How Can You Honestly Believe In God?

[Guest faithless]

How can you witness all the senseless hate, pain and death in this world and come to the conclusion that it is the work of a benevolent God?

How can you claim the God loves his children when you see millions of starving kids dying before their first birthday in Africa and other places around the globe?

This is either the work of a hateful God, or no God at all.

[traveller]

This pain and suffering that you see is not the work of God. It is the work of man. God intended for things here to be beautiful and safe and glorious. But then man sinned and allowed the decay and hate and strife to come in.

Welcome to Worthyboards faithless. I hope your name changes as a result of your time here.

[Ovedya]

How can you witness all the senseless hate, pain and death in this world and come to the conclusion that it is the work of a benevolent God?

How can you claim the God loves his children when you see millions of starving kids dying before their first birthday in Africa and other places around the globe?

This is either the work of a hateful God, or no God at all.

Easy. These are not the works of God, but results of man's disobedience to God.

Let me ask you a simple question, faithless. What is injustice?

[Guest faithless]

This pain and suffering that you see is not the work of God. It is the work of man. God intended for things here to be beautiful and safe and glorious. But then man sinned and allowed the decay and hate and strife to come in.

Why would God create such a flawed and sinful being? Were we not the ones who were supposedly modeled in His image? If God intended for things to be perfect and wonderful, and he failed in making such a paradise, then is that not a knock on his omnipotence?

What is injustice?

Injustice in the legal sense? Or the spiritual sense?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Could you please be a little more specific?

[Guest LCPGUY]

faithless,

God created perfection for all mankind, for His entire creation. We invited all this bad stuff by sinning against God and believing Satan. God basically cursed the creation because of us. But He also provided a way of eternal salvation and glory via Jesus Christ.

He is a loving God. He is also a just God. He cannot let sin go unpunished. But by His grace, he provided the perfect final solution.

We all sin to this day. Not one of us is pure. We have sin nature from the day we are born. Think about it! Does anyone ever have to teach a young child to steal? Do we have to teach them a coveting nature (jealously)? Just a couple of examples.

God is good, God is love - in its purest sense!

I pray that the Lord would touch your heart and fill you with wisdom and love.

In His Love,

John

[Guest faithless]

I don't know much about Christianity, so please stop me if I am wrong somewhere.

But it is the Christian belief that God creates everyone, right?

Those who do not accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior are sent to hell. This much I understand.

But then I must ask, why would a God who supposedly loves me, create me and make me not believe in him? This is not a decision I am making, you don't choose what you believe in, it is a fundamental part of who you are. So why would he create me for the sole purpose of one day sending me to hell to rot for all eternity?

And this is just a question for people like me, who have been exposed to Christianity and know who Jesus Christ is, but don't believe in him. What about the billions who are born in far off places that have never heard of the name? Are they going to be sent to hell too? God puts Jesus on this Earth for only 32 years, and in this short time Jesus is confined to a very short portion of the world. And yet God still somehow expects all of his children to pray to him. And when a large majority (who have never even heard of Christianity) don't, he sends them to hell.

[Guest sanctification]

Hi faithless!

Have you ever tried to be, let's say first in line, whether at the grocery store or while driving?

God gave us a choice. And that same element in you to watch out for "number one" is the same element in every body who ever lived... That is, with the exception of Jesus Christ. He was perfect.

There is such a thing as sin. Sin is basically serving your own needs before serving anyone else's. Do you believe in sin?

Nice talking to you,

Sanc

[godrulz]

God is not the only free will moral agent in the universe. The possibility of love and relationship inherently implies the possibility of hatred and selfishness.

Hollywood, the military, our selfish lives explain why people starve. We have the resources, but disobey God in loving our neighbour. We are culpable for the evil and suffering in the world. The alternative would be for God to be a Dictator and we mere subservient robots incapable of love or freedom.

The other factor we cannot overlook is the D-EVIL and demons. He comes to kill, rob, and destroy. Jesus Christ opposes evil and gives life abundant and eternal.

You assumption is false that evil means God is directly responsible or cannot exist because of evil. God is great, God is good; man and demons have the potential for great evil if they misuse their moral choices.

[WayneB]

Why would God create such a flawed and sinful being? Were we not the ones who were supposedly modeled in His image? If God intended for things to be perfect and wonderful, and he failed in making such a paradise, then is that not a knock on his omnipotence?

Dear friend,

Maybe

[Ovedya]

What is injustice?

Injustice in the legal sense? Or the spiritual sense?

I'm not sure what you're asking. Could you please be a little more specific?

Injustice is injustice, whether in the spiritual sense or the legal sense. So, what is injustice?