BBC - If God exists, why did he allow the Haiti earthquake

[Xephyr]

The answer's pretty simple, my children :

Because gawd works in mysterious ways

 

[Sledge]

What's so mysterious?

Chaotic Evil is referred to as the "Destroyer" or "Demonic" alignment. Characters of this alignment tend to have no respect for rules, other peoples' lives, or anything but their own desires, which are typically selfish and cruel. They set a high value on personal freedom, but do not have any regard for the lives or freedom of other people. They do not work well in a group, as they resent being given orders, and usually only behave themselves out of fear of punishment.

Mystery solved.

 

[Doctor Evil]

How do you god is a "he", you chauvinist ...

 

[quarky]

What's so hard to understand?

Sure, God hates Haitians, yes...


But he hates a damn Kurd, too, right?

 

[SpuriusMaximus]

How do you god is a "he", you chauvinist ...

Do you think a female god would have been that bigotted against other women? Hmm... then again, seeing some women's opinions and judgments of each other... ok, I see your point

 

[SpuriusMaximus]

What's so hard to understand?

Sure, God hates Haitians, yes...


But he hates a damn Kurd, too, right?

I like to think we're all equally God's children, so he hates us all equally

 

[Legato]

Some arguments for this:

1. This is the best of all possible worlds commensurate with the existence of humans with free will. Any other world is logically impossible. God cannot do the logically impossible

2. Space-time as a whole is perfectly good; it only looks imperfect locally and through the sensory apparatus of beings who experience the flow of time.

3. Any death, pain, or torment is temporary and as of nothing compared with the infinite reward available after life.

4. We are inherently bad and sinful, and deserve everything pain and torment; it's only through the grace of God that any of us our saved.

 

[Hux]

"If" is the operative word. And he doesn't. Nasty things happen to humanity and it is always humanity that clears up the mess.

 

[learner]

If God exists, why did he allow the Haiti earthquake?
...
to prove that death is not the worst fate
death proves life
if we lived in an immortal paradise forever
we would not value life
with the same
exquisite aftertaste
that the possibility of death inspires
...
that does not mean one should pursue death and sin as the pedophile suggests
...
down exists because up requires it to
but birds do not need to fly headfirst into the ground to prove this
...
;-j

Death proves life?
Dont know about that but I do know word salad is green.

 

[Belz...]

BBC - If God exists, why did he allow the Haiti earthquake

He's obviously evil.

 

[Belz...]

If God exists, why did he allow the Haiti earthquake?
...
to prove that death is not the worst fate
death proves life
if we lived in an immortal paradise forever
we would not value life
with the same
exquisite aftertaste
that the possibility of death inspires
...
that does not mean one should pursue death and sin as the pedophile suggests
...
down exists because up requires it to
but birds do not need to fly headfirst into the ground to prove this
...
;-j

He's got an awful way of making his points; and making them murky.

What a boob.

 

[Maia]

Death proves life?
Dont know about that but I do know word salad is green.

(tosses the word salad of pantheism, God as creator and destroyer, font of good and evil and the inscrutable mystery of existence!)

Try it with the citrus vinaigrette.

 

[TimCallahan]

If God exists, why did he allow the Haiti earthquake?
...
to prove that death is not the worst fate
death proves life
if we lived in an immortal paradise forever
we would not value life
with the same
exquisite aftertaste
that the possibility of death inspires
...
that does not mean one should pursue death and sin as the pedophile suggests
...
down exists because up requires it to
but birds do not need to fly headfirst into the ground to prove this
...
;-j

There's plenty of suffering in ordinary human existence. We don't, in fact, live in an immortal paradise. We are finite, mortal and subject to disease. Think back on your childhood. While that phase of our lives is generally viewed as idyllic, children regularly suffer from high fevers becuase their immune systems aren't yet mature. Their pain thresholds are lower than those of adults, and they spend a good deal of time in tears over bee-stings, being tormented by bullies and older siblings, and suffering multiple minor and major injuries.

We don't need killer tsunamis, massive earthuakes, Hurricane Katrina, other natural disasters or birth defects and genetic diseases like Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis to value life. Ordinary physical sufferings, along with aging are quite enough for that.

 

[Giz]

And you'll have just booked yourself a front-row seat for the 2128 Tampico earthquake, which is gonna be an 8.2.
Nice place to be crushed though.

Really? You'd be sentenced to crushing just for acting as an agent of karmic justice? I mean, there's no free will in it is there, if so and so deserves to get punched and mugged, then someone has to do it (presumably someone who was good enough in a previous life to deserve "finding" a slightly used wallet)

Of course that "bad" person was presumably just punishing someone else in a prior cycle for their previous-previous life misdeeds, so wherein is freewill and culpability in this infinite regression of karmic gotcha?

 

[slingblade]

Can I just ask...what pedophile?

 

[Thunder]

one could argue that the existence of such events is good evidence that the God of the Bible never existed.

that, or Haiti was being punished by God, or God now has a hands-off policy on the world and just lets nature take its course.

 

[blobru]

Hi Legato.
Since you're playing God's advocate here, I'll take the Devil's side:

Some arguments for this:

1. This is the best of all possible worlds commensurate with the existence of humans with free will. Any other world is logically impossible. God cannot do the logically impossible

-- yet the prevention or mitigation of natural disasters doesn't logically compromise human free will.

2. Space-time as a whole is perfectly good; it only looks imperfect locally and through the sensory apparatus of beings who experience the flow of time.

-- yet "evil" is experienced locally, through the senses, in time (the supposed perfection of the whole notwithstanding).

3. Any death, pain, or torment is temporary and as of nothing compared with the infinite reward available after life.

-- if it is "as of nothing", why have it in the first place? why is suffering necessary?

4. We are inherently bad and sinful, and deserve everything pain and torment; it's only through the grace of God that any of us our saved.

-- and every baby born deserving torment: this theodicy seems more evil than what it seeks to explain.

The most sensible theistic solution to the problem of evil, I think, is that god is not all-powerful. But then, of course, is god really "God"? (And so on...)

 

[quarky]

Evil, if it exists, is the desire to exploit other humans. To see them as having less worth than we. I see this as an easily corrected technological problem; worthy of correcting, for the good of us all.

For some, its an emotional issue.

 

[roger]

Can I just ask...what pedophile?

I think he was talking about me, since I alluded to raping daughters.

But I couldn't be bothered to rise to the bait. Trolls are boring.

 

[Darth Rotor]

Possible explanation in reply to the OP, under the assumption that God was involved in this earthquake directly, as in "OK, today, earthquake in Port Au Prince, for this reason ____:"

Voodoo pisses Him off.

DR