If you believe in God.......

[Wishing on a star]

DisDuck:

The rain falls on the just and the unjust....
That does not involve belief in original sin.

Yep, that's right. The rain falls on the just AND the unjust. (The 'rain' signifies prosperity and good fortune!!!!! as opposed to 'drought')
Death and misfortune fall upon the just AND the unjust.

Does that not pretty much sum up the reality???

 

[DisDuck]

So 6 million Jews died so that we would not 'lose' free will or 'faith'. An awefully expensive price tag. G-d lost 6 million worshippers. I guess in the grand scheme of things what is 6 million worshippers one way or another. sarcasm intended.

You try and tell my MIL that losing her entire family and spending 6 years in ghettos was worth it so that g-d would not have people lose faith.

 

[What the Heck]

DisDuck, the Holoucaust (sorry for the spelling) seems to be very personal with you. Do you mind if I ask how old you are? Did it affect you personally and how?

Please do not take offense and feel free to say you do not wish to answer, I am just curious and ask with all respect.

 

[Wishing on a star]

disduck

It is not the will of God that any man should perish.


And, another reminder that the 'Rain' mentioned signifies prosperity and good fortune... NOT death and misfortune.

 

[What the Heck]

So 6 million Jews died so that we would not 'lose' free will or 'faith'. An awefully expensive price tag. G-d lost 6 million worshippers. I guess in the grand scheme of things what is 6 million worshippers one way or another. sarcasm intended.

You try and tell my MIL that losing her entire family and spending 6 years in ghettos was worth it so that g-d would not have people lose faith.

There were other things that came out of it as well, some of them very good. For instance, the State of Israel. It is possible that without the incentive of WWII, the State of Israel might not exist.

This isn't to say that the loss of 6 million people wasn't and isn't a tragedy. It was a terrible time in our history, one that unfortunately many have forgotten. I firmly believe that God did not cause it, that certain men were to blame. And I believe that God grieved with each death.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Can someone answer this WHY?

Something horrible happened in my family 5 years ago. My 12 yo neice was hit by a car, thrown 50 feet, landed on her head. She had a massive head injury. She was in a coma for 2 weeks. the Dr's could tell us NOTHING until she woke up, IF she woke up. The scariest thing in the world is when you ask a Dr a question, and he can't answer it. She woke up. It was a miracle in itself that she woke up, but she has no permanent damage. The Dr's were astounded at her recovery. She is now a beautiful, healthy 17 yo senior in HS.

About 4 months after my neice was hit, the next town over had an identical tragedy. A 12 yo boy was waiting for his dad to pick him up, when he was hit by a car. Same thing. Massive head injury, in a coma. Same hospital. I followed it in the paper. Every couple of days, the headline would read "boy still critical, family holding vigil at hospital." I would think how strange, WE were that family a few weeks earlier. Sitting in the same waiting room, rotating visitors. About a week and a half after the accident, I picked the paper up of my front steps. And right on the front page...it hit me like a brick... BOY, 12, LOSES FIGHT TO LIVE. he died. HE died. I rememeber sobbing. I cried for his family. I called my sister, and we cried together. She was thinking the same thing I was. Why us? Why did we come home with our little girl. yet, this family had to walk out of that hospital without their boy????? What made us so special?

Not that I wanted our outcome to be any different, Lord NO, but why couldn't theirs be the same????

It bothered me for a long, long time. Life is a mystery.

 

[JennyMominRI]

DisDuck, the Holoucaust (sorry for the spelling) seems to be very personal with you. Do you mind if I ask how old you are? Did it affect you personally and how?

Please do not take offense and feel free to say you do not wish to answer, I am just curious and ask with all respect.

I do not think you have to be personally affected by the holocaust for it to deeply effect you..I've been deeply affected by it since childhood. My first experience with it wa sseeing the miniseries Holocaust in 1978..In the mid 80's I saw the movie Escape from Sobibor and was highly bothered by it.One day while working in the grocery store,I saw an older woman with numbers tattoed on her arm..I knew what they signified and had to walk away and cry . It was around then that I started studying the Holocaust..Of course to me it felt personl.It didn;t feel like I was studying someing that happened to someone else a long time ago.To me it felt personal..Some could say that is because I have alway had a Jewish soul.Anyway the first time I walked into a synagogue was in 2002.. I quickly learned what I already knew.This was no thing of the past. There were survivors there. There were children of surviors..There were young children who were persoanally marked by the experience of their family..In my conversion class there was a woman whose grandmother died in the Holocaust. Her parents raised her as a secular Jew. They could not come to grips with a G-d who would allow the Shoah,and event that killed one out of every 3 Jews on the planet,was worthy of worship..This woman was in class to learn about Judaism,so she could help her son become a Bar Mitzvah..The first since the 1930'a to do so. To underestimate the importance the ongoing sadness and effects of the Holocaust on modern days Jews is big big mistake..It's had profound effects on Jewish beliefs and will continue too

 

[robinb]

Bad things happen to good people. It is one of the reasons I do not believe in a god.

 

[mickeyfan2]

I feel that your niece has something that G-d wants her to still do. The boy has accomplished is earthly goal, so G-d decided to take him back. I believe that where I am going after I die is better than the best life on Earth.

 

[Donny Baker]

to think there is something controlling the lives and futures of a terra-billion of organisms on earth doesn't cut it with me. we're the only life on the planet that understands it's own eventual demise. why does that make us better than chimp? we share almost the identical DNA material, but they have no idea of their very existence and and ultimate death. what makes humans so special? the fact we were able to compose a book called the bible? IMHO that's scary, closed-minded thinking.

 

[Buckalew11]

Can someone answer this WHY?

Something horrible happened in my family 5 years ago. My 12 yo neice was hit by a car, thrown 50 feet, landed on her head. She had a massive head injury. She was in a coma for 2 weeks. the Dr's could tell us NOTHING until she woke up, IF she woke up. The scariest thing in the world is when you ask a Dr a question, and he can't answer it. She woke up. It was a miracle in itself that she woke up, but she has no permanent damage. The Dr's were astounded at her recovery. She is now a beautiful, healthy 17 yo senior in HS.

About 4 months after my neice was hit, the next town over had an identical tragedy. A 12 yo boy was waiting for his dad to pick him up, when he was hit by a car. Same thing. Massive head injury, in a coma. Same hospital. I followed it in the paper. Every couple of days, the headline would read "boy still critical, family holding vigil at hospital." I would think how strange, WE were that family a few weeks earlier. Sitting in the same waiting room, rotating visitors. About a week and a half after the accident, I picked the paper up of my front steps. And right on the front page...it hit me like a brick... BOY, 12, LOSES FIGHT TO LIVE. he died. HE died. I rememeber sobbing. I cried for his family. I called my sister, and we cried together. She was thinking the same thing I was. Why us? Why did we come home with our little girl. yet, this family had to walk out of that hospital without their boy????? What made us so special?

Not that I wanted our outcome to be any different, Lord NO, but why couldn't theirs be the same????

It bothered me for a long, long time. Life is a mystery.

I have had this same thought before. A few years ago my FIL went into the hospital just before Christmas to have open heart surgery. He never came out. He died after 3 weeks of fighting for his life. A good man. Everyday people have open heart surgery. Everyday people live through it and go on to live productive lives for many years.

Every day a woman loses a baby before it is born. Every day a woman births a healthy baby. Why?

I don't know. I don't know why your niece was spared her life and that young boy died. I don't know why my FIL didn't make it trhough that surgery. I don't why Disduck's MIL lost her family in the holocaust. And why was she spared? Or others? I have noo idea why my sweet dad who is such a wonderful dad and and husband and son is dying of prostate cancer.

I think we are not to know the answers to the "whys?" and "how comes?".

I think bad things do happen to all of us. I think many good things happen to all of us too.

I beleive in free will and I believe that there are times God intervenes. I have no idea how and why He does or does not. It is not a sticking point for me. I am so grateful for the good that I just can't get hung up on the bad.

 

[Shel]

I'm probably going show my ignorance here, but I'm wondering why some people spell "God" using a hyphen instead of the "o"; "G-d"??

Thanks!

 

[JennyMominRI]

I'm probably going show my ignorance here, but I'm wondering why some people spell "God" using a hyphen instead of the "o"; "G-d"??

Thanks!

IT's a Jewish custom not to write out the word G-d or L-rd

 

[poohandwendy]

I believe God gave us free will for a reason, that we learn much from our mistakes, lessons and suffering here. I pray for strength, not for acts to be done. I believe that God is with us and never turns His back, but does not pick and choose who is deserving of His hand to change circumstances to fit our human needs. My belief is that what we experience in this life is not as significant in the scheme of things as we think. I strongly believe that we will understand why things happen the way they do here when we reach the kingdom of heaven.

What made us so special?

i don't think any of us are more special than others, I think we all deal with different things at different times. If it is about being special, then bad things would only happen to bad people. Special people would be immune. In my experience, noone is immune from tragedy.

 

[mickeyfan2]

When somebody asks me, "Why did G-d let <insert name> die? I prayed for a full recovery." I always tell them, "The Earth would be extremely crowded, since nobody would ever die."

I believe we are only here for a while. Longevity is not from G-d, but from improvements that man has made under G-ds direction.

 

[C.Ann]

I believe that everything happens for a reason and it's not for me to question why.. The "reason" will reveal itself eventually..

 

[rayelias]

"why do bad things happen?"

Bad things don't happen. Good things don't happen. "Bad" and "Good" are human concepts. Things happen. It's all a matter of perspective. A "bad thing" to one person might be a "good thing" to someone else, especially in the "grand scheme" of things. Whatever happens, it's all for a "greater purpose" and you should trust that whatever happens is to fulfil that purpose. Example: Jesus being crucified. Well, if I was innocently put to death (or a member of my family), I'd think that's a pretty bad thing. But, if that didn't happen, my sins wouldn't have been forgiven. (If you're a Christian).

We (humans) are not the center of existance. We are just a (very) small part of what God wants. God does not exist for us, we exist for Him. It's all about Him, "good", "bad", whatever - when things happen, it's to benefit Him, His kingdom, His plan - not to benefit us.

Do you think God causes them?

Do you think God cannot stop them?

Things just happen.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega". God IS. Everything that has happened and will happen, IS. The concept of "time" is a human concept. There is no "was" or "to be", there just "is".

I don't think God "micro-manages." "Free will" is already accounted for in existance and events in order for the "greater purpose" to be.

 

[Viking]

to think there is something controlling the lives and futures of a terra-billion of organisms on earth doesn't cut it with me. we're the only life on the planet that understands it's own eventual demise. why does that make us better than chimp? we share almost the identical DNA material, but they have no idea of their very existence and and ultimate death. what makes humans so special? the fact we were able to compose a book called the bible? IMHO that's scary, closed-minded thinking.

Well said!!

 

[6_Time_Momma]

Mom,Just wanted to say I'm sorry I used Miscarraige in my examples. I forgot you lost a child and would have left that out had I remembered. I'm fine using examples from my own life,not so fine using other peoples. Anyway,I'm sorry

No problem.

Yay! It's stayed civil so far!

I came to this though many years of soul searching and the readong of a book calledWhy bad things happen to good people ,by Rabbi Harold Kushner
This is not a *Jewish book*..He lost his son and as such asked some heard questions

I read this book, but it was way back...about 14 years ago after my son was born. Didn't he basically believe that God could not be just, loving, and all powerful (all three things) if bad things happen, so He must not be all three? And after contemplation, it was his thought that God was loving and just, but not all powerful? Maybe I'm remembering wrong.


Interesting thoughts so far.

 

[JennyMominRI]

No problem.

Yay! It's stayed civil so far!



I read this book, but it was way back...about 14 years ago after my son was born. Didn't he basically believe that God could not be just, loving, and all powerful (all three things) if bad things happen, so He must not be all three? And after contemplation, it was his thought that God was loving and just, but not all powerful? Maybe I'm remembering wrong.


Interesting thoughts so far.

I read it a while,back but that sounds close