Why should I love a God who brings destruction upon the people?
[This is a repost from my wordpress blog, together with some valid questions raised by a staunch atheist.]
This is a controversial question that many non-believers would raise. I used to ask this question myself.
This is a controversial question that many non-believers would raise. I used to ask this question myself.
And after lots of pondering, I began to have a clearer understanding of why God allows destruction.
- To punish the unrepentant wicked. In fact, God probably didn’t have to do much, except lift His merciful hand away and let destruction come upon them. After all, didn’t Einstein once say that evil isn’t the opposite of good; it is the absence of good? Many times, man cause their own destruction. (e.g. Haman built his own gallows; Judas took his own life.)
You might say that you can never bring yourself to worship a God who lets people die, but think about it: If someone murdered one of your children, served time in jail, was eventually released for lack of evidence and continued to kill another of your children, would you let the matter slide? No. In the same way, as a heavenly Father, God loves His children and it would be fair for Him to reserve judgment for those who persist in sinning.
- To bring people to Him. Sometimes, when people pass away, family members say that the person-in-question has gone to be with the Lord and that he is now without pain. At other times, a catastrophe brings people to churches and repentance. We are to fear (respect) the Lord for He is great and powerful.
There is a joke that goes like this:
A famous icon passed away and ended up at the pearly gates, in line behind a taxi cab driver. The cab driver was ushered in and was given royal treatment but when the famous man entered heaven, he was given poor service, and was led to a run-down shack. When the man asked why he was given such a lousy home while the cab driver had such an exquisite home, the angel replied that the cab driver had brought many people to call on Christ. Apparently, the cab driver sped everywhere he went that all his passengers prayed throughout the ride.
God's Word | March 3, 2012 at 10:29 PM
ReplyDeleteThis is not a very strong argument. I’m all for punishing the wicked, but why must that entail causing harm to innocent/genuinely good people.
“If someone murdered one of your children, served time in jail, was eventually released for lack of evidence and continued to kill another of your children, would you let the matter slide? No.”
- No, I would kill him. I wouldn’t burn down a building that he was in allowing others (possibly innocents) to die.
“To bring people to Him.”
- Show up. Just show up! Why does he have to conduct these elaborate, easily misinterpreted ways of “proving” his existence! It’s still wrong to bring people to worship you by inciting fear. Respect can be attained through other means and is not a subsequent of fear.
eXtreme eVolution | March 3, 2012 at 10:40 PM
DeleteThank you for your comment.
To answer your question, no one really knows. No one knows how or when we’ll die but death is a certainty. Perhaps we’ll find out for ourselves someday when we meet our Maker. If our time in the world is up, who are we to challenge that? We should always be prepared to face the consequences of death.
In our eyes, people may seem genuinely good people, but how good is good enough when we compare ourselves to God’s original commandments? At some point in our lives, we probably would have stolen, cheated, lied, committed adultery (through the lust of the eyes), murdered (in our hearts) etc. We’re all sinners and we have fallen short of God’s glory.
If God just showed up, we’ll never survive in His entire glorious presence. It’s like facing the sun full on. It would also mean that it’s judgment time. In our current state, do you think we’re ready to meet our Maker? I doubt it. God gave us freewill so Him giving us time to turn and repent from our sins is a gift we should treasure while we still have breath.
The phrase “to fear God” is not a literal statement. It means to respect him in humble acknowledgement of His power.
I hope I have clarified your doubts.
God's Word | March 3, 2012 at 11:13 PM
DeleteYou’re Welcome.
No, you haven’t clarified anything, but rather made assertions based on your belief system.
A belief system that is the source of its own veracity and written by people who wished to impose their will on man, dressing it up as the word of God. When it comes down to it, nobody “knows” anything.
Lust is not immoral or anything to be ashamed of. Sexual attraction is an innate biological urge intended for the propagation of the species. It is natural and to convict anyone of “thought crime” is hypocritical because as much as you might suppress it, it’s there.
Apart from that, I agree all those things you listed (stolen, cheated, lied, adultery) are all wrong in most circumstances but nobody deserves to die for them. Humans are complex and flawed beings but are still capable of rationality, empathy and compassion. These “sins” are part of being human. Nobody deserves to burn for eternity for stealing something at one point in their life! Come On!
Your descriptions of God presenting himself to us are all irrelevant. You do not know anything of what God is or isn’t. No one does.
eXtreme eVolution | March 3, 2012 at 11:36 PM
DeleteRegarding the topic of lust, I agree that sexual attraction is an innate biological urge intended for the propagation of the species and that is where temptation lies. But it crosses the line when we entertain such thoughts, as in the minds of sexual deviants a.k.a. perverts, paedophiles, etc. It becomes mind rape.
In your earlier comment, you said that if your child was murdered, you would kill the murderer. That contradicts your statement that nobody deserves to die for their sins. In addition, if we were to take into account the number of our sins accumulated over a lifetime, eternity just about covers the time required to pay for them all. Let’s say we sin 3 times a day, x 7 days a week, x 53 weeks a year, x 60 years, that would be a total of 66780 sins. And if a minute in hell was bad enough, I’m sure 66780 years would sure feel like an eternity. After all, time is relative. To us, it may seem like eternity when there’s no clocks in the afterlife.
God's Word | March 4, 2012 at 12:04 AM
DeleteBut you’re not just condemning thoughts of perverts, pedophiles and sexual deviants, you’re condemning feelings of lust, in all forms. How can you jump from the natural sexual thoughts one might feel to thoughts of a psychologically defective person.I’m sure you’re not making the claim that all thoughts of lust lead to pedophilia, pervertedness? If not then what is wrong with sexual thoughts one might have?
Yes, I had an emotional reaction to the thought of someone murdering my child and maybe on reflection that was wrong, but I’m human! I make mistakes and atone for them. I can reason and reflect and base my beliefs on how I want to treat my fellow man, not out of the fear of God, whatever you claim that might be. I am not burdened with sin but burdened with my innate, evolutionary traits.
Again, Hell is irrelevant, it doesn’t exist excepted for in the writings of man, which cannot be used as verification.
eXtreme eVolution | March 4, 2012 at 12:54 AM
DeleteThese feelings of lust are actually temptations of the flesh and not our fault. However, you have the choice to ignore or proceed with these thoughts, which opens yourself up to the risk of further action. Suppose your thoughts are broadcasted to the people around you, or even the person you’re lusting after, what would they think of you?
Yes, it is true that we are human and make mistakes. We are burdened with innate evolutionary traits a.k.a. human nature. It is only natural for us to feel the need to atone for our sins. But how can we atone for murder? We can’t undo the mistake by raising the dead to life. So it’s your life for a life, am I right? But how certain are you that your life is of the same value as another? You will need an identical soul to pay for that soul, which is almost impossible. The only logical way for us to have our sins paid for is by a higher power a.k.a. God Himself. It is no coincidence that ancient scriptures (Isaiah) prophesy about a Messiah (God in flesh) who will come to save the world from sin and hundreds of years later have that prophesy fulfilled even down to accurate details. Historians have even discovered the dead sea scrolls (documenting the same Isaiah prophesies), written close to Isaiah’s time, to back it up.
If you say that hell isn’t real, then how do you account for the various testimonies around the world of people who died, visited heaven or hell and were raised to life, many of whom have no knowledge of Jesus, God or hell? Can you discredit them if they are actual witnesses?