Okay, I have to say this. I'm sorry if anyone is offended but I really don't understand this. I'm watching a news video about a young man who, on the way home from his graduation with his Dad, was sucked out of their car through the sunroof by a tornado. The car was lifted and tossed by the tornado. The father was very badly injured and is still in the hospital. They have yet to find the young man's body. I cannot even fathom the horror this family is suffering. I don't want to even imagine it. So the aunt is being interviewed and the interviewer says that he hopes the family can find the strength to get through this... words to that effect, and the woman say, "Well, our family has a lot of faith in God... I don't know what came after that. I was too upset to let it continue.
Now, someone please explain to me... I don't even know how to phrase it... Your loved one has just been brutally killed. You can't even find his body. Another loved one is horribly injured. You don't even know if he'll survive. Not to mention that this was all on a day that should have been special to the family. And your entire community has been devastated. Please someone explain to me how a person could have faith in God? That He'll do what? Help you find the body? It would seem to me that the time for Him to help would be BEFORE the tornado. Wouldn't you say?
Is it just the "faith" that holds a person together through such an experience? Not actually a god but just the faith? I can understand that it would help to have something on which to focus to keep a person from falling apart. Like a form of self-hypnosis. But what is it the person is expecting? Are they expecting their god to do something? Do they believe there is an actual personal god who can and will help them? Or is it just what people say? I mean, I would hardly expect or even accept comfort from someone who could have easily prevented the tragedy. I really want to know how this works. I don't remember. Maybe it's different for different people. I'd really like everyone's take on this; Christian or not. Or any other religion.
Now, I'm beyond any preaching here so I just want an answer. I'm not going to change my mind on my own beliefs. I've been all through it. Anyone who has known me for long knows how serious I was about God and being a Christian. I'll never go back to that. I manage a lot better on what I believe now instead of having bad things happen and wondering why and waiting for a supernatural being to somehow help me and wondering why He won't answer. And don't tell me the silence means "no" or "wait" either. Silence is silence.
I appreciate and look forward to your honest and thought-filled response.
5 comments:
Agnostics have been asking this question for years. Simple answer is, why not? Wouldn't you rather someone have faith in something that brings them even an ounce of comfort? There is really no reason to obsess and stay horrified on something that is painful. Really, what good will that do? Some people have the opinion that if God were small enough to be understood, then he/she would not be God.
What it all boils down to is no one really knows what is out there and what is not. If believing that a power greater than self can restore one to sanity, who are we to dispute that? I also have found that people that refuse to believe in God can have a quick change of heart when their child lay dying in the hospital. If there is a chance that a prayer can be said and a miracle can be performed, they will do it, and I have seen it happen.
I personally choose to believe in God because I feel that I have seen him work not only in my life, but in the lives of others as well. It is unfortunate to me that some of the religious zealots have ruined the possibility of the spiritual experience in so many that could use some positive force in their life. There is a difference in being religious and spiritual. Religion is for those who are scared of going to hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there.
Am I understanding correctly that you're saying it's the "belief" that helps and not that there is a god who is actually going to do something to help? Because I can understand that.
I'm okay with people believing as they choose. I'm just wanting to understand it. Many years ago, I would have said the same. I think a lot of times I said I trusted God when I was really just trying to convince myself. Like trying to comfort myself because I wanted to believe things made sense and would be alright. It's just that now that I don't believe in any gods, I have to accept what is presented to me as reality and deal with it. The biggest mistake I ever made in my life--one that affects me still today and, worse, affects my children--was made partially because I was praying and waiting for help and/or clear instructions from God. That never came. I made the wrong choice. No, I'm not blaming God. I don't believe there is a god. I'm blaming myself for not accepting my own responsibility.
No, I don't doubt that a lot of people change to a belief in a god during a tragedy. I would imagine this is true in a variety of religions. This is one thing I resent about religious people who prey on people in distress. Yes, I know they think they're helping but they're taking advantage of a person's weakness. Sure, I'm distraught over my loved one's illness, so I figure I'd be willing to offer sacrifices to any god that I thought would be able to help. I think these new-found beliefs during tragedy or deathbed confessions aren't usually real but just someone scared reaching out for some kind of comfort. I just believe it's false comfort.
I still don't understand the answer to my question of how a person can have faith in a god that just stood by and allowed a tragedy to occur when he could have prevented it. If they honestly do have this faith, what is it that they think their god will do now? How could they believe their god is going to help them when he just stood by and allowed it to happen to begin with? I just cannot wrap my head around that.
I do believe in a spiritualness to life. Kind of like a life force that connects us all. Not quite Star Wars but along those general lines. You can read my Facebook profile to see more of that. But I still believe that what happens is what happens and there is no one for us to call on to help us get through things or perform miracles.
I also don't understand how anyone can choose to believe in anything. I used to believe in God. The Christian God. I didn't make a choice. I just knew I believed it. Now I don't believe. I just realized that the belief was gone. I never made a choice about it. That's just my experience anyway.
You last two sentences seem right to me. When I was a Christian, I was afraid of hell. Of going there myself and of my loved ones going there. I had to pray a lot to deal with that fear. Looking back, it was just self-hypnosis like chanting or meditation. Now, well... I'm still in hell in a lot of ways but it's just the results of choices I've made. It's up to me to either fix those mistakes or learn to live with them. There's no magical being who can or will help me with that. And knowing that actually helps me get through it.
I guess each of us has to use what is available to us and what works. Thanks for commenting. I like to hear what others think and believe. It helps me work out my own.Am I understanding correctly that you're saying it's the "belief" that helps and not that there is a god who is actually going to do something to help? Because I can understand that.
If I believe it to be true, that is all that matters to me. I believe my husband loves me and would never cheat on me, so it is true to me. I do not go around questioning that because if I did, it would drive me crazy.
It seems to me that you seem to portray God as a mystical deity that is up above the world so high making decisions about what is and what is not. I think that is a common misconception of God. But if that is what God is to you, then it is.
Personal choice and having the freedom to have a God of our own understanding is what is important to me. Trying to tell someone that has a firm belief in God there is no God is like telling a 13 yr old she is fat and ugly. It may be your opinion and even true but it is extremely hurtful to do. But at the same time, trying to force ones religious beliefs on someone is just as dangerous. I am not a fan of religion what so ever. I feel that some people are "religious" so they can hold some type of power over other people and have an inflated sense of justice to tell others why they are wrong.
As far as why does God allow pain and death, my question would be why not? We have no idea why things happen the way they happen and we do not always see the positive of the outcome. I know that I experienced a great amount of pain and questioned why God would put me through all of that, many years later the answer was revealed to me as to why, and it all worked for the best.
I will say that I think if people do not start taking better care of this planet, shit is going to get worse.
Hello Earthchild,
I just happened upon your blog, I have recently started blogging here, and have only a couple of posts. Anyway, I to at one time was on fire for the lord! As I grew older, and began researching the bible and its many claims, I have come to the conclusion that all gods, weather in the bible or mythology were nothing more than creations of humans.
I to have often wondered why one pulls out the "faith" card in times of tragedy. I have seen many a loved one pass away despite all the prayers others made on their behalf. I think maybe saying things like "He/She, is in a better place, and I'll see them again" is a way of coping. I don't believe its health, because it reenforces a delusional state of mind.
Death, serious injury, and illness, is all a part of life. I feel we should all just except those facts. We all grieve differently, and in the worst of times one must do what they can to save their sanity, and in some cases their own life.
If faith in a god accomplishes that, than go for it. My hope is, people will comes to term with reality.
Thanx John!
Thanks for your comment, John. I agree that it seems better to accept reality than to believe in something but if it gives someone comfort, they're welcome to it. Like you said, everyone grieves differently.
When I was a Christian, I held to that faith that it was all in God's plan and that he'd make it all okay and would never allow me more suffering than I could handle. I see that now as I was fervently grasping at something to help me through it. It was more like self-hypnotism.
I guess what I'm really asking is how can someone have faith that God will help them when he's already shown that he won't. It's like knowing that your daddy watched the school bully beat your ass without lifting a finger to help and then expecting him to help you with the bandages. When people say they have faith after a tragedy, I want to know what it is that they have faith that God will do? Comfort them? Fix the problem? Make sure it never happens again?
I don't want to take someone's comfort away. I just want to know how having faith is comfort. I think the reason people came up with the idea of gods was to help them accept what they could not understand. When things go right, they give him credit but they never blame him when things go wrong.
Looking back over my life, I can see times when having faith that God would help kept me from helping myself. Which means there was no help and things went wrong.
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