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It is natural to ask these excellent questions, such as why do bad things happen to good people? why aren't my prayers answered? how can I believe in God when I've lost my beloved friend? Take those questions to God in prayer. God is an unlimited wellspring of comfort, understanding, love, wisdom, insight, explanations, and practical guidance day in and day out.
It is natural to ask these excellent questions, such as why do bad things happen to good people? why aren't my prayers answered? how can I believe in God when I've lost my beloved friend? Take those questions to God in prayer. God is an unlimited wellspring of comfort, understanding, love, wisdom, insight, explanations, and practical guidance day in and day out.
So I'm supposed to pray to the same guy that ignored my initial prayer?
When you quit seeing life as all about you, you quit seeing events as rewards or punishments and instead simply see them as ... events.
For us godless, there is no one to be angry at or disappointed with, no "why me" but rather, "why not me". You flex with circumstances and make the best of everything ... pleasant or not.
When you quit seeing life as all about you, you quit seeing events as rewards or punishments and instead simply see them as ... events.
For us godless, there is no one to be angry at or disappointed with, no "why me" but rather, "why not me". You flex with circumstances and make the best of everything ... pleasant or not.
You didn't answer my question. Why do children get lukemia?
Let me share a revelation I had during my time on this planet.
I was brought up a Christian. My mother was a firm believer and took me to church every week without fault. I used to be as firm in my beliefs as her. I prayed and prayed and prayed.
One day my best friend got leukemia. He was a good kid. His parents were good people who sent to church and prayed.
I prayed even more. I got my parents to pray with me, my grandparents, my classmates. We prayed our asses off.
It didn't work. 8 months later I attended his funeral. When I asked the pastor why God allowed it, he said to me that "God worked in mysterious ways" and that Lucas "Had been called to sit next to Jesus".
Strike one. I thought Jesus was an egomaniac.
Sometimes later, Luke's parents lost their business. Then they separated. Then Luke's father got in an accident.
As time went by, I saw more and more good people have all the rotten luck in the world. Bad people got rich, got married, had kids and nothing happened to them.
I prayed and prayed and prayed. It did nothing. Bad luck kept coming to good people.
So I had a revelation. God is either a real dirtbag, seeing his people squirm and enjoying it. Or impotent to stop even the smallest evil.
Not really the type of guy I want to have as a friend.
My conclusion: there is no god. And if there is a god, I don't want anything to do with him.
Since that day, my life has been much easier.
You have simply noticed the Problem of Evil, which is the observation that given the considerable amount of suffering in the world, there can be no deity which is omnipotent, omniscient, and all good.
Much apologetic word-salad has been tossed in an attempt to explain away this problem, and that suffices to soothe the worries of the salad-tossers, but it doesn't deal with the actual problem itself - given the world in which we live, there cannot be a deity that is both unlimited in powers and boundlessly good.
In short, it highlights a gaping plot-hole in a crappy religious plot.
Let me share a revelation I had during my time on this planet.
I was brought up a Christian. My mother was a firm believer and took me to church every week without fault. I used to be as firm in my beliefs as her. I prayed and prayed and prayed.
One day my best friend got leukemia. He was a good kid. His parents were good people who sent to church and prayed.
I prayed even more. I got my parents to pray with me, my grandparents, my classmates. We prayed our asses off.
It didn't work. 8 months later I attended his funeral. When I asked the pastor why God allowed it, he said to me that "God worked in mysterious ways" and that Lucas "Had been called to sit next to Jesus".
Strike one. I thought Jesus was an egomaniac.
Sometimes later, Luke's parents lost their business. Then they separated. Then Luke's father got in an accident.
As time went by, I saw more and more good people have all the rotten luck in the world. Bad people got rich, got married, had kids and nothing happened to them.
I prayed and prayed and prayed. It did nothing. Bad luck kept coming to good people.
So I had a revelation. God is either a real dirtbag, seeing his people squirm and enjoying it. Or impotent to stop even the smallest evil.
Not really the type of guy I want to have as a friend.
My conclusion: there is no god. And if there is a god, I don't want anything to do with him.
Since that day, my life has been much easier.
If you go though these events and take Jesus out of the equation you will have better results, because your knees will feel better by not having to kneel down to pray.
Every religious person in this thread has answered the same thing: "You don't understand god".
Oh I do.
The man/woman/whatever is useless.
I'm an old man now, I'm conceited and jaded, cynical about my fellow humans and there's not much that's going to change about that.
One thing is certain, when I was a kid, I really believed. My prayers were honest and I prayed the paper off the walls to change the world.
I'm completely done with any religion. And I'm done with people trying to tell me otherwise.
Finally I'm free and I can see the world for what it is, one giant blob of pure chance and rotten luck. It makes it so much easier to live.
Every religious person in this thread has answered the same thing: "You don't understand god".
Oh I do.
The man/woman/whatever is useless.
I'm an old man now, I'm conceited and jaded, cynical about my fellow humans and there's not much that's going to change about that.
One thing is certain, when I was a kid, I really believed. My prayers were honest and I prayed the paper off the walls to change the world.
I'm completely done with any religion. And I'm done with people trying to tell me otherwise.
Finally I'm free and I can see the world for what it is, one giant blob of pure chance and rotten luck. It makes it so much easier to live.
Because there are certain biological factors who cause leukemia. Cancer is a disease. A disease is either the result of a genetic disposition, which is the result of faults in the highly intricate an complicate process of life, or the result of outside factors like pollution, radiation or other.
Kids get cancer because life is not perfect, because cancer cells are a life in itself and because life will always be egotistical. It will always put it's own survival first.
Seeing it like this makes so much more sense. It's a perfectly logical explanation, and it doesn't need god or evil to prove or explain anything.
I'm sorry your friend passed away due to leukemia. But there are a few different ways of looking at this and life in general.
Take comfort in that you (I'm assuming) loved your friend and made in known to him just as his parents did. And while it really hurts now, his memories will shape your personality somewhat and be a part of you for the rest of your life.
It's easy to live in a modern western country during one of the best generations in all of history. I've traveled to many places throughout the world where kids his age were forced into taking arms for different warlords, or where children are raped. tortured, never having the benefit of a real meal, or air-conditioning, not to mention being able to form friends and have loving family, even if it is just for a short time. So many kids today around the world would gladly trade places.
The point is that we are all going to die sometime. You can waste an endless amount of time being angry with god if you believe in him, or something else if you do not. I personally do not believe in any sort of god seeing as there hasn't been any evidence. And breakup of parents following the death of a child is so common. When my best friend was killed (now 33 years ago), his parents who are two of the most loving people I have ever met in my life almost got divorce. They separated for a couple of years, and it wasn't until about 10 years later that both of them had come to grips with his death.
Whether you choose to stay religious or become what I call myself, an agnostic atheist, live each day to it's fullest. Remind the people you love that you love them. If you need help dealing with his death talk to others who knew him. But blaming god or anyone (like the drunk driver that killed my friend) is poison and will rot your insides quickly if you let it.
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