On 24 Jan, 00:04, Don Johnson <[email protected]> wrote: > On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 4:07 PM, Alan Wostenberg <[email protected]> wrote: > > The haiti disaster did not just kill people. It killed grass, too! > > > But from the fact that grass died, nobody argues God is not. Why do > > they argue that because people died, God is not? > > > As Alexandar Pruss points out inhttp://bit.ly/7sSRUn"We are only > > really bothered by the problem once we deal with critters that are > > conscious and capable of sophisticated lives" Why is this? > > Hmm. You are correct it is an illogical argument to assume there is > no god because people or grass died. What some people think, I > imagine, is that it proves if there is a god he is uncaring or > possibly even cruel. Rather then put myself through the agony of > believing the All Father doesn't give a rat's ass; I'd rather believe > he doesn't exist at all. It's less emotionally taxing. I don't get > angry. >
The real reason is that, when people live in a region that is prone to natural events like earthquakes, they risk their lives. In addition to that, there's the whole aspect that, events simply occur. We VIEW them as evil due to the limited context in which we view them. Also, of course, no one is exempt from dying. That's not down to any lack of care on God's part, but simply just an aspect of life...one near the end. I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, which is prone to large earthquakes every 150 years or so due to its proximity to the New Madrid fault zone. Now, I linve in England, which is far less prone to earthquakes. But that doesn't prevent other forms of natural events that could affect life here, e.g., floods. I suppose the bottom line is that, if you're alive, it's safe to assume that, at some point, that will come to an end. The exact circumstances are completely unpredictable (unless you take your own life!) since we don't have access to the future. Given a scenario where there IS a God AND an afterlife, God's 'care' could only be determined once one is IN said afterlife. If there is no God/ afterlife, then there's no use fretting over the circumstances of our deaths anyway, irrespective of how cruel or uncaring they may 'seem'. > I think many angry so-called atheists aren't really atheists at all. > They make the claim because they want to punish God and all who > believe. Weird, eh? > That's because there's more than one 'sect' of atheism. Some simply aren't convinced that there is a God and 'believe' that there is not one. Some, as you allude to, hate the concept (of God) and rebel against those who do. Others simply hold no view about it. Then there are the hybrid forms, e.g., someone who believes in God A but does not believe in God B (like an Ancient Egyptian who believes in Ra but does not believe in YHVH, like 'Pharoah'), thus they are theistic with respect to the God they believe in but atheistic with respect to God(s) they don't believe in. Atheists, like theists/deists, are a varied lot. > -Don > > > > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > > ""Minds Eye"" group. > > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group > > athttp://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en.
