God's role

What is god’s role in the Philippine disaster? What is god’s role in helping the victims

What is god's role in the Philippine disaster? What is god's eole in helping the victims?
All natural disasters happen within God's providence--his direction of the universe and the affairs of mankind. Natural disasters shout at us about the uncertainty and brevity of life. When Jesus was asked about the suffering of some men in Galilee he said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." We will all die, and we should be ready for that reality. For the Christian, that means living for God each day and being prepared to stand before him. That includes trusting him through all difficulties and disasters in our lives, being sure that we have a better life waiting for us in the World to Come. That's our hope and hope spurs us to action. As those who trust God, Christians must help all victims of natural disasters and calamity. We are commanded to grieve with those who grieve and provide for those in need. We are to help each other in this life, and assure each other of a better life to come. “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." ― C.S. Lewis
What is god's role in the Philippine disaster? What is god's eole in helping the victims?
All natural disasters happen within God's providence--his direction of the universe and the affairs of mankind. Natural disasters shout at us about the uncertainty and brevity of life. When Jesus was asked about the suffering of some men in Galilee he said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." We will all die, and we should be ready for that reality. For the Christian, that means living for God each day and being prepared to stand before him. That includes trusting him through all difficulties and disasters in our lives, being sure that we have a better life waiting for us in the World to Come. That's our hope and hope spurs us to action. As those who trust God, Christians must help all victims of natural disasters and calamity. We are commanded to grieve with those who grieve and provide for those in need. We are to help each other in this life, and assure each other of a better life to come. “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." ― C.S. Lewis You wrote: All natural disasters happen within God's providence--his direction of the universe and the affairs of mankind. Natural disasters shout at us about the uncertainty and brevity of life. Did he ned to kill thousands of people, including innocent children, most of whom would not understand, in one small area to get this point across? You wrote: When Jesus was asked about the suffering of some men in Galilee he said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Do you think the Fillippinos have not repented? The majority of them are Christians! Why the Christian Fillipinos and not non-Christian Asians? If he's trying to get a message across to Christians that Christianity is the true religion, he's got an odd way of doing it! Lois LL

Lois, don’t forget that when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it wiped out all the churches in the Lower Ninth Ward but spared Bourbon Street. That means god likes to party, or Baptists aren’t real Christians. Take your pick.

Every time I hear a justification of God reminding us of something good by destroying something I cannot help drawing the comparison of a husband who beats his wife to death to remind other wives how lucky they are to be alive?

Every time I hear a justification of God reminding us of something good by destroying something I cannot help drawing the comparison of a husband who beats his wife to death to remind other wives how lucky they are to be alive?
That's because Yawyeh is one consistently pissed off god who kills, maims and destroys anyone who isn't a Hebrew. Deuteronomy (especially 2:25) is replete with warnings, torture and "death to anyone who gets in his way" verses. Which just goes to show ya that this cobbled together piece of literature is ripe for cherry picking verses to sustain anything I might believe in at the time. Volcanic eruption of Mount St. Helen's? God's punishment for the founding of "Starbucks". God wants us to have cheaper coffee. Let's base our sorrow and revulsion of this mega disaster on reality and blame it on global warming. Cap't Jack
Lois, don't forget that when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans it wiped out all the churches in the Lower Ninth Ward but spared Bourbon Street. That means god likes to party, or Baptists aren't real Christians. Take your pick.
Yes, and don't overlook the homosexuality aspect. That really sends him into a frenzy. Anything that has to do with sex seems to have that effect. Lois

Perhaps it is a matter of mathematics. Homosexuals can add, subtract and divide, but they don’t multiply, which seems to make god really angry.

What is god's role in the Philippine disaster? What is god's eole in helping the victims?
All natural disasters happen within God's providence--his direction of the universe and the affairs of mankind. Natural disasters shout at us about the uncertainty and brevity of life. When Jesus was asked about the suffering of some men in Galilee he said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." We will all die, and we should be ready for that reality. For the Christian, that means living for God each day and being prepared to stand before him. That includes trusting him through all difficulties and disasters in our lives, being sure that we have a better life waiting for us in the World to Come. That's our hope and hope spurs us to action. As those who trust God, Christians must help all victims of natural disasters and calamity. We are commanded to grieve with those who grieve and provide for those in need. We are to help each other in this life, and assure each other of a better life to come. “Pain insists upon being attended to. God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world." ― C.S. Lewis The god you are crating is an evil god according to your view it uses mass slaughter of innocents to get hits point across; can't get much more evil than that.

No no no, Gary. You’ve got it all wrong. God slaughters innocent people to show us his love and mercy. Geez. How hard is that to rationalize explain? How could we possibly know how much god loves us if children did not die of cancer?

Did he ned to kill thousands of people, including innocent children, most of whom would not understand, in one small area to get this point across?
Each day in this world nearly 300,000 people die, including children. God gives life and God takes away life according to His will. It is His creation. A person can either accept the reality, or he can whine and complain about it. He can't change it.
You wrote: When Jesus was asked about the suffering of some men in Galilee he said, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Do you think the Fillippinos have not repented? The majority of them are Christians! Why the Christian Fillipinos and not non-Christian Asians? If he's trying to get a message across to Christians that Christianity is the true religion, he's got an odd way of doing it!
Jesus' quote is about what happens to us after we die. Everyone will die at some point, non-Christians and Christians, unrepentant sinners and those who've repented of their sins. The point is to be ready to die--to repent of your sins and receive God's forgiveness so that you may have eternal life and do not perish. "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 If the majority of those who died in the Philippines were Christians, then they have entered eternal life and received the blessings they had hoped for by faith. For those who did not repent, but remained at enmity with God, they will perish.
Each day in this world nearly 300,000 people die, including children. God gives life and God takes away life according to His will. It is His creation. A person can either accept the reality, or he can whine and complain about it. He can't change it.
Wow. So god can do whatever he wants and that is OK? Guess what. I have higher moral standards than your god, who as mentioned above is an abusive tyrant.
Jesus' quote is about what happens to us after we die. Everyone will die at some point, non-Christians and Christians, unrepentant sinners and those who've repented of their sins. The point is to be ready to die--to repent of your sins and receive God's forgiveness so that you may have eternal life and do not perish.
I do not need to repent. I reject your god. You have no proof such a being exists. Your platitudes about god's will are tiresome.
The god you are crating is an evil god according to your view it uses mass slaughter of innocents to get hits point across; can't get much more evil than that.
In my view of God, He is the creator of all life and has determined when, where and how long each life exists on this earth. Everyone dies. That's not slaughter nor is it evil, it is by design. What is evil is a created man who thinks he knows better than God and can judge his Creator. I believe that's called arrogance--an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.
Every time I hear a justification of God reminding us of something good by destroying something I cannot help drawing the comparison of a husband who beats his wife to death to remind other wives how lucky they are to be alive?
Really? That comparison makes absolutely no sense.
The god you are crating is an evil god according to your view it uses mass slaughter of innocents to get hits point across; can't get much more evil than that.
In my view of God, He is the creator of all life and has determined when, where and how long each life exists on this earth. Everyone dies. That's not slaughter nor is it evil, it is by design. What is evil is a created man who thinks he knows better than God and can judge his Creator. I believe that's called arrogance--an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions.How do you know you're not being deceived and in fact the being you call god is the Devil? I mean let's say there were two men. One was loving to some of his children, but allowed others to suffer horribly even though he could easily do something about it (let's say he's rich and mitigating the suffering was only a matter of purchasing the right medication). Then there's another man who loves all his children, and whenever one is suffering, he does whatever it takes to alleviate the suffering. Which of these two men would you choose to befriend? And let's even say the first guy, when you question him about it says "hey, I have my reasons why I let some of my kids suffer". If you chose the first person, I'd say you were being deceived into thinking he really was a good guy, even though his actions prove otherwise. So I think given what you've said, about believing in this being who allows innocent children to suffer, even though he can do something about it (and if he can't, then he's no god), you are definitely being deceived and in fact you believe in Satan. You better watch out, believing in Satan is gonna land you in hell.
Every time I hear a justification of God reminding us of something good by destroying something I cannot help drawing the comparison of a husband who beats his wife to death to remind other wives how lucky they are to be alive?
Really? That comparison makes absolutely no sense. If you change the words "husband" to the word "God" and "wife" to "people", then does it make sense? That is the story you have been telling so far. "God kills people to remind other people how lucky they are to be alive and therefore should worship God." Is that not the point of your story?
What is god's role in the Philippine disaster? What is god's role in helping the victims
First, to ask if god had a role you have to assume an all knowing and loving god exists. Since nothing was done, I think that puts an end to any such assumption.
What is god's role in the Philippine disaster? What is god's role in helping the victims
First, to ask if god had a role you have to assume an all knowing and loving god exists. Since nothing was done, I think that puts an end to any such assumption. Yeah, well, there is that. Kinda makes the rest of the discussion moot.
The god you are crating is an evil god according to your view it uses mass slaughter of innocents to get hits point across; can't get much more evil than that.
In my view of God, He is the creator of all life and has determined when, where and how long each life exists on this earth. Everyone dies. That's not slaughter nor is it evil, it is by design. What is evil is a created man who thinks he knows better than God and can judge his Creator. I believe that's called arrogance--an attitude of superiority manifested in an overbearing manner or in presumptuous claims or assumptions. Actually what you are talking about is biology. No god is directing it, although some scientists are figuring out how to do it through studying the workings of DNA.

Here’s an article about god’s hand in disasters. It’s generally as wishy washy a position as anyone could imagine, but it does quote Sam Harris:
“Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary,” Harris said after Japan’s tsunami. “Take your pick, and choose wisely.”
Where was God in the Philippines?
By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-editor
(CNN) – The disasters are always different and often devastating. But the questions they raise are hauntingly familiar.
In the days since Super Typhoon Haiyan sweptthrough the Philippines on Thursday, survivors are frantically searching for lost family members and international aid groups are springing into action.
Officials say the death toll may rise to 10,000 in the heavily Catholic country. Meanwhile, many people are asking: How should we make sense of such senseless death and destruction? Was God in the whirlwind itself, as the Bible hints, or present only in the aftermath, as people mobilize to provide food, water and shelter?
These questions may not be new, but we keep asking them, perhaps because the answers remain so elusive.
For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011’s earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything.
But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.
“These kind of questions about God being in control and there simultaneously being suffering are the kind of things that keep seminarians up at night," institute CEO Robert P. Jones said in 2011.
“They’re thorny theological issues.”
READ: Typhoon Haiyan: Survivors in Philippines face grim struggle as death toll rises
The Bible’s Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. … He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground."
But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column.
“When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists,” Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. “Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates.”
For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn’t exist, author and activist Sam Harris said.
“Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary,” Harris said after Japan’s tsunami. “Take your pick, and choose wisely.”
God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand.
Rabbi Harold Kushner is one of the most famous names in the realm of theodicy, a branch of theology that tries to explain the unexplainable: why a good God would allow bad things to happen.
After Japan’s tsunami, Kushner called nature “an equal-opportunity destroyer,” making no distinctions between sinners and saints.
But Kushner, author of the bestselling book “When Bad Things Happen to Good People,” said he sees God’s hand in the resilience of people whose lives have been destroyed and in the “goodness and generosity” of strangers who donate and pray for the survivors.
READ: How to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan
That still leaves a tricky question, though: Why do humans suffer, sometimes terribly, in the first place?
There’s no good answer, says the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and best-selling author.
“Each person has to come to grips with that,” Martin said. “It’s not as if some magic answer can be found. But the idea of God suffering along with us can be very helpful.”
Muslims, on the other hand, see stormy trials as tests from God, said Sayyid Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances.
“Muslims believe that God tests those he loves, and these tragedies also serve as a reminder to the rest of us to remain grateful to God for all our blessings and cognizant that we must support those in need,” Syeed said.
Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose native country remains in Haiyan’s path, said such storms remind us that our lives are impermanent and the importance of treasuring each moment.
“This is the best that we can do for those who have died: We can live in such a way that they can feel they are continuing to live in us, more mindfully, more profoundly, more beautifully, tasting every minute of life available to us, for them,” Hanh said