To Those Who Believe in God, Why Doesn't God Want Me Dead? Also Why Do You Still Believe in God?

[Tyler Montgomery]

All knowing and able to do anything, doesn't mean God will use His power to change the free will of man. He is a Gentleman and a loving Father. You have a choice. If everyone obeyed God's word, hate would go away, but we have a choice. We also have to live with the consequences of our choices and the choices of those around us.

My questions for you:

• Would you want God to overrule your choices, because He knows better?
• Are you willing to give up your free will to have a perfect world?

It's not going to happen, but is that how you want it to be? Allowing us to choose doesn't not take away either attribute of God, His omnipotence or His omniscience. The second is why He gave us His Law. He knows if we do "X", then "Y" will be the consequence He wants to save us from. He is our Heavenly Father. How should He treat His children?

Oh, by the way... The earth will not continue as it is. It will gets worse, as it did in the time of Noah and the earth will be judged again, because of the choices man makes. Because God is good, He made a way of escape through Jesus. It's a matter of faith and trust.

Okay so you're saying that God is indeed all knowing and has the power to control anything and everything. If God possesses those two traits, yet still allows innocent people to suffer in such a horrible and cruel way, then I am not convinced that he is the moral authority that I want to follow. Based on what you said, you are assuming that your God is sitting back and allowing young children to be raped, allowing millions of people to die well before their time from horrible illness and disease, and allowing BILLIONS of people to be condemned to eternal damnation purely because they were born in a place where the Christian word is not widespread. You believe he is allowing all those things to happen so that he does not interfere at all with free will. In my opinion the notion that God is omnipotent and omniscient is a scary prospect. If his moral standards are that dark and heartless, then I sincerely hope that I never go to heaven.

 

[volsung37]

It all depends where you're born doesn't it? Happen to be born in Israel you're Jewish and automatically one of God's Chosen Ones. A few miles away a child born in Gaza will be condemned to hell (if he stays Muslim). In the West there are so many varieties of Christianity it is dizzying. All of them convinced they are right. Believers will kill one another in the name of God and be prepared to die. It all seems like complete madness to me but then I'm a Buddhist and condemned to eternal hell anyway.

 

[Tyler Montgomery]

It all depends where you're born doesn't it? Happen to be born in Israel you're Jewish and automatically one of God's Chosen Ones. A few miles away a child born in Gaza will be condemned to hell (if he stays Muslim). In the West there are so many varieties of Christianity it is dizzying. All of them convinced they are right. Believers will kill one another in the name of God and be prepared to die. It all seems like complete madness to me but then I'm a Buddhist and condemned to eternal hell anyway.

It is madness. Almost all modern critical thinkers are rejecting religion. It will take some time before the more dull minded will follow suit. Fortunately, If trends towards secularism continue, in 80-100 years the God of the Bible, the Torah, and the Quran will be as obscure and laughable as Zeus, Apollo, and Poseidon. It's a shame that most of us will not be around to see those days.

 

[billie48]

Let's just respect the OP's wish not to turn this into a religious debate. Let's respect each other's free agency to live with faith or not and keep it that way. There have been plenty discussions on TT before on this subject. These are just a few samples of what have been discussed. If the OP wants to find real life's experiences of people who have been to the life after and return (and I personally talked to a few of them after I tragically lost my son at 5 years old), and to find more personal experiences people have that point them to the existence of God, our Father in Heaven, then check these out. They may help you understand why there are so much evils around us even with a loving God.

So here are the links to some prior discussions on this subject, starting with the latest one and some prior ones. God is love, sublime love. Not imagining but real. That is my personal testimony of Him even after I have lost my only son who died in my arm bleeding to death, even after I have this ultra high pitch dog whistle T and severe H to deal with as if suffering PTSD after my son's loss is not enough. This life is tough and there is no guarantee that you are going to be exempt from sufferings, not even His prophets, the apostles, even Christ Himself. To believe or not to believe, that is our personal choice. Science and faith are not necessarily mutually exclusive. If you google scientists with faith, the list is long and there are Nobel Price winners among them. So draw your own conclusion but respect that people can differ in their conclusions even faced with the same facts (and we have a real life drama of that in the current U.S. presidential election, lol) . Here are prior discussions which contain more detail about this subject. Peace to us all.

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/what-about-god.17603/


https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/anyone-coping-with-prayer.15229/page-2#post-181644

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/a-message-of-hope.16650/#post-195322

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/threads/there-is-hope-in-god.8758/#post-101452

https://www.tinnitustalk.com/thread...-prayer-help-you-cope.1008/page-2#post-144086

 

[JasonP]

So, I'll keep it short. I'm 28 and got bearing loss in both ears, but Mainly the left one. It came with louder tinnitus than had before ( had it before and it didn't bother me at all). Went to multiple doctors who didn't give me prednisone like they should have and an am101 trial which should have happened as I shouldnt have just been given the prednisone. The doctor lied to me and acted like I was given the option to take prednisone before the trial (not true, I asked for options and they said there were zero options).

Anyways, it's been a year and I'm lift with ringing that I hear over everything and hearing loss that makes hearing conversations difficult in some situations. I used to pride myself in hearing everything around me and now I can't.

But I honestly have to ask why would a God allow such pain and misery in this life? If he wants me dead then I guess he/she/it is on there way to there goal I guess.

Also, why do you all still believe in a God after seeing all the suffering in the world? What do you base all this off?

Why should I still believe?

I'm not looking to start a religious debate, so please people don't turn it into that if people respond to answer my questions. I am just looking for honest answers.

I honestly just want to know. Thanks for any information.

I understand where you are coming from. When I was young, I was fortunate enough to be in a nice community with not many problems. I didn't see much suffering as a kid. I think a lot of it was hidden from me which I am grateful for. As I got older I saw more and more suffering and when I got T, I experienced greater suffering than any pas depression. I asked, why is God allowing all this? It really hits you hard when it comes from within.

There are many reasons I believe in God but right now my faith isn't as strong as it should be. That is my own fault. I can tell you from experience that by living by doing good to others as God wants us to do is so much better than being selfish.

In addition, the scientists scan the galaxy with satellites looking for some kind or radio signal that could prove alien life. The reason is because they believe with some kind of complex signal, it would have to be created by something. Well, they are so blind that they can't see the complex instructions here on earth with DNA and realize it has a Creator. As humans we can create a radio signal. We can't create life from non-life. Life doesn't spring out of nowhere. Where did these DNA instructions come from? Where did all the parts of the cell that carry out the DNA instructions come from? Why do many animals require both a male and a female to produce? Had to be intelligently designed and programmed.

 

[fishbone]

So, I'll keep it short. I'm 28 and got bearing loss in both ears, but Mainly the left one. It came with louder tinnitus than had before ( had it before and it didn't bother me at all). Went to multiple doctors who didn't give me prednisone like they should have and an am101 trial which should have happened as I shouldnt have just been given the prednisone. The doctor lied to me and acted like I was given the option to take prednisone before the trial (not true, I asked for options and they said there were zero options).

Anyways, it's been a year and I'm lift with ringing that I hear over everything and hearing loss that makes hearing conversations difficult in some situations. I used to pride myself in hearing everything around me and now I can't.

But I honestly have to ask why would a God allow such pain and misery in this life? If he wants me dead then I guess he/she/it is on there way to there goal I guess.

Also, why do you all still believe in a God after seeing all the suffering in the world? What do you base all this off?

Why should I still believe?

I'm not looking to start a religious debate, so please people don't turn it into that if people respond to answer my questions. I am just looking for honest answers.

I honestly just want to know. Thanks for any information.

There are people, that are blind and have no arms or legs and much worse. Yes, your ears are bad..yes my ears are bad. Yes, you have tinnitus..Yes..i have insane tinnitus. We still gotta live and do our best, why ever give up? God loves you and more importantly ..YOU gotta love yourself and help yourself.....Be positive and cope and move forward..

 

[devilinthedust]

Life was never intended to be easy, and a lot of things happen that we will never understand. At least not in this life. It's easy to focus on the bad days that we have and the struggles that drive us insane. I believe in God and I have witnessed miracles in my own life, so I know that He could completely heal me if He wished. The truth is I don't understand why He hasn't, but I do know that there is a purpose to all of it. One day I will understand completely and that's a day I look forward to. In the meantime I intend to keep moving forward. When I first got my hearing loss and this awful tinnitus, I wanted to die. Mine started with a trip to the gun range in December 2016, so it's been fairly recent, and some days it can wear on me. Still, I have two choices, I can lay down and die, or I can carry on and make the most out of my situation. I choose to live. Maybe that's because of my belief that God has this all planned out for my good, or I'm just too stubborn to know better. Either way, I'm not going anywhere, and neither should you. Your family needs you, and even though they can't possibly understand what you're going through, they love you and that should be worth more than the pain that we have to endure. Stay strong and take it one day at a time. When you have hit rock bottom, the only way is up.

 

[Wojtek Kalka]

.. well I am totally against any religion and won't go into this here but .. if someone stops believing because he/she is in pain, this person is a pretty self centered and egoistic douchebag imho .. ... to quote someone ...

Is that what God does? He helps? Tell me, why didn't God help my innocent friend who died for no reason while the guilty ran free? Okay. Fine. Forget the one offs. How about the countless wars declared in his name? Okay. Fine. Let's skip the random, meaningless murder for a second, shall we? How about the racist, sexist, phobia soup we've all been drowning in because of him? And I'm not just talking about Jesus. I'm talking about all organized religion. Exclusive groups created to manage control. A dealer getting people hooked on the drug of hope. His followers, nothing but addicts who want their hit of bullshit to keep their dopamine of ignorance. Addicts. Afraid to believe the truth. That there's no order. There's no power. That all religions are just metastasizing mind worms, meant to divide us so it's easier to rule us by the charlatans that wanna run us. All we are to them are paying fanboys of their poorly-written sci-fi franchise. If I don't listen to my imaginary friend, why the fuck should I listen to yours? People think their worship's some key to happiness. That's just how he owns you. Even I'm not crazy enough to believe that distortion of reality. So fuck God. He's not a good enough scapegoat for me."

 

[Tweaker]

I will try to answer the original question and give some reasons why I still believe in God.
Suffering is never an easy problem to discuss and there is no easy answer.
I will be honest and say that tinnitus turned my world upside down can still make me feel suicidal. It tests my faith more than anything else I have been through, but I do still believe.

Some little points to consider.

Only by experiencing the bitter, can we really understand or enjoy the sweet.
Without pain, would we really know pleasure?
Our own suffering enables us to empathise with others and move us to compassion to help them.

Suffering may actually be better understood with there being a God than removing God from the problem.

If God is true and there is a heaven then:
Suffering is temporary but heaven (where there will be no more pain or suffering) is eternal.
God has shown He cares about suffering by Himself becoming Man and enduring death on a cross in the person of Christ. God Himself has entered this world and became a part of human suffering.

It's worth pointing out that I don't believe in God because it makes me feel better but because I believe the evidence for God outweighs the evidence for there not being a God. Faith in anything should always be evidence-based but that is not the scope of this thread.
Some may think the message of hope and heaven is too good to be true but that in itself is no reason to dismiss it.

 

[JimChicago]

... But I honestly have to ask why would a God allow such pain and misery in this life? If he wants me dead then I guess he/she/it is on there way to there goal I guess.

Also, why do you all still believe in a God after seeing all the suffering in the world? What do you base all this off?

Why should I still believe?

I'm not looking to start a religious debate, so please people don't turn it into that if people respond to answer my questions. I am just looking for honest answers.

I honestly just want to know. Thanks for any information.

Don't feel that you are not alone in your questioning -- your questions are as old as mankind.

Also, I can appreciate that you don't want to "start a religious debate", but the answers you are seeking do in fact solely depend on which religion ("religious framework" or "faith framework") you subscribe to. Different religions will give you different explanations.

That is in no particular order...
the Holy Quran views God differently than the
TaNaKh (a.k.a. Old Testament) differently than the
New Testament differently than the
Shreemad Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads and Veda differently than the
Guru Granth Sahib differently than the
The Agamas differently than the
Book of Rites, the Analects, and Mencius differently than the
Tripitakas differently than the
Kojiki differently than the
Kitáb-i-Aqdas

For me, I'm most familiar with the intricacies of Christianity -- within Christianity, there are even different views or different dominating views on how/why God works.

For example, Evangelical Christians believe that it is only by faith (accomplished through Christ's death on the cross) and NOT by ANY "religion" (works) that one wins favor with God (i.e., salvation). Also that Christians are not perfect -- far from it. But that Christians instead (believe it or not) wish to learn how to reflect His love for His creation -- in this too we Christians are not perfect and fall short... very short... but we still wish to continue trying (knowing all along that it makes no difference on our salvation).

I don't know the details of why God does what He does, but I do know in my life He has had a method to confronting the madness/evil in the world (whether I like it or not).

For me, I can tell you already in the short time (5 weeks) I've had T, my compassion and empathy has grown for those with terminal or life-changing health conditions.

Perhaps He wishes to use me in the future to compassionately serve those with terminal/life-changing medical/health needs. I pray that I remain open to hearing His promptings and not focused on my will for my life.