Anonymous wrote:This is why I've stopped reading this forum for the most part, and only rarely pop in, like today.

It's a RELIGION forum but the threads are riddled with "Quite simply, God doesn't exist." Why thank you for showing up on a Religion forum to spout about your atheism.

For the record, my opinion is that bad things happen because this is not Heaven. Heaven is later, after we have gone through this life and learned lessons, good and bad. And when there's something horrendous that we just can grasp, it wasn't our lesson to learn.

I'm sure 35 atheists will now show up and tell me I'm wrong, but that's fine. I'm not checking back and your opinion doesn't affect my faith. Your bitterness is disheartening but there's nothing anyone can do for you in that regard. But perhaps you should get your own forum where you can trumpet your disbelief, instead of polluting this one.

A forum entitled "religion" is a place where people can discuss religion, which includes whether any one religion is true/makes sense.

It is not necessarily just a place for people who believe in one particular religion.

A discussion on religion without the full spectrum of belief systems -- including those who don't believe in god -- is not really a full discussion.

If I started a thread right now in "off topic" on atheism, are you suggesting no believer or religious person would post? Of course they'd post.

As long as people don't make personal attacks, all views on religion should be allowed in a forum on religion. It's a forum to *discuss* religion, not just a forum for religious people.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without bad, we wouldn't know good.

So kids need to suffer and die of cancer so you can appreciate a sunset? Right.

OP, the answer is that there very likely is no God. Once you accept that, you will find more peace and realize that you should aim to put out as much love and positive energy into the world and it will both come back to you and sustain you during hard times. There's not some mystery you're missing out on, some lesson you're not getting. If God tries to teach us lessons by creating child soldiers and Catholic priests that rape children, then we should all just end it now and stop being pawns in his sick game.

This belief is just as flawed as a belief in god. Ultimately, you are espousing a belief in karma -- that if you put out positive energy, it will come back to you. But that isn't true either.

I suspect there is no god. But in addition to that, the new age stuff about putting out good energy is also not true. The universe is a random, arbitrary place. Sure, there are biological systems, et cetera, but most scientists will tell you that even those systems are pretty precarious and small things can throw it all off.

People tell themselves things in order to shield them from the uncertainty of life and give them enough comfort to function, but the reality is that we do what we can but a lot of it is really up to chance and circumstance.

It's terrifying when you really come to terms with it. That's why people invented religion. Ultimately, the search for certainty is also what led man into so many other areas of inquiry -- philosophy, physics, science. It's something that has terrified humans since time began. But no matter what our genius invents, the uncertainty, precariousness of life remains.

It is the one thing I envy most about other species. Most of them live pretty firmly in the present, so they don't dwell on the uncertainty and therefore don't seem to need religion or constant dialog or constant contemplation or discourse or inquiry. They just live and don't try to make sense out of something that in and off itself has no sense.

If we perceive order in the world, it is not because there is more order than chaos. It is because we want to see order and block out the chaos as much as we can. But sometimes tragedy comes so close to home that we can't block it out anymore. And that's when we start asking these questions.

(Something horrendous that we just :can't: grasp)

This is why I've stopped reading this forum for the most part, and only rarely pop in, like today.

It's a RELIGION forum but the threads are riddled with "Quite simply, God doesn't exist." Why thank you for showing up on a Religion forum to spout about your atheism.

For the record, my opinion is that bad things happen because this is not Heaven. Heaven is later, after we have gone through this life and learned lessons, good and bad. And when there's something horrendous that we just can grasp, it wasn't our lesson to learn.

I'm sure 35 atheists will now show up and tell me I'm wrong, but that's fine. I'm not checking back and your opinion doesn't affect my faith. Your bitterness is disheartening but there's nothing anyone can do for you in that regard. But perhaps you should get your own forum where you can trumpet your disbelief, instead of polluting this one.

Anonymous wrote:Karma. Good people were bad in a prior life, and karma is catching up.

The other possibility is, the good people are not as good as you think they are. I'm super friendly and helpful at work, I'm a GREAT friend, etc. But I waste a ton in the privacy of home. I throw out a lot of food, I use disposable bowls and flatware, etc.

+1 to both of these

God is love.
We are sin. Sin is death.
Jesus bridged the divide.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not God's job to fix the world. It's that simple. Bad things happen to everyone. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things happen to good people. You can not have one without the other.

Right, so who needs God?

God has no job, except to send some people to hell (depending on your religion) and some to heaven (if you believe in him). Sounds pretty shaky to me.

I need God. I am thankful for my belief. Yet I don't judge other's for not believing in God like your pretty snarky way of posting suggests you do

Please point out the snark.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not God's job to fix the world. It's that simple. Bad things happen to everyone. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things happen to good people. You can not have one without the other.

Right, so who needs God?

God has no job, except to send some people to hell (depending on your religion) and some to heaven (if you believe in him). Sounds pretty shaky to me.

I need God. I am thankful for my belief. Yet I don't judge other's for not believing in God like your pretty snarky way of posting suggests you do

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Without bad, we wouldn't know good.

So kids need to suffer and die of cancer so you can appreciate a sunset? Right.

OP, the answer is that there very likely is no God. Once you accept that, you will find more peace and realize that you should aim to put out as much love and positive energy into the world and it will both come back to you and sustain you during hard times. There's not some mystery you're missing out on, some lesson you're not getting. If God tries to teach us lessons by creating child soldiers and Catholic priests that rape children, then we should all just end it now and stop being pawns in his sick game.

Well said.

There may be many good reasons to not believe in God, but "bad things happening to good people" is not one of them.

Good things happen at times to all people, good and bad. Bad things happen at times to all people, good and bad. This is life and it is full of vales of tears and summits of joy.

It is how one deals with the good things and the bad things that matters, for the here and now, as well as and for the afterlife, if you believe in that. You can come out of these things braver, kinder or more generous, or you can come out of it of more bitter, misanthropic, or avaricious (or any other number of adjectives).

My child just got diagnosed with an incurable progressive degenerative disease and I have not wasted one minute wondering why this bad thing happened to this good person or asking "why her?" We are moving right along to treatment and making the best of it while feeling lucky that the disease is generally not fatal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not God's job to fix the world. It's that simple. Bad things happen to everyone. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things happen to good people. You can not have one without the other.

Right, so who needs God?

God has no job, except to send some people to hell (depending on your religion) and some to heaven (if you believe in him). Sounds pretty shaky to me.

I respect that you arrived at your beliefs after many years of living, but this is not how most believers see Him.

Anonymous wrote:I was never quite sure. I remember when this happened and it convinced me there is no god. A 7 year old kid stabbed by a crazy man in front of his grandmother in his front yard.

I lost the luxury of faith.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35783

Hey, are you DZ from the old "on faith" forum?

Anonymous wrote:It is not God's job to fix the world. It's that simple. Bad things happen to everyone. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things happen to good people. You can not have one without the other.

Right, so who needs God?

God has no job, except to send some people to hell (depending on your religion) and some to heaven (if you believe in him). Sounds pretty shaky to me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was never quite sure. I remember when this happened and it convinced me there is no god. A 7 year old kid stabbed by a crazy man in front of his grandmother in his front yard.

I lost the luxury of faith.

http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=35783

Wish I didn't open that link. I agree, faith is a luxury and I don't have it. I envy those who do.

I don't -- even though it may be comforting at times. It's a relief not to believe.

It is not God's job to fix the world. It's that simple. Bad things happen to everyone. Bad things happen to good people. And bad things happen to bad people. Good things happen to bad people. And good things happen to good people. You can not have one without the other.