, not the whole group. That is why I get along with everyone, believers and non-believers.
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<!--[endif]-->We all mingle with each other and have one world we live in – why get ourselves worked up over something that is serious and yet not so serious to others? Everyone has their own different ideas and we should respect that, then get on with our lives. Don’t let people get to you by simply sharing their own ideas. You have your own, and that’s all that matters.
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Anyway, I wasn’t planning on posting something this long. I just couldn't resist answering those questions, so there.

 

[Lirael]

"If he does exist, and is "all powerful" and "all knowing" then why does he allow things like famine and war to happen? Natural disasters like earthquakes and Tsunamis, why can't God simply prevent them?

When it comes to war and famine, it's important to consider free-will. Humankind cause both war and famine. They are neither natural nor unavoidable; unless you believe that man naturally likes to fight and naturally decides to distribute its food unevenly.

Anyway, if God were to stop wars or sinful actions, would we truly be free? Freedom is about actions, whether moral or not. If we were unable to make moral decisions, our freedom would be limited. How could God judge the moral from the immoral?

If God chose what path we took and prevented us from following a path of sin, would it be fair for Him to judge us by that path? It's like a mother telling a babysitter that her child doesn't like or want chocolate when she's stopped her child from even seeing a bar of chocolate. It's not the best analogy, but I'm sure you can see where I'm coming from. How can a mother judge whether her child likes chocolate if her child doesn't even know what chocolate is?

God is said to be all-loving yes, but he also created us in His likeness. We had to have the chance to sin so that we could be moral. To have good, you must have evil. If no action is evil, then what is good? Mankind is free to decide what it does. It's man who creates wars and famine. Were God to prevent them, he would be meddling with our freedom.

As for natural disasters... Well, if God is transcendent - out of this world and uninvolved - then he wouldn't stop natural disasters. He might not even be able to. You might ask; "if God is omnipotent and omniscient, surely he would know how and would be able to be both transcendent and within this world". Well, the answer is no. It's illogical to be uninvolved while, at the same time, being involved. It's like saying "Can God make a square a circle?" The whole point of a square is it has 4 straight sides and 4 corners. You can't have a circular square.


"Is God needed in this day and age? Surely with science and technology God isn't needed right?"

Can science and technology judge our souls? Can science and technology give us an afterlife? Can science and technology give people hope and make them feel love? God is something totally different to science and technology for those who do believe. You can't replace God with either.

Also, if our Universe is contingent, it is dependent on something else to exist. One might call this God.


"God's actions have been strangely absent for the past 2000 years or so."

Well, that all depends on who you are and whether you're religious or not.

There are two types of revelation. First hand and second hand. In the Bible there are many examples of first hand - which doesn't happen so much today, granted. But nowadays there are many examples of second hand. A few people do experience God, and they tell others about it. So one person experiences first hand revelation; everyone he tells experiences second hand revelation. The thing is, not many people will believe the man who tells them about his experience. It's just the way society is going. More people are more skeptical.

In the summer holidays, I went to Soul Survivor. I might not be Christian, but I saw what happened to others and heard about what they felt. There were moments where people felt so much love, or fell over and almost went into a sleep, while there. It was a little like the Toronto Blessing in some ways. I don't know whether it was God or not, but if it was, God was showing himself.


And on a side note, I'm agnostic.