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Graham: "God Alllowed Katrina"

slingblade

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11780382/site/newsweek/site/newsweek/

What do you tell people who ask how a loving God could let something like this happen?
Well, I spoke yesterday to the clergy and I asked myself why, and I told them don’t know why. There is no way I can know. I think of Job, who suffered the loss of everything—seven sons and three daughters, all of his cattle, all of his sheep and his flocks, everything gone. He couldn’t help but ask why, but he didn’t find the answer immediately, and he really never had the answer at the end.

God came back and restored to him all these things, but the cause of the thing in his life was not God, it was the Devil. I didn’t mention that yesterday, because I don’t think this is the
place to talk about Satan and the Devil, because I don’t know. The Devil might have had nothing to do with this; I don’t know. But God has allowed it, and there is a purpose that we won’t know maybe for years to come.
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Hey, at least he didn't say NO had brought the storm on itself; at least he didn't say God was trying to kill innocent children. If one has to blame an imaginary being for the weather, this is one of the better ways to phrase it, I suppose.
 
I guess so.

You know, it's funny he brings up Job. I never really got that whole thing. That was one of the things that really turned me off of the whole judeo-christian god. The devil starts taunting him so he makes him a bet that involves tormenting his most loyal follower?
And then he gets pissed off when Job gets upset about this?

wtf?
 
The (probably a parable) Book of Job is clever in the sense it is a large and complicated story - but ultimately represents an incomplete set of answers for Job. Job and the reader are never allowed to peer "outside" the box of belief in God.

Of the various viewpoints paraded before Job it is never suggested that Job is suffering because people just suffer, and there is no diety in charge. 'Hey Job - consider for a moment that there is no god' Wouldn't that be a refreshing pov to see expressed by Job's foils in the story? But no. Job's range of choices is something like: curse God and die or repent and meet your just fate or you did something really bad and God is punishing you.

In the face of Job's protests of innocence, the book represents a fallacy of distraction. There is one more conclusion Job could arrive at, but we are not allowed to hear that.

Likewise Rev Billy is faced with the same logic, and comes to a similar flawed conclusion: God exists and is in charge, so whatever happens is what God has allowed. To accuse God of negligence or wrongdoing is a form of blasphemy, so like Job, Billy concludes God must have a greater plan than we can understand.

Like Job, Billy is not allowed within the confines of belief to not believe in God. The answer Billy came up with is probably the best one unless you go outside the box of belief.
 
slingblade said:
Graham: "God Alllowed Katrina"
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Ironically, using their theology to arrive at contradictions is standard fare around here. Of course God allowed it. That's why religion is stupid -- Yahweh is transparently a murderous thug. End of story. :rolleyes:
 
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Often the problem of pain is brought up as an argument for not believing in god(s) (because how could god(s) allow that!?)

To quote C.S. Lewis:

"If the universe is so bad... how on earth did human beings come to attribute it to the activities of a wise and good Creator?"
 
T'ai Chi said:
To quote C.S. Lewis:

"If the universe is so bad... how on earth did human beings come to attribute it to the activities of a wise and good Creator?"
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Because they want to believe that everything happens for a reason, all their pain and suffering is for some higher purpose, and will later be rewarded, etc.

I should also point out that not all human beings do attribute the universe to a wise and good creator. So a similar question, "If the universe is so good, how on earth did human beings come to attribute it to the activities of an apathetic/selfish/"whatever attributes have been given to creator dieties" God?"
 
I believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster caused Katrina because blackened food is an abomination before his noodly goodness.
 
In what way is a God killing off humans any worse than a author killing off the characters in his book?
 
Rufo said:
In what way is a God killing off humans any worse than a author killing off the characters in his book?
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There's an inverse relationship here. Authors are real, characters are fictional. People are real, god is fictional.
 
I'm fairly sure that even if no one lived in that area the hurricane would have happened anyway. It just may be due to forces of nature that have been going on for millions of years.
 
Roboramma said:
Because they want to believe that everything happens for a reason, all their pain and suffering is for some higher purpose, and will later be rewarded, etc.
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Pain and suffering forces people to become more intelligent, which is a higher purpose. Intelligence though, is merely a form of power, and a mechanism must exist to keep a balance. If there is no other side of that coin, the logical end result is people like Mengele.
 
Of course God allowed it. That's why religion is stupid -- Yahweh is transparently a murderous thug.
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does not the creator of a life have the authority to take that life away?
 
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