Actually, it's an excellent example of a lifetime of abuse. There's your evil. I'm sure you would expect God (if He existed) to fix us every time we did something to abuse our bodies. A typical liberal mindset. You expect no personal accountability or responsibility for your own actions. Someone must always be there to make things OK for you.
... and instead of addressing the Problem of Evil you go and use a red herring on something else. Surprising? Not really.
Depends on the evil. I suppose I automatically assume disease, however you said something about doing things to ourselves and expecting god to fix them (lol, fallacy anyone?), how do you know the man's ailment is self-inflicted?
Your response obviously assumed God was so terrible to allow a human to endure such suffering. Yet a man who smoke cigarettes all his life should expect that same God to fix the things he had done to himself.
this thread is dumb and not in the funny way. How do you know the man lying in the bes is atheist? couse his questioning god? belivers don't question him? is that it?
.... of course. Because there is no human suffering in the world that is not self-inflicted. I imagine the 26,000 people who will starve to death today harbor a deep desire to do so. How do you know the disease is self-induced?
Those 26,000 people who will starve to death are the victims of political disputes, wars and colonialist countries that throughout the year have robed those countries of everything they had. Even more after the damage was done instead of trying to help them the "developed" world ignored and used them for political and military purposes. It is self-induced. God has nothing to do with it. It has been proven that if you smoke all your life you're going to get a lungs cancer or some other lungs illness. Again it is self-inducted.
Same old dodge. People feeding other people is a act in the absence of a god, god is not required. God can be non-existent and people would still be able to help each other. Your old and tired argument does not address the problem. You say god is love, yet there is human suffering that could be erased by this god, why does human suffering still exist? Your idea of god's intervention in indistinguishable from a secular reality. God exists. God is omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good. A perfectly good being would want to prevent all evils. An omniscient being knows every way in which evils can come into existence. An omnipotent being, who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, has the power to prevent that evil from coming into existence. A being who knows every way in which an evil can come into existence, who is able to prevent that evil from coming into existence, and who wants to do so, would prevent the existence of that evil. If there exists an omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good being, then no evil exists. Evil exists (logical contradiction). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_evil
Those people do not choose to starve to death. A being capable of creating all time and space is capable of preventing such atrocities. Meaning it is either incompetent or malevolent. Not necessarily, there are actually quite a few people who have a genetic resistance to lung cancer. However, that is beside the point. How does the OP know this mean is dieing of a self-induced disease? That is my question.
For someone who does not believe in Him, you assume to know a lot about how He works. God works through His people, we are his vessels. People feeding other people is the very essence of God, not the absence. People criticizing all that is good, on the other hand, is indeed the absence of God and another example of the "evil" definition you've been seeking.
Evil is always a question of free will when it comes to religion. If God exists and has both omniscience and omnipotence, then free will essentially doesn't exist. If God began everything knowing ahead of time what would happen, then everything literally occurs according to his plan. This conversation we're having right now is merely one infinitesimal part of that plan, and our responses are merely in accordance with the natures he created us with. He planned for you to believe and for me to not do so. The experiences in your life were already known to him before they occurred, just as mine were, and our personalities are merely a combination of our experiences and genes. So, evil happens only because it was planned out just like everything else. This is the problem with belief in a divine being that is both all-knowing and all-powerful. Infinite power and knowledge equals infinite responsibility.
If you would have read the Bible you would have know that God chosed not to interfer. Sure it's all nice and good to know that there is always someone to clean the mess we create (such a teenager mentality) but this is not how things work.
I used to be a Christian, hence some understanding of how the being is supposed to work. Working through people is indistinguishable from a secular world. Why are those 26,000 not saved? Your argument fails to address the Problem of Evil.
The choice has been made by other people thus it is our fault as human creatures. Of course God could interfer and prevent this but then the same "intelligen" and "developed" people that imposed starvation upon other would have called Him a tyrant who opress the poor of us. This is how far our hypocrisy would go. Those are exceptions. If you play with fire once or twice there is a possibility you get burn. But if you continue to play with fire over and over again you can be sure you will get burn.
However there are so many verses that say that he will interfere, why else would people pray? Your argument fails to address the problem of evil.
Democracy gives us freedom but it's limited by laws. The very same thing God does. We have a certaint freedom to chose between good and evil, to belive or not. What I mean is that the plan has been created when Adam and Eve made the first step and created the sin and evilness. However each and every person have the power to chose the side he fights for. Evil happen because we created it. Remember that God forbid Adam and Even to eat from a tree however they did. So it was our choice that created evilness.
Those 26,000 people do not choose to starve. Nor is their situation their own doing. Your argument does not explain the existence of evil. That does not answer whether or not the person in the image is suffering from a self-induced disease.
No there isn't!! Why are you, an atheist, acting like you know the Word of God? Show me these many new testament verses that describe how God is going to "interfere" You don't have a clue, and frankly, I don't understand why you think you do. You should stick to what you know best about the subject. Nothing.
Psalm 107:28-30 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. Then they were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven Matthew 7:7 ”Ask, and it will be given to you seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. Matthew 21:22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Mark 9:29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.” Mark 11:24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it Acts 9:40 But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. Ephesians 6:18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints, Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working. http://www.whatchristianswanttoknow.com/10-awesome-bible-verses-about-the-power-of-prayer/ There you go, I suggest reading your own book.
God forbade Adam and Eve from eating from the Tree of Knowledge. There is something odd about the believe that the pursuit of knowledge is evil, and a state of blissful ignorance is ideal. More so when you consider the prospect of punishing your offspring for your own, or a distant relatives misdoings. Am I allowed to beat my future [possible] children from my grandfathers ill deeds? Ridiculous.
