Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What explains the suffering of children to people who aren’t religious? Is it just random terrible things, and then the child suffers and dies and is snuffed out of existence?

To some, I think. A friend who was atheist was dying of a terrible illness and that is certainly how he viewed it. I lived, I suffer, I die, and am no more. I found it very sad that he viewed life as so pointless, but others found his point of view somehow comforting.

Did he say life was pointless, or did you imagine it?
It's quite sad that you find life so pointless that you wish for something to exist outside of life to give it a point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*So you would create non-humans without their own thoughts and feelings.*

Sorry, the first sentence was mistyped.

I never said that. God can’t create a space or people with free will but no evil?

Well then heaven is gonna SUCK.

So how can people have free will if God takes the ability of humans to choose for themselves away?


Free will is free. Totally free. Free will is not predetermined, programmed, AI creatures that look like humans, talk like humans, but aren’t human. Humans are individual beings.


We are unable to fully serve God in this life due to sin, but in heaven "every curse will no longer be" (Revelation 22:3). We will not be under the curse of sin any longer, so everything we do will be worship in heaven. We will never be motivated by anything other than our love for God. Everything we do will be out of our love for God, untainted by our sin nature.

Heaven is a different place than earth. But really since you don’t believe in God, why do you care? You don’t believe in any of this stuff; why are you so worried about it?

This has zero bearing on your life, why is it so important you endlessly debate things you don’t believe in?

Answer this question: Is there free will in heaven?

Answer this question: Do you believe in God?

regarding your question: Adam and Eve had a choice to make in the Garden of Eden, and that shows beyond all doubt that mankind was created with a free will.


Humans has retained his free will, and we will retain free will in heaven.

In heaven we are completely conformed to the image of Christ (Romans 8:28–30). We will not want to sin. In heaven there will be no temptation to lure us and no devil to deceive us. We will face no test; our moral state will be secure. Jesus has a truly free will yet is without sin, so will we retain a free will yet be without sin. We will be like Him.

(1 John 3:2).

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can a non-religious person explain how they view the suffering of children and the death of children?

Tragically.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God did create that utopia you guys are thinking about. That was Eden. The problem was, humans were not satisfied with it and wanted more. Deep down, you and I all know that we would never be satisfied. So God is teaching us about what is really important, communion with him, not satisfying our own bottomless appetites.

Does that explain the suffering of children?

DP: It is one way of thinking about it in the search of understanding, yes. It is what it means to be human - we experience great suffering and great joy because we crave "all knowledge' (metaphorical what Adam and Eve sought when they shared the apple) -- suffering is a part of knowing. It is also human to look for the why in what is, though we may never find the answers. As humans we must keep searching and learning and evolving.

Keep in mind that nearly all theologies that study Genesis understand it as a metaphor, so to understand how it helps to inform your question, it is useful to view it that way. (A very tiny portion of Christian sects choose to view Genesis as a literal history, very tiny, though they get a lot of attention for it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What explains the suffering of children to people who aren’t religious? Is it just random terrible things, and then the child suffers and dies and is snuffed out of existence?

To some, I think. A friend who was atheist was dying of a terrible illness and that is certainly how he viewed it. I lived, I suffer, I die, and am no more. I found it very sad that he viewed life as so pointless, but others found his point of view somehow comforting.

Anonymous wrote:Can a non-religious person explain how they view the suffering of children and the death of children?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God did create that utopia you guys are thinking about. That was Eden. The problem was, humans were not satisfied with it and wanted more. Deep down, you and I all know that we would never be satisfied. So God is teaching us about what is really important, communion with him, not satisfying our own bottomless appetites.

Does that explain the suffering of children?

DP: It is one way of thinking about it in the search of understanding, yes. It is what it means to be human - we experience great suffering and great joy because we crave "all knowledge' (metaphorical what Adam and Eve sought when they shared the apple) -- suffering is a part of knowing. It is also human to look for the why in what is, though we may never find the answers. As humans we must keep searching and learning and evolving.

Keep in mind that nearly all theologies that study Genesis understand it as a metaphor, so to understand how it helps to inform your question, it is useful to view it that way. (A very tiny portion of Christian sects choose to view Genesis as a literal history, very tiny, though they get a lot of attention for it).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not religious but here's the way of think of "why do bad things happen to good people": In a nutshell, God was juggling a lot of balls and dropped one. So when one kid gets cancer, God didn't notice because s/he was preventing an earthquake that would have killed thousands. Something like that. It's the only thing I've come up with that both feels logical and comforts me.

So why did God create an earth that has earthquakes?

Anonymous wrote:What explains the suffering of children to people who aren’t religious? Is it just random terrible things, and then the child suffers and dies and is snuffed out of existence?

Anonymous wrote:I'm not religious but here's the way of think of "why do bad things happen to good people": In a nutshell, God was juggling a lot of balls and dropped one. So when one kid gets cancer, God didn't notice because s/he was preventing an earthquake that would have killed thousands. Something like that. It's the only thing I've come up with that both feels logical and comforts me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:*So you would create non-humans without their own thoughts and feelings.*

Sorry, the first sentence was mistyped.

I never said that. God can’t create a space or people with free will but no evil?

Well then heaven is gonna SUCK.

So how can people have free will if God takes the ability of humans to choose for themselves away?


Free will is free. Totally free. Free will is not predetermined, programmed, AI creatures that look like humans, talk like humans, but aren’t human. Humans are individual beings.


We are unable to fully serve God in this life due to sin, but in heaven "every curse will no longer be" (Revelation 22:3). We will not be under the curse of sin any longer, so everything we do will be worship in heaven. We will never be motivated by anything other than our love for God. Everything we do will be out of our love for God, untainted by our sin nature.

Heaven is a different place than earth. But really since you don’t believe in God, why do you care? You don’t believe in any of this stuff; why are you so worried about it?

This has zero bearing on your life, why is it so important you endlessly debate things you don’t believe in?

Quoting your religious texts to support that your religion is real is such circular logic. What support is there for any of this beyond the book telling people to believe in what the book says?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God did create that utopia you guys are thinking about. That was Eden. The problem was, humans were not satisfied with it and wanted more. Deep down, you and I all know that we would never be satisfied. So God is teaching us about what is really important, communion with him, not satisfying our own bottomless appetites.

Does that explain the suffering of children?