Hello,
I have read an article in a French philosophical magazine about God and catastrophes. It has put into words exactly what I have been thinking for a long time.
I was raised as a Catholic but I have lost faith as I grew up because nothing seemed to make sense to me in catholiscism. For one thing, I never understood why priests could not get married, or why the pope would forbid people to wear condoms when Africa was dying of AIDS... It all seemed very harsh.
Another thing that's always bothered me is a certain lack of logic, which was the theme of that article. There are three pre-given concepts about God in modern Christianity: God is good/pure love, God is omniscient, and God is omnipotent.
If that is true, why does God let such things as the Haiti earthquake happen? Or the holocaust? Either He doesn't care, and therefore he's not that good, or he doesn't know, and therefore not omniscient, or he can't do anything, and therefore he's not omnipotent.
I'm not trying to wind anyone up, it is really something I would like believers to explain to me. How do you deal with this kind of things happening? How do you manage to still believe in God after that?
The article mentionned Lisbon's big earthquake in 1755 and how Voltaire, a famous French philosophe, wrote an angry poem against blind religion.
Thanks for your answers!
Claire.
When someone dies they leave behind a legacy of their life, their interactions with others, their place in the world and the effect that thier death and life had/has on everything.
We fail to see that this may have been the right thing for them - perhaps this was a vital part of their journey.
We fail to see the changes wrought over time, how (for instance) someone's death can wake someone up from the sleep of non-involvement and apathy to the position where they begin to help others, to feel what they feel and see how they see.
We do not understand how the sorrow and loss can make some of us better, forcing us to learn to express ourselves as individuals as part of our journey.
We fail to see how our heart (though breaking) is alive and feeling in a manner it seldom does/would otherwise. The love and compassion, these are what drive sorrow - how else can these be woken and allow us to express them adequately.
Wonderful view Chris
Blessings
Sacrel