God is not responsible for protecting everyone. His protection for us has to do with our response to his love and faith. Also he preserve certain people because his plan for them.

^^^^Is this a serious response? If it is, it does not make any sense. How does this show love, mercy, or compassion?

@Joagbaje Can you please explain what you are trying to say? That God does not have to protect anyone? What then is the purpose of having this God? If God does not protect anyone or intervene in times of greatest need does it not lend to the argument that either this God is not there in the way described? Most fathers would protect their children when they are in danger.

joyuchesun:

@Joagbaje Can you please explain what you are trying to say? That God does not have to protect anyone? What then is the purpose of having this God? If God does not protect anyone or intervene in times of greatest need does it not lend to the argument that either this God is not there in the way described?

I didn't say God lack the ability to protect. He has laid down principles for us to enjoy his blessings. Angels are involved in protecting people. But we also have responsibility to create atmosphere by which they function. That's what faith is all about. We live by faith in the Word of God.

Habakkuk 2:4
. . . the just shall live by his faith.

Most fathers would protect their children when they are in danger.

Being a father does not make you father to every body. God will be a father to those who relate to him as Sons. He is nit a father to everybody. He is neither a God to everybody. If a man has not embraced the lordship of christ, God is neither his father nor his God. He has no God.

Ephesians 2:12
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Joagbaje:

I didn't say God lack the ability to protect. He has laid down principles for us to enjoy his blessings. Angels are involved in protecting people. But we also have responsibility to create atmosphere by which they function. That's what faith is all about. We live by faith in the Word of God.

Habakkuk 2:4
. . . the just shall live by his faith.

Being a father does not make you father to every body. God will be a father to those who relate to him as Sons. He is nit a father to everybody. He is neither a God to everybody. If a man has not embraced the lordship of christ, God is neither his father nor his God. He has no God.

Ephesians 2:12
12 That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:

Your assertions will be true only if many christians that believe in your God do not suffer from harm and misfortune. . .There is NO evidence at all to show that christians that believe in the God of the bible are better protected from harm and misfortune than non christains that do not pray to that God for protection from harm and misfortune. . .

@Op, no God does not cause ppl pain, it is human that caurse himself pain.
God is a loving God. He loves us right from the begining, the prove was how he created man.
U will not hate kids and then decides to make kids, impossible.

Being a father does not make you father to every body. God will be a father to those who relate to him as Sons. He is nit a father to everybody. He is neither a God to everybody. If a man has not embraced the lordship of christ, God is neither  his father nor his God. He has no God.

I agree with u, when i read through (Numbers:14) i saw that humans ve less or no value for the love God gave to us.
""This is about the children of Isreal""God displayed himself to those who call him Father by fulfilling his promises and saved them.
Those that rebel and provoked God died becos Gods presence was not with them at the time they were battled.
It is simple, God loves u, love him back.He calls u son, call him Father. If u dont do so how do u expect him to prevent those pains and afflictions?

^^^^ your assertion implies that those who believe and "call him father" are spared from pain and suffering. this could not be further from the truth. humans do not cause earthquakes and hurricanes and tornadoes that kill and harm millions each year. humans did not create these things.

nodogma:

Every time there is a storm, earthquake, mass shooting, bombing, plane crash, or natural disaster, some people say thank God for sparing my family, while other families within the same area or around the world have either died or are left destitute.  When I hear this it sounds so crazy to me.  It implies that God has chosen to save some and not others. Why would God spare one person's family and let the rest experience such devastation and despair.  How is this merciful or loving?  How can Christians make statements like this without also looking at the wreckage and pain of others and not also attributing this to God?  If one does attribute the pain to God, what does it truly say about the God of the bible?

Well, somebody has to die and they're glad it wasn't theirs. Nothing personal.

I believe in fate. When it's time to go, we will go. A plane crashes, everyone dies except one person, etc.


It is sad but I feel God is like man-after all he made man in his own image and likeness. Therefore, sometimes I cannot help but feel God gets angry and breaks stuff. Old testament God was just like this. He destroyed people, sent plagues and what not.

Best thing is to live a good life so when he decides it's time for you to go, you will be ready.

^^^^I would go a step further by stating the God of the bible does not exist and is just like the men who wrote about him,because he is from their imagination. That is why he seems to be always throwing temper tantrums, because that is what some men do.

Natural disasters happen and some people survive while others do not, but this is a part of nature. That is all. No favorites being shown. This can be seen clearly because very devout believers have also been seen to suffer the consequences of such natural disasters. Again, it is all in one's mind, it may feel good to think God has specifically spared you, this does not make it true.

not sure why someone thanking God for sparing them from something, would lead to this level of whining.

does their thanking God mean they dont empathize with others who werent spared?

people should try to think before they type.

plappville:

I agree with u, when i read through (Numbers:14) i saw that humans ve less or no value for the love God gave to us.
""This is about the children of Isreal""God displayed himself to those who call him Father by fulfilling his promises and saved them.
Those that rebel and provoked God died becos Gods presence was not with them at the time they were battled.
It is simple, God loves u, love him back.He calls u son, call him Father. If u dont do so how do u expect him to prevent those pains and afflictions?

That's a great truth .

Psalms 91:14-15
14 Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. 15 He shall call upon me, and I will answer him:I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him.

@tpia there is nothing wrong with thanking God for being spared. The point of the question is does this imply that the others were purposefully not spared if God had a hand in saving some and not others. Who should the people who were not spared thank?

God does not cause people pain though sometimes He might allow certain things to happen to some people based on his purpose for their lives, Job was afflicted, God allowed it for a reason, also remember that God does not see life the way we see it, to God purpose is His basis for his actions,

@tedben So, are we not allowed to know what this purpose is? For example, one may conclude that he lost his job to fulfill a higher calling, etc. But one may never be sure. Are you saying that there is truly a purpose for everything, including entire cities and towns being destroyed by natural disasters? Or, are these just occurences of nature?

The more I study religions, the more i am convinced there is no God.
If you study religions wisely, you will become an atheist.
atheists are those who have studied religions, theists are those who practice one of them(religions).

@Dr. Joe good point! My purpose in posing this question was to show how ridiculous religious thinking can be. The idea of being spared, chosen, elect, etc. It is all craziness when examined closely.

i left my pot of soup and traveled for a friends birthday hoping to come back the same day, however, things changed and i spent 4days, when i came back to my location, i opened my soup and discovered that LIFE has started existing in my pot, tiny maggots, listen to me guys, those maggots were not created during the 7days bible creation story, they just formed from non living matter to living organisms.
there might be a natural or super natural force that controls life and existence but i strongly disbelieve the existence of a white man god in the sky.

Dr. Joe:

The more I study religions, the more i am convinced there is no God.
If you study religions wisely, you will become an atheist.
atheists are those who have studied religions, theists are those who practice one of them(religions).

You forgot to mention the devil, a convenient scapegoat to explain god's inability to deliver.

@ Op:
The earthe is ball with a several million degrees of fire burning inside its core, carrying several billion ltres of water while hurling itself through space at 65,0000 miles per hour. earth quakes, floods, hurricanes, vulcanic eruptions etc are just insignificanc hippups it encounters along its journey, and the mechanations of any god or gos in the sky or in the earth.
When those event occur, people will die irrespective of their religious allegiances.
Thanking or blaming god makes no difference.

In Nigeria, many many people will lose thier lives this xmas period, despite our long windy prayers, because we have mostly uneducated drivers, driving unsafe vehicles in reckness manners on unsafe roads.
Simple. nothing to do with god.

If we cannot use our brains like our western peers to find solutions to our myraid of problems, then lets wait on god and suffer them till eternity.

Dr. Joe:

The more I study religions, the more i am convinced there is no God.
If you study religions wisely, you will become an atheist.
atheists are those who have studied religions, theists are those who practice one of them(religions).

You forgot to mention the devil, a convenient scapegoat to explain god's inability to deliver.

@ Op:
The earthe is ball with a several million degrees of fire burning inside its core, carrying several billion ltres of water  while hurling itself through space at 65,0000 miles per hour. earth quakes(tectonic plate movements), floods, hurricanes, vulcanic eruptions etc are just insignificanc hicups it encounters along its journey, and the mechanations of any god or gos in the sky or in the earth.
When those event occur, people will die irrespective of their religious allegiances.
Thanking or blaming god makes no difference.

In Nigeria, many many people will lose thier lives this xmas period, despite our long windy prayers, because we have mostly uneducated drivers, driving unsafe vehicles in reckness manners on unsafe roads.
Simple. nothing to do with god.

If we cannot use our brains like our western peers to find solutions to our myraid of problems, then lets wait on god and  suffer them till eternity.

.

@ Op:
earth quakes(tectonic plate movements), floods, hurricanes, vulcanic eruptions etc are just insignificanc hicups it encounters along its journey, and the mechanations of any god or gos in the sky or in the earth.

Correction: should read- and not the mechanations of any god or gods in the sky or in the earth.

^^^^^This is my point and that is why it is strange for people to attribute their being saved from such events to a god that meant to save them.

The people suffering,genocides,accidents,diseases,famine wear cause by Man's karma-Bad seeds which he sowed in this life or previous which he has to reap!What ever a man soweth so shall he reap? said:Jesus

billyG:

The people suffering,genocides,accidents,diseases,famine wear cause by Man's karma-Bad seeds which he sowed in this life or previous which he has to reap!What ever a man soweth so shall he reap? said:Jesus

Hmmm. Interesting.
So by your logic, all 160million Nigerians, including young children and babies, who for so long, have suffered economic deprivation, social and political injustice,death from preventable diseases, insecurity from armed robbers, millitants, boko haram, ritual killers, kidnappers, etc, are all suffering for sins they committed in this life or previous lives??

Dr. Joe:

i left my pot of soup and traveled for a friends birthday hoping to come back the same day, however, things changed and i spent 4days, when i came back to my location, i opened my soup and discovered that LIFE has started existing in my pot, tiny maggots, listen to me guys, those maggots were not created during the 7days bible creation story, they just formed from non living matter to living organisms.
there might be a natural or super natural force that controls life and existence but i strongly disbelieve the existence of a white man god in the sky.

Hey doc,spontaneous generation was discredited in the 19th century.Flies laid those maggots.

billyG:

The people suffering,genocides,accidents,diseases,famine wear cause by Man's karma-Bad seeds which he sowed in this life or previous which he has to reap!What ever a man soweth so shall he reap? said:Jesus

How then would this fit in with the notion of a loving, merciful, compassionate, and forgiving God? This behavior actually seems quite hateful and petty.