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    01 Jun '13 06:27
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss it with him. After the 2010 Haiti earthquake his topic was, “Does God cause disasters?” At the closing of that show he said (quoting by memory here), “I think the most biblical view is that our God does cause disasters.” I no longer remember which passages of scripture he used to support this view.

    Any thoughts from our Believers? I suppose you could go any of four ways on this.
    1. God causes disasters.
    2. Satan causes disasters.
    3. God and Satan team up to cause them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
  2. Standard memberSwissGambit
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    01 Jun '13 06:37
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss i ...[text shortened]... e them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
    Some of them will go for 5. The world got all screwed up because Adam and Eve sinned. It's all their fault.
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    01 Jun '13 06:461 edit
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss i ...[text shortened]... e them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
    Satan / the evil part of man causes disaters yes - man made ones like the hole in the ozone layer / war / famine by ineptness.

    I don't blame any diety for floods or earthquakes...
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  5. Joined
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    01 Jun '13 08:52
    Okay then.

    5. Adam & Eve sinned.
    6. HAARP

    😛
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    01 Jun '13 12:33
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss i ...[text shortened]... e them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
    god made the earth, crappy tectonic plates and all. seems like an open and closed case to me. the ol'psycho upstairs needs to take the wrap.
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    01 Jun '13 16:171 edit
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss i ...[text shortened]... e them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
    I'd add another alternative: Seeming disasters are best seen as part of God's plan for our spiritual development and so, their being disasters is in some sense an illusion due to attachment. (This blends eastern and western traditions.)
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    01 Jun '13 17:46
    Originally posted by JS357
    ... Seeming disasters are best seen as part of God's plan for our spiritual development...
    Geologists say what we call California is the accumulation of island arcs running into the North American continental plate, and estimate the San Andreas Fault has been slipping for 28 million years. It doesn't slip continually, but in spasms that create quakes. If, as you say, quakes are a part of God's plan, do you think He necessarily needed to turn on the San Andreas Fault that much sooner than the several thousand years humans (Native Americans were the first of us to California) have occupied the region?
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    01 Jun '13 18:01
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    Geologists say what we call California is the accumulation of island arcs running into the North American continental plate, and estimate the San Andreas Fault has been slipping for 28 million years. It doesn't slip continually, but in spasms that create quakes. If, as you say, quakes are a part of God's plan, do you think He necessarily needed to turn ...[text shortened]... d years humans (Native Americans were the first of us to California) have occupied the region?
    Well I'm not a theist, I'm just thinking about how the various spiritual and religious traditions approach the problem of evil (in this case, "physical evil" as that term is used in the RCC.) So I added one alternative to the list.
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    01 Jun '13 18:43
    Originally posted by JS357
    Well I'm not a theist...
    Ah yes, I had forgotten that. Sorry. 🙂
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  12. SubscriberSuzianne
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    01 Jun '13 21:12
    Originally posted by Paul Dirac II
    I have been watching the lead TV news story, which is the tornadoes hitting central Oklahoma. I am curious about how Believers in personal deities see natural disasters, sometimes called “acts of God.”

    Andrew Tallman used to be a talk show host on Christian radio. He picked a topic for the day, and invited people to call live on the air to discuss i ...[text shortened]... e them.
    4. They are due to forces of nature that are not being guided by anything supernatural.
    Oh, yeah, after all, my God is just a big homicidal a-hole.

    Ask any atheist here, they'll tell you.
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    01 Jun '13 21:24
    Originally posted by Suzianne
    Oh, yeah, after all, my God is just a big homicidal a-hole.

    Ask any atheist here, they'll tell you.
    murder - check
    disaster - check
    racist - check
    sexist - check
    jealous - check
    vain - check
    selfish - check


    yup, giant homicidal a-hole........his sons okay though, he must take after his mother.
  14. SubscriberSuzianne
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    01 Jun '13 21:41
    Originally posted by stellspalfie
    murder - check
    disaster - check
    racist - check
    sexist - check
    jealous - check
    vain - check
    selfish - check


    yup, giant homicidal a-hole........his sons okay though, he must take after his mother.
    Rather than repeatedly going back to the 'God is a right bastard' well, I'm more of the idea that most planets in the universe (at least those that are earth-like, consisting of a rocky surface with an atmosphere and surface water (all necessary to life, I might point out)) have weather, which is chaotic by definition. It's a function of the physics involved. Be glad there is weather here. Without weather, I doubt there would be human life, either.
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    01 Jun '13 22:08
    Originally posted by Suzianne
    Rather than repeatedly going back to the 'God is a right bastard' well, I'm more of the idea that most planets in the universe (at least those that are earth-like, consisting of a rocky surface with an atmosphere and surface water (all necessary to life, I might point out)) have weather, which is chaotic by definition. It's a function of the physics involv ...[text shortened]... Be glad there is weather here. Without weather, I doubt there would be human life, either.
    be glad there is weather!!!!! you should try growing up in the north east of england. see how you feel about weather then. even the cold vacuum of space would be light relief in comparison.
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