Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was not raised in any particular religion, but I recently saw a foreign documentary that was filmed about 10 years ago about a 3 yr old boy who underwent tremendous pain and suffering from infancy till his death for pediatric cancer, with chemotherapy, surgery etc. I just could not stop crying.

Many of the commentaries on the video mentioned that God has a plan for him in heaven, but I cannot understand why an innocent tiny human has to go through so. much. unrelenting. pain if they are supposed to end up in heaven with God within 2-3 years of being born anyway. Are these kids supposed to suffer for their parents sins? His parents seemed 100% loving and devoted but I know religion teaches that everyone (at least adults) are sinners.

How do religious people make sense of this? Please enlighten me so that perhaps I'd reach that peace of mind some day.

If you really need the answer to this question, read the bible, it is very clear there.

Worst. Answer. Ever.

As I said: Worst. Answer. Ever.

I think that person was trying to imply that Eve ate the apple when she was told not to. And that’s why we have bad stuff like pediatric cancer

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was not raised in any particular religion, but I recently saw a foreign documentary that was filmed about 10 years ago about a 3 yr old boy who underwent tremendous pain and suffering from infancy till his death for pediatric cancer, with chemotherapy, surgery etc. I just could not stop crying.

Many of the commentaries on the video mentioned that God has a plan for him in heaven, but I cannot understand why an innocent tiny human has to go through so. much. unrelenting. pain if they are supposed to end up in heaven with God within 2-3 years of being born anyway. Are these kids supposed to suffer for their parents sins? His parents seemed 100% loving and devoted but I know religion teaches that everyone (at least adults) are sinners.

How do religious people make sense of this? Please enlighten me so that perhaps I'd reach that peace of mind some day.

If you really need the answer to this question, read the bible, it is very clear there.

Worst. Answer. Ever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was not raised in any particular religion, but I recently saw a foreign documentary that was filmed about 10 years ago about a 3 yr old boy who underwent tremendous pain and suffering from infancy till his death for pediatric cancer, with chemotherapy, surgery etc. I just could not stop crying.

Many of the commentaries on the video mentioned that God has a plan for him in heaven, but I cannot understand why an innocent tiny human has to go through so. much. unrelenting. pain if they are supposed to end up in heaven with God within 2-3 years of being born anyway. Are these kids supposed to suffer for their parents sins? His parents seemed 100% loving and devoted but I know religion teaches that everyone (at least adults) are sinners.

How do religious people make sense of this? Please enlighten me so that perhaps I'd reach that peace of mind some day.

If you really need the answer to this question, read the bible, it is very clear there.

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:I was not raised in any particular religion, but I recently saw a foreign documentary that was filmed about 10 years ago about a 3 yr old boy who underwent tremendous pain and suffering from infancy till his death for pediatric cancer, with chemotherapy, surgery etc. I just could not stop crying.

Many of the commentaries on the video mentioned that God has a plan for him in heaven, but I cannot understand why an innocent tiny human has to go through so. much. unrelenting. pain if they are supposed to end up in heaven with God within 2-3 years of being born anyway. Are these kids supposed to suffer for their parents sins? His parents seemed 100% loving and devoted but I know religion teaches that everyone (at least adults) are sinners.

How do religious people make sense of this? Please enlighten me so that perhaps I'd reach that peace of mind some day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The atheists have still not come forth with their view of suffering and how it makes it feel better. Only one person said something about science and her conclusion was that she wasnt sure life is worth it. So, that pretty much supports what other PP said about thinking atheists being depressed.

It makes me "feel better" to think there is no knowledgeable being controlling life like we are bacteria in a petri dish. It helps to reconcile this question about cancer or how people can be so evil or why life can be so unfair. It's actually easier to think there is randomness and chance involved rather than "God's will".

Don't get me wrong - I'd LOVE to believe that a good God will come a straighten out the mess down here with a bit of karma. I just haven't seen any evidence whatsoever for that.

I also wonder (quite often actually) what could have been or could be accomplished if even only half the amount of hours spent reading the same book over and over again, worshipping a diety, etc, had been spent in REALITY and finding solutions to making less cancer and making the world a better place. Instead of the absurd amount of wasted time that has taken place while children ARE dying of cancer for example. Not to mention maybe many people would not even consider searching for Those solutions because they think this life is meaningless in comparison to the “life to come”.

Beliefs have consequences.

The belief in utopia in this world is what has fueled both communism and fascism, so be very careful. It is a misguided belief that if only we were better, richer, nicer, [insert your adjective], we could be a perfect society. Anyone who has done any introspection knows that our downfall lies in each one of us.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nope wrong one more time! (this has to be a record). Atheists don't believe in a god or gods. End period. It has nothing do do with any "dimension of humanity". Oh, and did you know that is a Taoist phrase? You don't believe in that either!

Right, you deny belief in anything beyond this material world. That is a whole dimension of the human experience you are denying. It is beyond debate that every culture across space and time has had some belief in the spiritual world. It is really one of the things that distinguishes humans. That is what you are denying.

Are you a DP? More stupid. I am not denying history. I simply don't accept the proposition that a god or gods exist because I have not seen sufficient evidence. If I am shown evidence I will change my position. Would you? No? Then which is the denier?

And WTF does "across space and time" refer to. And I told you about how you even misuse the religious phrase "dimension of the human experience" Just because you hear words and think they are cool sounding doesn't help your argument one bit. So stop using phrases you don't understand on the hope it makes you look erudite. You don't. Exactly the opposite.

I don't think you are debating in good faith. Clearly very triggered. Your previous post that something can't be random if flawed? I don't even know where to start.... On a fundamental level, if there is no design to something, it is random. How is that hard to understand? Please give an example of something that is not designed but also not random.

And I am not saying that you deny history.

You just deny the existence of the spiritual realm, a belief shared by the vast majority of humans across time and space. Again, not sure what is so hard to understand about that.

But in all seriousness, I don't even know what your point is. If you don't want to believe in God, don't. Not sure why you are so triggered by the fact that other people do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The atheists have still not come forth with their view of suffering and how it makes it feel better. Only one person said something about science and her conclusion was that she wasnt sure life is worth it. So, that pretty much supports what other PP said about thinking atheists being depressed.

It makes me "feel better" to think there is no knowledgeable being controlling life like we are bacteria in a petri dish. It helps to reconcile this question about cancer or how people can be so evil or why life can be so unfair. It's actually easier to think there is randomness and chance involved rather than "God's will".

Don't get me wrong - I'd LOVE to believe that a good God will come a straighten out the mess down here with a bit of karma. I just haven't seen any evidence whatsoever for that.

I also wonder (quite often actually) what could have been or could be accomplished if even only half the amount of hours spent reading the same book over and over again, worshipping a diety, etc, had been spent in REALITY and finding solutions to making less cancer and making the world a better place. Instead of the absurd amount of wasted time that has taken place while children ARE dying of cancer for example. Not to mention maybe many people would not even consider searching for Those solutions because they think this life is meaningless in comparison to the “life to come”.

Beliefs have consequences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Nope wrong one more time! (this has to be a record). Atheists don't believe in a god or gods. End period. It has nothing do do with any "dimension of humanity". Oh, and did you know that is a Taoist phrase? You don't believe in that either!

Right, you deny belief in anything beyond this material world. That is a whole dimension of the human experience you are denying. It is beyond debate that every culture across space and time has had some belief in the spiritual world. It is really one of the things that distinguishes humans. That is what you are denying.

Are you a DP? More stupid. I am not denying history. I simply don't accept the proposition that a god or gods exist because I have not seen sufficient evidence. If I am shown evidence I will change my position. Would you? No? Then which is the denier?

And WTF does "across space and time" refer to. And I told you about how you even misuse the religious phrase "dimension of the human experience" Just because you hear words and think they are cool sounding doesn't help your argument one bit. So stop using phrases you don't understand on the hope it makes you look erudite. You don't. Exactly the opposite.

Anonymous wrote:

Nope wrong one more time! (this has to be a record). Atheists don't believe in a god or gods. End period. It has nothing do do with any "dimension of humanity". Oh, and did you know that is a Taoist phrase? You don't believe in that either!

Right, you deny belief in anything beyond this material world. That is a whole dimension of the human experience you are denying. It is beyond debate that every culture across space and time has had some belief in the spiritual world. It is really one of the things that distinguishes humans. That is what you are denying.