Bible Study (Miracles)

Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, expecting God to show compassion when clearly God caused the disaster in the first place? (3 points)

People are invariably thicker than they look, which is saying something. Do I get 6 points?

Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
People are invariably thicker than they look, which is saying something. Do I get 6 points?

Replace 'thicker' with 'gullible, guilt-ridden and possesing collective amnesia' and I think you're on to something.

Originally posted by Maustrauser
Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, expecting God to show compassion when clearly God caused the disaster in the first place? (3 points)

because God moves in mysterious ways, and it is not for us mere mortals to dare to question his infallability.....




...or something...😛

Originally posted by Maustrauser
Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, expecting God to show compassion when clearly God caused the disaster in the first place? (3 points)

Or:

Explain why, when something like a Tsunami or an earthquake happens people take it as proof that there is no god, but when an airliner crashes in Canada and no-one dies, it isn't taken as proof of god's existence?

Originally posted by knightwest
Or:

Explain why, when something like a Tsunami or an earthquake happens people take it as proof that there is no god, but when an airliner crashes in Canada and no-one dies, it isn't taken as proof of god's existence?

Because very few plane crashes have no casualties. God is pretty lazy for being all-powerful I guess.

Basically, things that happen seem to fit random chance pretty well. If god was involved shouldn't they be skewed towards the better?

Or please explain how God allows innocent children to be the victims of brutal crimes?

Originally posted by Maustrauser
Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, expecting God to show compassion when clearly God caused the disaster in the first place? (3 points)

Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

How do you know God is not blamed? Have you talked to any grieving parents?

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, expecting God to show compassion when clearly God caused the disaster in the first place? (3 points)

And how do you know “clearly God caused the disaster in the first place?”

Originally posted by The Chess Express
[b]Explain why when a person recovers from incurable cancer it is a 'miracle' and God is to be praised for the cure, yet when a person gets hit by a bus, God is not blamed? (3 points)

How do you know God is not blamed? Have you talked to any grieving parents?

Explain why after massive natural disasters people pray for the victims, ex ...[text shortened]... ace? (3 points)

And how do you know “clearly God caused the disaster in the first place?”[/b]

And how do you know “clearly God caused the disaster in the first place?”

Okay going on the premise that God created everything and, as far as I know, man has not been able to create tsunamis or earthquakes, etc then who is to blame?

If you say no one and that it is "nature" then didn't God create nature?

Originally posted by Joe Fist
[b]And how do you know “clearly God caused the disaster in the first place?”

Okay going on the premise that God created everything and, as far as I know, man has not been able to create tsunamis or earthquakes, etc then who is to blame?

If you say no one and that it is "nature" then didn't God create nature?[/b]

If you give fish a bowl and some water to swim in and food to eat, and then the fish develop technologies that they know will poison the water and taint the food, is it your fault if they kill themselves? Would it not still be merciful to forgive them of their stupidity, and help them out from time to time?

If we lived the way God intended us to live, my guess is there would be a lot fewer natural disasters (and a lot fewer problems in general for that matter).

Originally posted by The Chess Express
If you give fish a bowl and some water to swim in and food to eat, and then the fish develop technologies that they know will poison the water and taint the food, is it your fault if they kill themselves? Would it not still be merciful to forgive them of their stupidity, and help them out from time to time?

If we lived the way God intended us to ...[text shortened]... re would be a lot fewer natural disasters (and a lot fewer problems in general for that matter).

If you give fish a bowl and some water to swim in and food to eat, and then the fish develop technologies that they know will poison the water and taint the food, is it your fault if they kill themselves?

Yes.

Would it not still be merciful to forgive them of their stupidity, and help them out from time to time?

I don't understand what this has to do with natural disasters but assuming I am a merciful fish custodian (God) I would think it would be even more merciful not to create the situation in the first place.

If we lived the way God intended us to live, my guess is there would be a lot fewer natural disasters (and a lot fewer problems in general for that matter).

So you think Hurricane Katrina, the recent tsunami, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, avalanches, landslides, meteors, tornadoes, blizzards would not occur as often if we lived according to God's will?

Originally posted by Joe Fist
[b]If you give fish a bowl and some water to swim in and food to eat, and then the fish develop technologies that they know will poison the water and taint the food, is it your fault if they kill themselves?

Yes.

Would it not still be merciful to forgive them of their stupidity, and help them out from time to time?

I don't understand w ...[text shortened]... es, meteors, tornadoes, blizzards would not occur as often if we lived according to God's will?[/b]

I don't understand what this has to do with natural disasters but assuming I am a merciful fish custodian (God) I would think it would be even more merciful not to create the situation in the first place.

Consider for a moment the ramifications of free will. God could have forced his will upon us and then we would be perfect. God didn’t want mindless robots so he gave us free will.

With free will come mistakes, trial and error, learning the hard way. If he made everything perfect for us all the time regardless of our actions, we would never learn. We would do evil because evil is often times the easiest choice. Just look at how much evil there is in the world today inspite of the trouble.

When somebody makes a mistake there are consequences. We can choose to learn the easy way, but not many people do, so stuff happens. This is fair because God’s laws are fair (reap what you sow), and we need to learn. I do believe that God’s great love and mercy can save us from a lot of trouble, the problem is this world hasn’t gotten it yet.

So you think Hurricane Katrina, the recent tsunami, volcanoes, earthquakes, floods, avalanches, landslides, meteors, tornadoes, blizzards would not occur as often if we lived according to God's will?

This is my belief. We haven’t even figured out what causes lightning yet. All we know are the mechanisms by which natural disasters operate. We don’t know the actual causes, if we did, we’d be able to predict them.

Originally posted by The Chess Express
[b]I don't understand what this has to do with natural disasters but assuming I am a merciful fish custodian (God) I would think it would be even more merciful not to create the situation in the first place.

Consider for a moment the ramifications of free will. God could have forced his will upon us and then we would be perfect. God didn’t ...[text shortened]... ral disasters operate. We don’t know the actual causes, if we did, we’d be able to predict them.[/b]

Consider for a moment the ramifications of free will

This free will thing is always tugged out. The thing is, God could have stopped us from doing evil without withholding our free will. Free will would still exist, "Shall I have toast or cereal this morning?" "Should I become a computer programmer or a novelist?".
Suppose I were to design an intelligent robot. Programming no limits into it, I let it loose into the world. Two days later it is responsible for the death of a hundred people. Who is to blame? I am.

We don’t know the actual causes, if we did, we’d be able to predict them.

Go back far enough and there are lots of things we didn't know. It's way too easy to simply attribute that which we don't understand to some mystical being in the sky. It's just lazy thinking. If we'd always thought like that, we'd still be living in the trees.

Originally posted by jimmyb270
Suppose I were to design an intelligent robot. Programming no limits into it, I let it loose into the world. Two days later it is responsible for the death of a hundred people. Who is to blame? I am.

What?!?

Suppose you give birth to a son who grows up to be a serial rapist.

Who is to blame?

Nemesio

Originally posted by Nemesio
What?!?

Suppose you give birth to a son who grows up to be a serial rapist.

Who is to blame?

Nemesio

I think the part about "programming no limits into it" in the robot example is to be taken as an analogue of "without providing a suitable moral education" in your parent of a serial rapist example. If you fail to provide a suitable moral education to your child, and your child grows up to be a bad person, aren't you at least partly responsible?