Every once in a while, I’ll get a question on Twitter that many Christians struggle to answer.
The answer to this question usually leads to arguments and leaves both the person asking it and the person answering it frustrated.
The question is,”If God exists, then why doesn’t He feed starving children around the world?”
On Facebook, the question is usually accompanied with a picture that looks like this:
This is an atheist’s image poking fun at why God doesn’t feed starving kids around the world.
On Twitter, a tweet is sent out like this one:
Anyone that could easily feed a starving child and instead allows him to die is evil. A god even more so. #atheist
— Pro AntiTheist (@ProAntiTheist) July 19, 2015
And then usually an atheist will go on to explain his or her position.
[x_blockquote cite=”What Some Atheists Say About God” type=”left”]”If I had the ability to feed a child that is starving and I didn’t, then I would just be pure evil. Your god is evil because He’s supposed to be able to feed all the starving children in the world, and He doesn’t. Even if He did exist, I wouldn’t want to believe in Him because he is pure evil.”[/x_blockquote]
The question of why God doesn’t feed starving kids around the world is a valid one.
It’s a question that many people struggle with, including some Christians.
God, Can You Please Make it Rain Turkey and Gravy?
Since God can make it rain turkey and gravy from heaven to feed starving children, why doesn’t He?
If God is all-powerful, then can’t He make it rain turkey and gravy from heaven to feed all the starving kids in the world?
The answer is that of course God can do that if that’s what He wanted to do.
But since God doesn’t make it rain turkey and gravy upon the starving kids around the world, then we have to ask,”Why doesn’t He?”
If you’re not able to answer this question, then one of two things is going to happen to you.
- You’re going to struggle with your faith because you’re going to have doubts that God is a good God.
- Or you’re never going to find out the truth about God, and you’ll make the mistake of thinking that God doesn’t exist. I made this mistake before.
This article is for you if:
1. You’ve ever wondered why God doesn’t feed starving kids around the world, and you struggle with the answer.
2. You’re skeptical of the Christian God or other gods.
3. You want to be able to answer this question when it’s asked of you in an accurate and positive way.
Why The “Strange But True” Title?
The reason I call these reasons that I’m about to share with you “strange” is because if I were God, I would do things differently.
But thank goodness, I’m not God.
What may be strange to one person may not be considered strange to another.
So depending on how familiar you are with this subject, you may agree with me that these reasons are “strange but true”, or you may not.
Either way, I hope this will spark a good dialog about this topic.
3 Reasons Why God Doesn’t Feed All the Starving Children of the World
I’ve thought of three different reasons why God doesn’t feed the starving children of the world.
Here they are in no particular order.
Reason #1 – It Isn’t God’s Responsibility to Feed the Starving Children of the World
Every year, I have the privilege of going through the one-year Bible plan. That means that I will read the entire Bible in one year.
I don’t share this to impress you. But I do share it to establish that I’m quite familiar with the Bible.
Of all the times that I have read the Bible from cover to cover, I can’t think of a single Bible verse in which God makes a promise to feed all the starving children in the world.
So when somebody accuses God of being unjust because He has the capability to feed starving children, and He doesn’t, then it’s that person that has a misunderstanding of God.
There’s more about this subject in point number two below.
But before you read that, let’s talk about whose responsibility it is to feed the starving children of the world.
If God Isn’t Responsible For Feeding Starving Children, Then Who Is?
The answer is you and me.
I can think of numerous Bible verses in which God instructs His children to feed the poor people of the world.
(sorry, the verse in the image above should be Luke 3:11 instead of John 3:11)
Proverbs 28:27 says, “He who gives to the poor will not lack, But he who hides his eyes will have many curses.”
James 2:15-16 says, “If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,’ but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?”
So if you’re one of those people that thinks God should feed the starving kids around the world, then you are shifting the responsibility.
God isn’t responsible for feeding starving children, you and I are.
Reason #2 – God Isn’t Like Humans
Atheists make a mistake when they say things like, “If I saw a starving child and had the power to feed him and I don’t, then I am evil. That’s the same thing with God, He is evil because He has the power to feed starving children and He doesn’t.”
The mistake that atheists make here is that they compare themselves to God, or they compare God to themselves. They put themselves in God’s shoes.
God’s goals are different than our goals. His purposes are different than our purposes. His way of justice is different than the human way of justice.
That brings us to our next point about justice that I’ll talk about in the next section.
But here’s the lesson that’s to be learned: any time you blame God for not doing something that you would do, you’are making an idol in your own image.
What does that mean?
It means that you’re making up your own concept of how God is supposed to act, which is something the Bible warns us about.
Don't believe in the wrong god when the right God is available #Jesus . Click To TweetReason #3 – God’s Justice is Coming Soon For All
You and I want to see justice have its way immediately.
Think about all the hate crimes in the world, the rapes, and the murders. You and I want to see those people get what they deserve.
But while we judge others for their heinous crimes, we overlook the sins that we commit in God’s eyes.
While God does see hate crimes, rapes, and murders as sins, He also sees lying, cheating, and hating people as sins too.
So since God is a just God, then He’s going to have to give justice to all if He were to judge the world today.
That means that there would be a lot of people who would receive punishment for eternity for breaking God’s standards.
So instead, God is saving His judgment for Judgment Day. That’s when everyone is going to get judged for what they did on earth.
Those who broke God’s standards and did not receive His son Jesus for salvation will end up going to hell.
But those who do put their faith and trust in Christ will end up going to heaven.
So when you don’t see justice taking place immediately, it’s because God is giving everyone a chance to repent, and put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
How About Other Reasons?
I have to admit, I’m not a know it all. That’s where you come in.
Can you think of any other reasons why God doesn’t feed the starving kids around the world?
Share them in the comments below.
[x_author title=”About the Author”]
Comments 316
Reading the Bible every year does not prove that you are a serious student of the Bible. Actually, it proves that you aren;t a serious student. …Full stop.
Author
Daniel, I didn’t feel like it was appropriate to mention all of the different things that I do in order to study the Bible. Most Christians do not read their Bibles every day. Even when they do, they read a chapter, a Psalm, or a Proverb a day.
My point was that I am quite familiar with the Bible and there is nothing that supports that God says that He will feed the starving children around the world. If you have any evidence that supports otherwise, then please post it in the comments.
Hi Peter,
I wrote a response to your post here, with evidence you specifically asked for: https://nancydrewpi.wordpress.com/2015/08/11/three-strange-but-true-ways-christians-justify-starving-children-a-response-post/
Hi Nancy, (and Peter)
I took the time to read both your posts on the matter. Do check out my response, as I tried to address your concerns, Nancy.
https://thei535project.wordpress.com/2015/08/12/the-poor-you-will-always-have-with-you-a-response-post/
Cheers, Ufuoma.
Thanks for reading and for your response! I will hopefully be able to read and respond later today so I can reflect on your post 🙂
Thanks, I appreciate that!
Author
Ufuoma, Thank you very much for your write up. I read most of it but I’m going to go ahead and read it again.
By the way, I updated my article so that I explain why I used the words “strange but true” in my title.
God bless you 🙂
Ok, I’ll have another read of yours too. Good job you’re doing here 🙂
Author
Thank you very much my dear sister. I also wrote a write up to Nancy’s response.
What’s the link?
Author
Hi Nancy, thank you very much for your post. I thoroughly enjoyed reading it. I welcome all comments, and I am delighted when I read comments that have perspectives that are different from my own.
I want to say right off the bat that I respect your point of view, and that I’d like to respond to your article in this comment. I’ll also copy and paste my response and put it on your blog so that your visitors can see what I have to say about the things that you wrote.
1. Your Interpretation of Mathew 6:26 is Inaccurate
In your response, you said that Matthew 6:26 is a Bible verse that supports the claim that God says that He is going to feed everyone, or at least starving children. However, that is not the correct interpretation of the Bible verse.
Instead of writing the correct interpretation here since I have a lot of ground to cover, I’m going to link to Orthodox Biblical commentaries that do show the correct interpretation of Mathew 6:26.
A. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/smith_chuck/SermonNotes_Mat/Mat_112.cfm?a=935026
B. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/mhc/Mat/Mat_006.cfm?a=935026
This then brings up the point, what makes these author’s interpretation of the Bible correct, and yours incorrect?
The answer lies in how you interpret the Bible. The Bible itself tells us that the only correct way to interpret the Bible is to have God reveal to you what it means.
1 Corinthians 2:14 says, “But the natural man (i.e. unbeliever) does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”
This verse implies that one has to be a born-again Christian to correctly understand the things of God.
Does that mean that unbelievers should not read the Bible? Of course they should read the Bible. However, unbelievers have two choices if they want to read and interpret the Bible correctly:
1. Either they can pray and ask God to help them understand what the Bible means
2. Or they can rely on a reliable Orthodox Bible commentary to help them
If they don’t do one of these two things, and they read Bible passages the way that you do, then they will make common mistakes. These are mistakes like taking things out of context, and not understanding the rules that govern the interpretation of Scripture.
There’s a whole department of Christianity known as Systematic Theology that is dedicated to the correct interpretation of the Bible.
2. Your Interpretation of Mathew 21:2 is Inaccurate
Again, you misinterpret Mathew 21:2 in your article. I think it’s sufficient to say that if your interpretation were true, then Christians would be asking God for millions of dollars in their bank accounts every day.
But any Christian worth his or her salt knows that that is not the case, and that’s not what the Bible advocates.
3. You Are Making Up a God in Your Own Image
In your response, you wrote, “God is all-powerful. We are not. God has unlimited resources. We do not. Why in the world would he entrust the well-being of his children to his other children who can barely take care of themselves?”
The mistake that you’re making here Nancy is that you are dictating to God the way that you think He should act. Anytime that you do that, then you are making up an idol in your own image, which is exactly what point number two of my article is talking about.
This is the number one mistake that atheists make when it comes to God. They have problems with the way the Christian God behaves. I can say that because as a former atheist, this is what made me leave the Christian faith to begin with.
I left Christianity because God didn’t behave the way that I thought He was supposed to behave. When He didn’t come through for me during some difficult family circumstances, I felt like He failed me. Then I thought that everything I was taught in the Bible and church was false. That’s why I became an atheist. But it was years later that I became a Christian again.
Here’s a link to my story. Just make sure that you copy and paste it so that you don’t navigate away from this comment when you click on it http://atheisttochristian.com.
4. Atheists Don’t Capitalize “He” When Referring to God
I know that. As I was writing the article, all references that I made about atheists and them referring to God, were always written with a lowercase “g” for “God”, and a lowercase “h” for “He.”
But then I changed my mind. I said to myself, “This is my blog and on my blog I want to respect and revere God.” So that’s why I changed all of my casings for the words “God” and “He” to be capitalized.
5. One of God’s Attributes is Missing
You wrote, “the God you assert exists has the motive (all-loving), means (all-powerful), and opportunity (all-knowing/all-present) to feed all the starving children of the world. We do not. It’s not that atheists think God is evil. It’s just that this issue makes more sense if he didn’t exist, because the properties you assign to God do not jive with life as we know it.”
While yes God is all-loving, all-powerful, and all-knowing, there is one at attribute of God that you didn’t mention, and that most people don’t talk about. That attribute is that God also has all-freedom.
What does that mean? It means that He has the freedom to make whatever choices He wants to make that fit His purposes, and that are often based on His knowledge of the future. Knowledge of the future is something that you and I don’t have, but God does. So in my opinion, it’s sufficient to say that God makes His own choices based on His own reasons and purposes.
That doesn’t mean that we will always agree with God’s reasons. But what I am saying is that God not behaving according to your standards does not negate His existence either.
6. God Delivers Justice in this World and in the Afterlife
You wrote, “There are plenty of instances where God delivers ‘justice’ immediately in the Bible.” Then you go on to cite some examples.
Yes, God did deliver justice instantaneously in some parts of the Bible. Then there are also parts in which He granted people an opportunity to repent before implementing His justice. Again, this is to some extent based on God’s knowledge of the future. So God can choose to deliver justice instantaneously or at a later time.
Additionally, there was one huge thing that was never mentioned in your article. Of course, it makes sense that you wouldn’t mention such a thing since you’re an atheist.
But what about those children who do pray to God and do get fed? How about those children whose prayers are answered? I’m pretty sure that would be an impossibility for you since you wrongfully assume that God doesn’t exist.
Conclusion
These are some of my thoughts about the points that you brought up in your article. Of course, I couldn’t write up a response to everything that you wrote. However, I know that you will not like these answers and you probably won’t agree with most of them. Nevertheless, at least you also see the “the other side of the coin”.
Please also note that when I pointed out the errors in your article, I don’t do it maliciously or because I want to prove you wrong. It is my sincerest desire to see you come back to Christianity and to give your heart to Jesus.
I’ve been on both sides of the fence, and I know what it’s like to live with God and to live without Him. You can imagine which side of the fence I think is the best.
I wish you all the best Nancy 🙂
I think it would be very helpful to actually respond with your interpretation of the passage as Matthew Henry doesn’t really speak to the specific question of “why do children die of starvation?”
I came here looking for a well thought out analysis of God’s word, but I think your post is mostly spiritual hand-waving. Christians and atheists alike really struggle with this question like you said, but you really fail to answer the question or deal with the really difficult problem. In Matthew 6, Jesus seems to promise to provide for us, but there are children who are dying in the world. Children dying of starvation does seem to contradict Jesus’ promise in this passage. Instead of dealing with the question Nancy asks, you just wave your hands and say she is interpreting the passage wrong. It makes here own blog seem very reasonable and yours less so.
Does this Matthew 6 passage only refer to Christians? As He says, if we seek His kingdom all the rest will be provided for us. So these dying children are not seeking His kingdom first and God is waiting for us to help them? This might be. If God’s true purpose on earth is to have people know Him, then having Christians feed and serve others in His name might be more effective than miraculously providing food for everybody. So the fault falls on us Christians for failing to be Christ’s hands and feet throughout the entire world.
The other way we could interpret Matthew 6, is that it is not necessarily a promise, but a strong desire of God. But there are real evils in this world that can sometimes thwart God’s will in certain situations. After all, there are real evils occurring in Syria and all over the world right now and people are suffering because of it. Like in Daniel 10, it seems like God’s forces can be resisted. So we are called as Christians to be the hands and feet of Jesus throughout the entire world and to resist evil forces.
Our purpose and calling as Christians is clear any way, but there still are questions about who God is and are his promises true that need to be answered for Christians and non-Christians alike.
Author
Luke, I understand what you are saying. I’m going to assume that you are an atheist because of your comment. So your critique of my article is subjective and I respect that. And the reason why I say is it’s subjective as opposed to objective is because there are other people who read my article and reached the conclusion that my arguments are sound.
As for your interpretations of Matthew 6, I do have a particular opinion about that. And my opinion is that people who are skeptics like yourself will not be able to accurately interpret the Bible. I say that with the utmost respect for you and your position. I wrote a whole article about why that is the case, and you can check it out over here:
https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/biggest-mistake-skeptics-make-reading-bible/
it is all bullshit, if god was as powerful as he claims to be, the why does he not end evil? because he can’t, but he wants everyone to tell him how great he is and built churches to praise him, why? is he such a weak God?
Author
It’s a great question, Mario. I did an article before about this very topic. You can check it out if you like by clicking here https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/how-can-god-exist-when-there-is-evil-in-the-world/
The problem I have is that Christians tend to blame starvation on poor distribution of resources. However, this was obviously NOT a problem in the Bible as He provided for the Israelites in the middle of nowhere. God DOES say in the Bible not to worry about life’s essentials because He feeds the ravens and clothes the grass, and He cares and will provide for us more than them. This is a PROMISE from God to provide for His children and children in general who are innocent.
Author
Jen, you sound like a wonderful Christian. May I please ask you if you can elaborate on what you mean when you say that God promised to feed children in general who are innocent?
If you mean that God promises to feed children who are let’s say younger than five years old, and we know that there are young children in Africa who are starving, then may I please ask you how you can explain that?
It says God takes care of the lillys of the field & he takes care of the birds. Why then doesn’t he feed the starving children? In the scripture it says in so many words that you are not to worry because God will take care of you. How is taking care of the starving children primarily our job if God indicates that he provides for everything in the scripture I am referring to?
Author
Hi Andrea, when you referred to God taking care of the lilies of the field and Him taking care of the birds, I’m assuming that you are referring to Matthew 6. I can understand where you’re coming from when you wrote what you wrote in your comment. However, for you to understand what Jesus meant by this passage, you have to take into account to whom He was speaking to.
Matthew 5 – 7 is usually interpreted as being Jesus’s sermon on the amount. May I please ask you who is it that you think is Jesus’s intended audience in these chapters? If your answer is “everyone”, then I understand why you come to the faulty conclusion that God is responsible for feeding everyone, including starving children.
Thanks for responding Peter, I did think about that question after I commented on this. I believe that Yeshua was only talking to his followers in that verse. He also gave instructions for his followers to be taken care of in it. In the verse it instructs his followers to seek first the kingdom of God & then all these things shall be added unto you. I can personally say that God has never left me needing anything. I can also say that he has never left anyone I know without their needs being met either. Even in the worst situations God has always come through!!! Also, my friend who is from Africa shared his testimony with me & he said that as a young child God would show him what to do to make money so that he could take care of himself and it always worked. After thinking about my experience and everyone I knows experience with God, along with re-reading that scripture I believe that God is only promising to take care of his people. I could be wrong though. Maybe I am still misunderstanding that scripture.
Author
I think you are right Andrea and I agree with your interpretation. If that wasn’t the case, then there would be no reason for Jesus to command us to feed the poor, clothe the needy, visit those in prison etc.
Whilst I admire your stance in trying to answer non believers attacks on God…. I strongly believe that you should never argue with a fool, as they will beat you down with experience……
The fool says there is No God
Author
Thanks Des for your thoughts. The only problem is that I used to be that fool and God saved me from that foolishness ?
the real fool believes in something that is in line with the easter bunny and santa.
Author
Comparing God to the Easter Bunny and Santa reveals your ignorance about the subject.
The article is well written and perfect the way it is. It’s solid. I don’t read the bible at all, so I appreciated it. And it speaks volumes. As foe everyone with anything but sonething positive to say… skip over them. They aren’t even helping make a point. It’s just noise. If you don’t agree then move on. We already know your point on things. And I came here to learn. Thanks again for taking the time to write your blog.
Thank you very much, Bern, for your kind words, they are much appreciated. God bless you and feel free to stop by at any time 🙂
After one of the more recent storms that leveled a lot of homes and killed some of the residents, Wolf Blitzer of CNN saw a woman holding a baby in her arms, both of whom survived the storm. He approached her and said, “I’ll bet you’re thanking God today that you and your baby are still alive.” Her response, “No, I’m an atheist.” I strongly recommend that you read Rabbi Harold Kushner’s book, “When Bad Things Happen To Good People.” For many years he was the rabbi of the synagogue in the town where I was born and raised–Natick, Massachusetts. They lost their own and only child, a son, to a painful, ravaging disease.
I am a believer, but I also believe that this world is a roll of the dice. “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” The Creator is not a respecter of persons. I wish people would cease and desist from thinking that He is.
So when we trust God, what are we trusting Him to do? Are we to be confident that he won’t let us burn to death in our cars. or are we to only find consolation that it will all work out in the end. If I know that it will all work out in the end to him who puts his trust in the Lord, what does the bible say about our trusting God to Guide our feet and to protect our children before that end arrives; because ultimatly, it’s not the distant future that we (Me in this case) are worried about (I trust that the future will be OK), its tomorrow that I worry about, but the bible says do not worry about tomorrow — the only problem with that admonition is that it’s tomorrows troubles (the near future) which I fear and have a difficult time trusting God about, because I’m not quite sure what promises he makes about tomorrow that would justify my trusting in him, today.
What about the following promise?
Matthew 6:31-33 NIV
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ [32] For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. [33] But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
I agree. You were only giving preface to your opinion. Some people only want to strike.
I am a Christian/Catholic. I was not raised going to religion classes and have not read the bible. I do however have super strong faith and believe that Jesus and God are with me always. I am a sinner and always apologize to God personally for my sins and believe I am forgiven because Jesus’s sacrifices. I try to do good onto others even though I mess up every once in a while. I truly believe that you don’t have to go to a place of worship every Sunday and you are not damned if you don’t understand the bible. I believe as long as we try to do our best for our families and everyone around us we will be ok. It’s nonsense to argue about interpretations of the bible. Live how God wants you to and you will be welcome when it is your time.
I concur, the devil is literally in the detail when we start discussing interpretation of doctrine. Thank you for your beautiful sentiment at the end of your post
so what is this verse? God give me our daily bread.
Author
That is a good question. I believe that this verse is a model prayer for God’s children to pray to show their dependence on God.
How does it mean you aren’t a serious student? Malarky!
Pingback: Three Strange But True Ways Christians Justify Starving Children – A Response Post | Question With Boldness
20,000 children die every day (!) of starvation and bad living conditions.
Simplest reasons that God does not help them is that God does not exist.
Author
Sometimes the simplest answer is not the correct answer.
Have you ever heard of Occam’s Razor? Might want to look that one up. It directly refutes you.
Author
I am familiar with Occam’s Razor. You might want to refamiliarize yourself with it because it does not state that the simplest solution is always the correct one. If that were the case, then there would be no complex solutions to complex problems.
Here’s the link from Wikipedia for you https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Occam%27s_razor
SEEMS U HAVE AN ANSWER FOR EVERYTHING. WHAT MAKES U SO CORRECT.
Author
Hi Veronica, I do my best to support my claims with evidence. I’m not a perfect person and I do my best.
I always tried to provide a safe and loving atmosphere where readers can share their opinions on different subjects on this blog. I hope that you feel welcome here, Veronica..
My perception of the Creator has evolved over the years. I am so glad that it did. I feel free now in that I believe God is not a capricious God and that He is not a flesh-and-blood being. Scripture is abundantly clear that “God is a SPIRIT and they that worship Him must worship Him must worship Him in SPIRIT and in TRUTH.” To think of God as someone you put in a little box and pull out when you need Him to buttress your own putrid political purposes and pursuits is taking His name in vain. It makes one look like a fool and diminishes the one true God.
This Creator is responsible for this enormous, incredibly complex universe. On a clear night, you can look up and see one galaxy, but within that galaxy is another galaxy, and within that galaxy, yet another galaxy and on and on and on, perhaps millions of galaxies. “What is man that Thou are mindful of Him?”
So many believers try to manipulate the Creator, and it simply cannot be done! He created this universe and set it in motion. There are rules in this universe, and He is not about to change the rules so that YOU or YOU or YOU can PROVE His existence.You cannot climb up on the roof of your house and pray to the Creator to cause you to jump safely to the ground without injuring yourself. He is not about to suspend His law of gravity. No, he is not in control of that situation. He expects you to use your brains unless you were behind the door when He passed them out.
As for the starving children in third-world countries who are eating dirt in order to stay alive, the solution is easy. Joel Osteen can just fly over there and pass out copies of his book, “Your Best Time Is Now” to the parents of these starving children. Easy peasy!
Oh yes, He exists but He doesn’t care for all, just some elected few, like royals who have billions and live 101 years, got it ? Us, the rest, the masses, the dust, we don’t exist for Him to help us, but be sure we will be punished . Horrible world, I am afraid of this God and his justice, but I still cannot prevent myself from thinking , not like the ones that are manipulated by their churches and priests.
Pero, Have you heard of consequences of Man’s actions. Also God condemns evil leaders who do not follow Him. Read the Old Testament. The leaders of these starving countries are to blame. Long time history of foolish leadership by not planning and good stewardship brings consequences on the people. Praise God for Democracy where people firstly are educated and then can say what is needed. Back in History Christianity brought freedom to the people by legislating many injustices but then again Christianity has done alot of harm as well. It shows the corruption of the world because of Sin and the only way out is through Jesus who God sent to us. God Hates Sin so He will deal with it don’t you worry.
Even by the disturbing reasoning you offer, this is seriously messed up
Author
You call the reasons “disturbing” and I call them “strange.” Either way, we both can agree that the world is a messed up place.
Peter, you are such an amazing equipper for the Saints of God and for those who will become a part of that number, if they allow the Holy Spirit to penetrate their beliefs and reveal truth. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed this and reading the comments as well. We should know how to respond to such accusations. You make it sound so simple. Thank you very much!!! Grace & peace.
Author
Thank you so much uei333 for your very kind words. I feel quite undeserving of them. If there’s anything good in me, it’s all because of the Lord. I consider it a privilege to be able to minister in this capacity. I want to thank you for being a part of the community here at Not Ashamed of the Gospel.
May God richly bless your life :-).
Nicely done! I think my approach can come off a bit rough. I think you patiently went through the issues. I also think that there are potentially new issues in your response that could be used as ammunition for another post against God or Christianity – but it can’t be helped.
I’ll also read your testimony. Cheers and have a great day.
Christian love, Ufuoma.
Author
Thanks Ufuoma. This is one of those topics that can snowball into so many other topics. I loved your post as well, I saw that you got many comments. Christian love back at you, Ufuoma 🙂
Thanks Peter! It really can. And yes, a number of aggressive atheists frequent that site. My own blog is http://www.ufuomaee.com. I write on many issues. I just recently stepped into apologetics, but I’m looking for the back door, lol!
By the way… glad you recovered from your Christian relapse. I wrote a post called Where Was God? on my blog in 2012, when I was going through my own crisis. It really helped me.
Have a great day, and it’s nice to connect.
Christian love, Ufuoma.
First, superrationality is not exactly a situation where you expect the other player to be “good”, it is a situation where you expect the other player to also be identically superrational and take this fact into account in your decision making (and likewise the other player does also, since you are identical), there is nothing normative about it. When you know that both of you are going to do the same thing, and you are superrational, you do the thing which is the best same-thing for you. This coincides with the good thing for the collective.
Superrationality comes in flavors. To see this, consider a four-person prisoner’s dilemma, where A and B play and C and D play, then C and A play and B and D play. You can have an AB superrationality shared by A and B, so that A and B cooperate because they share a strategy, call it “Holy Righteous superrationality”, and also a separate C and D superrationality shared by C and D, called “Divine Action superrationality”.
The A and B holy-righteous players cooperate with each other, but knowing that the holy-righteous strategy is shared by holy-righteous players, which tells you to cooperate with holy righeous players when you are holy righteous, this doesn’t tell you anything definitive about the divine-action strategy, so A and B defect against C and D. So it is good to distinguish the superrationalities and give each one a name. I will call them “religions”, because that’s what they are, and that’s what religions are in positivistic essence, a guarantee of superrationality.
The point of superrationality is that the individuality is always a construction of collectives, even you are a collection of neurons, and individuality can congeal in various ways. For example, consider playing your left hand against your right hand. These are controlled by two hemispheres of your brain that are largely independent, they are only linked by a communication bridge in the middle. So your left hemisphere might feel it can get a temporary advantage from say getting the right hand to chop off the left hand, because then the pesky right hemisphere would no longer be able to interfere with all the right-hand actions the left hemisphere wishes to do.
This is completely ridiculous, because I am breaking up your individual into two collectives, and setting them fighting against one another, but this is nonsense! Your left brain and right brain are quite sure both that the other is different, but useful. There is some anti-right sentiment in your left hemisphere, it might take over some function it feels the right hemisphere isn’t doing well, but it is always going to do so in awareness of the congealed thing that they together form, whcih is you.
The superrationality shows you that the game-theoretic analyses depend on an unstated assumption, that the rational play is between uncongealed players. Human players are always congealed with each other, and know that there is a certain level of superrationality expected in any social order. So ultimately there is no predictive power to tradtional game theory, outside of certain very large markets, because the most important aspect, superrationality, is ignored, or else dismissed as irrationality.
The superrational idea allows collectives to make a larger individual than any of the players. This individual I will call a “god”. The communities play games against each other, and this is gods against gods, and there is a sense in which you would expect the gods to make bigger gods when they play superrationally against each other. The ultimate thing is the monotheistic conception of God.
The notion of God is clarified only when you consider asymmetric games. In this case, you need to not only make judgements about best play, you need to evaluate how good one player’s outcome is against another player’s. This evaluation requires the god to assign a utility to each outcome, and the process of doing so rationally, by the Von-Neumann Morgenstern construction, produces a disembodied will. This is the will of the gods.
The will of the gods are ultimately, when the gods are superrational, parts of the will of God, the ultimate superrational strategy on top of everything. That’s the monotheistic conception of God. It requires not just superrationality, but asymmetric superrationality made universal.
To implement superrationality in life, you just change the game, by adding penalties to behavior to make the rational and superrational play coincide. You can’t do this for everything, so you also tell people about God, and you ask them to be good, and when a sufficiently large number are ok, you get enough progress. But in cases where superrationality and Nash rationality don’t coincide, you need a new law.
The problem is that it’s not like any individual knows exactly what God’s will is, so there is this situation of incomplete knowledge. In this case, it is important to not be dogmatic, and allow people to try out various forms of organization on different scales, and to congeal on an answer only when it is certainly correct. This is what people have been muddling with, with religions and economic systems, and although superrationlity tells you why that’s going on, it doesn’t really help you figure out the next step at all, it just shows that the process we are using is pretty much what you need.
There is another thing, which is that there are situations where you want to eliminate superrational behavior entirely. In markets, any superrational behavior is a market distortion, which prevents efficient pricing. If you superrationally prefer your overpriced supplier because you have a long history of buying from this person, and good relationships, and you went to school together, you are costing a cheaper supplier income. So in order to make capitalism function, you need to make people less superrational than they intrinsically are, so as to find an economic equilibrium. This is not natural, so there is a lot of propaganda against religion in capitalist countries, and a lot of powerful people are atheists.
But this type of selfish behavior is not incompatible with superrationality, so long as it is clear that the goal is maximum economic efficiency. You just have to make sure that the economic equilibrium is actually being approached.
With regard to this, superrational behavior in markets produces terrible distortions, the class structure of capitalism is entirely maintained through people shaking hands and giving a leg up to their buddies, it is not a conspiracy of evil. But the superrational collective produced by the classes segregate wealth into certain classes, and right now, the distribution of money in an economy is so inefficient, that you need a government to step in and take money away from some people by force, and hand it out to others, just for the economy to function! In a perfect market, everyone has a job at a good wage, and this is unnecessary.
I don’t think there is any good insight here, you need to know about superrationality in the abstract, but a tolerance for variation to produce future stuff, and in situations where you set up a market, you need people to behave superficially non-superrationally in their hiring and buying choices, so that the market will work. As time goes on, the laws and structures make less of a gap between the ration and superrational outcome, and eventually, there is no difference, but at this point, new situations arise where there is a gap, and you focus on those next. It’s just a neverending process, it’s what people are going through.
Is this what god is?
Point 1. – For some reason, and from Adam, we humans have shirked our own responsibilities preferring that someone else do it.
When God asks Adam why he ate the apple, instead of taking responsibility for himself for going against what God told him, he shifts the blame to Eve. “The woman that you gave me gave it to me and I did eat.” Then when God asks Eve why she ate the apple she shifts the responsibility to the serpent. “The serpent beguiled me and I did eat.”
For many, their own concern outweighs the thought of responsibility for each other. We refuse the instruction from God that we are our brothers keeper.
That brings me to point 2. – We refuse sound instruction from even God Himself because of implacable pride. No one is going to tell you what you need to do. Pride is devious. It’s tendrils are pithy and will suffocate the light of Love. There is nothing quite like pride to embolden anyone to come to challenge even God.
Point 3. – Existence lies within the awareness of it. If you are not aware of God then you cannot say He does not exist for how can one challenge anything that is nonexistent. This is an impossibility. If you are aware of God then existence is confirmed for one cannot deny that which is evident. Either way their is no deniability.
Author
Those are some very interesting points that you bring up Ultra Conundrum. I’ll let the community read your comment and make up their mind about what you have to say. Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thank you Peter. God bless.
If Christians don’t do it, why would their God? If God is anything like today’s typical Christians, he/she/it is a hypocritical idiot.
Author
Why don’t you do it?
Life is like birth pangs jesus said…pain…we ate from the tree of good and evil because we wanted to be like god…we’re going to have to suffer in order to learn to be like him….to learn to feed our brothers
Author
Good point Sheila 🙂
A father who has many kids provides for them in a manner that all of them have their share,the father doesn’t just put the food on the table , he also takes care that the little child eats too, not only the big boys. Where is the fault of small kids that the big ones don’t let them eat? Oh, yes, the free will you’ll say, the free will is respected, whos’ free will? What about the free will of small kids??? They don’t want to starve ! A father would beat the big boy who steal the food from the small one and would put the food in the mouth of the weak child.
Now, if God is not like a father to us and its’ not his responsability, why He asked us to call him Father? He should have said : call me master or whatever
I’ve thought a lot about this particular argument. It seems to me that for us humans, a happy, prosperous human life seems to be the greatest good we can have; therefore we approve of those who try to provide or make possible a happy, prosperous human life to others. But why would we assume that a happy, prosperous human life is either the greatest good that GOD can provide, or that our personal happiness necessarily fits into God’s plan? When bad things happen to me, I might not feel benefit in them – but what if the evil that befalls me provides an opportunity for someone else to help me and therefore grow as a person? Or provides an object lesson for someone else, such that that person might take steps to avoid the situation I find myself in, even if I myself didn’t get there through my own fault? Let’s say for instance that I am a child who has suffered abuse at the hands of an alcoholic parent. A person who saw my suffering and was touched by it might change his or her own life to avoid becoming an alcoholic or having a child with one, or might turn away from some other destructive behavior, having seen the stakes.
And when non-human-originating bad things happen, say the Christmas tsunami, what’s the purpose of those? This question returns me to, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the world?” Or, in other words, God’s plan may or may not require me, personally, to be happy, healthy, prosperous, or even alive – but God loves me and keeps my soul in God’s own care, regardless of what happens to my body.
Basically, what I’ve concluded through my own observations of the world is that there is too much globally recognized good, beauty, and human couragefor me to posit a universe without a God who not only created us (by whatever means – I’m an evolution type) but who created in us a particular recognition of goodness, beauty, and courage. And at the same time, it seems to me that there is too much random bad fortune and too much non-random evil in the world to overlook the possibility that God’s purposes don’t much resemble human purposes.
Author
Wow Jamie, I had not even considered all of those points that you make in your comment. It’s a very fascinating point of view. Take you so much for sharing your insights with us. It’s extremely helpful.
This supports the idea that although God made us in His own image, it is unlikely to be our actual bodies. This then allows for an understanding of the human existence as one which is bereft of God whilst ever we locate ourselves solely as just a body. When I see the starving and feel sorry or pity them I too must be relegated to only a body and a human based understanding of my existence, limiting my brothers by viewing them as the same.
My argument would be (to the original question) is that God did not create these problems as we see them, they are symptoms of separated minds, away from His, and trying to understand them from the perspective of ‘why did God?, or doesn’t God?’ is not helpful in assisting both ourselves and our brothers on this earth overcome the limitations to knowing God from within a body.
Our personal ‘fit’ within God’s scheme may be apt to misinterpretation due to our limited view of ourselves as contained strictly within and as a body, and instead, may need to be viewed from the perspective of working toward unification with a Self not easily heard or recognised down here on Earth. If I only see my brother as a body then I will never know God and I place him in a prison in which he plays a part in my own self-appointed role and exile.
Choosing not to know or understand the why of something does not exempt us from supporting those who we can, and exemplify God’s love working through us as we reach out to those in need. I do not need to know, and in fact do not believe I can, God’s plan, just the belief that it exists, and that my part in it will be made evident for me step by step.
Sometimes interpretation or analysis keeps us from what is really important, continually accepting God’s love as real and for ourselves on a daily basis, and letting those who need answers to such questions as posed go and contemplate this for themselves. The best defence is no defence.
God wants love that comes from a pure heart. If He made it rain turkeys with gravy, people will follow Him but in fear. God doesn’t want anyone to love Him out of fear.
Also, I think a huge controversy will break out if it did rain turkeys.
We look at the NOW of things, but never at the TOMORROW. We see that NOW, children are dying of hunger; but it could be that God sees it as TOMORROW, they will have peace and rest in Heaven. God is just, and I do not believe that He won’t give rest to those who are suffering. My point is: God has Eternity in mind.
I would like to add that God gives us the responsibility to feed the poor so that we can manifest the Kingdom here on Earth, then others would see our good works and perhaps be saved too.
Author
Thank you very much Sol for your very kind and gracious comment. I agree with everything that you said. It makes sense to me because I’m a Christian. But it might not make sense to other unbelievers.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, you are welcome here anytime 🙂
perhaps it is more an opportunity rather than responsibility?
The problem with the atheist view that good would supposedly prevent evil is that they assume that the world is meant to be a perfect place. They do not look at it through the lens of its fallen state through the sin and death that entered through Adam. This is a messed up planet in need of redemption. So, duh, God is not going to prevent every evil act that can happen because that is just the way a fallen world works. He already completed His first redemptive work through the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (God Himself in the flesh). So, death is no more a major issue to those who place their trust in Jesus. We will soon see His last redemptive work when He returns and then brings the eternal perfect Earth into place. Atheists need to wake up. Death is imminent and only God has the solution…Jesus!
Author
Wow, that’s a really great point that you make B.O.! Thank you for sharing that with the community 🙂 I hope many people will give it more thought after reading your comment.
Peter, great job, and I said the same thing about your reply on Nancy Drew’s page!
Author
Thank you so much for your kind words Rossidor, they really do mean a lot. It’s been a crazy week with this article and all the comments it has received. Thank you for the great feedback, God bless you 🙂
god does not exist and if he does he sucks end of
The answer that I always give is simple. The effect of sin on Gods perfect creation is the reason why there is starvation, murder, rape, and so many other evil things. God has always provided for “His children”. Everyone living is given the choice at one point in their life to become part of his family. The benefits of being Gods child may not be seen by others but it is clearly seen through the eyes of the recipient. God never guaranteed fortune and fame. He did provide the greatest gift of all—Salvation to life eternal. Look at the lives of the apostles. Paul, in particular, faced constant death threats. His life wasn’t a life of ease and luxury. Gods love is shown through his people. Sin is like cancer. It will kill everything until it kills itself. I advise all to value Gods gift of salvation above anything else and everything else will fall in order.
That’s a great answer Marshall! I pray for more unbelievers to see the world as you do 🙂
I’m glad that in my position as an atheist I don’t have to make excuses for my god letting children starve to death. I don’t have to try to make up reasons as to why it’s in any way okay, or acceptable, or somehow better than them not starving to death. I don’t have to say to myself ‘God, I know you let children starve when you could save them, but I’m going to love and worship you anyway’. This is what I find distasteful. You’re basically saying ‘Yes, god lets children starve to death, but he has good reason to’. That doesn’t sit well with me.
Jesus said that you shall ask and you will receive whatever you ask. What does Jesus have against starving children? He answers prayers for all kinds of things …. But not starving children!?
Author
It’s important, Vlad, to not just take one scripture and single it out but to take the entire Bible and factor that in. I made references in this article that show whose responsibility it is to feed the starving children. If you happen to skip over that section, please check it out.
John 15:(7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.
Vlad what you left out was the qualifications for those asking. Only those that abide in Christ can ask what they will. If one abides in Christ they will not ask for anything outside of his will. God has always provided for his children. To receive provision you must first be His child and accept His will. Salvation is a gift that surpasses anything this world has to offer. It’s hard to understand the will of God when you haven’t accepted him through faith.
Author
What a great answer, Marshall! I totally forgot about that 🙂
How ridiculous! You are saying that this god being only wants to help those in christ? How in hell can a starving baby or child understand that hogwash of religion and thereby be that child? This is ignorance to the highest degree. Your god does not help because he DOES NOT EXIST! You also say that we should help these little ones. Well, most of us do the best that we can in doing that, but your god has no excuse. I help when I can, your god does not. That is the difference between me and your god. You believe he is all powerful and can do anything, but does not, so that makes him a monster. I truly wish there was a good, loving, caring being somewhere that actually cares about us, but sadly there is no evidence or proof of any kind of god. Also, faith equal blind obedience. I would rather not follow blindly. Religion is regarded by the wise as false, the common people as true, and by the rulers as useful. The bible is not a credible intelligent source of information, reason, or truth, but myth and superstition.
Author
Peggy, Marshall’s comment does not apply to children because they don’t have the capability to make a free choice to accept Christ. Marshall’s comment only applies to those who have the capability to choose to follow God. So that would also exclude those who are mentally ill as well since they don’t have such a capacity.
In the Scriptures, it’s clearly defined that it is people’s responsibility to feed the poor and to take care of the hungry.
I did not read all the comments above me so not sure if this was put out there. God created the world so He could have communion and spend time with His created. He GAVE a perfect world to us (like handing us the keys to a beautiful new home) and we in turn GAVE (turned over the keys to the house and all that was inside) it to Satan when we (man) sinned through Adam and Eve. The world is now a sinful place and belongs to Satan, he causes all pain, loss, suffering and destruction but that is because we allowed it.
And then God made a way for all to be free of that chain through the death of His perfect Son Jesus Christ. We all got the consequences of the sin committed in the garden and we all got the free gift of salvation at Calvary.
God does make a way to prevent suffering and loss and destruction – we have only to look in the mirror. For all the people saying God does not exist because children starve… instead of the $5.00 drink at Starbucks every morning why not make a donation to a food bank? Instead of asking why kids grow up in poverty and with violence, why not foster a child, become a big brother or big sister, volunteer at a battered women’s shelter, donate if your personality or life would not be beneficial to do things in person? Instead of paying lots of money for non-necessities like hundreds on getting hair done, or tattoos or going to sporting events or lavish vacations, why not live reasonably and help your fellow man? Instead of getting the new Iphone that comes out and having top of the line technology, give a little.
God said in His word:
Matthew 5:16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
He is in us and if there are people starving WE need to allow Him to use us so He can help them.
I realize that it may not be God’s responsibility to feed starving children, but consider this. It is illogical to assume that God is answering our comparatively trivial prayers, while not intervening to help innocent children. If it’s not God’s responsibility to feed starving children, then it’s not His responsibility to help us with our “small” problems in our life. If God is there, then it certainly seems that he doesn’t intervene in people’s lives. If you believe that He is intervening in your life because of your prayers, then it’s logical to believe that he would intervene to help children. But He doesn’t. He doesn’t help kids who are starving, abused, neglected or even murdered, no matter who is praying for them. If He doesn’t help them, then why should we believe He is helping us?
Author
I understand where you’re coming from Jeremy. Before I can answer your question, I’d like to ask you a question. What are your spiritual beliefs? Do you believe in God?
Peter, what difference does it matter what his spiritual beliefs are? Sounds like a red herring to me. If you’re going to reply to his post, reply to his point. And his point is huge – if god is not responsible for dying children, then he ain’t responsible for curing someone’s cancer or helping someone with a promotion.
You can’t have it both ways – either he’s there or he isn’t.
How disgusting is that? There are christians who pray ALL THE TIME for god to help poor, starving children. Why does god give a person a job promotion and then ignore the most selfless prayers? FUNNY that only seems to happen in the west, with wealthy, privileged middle-class or higher individuals, constantly seeing miracles or answered prayers.
Christians do this ALL the time: Something good happens, it’s god. Something bad happens, it’s not. It’s the “fall” or “satan” or “sin”. This is called confirmation bias and it keeps a lot of people blind to obvious truths.
What is most amazing is the double-speak christians do. I was knee deep in christianity for 7 full years, I know full well what is said behind closed doors to other christians. Constant congratulations and god praising for the smallest of things – miracles are everywhere, when someone is “healed” or given a promotion, or even just being happier with their life! Prayers are ANSWERED! On a DAILY BASIS!
But when answering atheists, the reservations come out…”Oh but god is hidden and mysterious. He’s not responsible for anything. He doesn’t really dish out justice just yet, blah blah blah. Suddenly god goes from being anywhere and everywhere to a barely there, practically deist, uninterested creator who loves us but doesn’t really do jack crap.
Finally, in response to answers to actual bible verses that demonstrate your entire original post is invalid – I’m not surprised. It’s the typical christian response to legit criticism. “You just don’t understand those verses.” Again, double-speak. Get behind closed doors and that is TOTALLY what those verses mean. God will PROVIDE BABY! Don’t worry about that sudden bill you didn’t know about – god will take care of it. Oh, you got extra money back you weren’t expecting? See! That’s an answered prayer. Your bill is now taken care of!
Sorry. The mental gymnastics necessary to continue belief always astounds me. But I guess it’s better than allowing an existential crisis and dealing with the pain of identity loss than intellectual honesty.
Exactly. God answers some–often trivial–prayers, but not most. And certainly not the prayers of those who are in the most need. But why can’t God answer my prayer that I get hired to my dream job? Well, because that is a prayer with the wrong motive. God doesn’t answer those. Ok, but why doesn’t God answer my prayer that my friend doesn’t die of cancer? Because you don’t have enough faith, you should have been communicating with God for longer. Ok, but her parents are devout Christians and her entire church congregation prayed for her to live, so why didn’t he answer them? Because it was not his plan/will for her to live. Oh, ok. So then what was the point of praying if he never will deviate from his plan? Why did God answer these people’s prayers: http://www.motivatingconnections.com/god-hears-and-answers-prayers/
“Once, I asked God for snow boots like a friend. Hers were a gift, so she didn’t know where they were purchased. I hunted, but never found them. I eventually forgot. About a year later, I went birthday shopping at a small specialty center. As I was about to leave a clothing boutique, I spotted the boots! God gave them to me for my birthday!”
It was his…plan? Will? Ooook. So, those people didn’t really need to pray for that stuff because it would have happened anyway?…Or…? Last question, why doesn’t God perform some sort of miracle to help those starving/suffering/dying/sick/poverty stricken abroad, who pray to him every day and believe in him endlessly? Well, because he has to remain hidden, he can’t just show himself like that. That messes with free will. You have to believe on faith, you can’t just ask for stuff and get it because that’s too much proof. Ok, so then why does he miraculously heal some people and why does answer some people’s prayers to find their lost dogs? Because he chooses who to help and who not to? So, answering a prayer for certain people doesn’t mess with his plan or with free will, but for others it would? If he has a plan, then answering a prayer that deviates from that plan should be equally impermissible for everyone. If not, then either some people’s prayers just line up with what was “supposed to” happen anyway (aka, not answered by God), or God cares more about certain people’s happiness than others and Christian websites should stop making lists of why God may not be answering your prayers.
Author
Hi Noel, is this the comment that you were referring to that you wanted me to reply to?
Hi, yep!
Author
Okay great, thanks Noel. I see now why I missed your comment before. You posted your comment as a reply to Bob so I thought that you were having a conversation with him. Either way, sorry for the mixup.
Can you please do me a favor? Would you be so kind as to copy and paste your comment that you replied to Bob on, and post it as a brand-new comment at the very bottom of the article? Unfortunately, WordPress threaded comments have a certain limitation and we will need to have more space.
Thanks Noel ?
Again an answer for everything that leads to nothing.
Hi Peter
The reference to ” if you have two shirts…” beside the picture of a child should be Luke 3:11 not John 3:11. Thanks for addressing the topic. Helpful.
Peter
Author
Thanks Peter, I went ahead and added a little caption correcting the image. God bless you ?
Amen, well said
Well said Lorina!!!?!
A god that does not manifest in reality is indistinguishable from a god that does not exist.
Author
Millions of Christians have been testifying that God has been manifesting Himself in reality for hundreds of years.
Is this the reality in which God resides? Human, physical manifestation? Is my evidencing Him at work in my life more a reflection of my own inner development in learning how to allow His will to become my own? I am just considering if there is a conflict of levels going on when we interpret what happens here on earth with what God is capable of? Is it wise to interpret some of what the Bible says and directly apply it to what is happening here? I just don’t think this is God’s ‘place,’ and these issues which are part of the human condition did not arise from God’s creation of us, but rather our decision to leave His grace.
I was just having a major issue with this topic today thanks to the internet. Smh. After reading about the miners destroying Solomon’s Island over Solomon’s gold, residents of Dubai with gold plated cars, corporate America making 6,000 times the amounts of their laborers while governments do nothing in the name of “freedom and constitution”, BP and Shell going over seas destroying countries and their land, the Vatican and other churches which worship tradition and doctrines of men whom sit in luxury as they preach about unity, and so on and so forth a couple things became quite clear to me without having to open the Bible once.
1.) To few have too much.
2.) Resources and money are wasted because of greed and evil.
3.) Some of these persecuted and oppressed people were not worshipping the true sound doctrine of Jesus Christ leaving them vulnerable to the enemy.
4.) People are given charity and handouts too much instead of being provided with long term wisdom and sustainability. (Give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and give him a rod and he can feed himself forever.
5.) How many of us can honestly say we pray for these people enough or even once for that matter?
God will one day bring justice and order.
Look up R. C. Sproul Jr.’s series on “Suffering and the Sovereignty of God”. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more thorough and scriptural based approach to this tough subject. God is alive. He is sovereign. And what He does and doesn’t do is for His glory. Not for our approval or desire.
Hooray, Calvinism! The easy way out of these kind of questions. When Calvinism takes on suffering, they go even beyond the ridiculous reply of god to Job when Job asked what he did wrong. Not only should we not question god because of all that he has created and what he has done (who are you, Job, to even question your creator), but the things he has done is for his glory. So even kids starving to death are for the sole purpose of glorifying god.
Thank you for this enlightening article! You have truly made me understand what it is to be a Christian.
You have also cleared away my doubts! I’m now very certain that I truly do not believe in God. If this is what believing in God is, making excuses for him and such, then I certainly do not want part of it. Peace!
Author
If this article made you not believe in God, then you either already had your mind made up before you read the article, or else you are a very weak-minded person. I wish you the best of luck ?.
Hahahahaha I love how you people can rationalize anything. Sure hope god gets here soon. Those kids are hungry.
Author
I totally understand where you’re coming from, Kelly. Since I’m a former atheist, I remember the days when I used to think exactly the same thoughts.
There’s a new post today that addresses the same issue that brought you to this article. But the reasoning for it completely different. If you’re interested in finding out more, here’s the link https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/god-exists-stop-rapes-and-murders/
I’d be interested to hear your thoughts about it.
I read the Orthodox Bible passage pointed out in response to Nancy Drew’s post.. It says, paraphrasing, that the birds are God”s creatiion. You are His children and will most certainly be fed. “You” includes the starving children. To say God isn’t responsiuble is ridiculous. He is Almighty God! Aren’t we told to trust Him for sverything? So the Christians in these starving countries might as well not pray to God for food? I am a born again Believer who no longer believes because of this exact nonsense which occurs with every topic that is impossible to understand. I believe in God, still, but I don’t believe He is loving. God does whatever He wants. He has His plan which we often do not undetstand. Fine. But many people suffer as a result. Have you ever seen a video of starving children? It is painful to starve. Their crying hurts to hear. Don’t dare tell me this is a loving God who allows such suuffering. “For God so loved the world…..” Thanks for getting my bin and my mailYeah, I know what the Bible says. There are many promises that God gives. Yet, according to Sproul, God does what He wants for His glory. You all thought this was well said. I think it stinks.
There may be a god or gods, there may not. Even if gods exist, they’ve made it clear that they aren’t going to be getting involved directly on this earth. Gods, if they exist, have shown that they are not interested in holding our hands. Human beings are responsible for the suffering on this earth. If humans would stop irresponsibly creating more humans, we wouldn’t have starving people. I cannot throw 20 fish into my little fish tank, which was intended for 5 fish, and expect that everything’s going to be ok. If I put 20 in there, it’s going to be chaos and suffering. I have fulfilled my responsibility by creating 0 new humans in a world that is desperately sick from being overfilled with humans.
There is MORE than enough food to feed all the peolpe in the world. Do you know how much food is wasted and thrown out around the world on a daily basis? It’s not a matter of how many people are born, it matters that each of us HELP one another!
A lot of this makes sense, but one thing that does not is this
ETERNAL HELL
Author
Please feel free to elaborate about why you struggle with this. If you’d rather do this privately, please click on the contact button in the navigation and send me a private message.
Why did GOD create us when HE knew who would spend eternity with HIM? Also, if a person didn’t want to exist and doesn’t believe in GOD, why should they be forced to spend eternity in hell?
You say the bible doesn’t support that god should feed the starving children well i beg a differ!!!! (Matt 6:31 do not worry about what your going to eat or drink or what to ware…)you obviously skipped right over that verse! What that verse implys to me its gods responsibility to provide these things! And yet we still have starving people! All your answeres dont line up! I’m open to believing in god…but it just seem kinda funny when a lagit question comes up you get round about answeres! So far the bible says a man lived in a large fish for 3 days and scientific fact is fish have no oxygen in their bellys instead its filled with methane gas! The bible says donkeys talk…snakes are the devil..and the earth is 6000 years old and the sun was created after the plants.. Exodus 20 the ten commandments thou shall not murder and in a couple of chapters over Exodus 22:18 suffer not a witch to live .. Oh and in the holy anointing oil it contains marijuana Look up what fragrant cane is..And as for jesus…he has two grandpas from the same blood line! Matt 1:16 Joseph’s father was Jacob and luke 3:23 Joseph’s father is Eli!!! Soo sounds to me like a bunch of fables! If you want an atheist to believe you got to provide some facts some proof or some kind of evidence! Dont get me wrong there are truths in the bible some events did happen…the Egyptians have their own recordings of Joseph and the coat of many colors, that happened…but the bible says in the time of Ramsey the hebrews were slaves…correction Ramsey wasnt even born yet when the hebrews were slaves!!! Archaeologist have discovered that during the time that moses led the people out a volcano was erupting.. and when a volcano erupts the 10 plagues will happen…sorry reading the bible yearly should have opened your eyes more like it did with me.
Author
Sorry you feel this way. Yet every interpretation of Bible verses that you wrote in your comment is just plain wrong. You can look up the real meaning in a well trusted and orthodox Biblr commentary if you like. Thanks for sharing your interpretation of these Bible verses.
Peter, I’d love a response. You seem to only respond to the people who either write a comment praising your article, or people who disagree but who unfortunately worded their comment in a way that gives you specific things to pick out and say are incorrect. I’d love to see a thoughtful response to a thoughtful and thorough comment arguing against the points you make in your article. Thanks.
Author
The reason I don’t respond to every comment is because some of the answers to the questions I have covered before. Yet either way, I might answer your questions Noel if they are thoughtful enough. What are the points that you disagree with?
Hm. Never mind. I already took the time to write a long comment on here. May 8th, 2016. My name is Noel. My original comment is on this page.
Author
Ok, I’ll take a look at it again and if think it deserves a response then I’ll respond. I’m currently on vacation but I’ll be back later next week, so I’ll take a look at it then. Thanks Noel
Interesting. You literally replied to someone else’s comment on here a few hours ago…but you can’t even look at mine (that I wrote weeks ago, by the way) until you get back from your…vacation? What’s that? Ohh, it must be when you give all your money to the needy, the sick, and the starving (you know, like the people in Africa). That’s wonderful. Enjoy your vacation!
Author
And that must be exactly the reason why I didn’t reply to your original comment. I also replied to two of your comments today. All of them were short replies. But you have a sour attitude so I will not be replying to your comment.
Ah, yes. That must be why. Well, congratulations. You’re off the hook. I mean, you let yourself off the hook, so, some people might call your response sort of a cop-out. But I would never say that. Now I’m just left to assume that you would have had nothing of value to say to me. Although I must say, I was on the edge of my seat for about a week looking forward to your response. That’s ok.
Author
Sorry Noel for getting frustrated with your comment yesterday. I apologize. I will take a look at your comment once I come back from vacation and write up my reply.
Hi, Peter. That’s great. I was definitely taken aback by your tone and that you denied me answers since that’s what this site is all about; “We answer unbeliever’s most difficult questions about God so you can be equipped to answer your unsaved friend’s and family member’s questions” and “I tackle your most pressing, embarrassing, and scariest questions. I help you lose your doubts about God, and boost your faith in Him.”
I have been known to grow quite snarky when I get frustrated, so I apologize as well. I am looking forward to your response and I hope to have a mature discussion with you on this topic, because I do find it interesting!
Author
Thanks Noel for your kind words, I appreciate you ?. I’m looking forward to responding to your comment ?
Peter- Per your request, I have copy and pasted my original comment below. Thanks!
Exactly. God answers some–often trivial–prayers, but not most. And certainly not the prayers of those who are in the most need. But why can’t God answer my prayer that I get hired to my dream job? Well, because that is a prayer with the wrong motive. God doesn’t answer those. Ok, but why doesn’t God answer my prayer that my friend doesn’t die of cancer? Because you don’t have enough faith, you should have been communicating with God for longer. Ok, but her parents are devout Christians and her entire church congregation prayed for her to live, so why didn’t he answer them? Because it was not his plan/will for her to live. Oh, ok. So then what was the point of praying if he never will deviate from his plan? Why did God answer these people’s prayers: http://www.motivatingconnections.com/god-hears-and-answers-prayers/
“Once, I asked God for snow boots like a friend. Hers were a gift, so she didn’t know where they were purchased. I hunted, but never found them. I eventually forgot. About a year later, I went birthday shopping at a small specialty center. As I was about to leave a clothing boutique, I spotted the boots! God gave them to me for my birthday!”
It was his…plan? Will? Ooook. So, those people didn’t really need to pray for that stuff because it would have happened anyway?…Or…? Last question, why doesn’t God perform some sort of miracle to help those starving/suffering/dying/sick/poverty stricken abroad, who pray to him every day and believe in him endlessly? Well, because he has to remain hidden, he can’t just show himself like that. That messes with free will. You have to believe on faith, you can’t just ask for stuff and get it because that’s too much proof. Ok, so then why does he miraculously heal some people and why does answer some people’s prayers to find their lost dogs? Because he chooses who to help and who not to? So, answering a prayer for certain people doesn’t mess with his plan or with free will, but for others it would? If he has a plan, then answering a prayer that deviates from that plan should be equally impermissible for everyone. If not, then either some people’s prayers just line up with what was “supposed to” happen anyway (aka, not answered by God), or God cares more about certain people’s happiness than others and Christian websites should stop making lists of why God may not be answering your prayers.
Author
Thanks so much Noel. Here are my thoughts on the matter. And by the way, these are just my thoughts. There are plenty of bloggers that would answer this question in a different way than I do. You’ve probably come across some of them on the Internet but you probably weren’t fond of their answer.
So the essence of the question is, “Why does God answer some prayers and why does He not answer some others?” And the bottom line is that God adjusts His response according to the person and to the prayer being requested.
So here is something to think about: There is one superpower that God has that humans do not have. In my opinion, having this superpower baffles the mind.
What would you do, Noel, if you had a crystal ball and were able to accurately predict the future 100% of the time? Imagine that you are able to predict things like earthquakes, famines, and other natural disasters. Imagine that you are able to predict the choices that your closest loved ones are going to make tomorrow, next year, and even 10 years from now. What would you do with that information? Would you warn them if they were going down the wrong path? Would you encourage them if they were going down the right path but were feeling down and depressed?
Well God has a similar superpower but He goes even one step further. God doesn’t only have the capability to predict the future, He actually has 100% knowledge of the future at all times. There is a slight distinction between knowing the future and predicting the future but I only point this out to make my point that it’s so difficult to put ourselves in God’s shoes because we do not have this superpower.
So you asked, my friend, why doesn’t God answer your prayer that you get hired to your dream job? Well, what if God knows that your dream job is actually going to end up being your worst nightmare? Then it would make sense that because He loves you, that He wouldn’t grant you your petition.
I could go on and on about this topic for a while. But I’ll just start off with my reply here, and I’m sure we’ll be talking more about this some more. I also realize that I did not answer all of your questions in your comment. That’s because, if it’s okay with you, I’d rather deal with one question at a time and then move on to the next.
Thanks Noel.
So I have a question? The bible..all through proverbs says that if you are lazy or if you don’t work..you will not eat and a man who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel. As Christians we have been led to believe (Not biblically..in my eyes anyway) that we are to give to ALL the poor! However do you feel it’s biblical to give to beggars who could easily work while you are struggling yourself? I believe in supporting the mentally or physically handicapped, but I believe that we have encouraged people to become beggars who would otherwise work, by giving them a free hand out. It’s much easier than working for little return!
Peter… Thanks for responding. However, you seemed to completely misunderstand the essence of my comment. I am not actually asking God to help me find my dream job. I was giving examples, of the explanations that are commonly given for people’s common, unanswered prayers. What I am saying is that there is always an excuse made for why God doesn’t answer prayers that would immensely improve the quality of life for people in the world whose lives are unfathomably hellish. Meanwhile, there are people who pray to find their scarves or dogs, and who when they do, use it as proof of God’s existence. There are people who pray for their sister to beat cancer against all odds. If the sister dies, it wasn’t God’s plan. If the sister lives, then God answered your prayers! Ok, so I want you to think about that, because this is a huge issue I have. If God answers some people’s prayers in a situation like this, that means he deviated from his plan. If not, then the sister would have survived cancer anyway. If it was based off of prayer, then that would mean that Christians have the upper hand in these type of scenarios. However, that is not the case. I have known many people, who have gotten cancer or been in a terrible car accident, and who people both prayed for and didn’t pray for. My very Christian friend who got leukemia died, my non-Christian mother (who was not prayed for by my non-Christian father) got cancer and made it through, a van of Christian cheerleaders for some Christian cheer team got in a bad accident and two of them died, while three survived (all 5 were prayed for). Specifically, in the case of the car crash, they kept the status of the students updated online. It was very creepy to see the evolution of the updates for the students who died go from “PLEASE PRAY FOR TINA AND ADAM PLEASE PRAY THEY MAKE IT OK WE NEED YOUR PRAYERS” to “God took them because it was his plan. Praise God for taking them up to heaven with him, they are so lucky they get to meet God and this accident turned out to be such a blessing.” No matter what happens, Christians say it was because of God. Something good, God is great! Something horrible, well those people who died in the earthquake/flood/hospital/whatever are in heaven now. Something inconvenient, its God’s plan, it’ll all work out. When things, don’t work out, still, God loves you he’s watching. He’s working in mysterious ways. People dying horrible deaths constantly, worldwide–that’s the fault of humans, God can’t actually intervene. But he can intervene to help someone find a scarf. Do you get what I am saying?
You said:
“Imagine that you are able to predict things like earthquakes, famines, and other natural disasters. Imagine that you are able to predict the choices that your closest loved ones are going to make tomorrow, next year, and even 10 years from now…There is a slight distinction between knowing the future and predicting the future but I only point this out to make my point that it’s so difficult to put ourselves in God’s shoes because we do not have this superpower.”
So you are saying that because God knows that earthquakes, famines, and other natural disasters are going to happen that he…what? Tries to get people to not let them happen? Or are you just saying that He knows the future? God wouldn’t just “know” the future, God makes the future. God controls everything. God doesn’t have to let Nepal or other 3rd world countries be hit by devastating earthquakes that destroy their economy and chance of developing their country and that kill a bunch of innocent people. God has the power to not let that happen. He is the one who created all of the rules. He is the one who decided that “free will” is more important that world peace. He is the one who decided that natural disasters could be something that could destroy cities. He decided that his help and guidance couldn’t really be given in a tangible way to most people. Why does it mean more if you choose to believe and follow God without any hard evidence. Honestly, why does it matter more to God, that you believe in him, than if you are just a really kind, giving person? Think about it, how can a God who loves us, watch millions of his children suffer from the moment they are born until the moment they die, without ever even having a chance at a life filled with joys and experiences that billions of other people on Earth get to have? How can a God love them, and let their lives be that way, and not intervene, because people on Earth need to have their free will, so that they can glorify Him better? God lets humans live painful, painful, sickly, lives just so that other humans can prove that they truly love him because they choose to believe in him without any evidence of him. Because evidence would be helping the suffering. I guess. Although, there are a lot of inconspicuous ways to go about that; plant growth, cure for AIDS, etc. Anyway, a God who cares more about having people choose to believe in him and love him–even though He knows that He gave humans an intellect that separated them from the rest of the animals, and made people write the Bible with historical and scientific fallacies that he knew would end up being outed as false, and that the combination of the intellect that he gave humans with these historical and scientific discoveries would create a solid and reasonable debate against His existence or at least against the Christian God (dinosaurs vs Genesis, for example)–doesn’t sound like a very caring God. That is a God who wants to be glorified more than he wants people to be happy and healthy, and who has made rules for people’s acceptance into heaven based off of things that make him happy (being glorified) instead of things that make humans’ time on Earth happy.
Author
Thanks for clarifying your ultimate point, Noel. So if I understand you correctly, your issue is how can Christians claim that God exists when God supposedly answers some prayers and other prayers He doesn’t? It seems like that gives Christians the upper hand because if a person is healed and he is prayed for, then Christians can claim that God did it. But if that person who was prayed for didn’t get healed, then Christians will just say that it wasn’t God’s will. Is that correct?
If that is the case, then here is my personal answer. I’m going to assume that you are an atheist or an agnostic. If I’m mistaken, then please correct me. From your position and if you are seeking the question of whether God exists or not, then I would not recommend going down the prayer path. That’s because the prayer path is something that’s very personal. How God responds to a prayer is completely up to Him and He doesn’t have to reveal why He responds the way that He does. Since that is the case, I personally don’t recommend that one look at answered or unanswered prayers as proof or disproof of God’s existence. There are much better arguments like the arguments from design, fine-tuning, and other scientific and philosophical ones.
As for when you wrote about God knowing the future, here is what I was trying to say. God mostly is concerned with where we end up for eternity after we die. Because of our sinful nature, we are born sinners. That means that we do bad things and think bad thoughts. Just think about how many lies you and I have told in our lives? Think about if you’ve ever stolen? I know I have. Think about if you’ve ever hated someone. I know I have. God calls that murder because He equates hatred with murder.
I want you to imagine a leaf in a forest. It has fallen to the ground from a tree. Now I want you to imagine that there is a forest fire and it comes into contact with the leaf. It consumes that leaf that fell from the tree in a second. That leaf does not have a fighting chance to not be consumed by the fire.
We are like the leaf on the ground and God is a consuming fire. By His very nature, it’s impossible for us to be in God’s presence with our sinful nature and not be consumed. That’s why God’s first and foremost concern is to get us saved. And the way that we get saved is to put our faith in Jesus Christ and repent of our sins. Then we can be in His presence in heaven for eternity and avoid punishment in hell.
So God is not just focused on giving certain people healings like those have cancer, He wants the whole world to be free from sin and the effects of sin. The only way God can do that is for Him to come back and judge everyone on this earth. And He will give everyone what they rightly deserve. Unfortunately, because of sin, God does not come back and judge this earth because many people would end up going to hell. God is giving people a lot of chances to put their faith in Jesus and to repent of their sins so they can get saved.
So being happy and healthy like you mentioned is something that is just temporary. That’s why you and I see the effects of sin taking place. God never wanted anyone to die of cancer. In fact, when God created the world in a perfect state, cancer did not exist. There were no hungry children that broke your heart. Everything was perfect. And one day, God’s original design for this world will be re-created. Until that day comes, we are going to continue to see people dying of cancer, famine, rapes, and all the other terrible things that we see in our world today.
Can I ask you a question, Noel? Have you ever been a Christian before?
Author
Hi Noel, in addition to my previous comment, I want to share a video with you. I was just watching it this morning and it made me think about the topics that you and I are discussing. Here is the link, I hope it will give you some answers as well.
http://vizfact.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/starving-child-4-e1325353895275.jpg
https://www.google.com/search?q=starving+africa&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS551US551&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjAztzHq4zNAhUJ9IMKHZNzDmAQ_AUIBygB&biw=1324&bih=734#imgrc=hRbPzK1N5T4DqM%3A
Author
Very sad indeed ☹️
He exists but He doesn’t care for all, just some elected few, like royals who have billions and live 101 years, got it ? Us, the rest, the masses, the dust, we don’t exist for Him to help us, but be sure we will be punished . Horrible world, I am afraid of this God and his justice and the way He favours some and hates others, but I still cannot prevent myself from thinking , not like the ones that are manipulated by their churches and priests.
There is no free will, only for the powerful, the victims have never their free will respected, no victim wants to suffer, free will is a lie invented by Church. Just as the sin as an excuse/cause for everything that happens. If the sin was the cause of all evil, why the sin effects only touch some and not all people ? Once again, the sin effects don’t touch the powerful, just as their free will is always respected. The sin is upon the heads of masses, the same masses whose free will is ignored.
Long live the queens and kings of this miserable earth. They have the paradise here and they will have paradise there too because millions of priests pray for them. This is the justice .
I forgot to sign : despised ,disappointed , left aside Christian believer , one of the poor and sick whos free will is ignored and who has to suffer the sin of others who are happy instead.
Author
My dear sister Claudia, thank you very much for your comment. You based your comment on comparing God to a human father. Yet Jesus says that God is not like human fathers.
Matthew 7:11 says, “Therefore, if you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in the heavens give good things to those asking Him!”
People who will are skeptics will want to take this verse out of context and say,”See, if God is so good, then He should feed the starving children of the world!” But God doesn’t claim responsibility for feeding them. Jesus said in Matthew 26:11, “You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me.”
God wants us to feed the poor, close those who are naked, and help those in desperate need.
Thank you for sharing this. This is exactly what I needed to see at this moment in time.
Author
You are most welcome, Tyler. I’m glad it helped ? .
Peter, love the blog. Keep up the good work! God bless.
im losing faith because its always causasian americans who preach this and ignore when jesus says he wil feed al humans, and there the same people who want to “make america great again” and secretly they worship themselves and their country and political partty outway Gods will. IM lising faith because the verses interpret themselves. Jesus said he would feed his children. that means God only means “certain countries” or its not true. maybe instead of building a business like website for already rich westerners you could go to africa and help yourself. But americans live in duality, wanting their dream mixed with Gods will. which is serving 2 masters.
I love how people think they are so important that there is a god out in this vast universe just waiting for their call. Wow! The arrogance of believing that humans are the center of the universe and all this was created for us (even though we can’t even get to the planets in our own solar system).
Keep peddling your version of your God. You have no more proof than the Muslim or the Jew or the Hindu that your books are accurate. You have no more proof that Jesus walked the earth than do we have proof that Zeus exists. Jesus is a bastardized version of Zeus by the way.
The author of this article is a waste of space. Religion is what’s wrong with humanity. How many more have to die or be persecuted over such foolish belief systems? Hey, my belief is that green is the best color. Does that mean all the people that “believe” green is not the best color should come and assault me or worse? Of course not! It’s a freaking belief!!!!
Go peddle your person beliefs to rednecks in the Southeast. Your religion is dead. Give up. The Muslims won the Crusades and are winning in world wide total members, just in case you are keeping score.
Furthermore of all the foolish belief systems, I guess you are worshipping the wrong God, because from where I sit, I see a big golden dome, built by the Muslims, shoved down the Jews throats as it sits right on top of King Solomons temple.
Stop believing in gods and get off your lazy asses and belief in yourself. If you can’t look at yourself in the mirror and be happy with yourself and your actions, no belief system will fix that. Believe in yourself…stop waiting on a miracle to happen.
Stand up, be a good citizen, don’t break the law, exercise, study, eat healthy, and give back to your community. These are the pillars of success and happiness.
Wasting your time praying to gods to heal your family members or wasting time praying for relief to the ~21,000 children who die of starvation EVERY SINGLE DAY is foolish. No one is listening. Be an adult and accept that fact and still be a good person. Don’t just be good because you believe in eternal life and paradise that a book talks about.
Ha! Thanks for doing exactly what you said you were against…’Peddling your Belief’
So god is like an absentee landlord that gets paid in prayer and doesn’t provide livable conditions. Got it. Thanks.
Your arrogance and conceit is repugnant. You tell people they are not interpreting the Bible correctly. Yet if there is a ‘correct’ way, then why is there so much disagreement amongst Christians as to what is ‘sin’ and what isn’t? Some Christians say there is nothing in the Bible which specifically forbids homosexuality. Others say there is.
It’s the same with your ‘God doesn’t say he’ll feed starving children’ argument. There have been passages quoted which strongly infer this to be the case, but you just say those passages have been wrongly interpreted (by Atheists), whilst ignoring the fact there are over 30,000 different Christian sects and sub-sects precisely because there is almost universal disagreement amongst Christians about the ‘correct’ interpretation of a book that was written over thousands of years, translated, heavily edited, re-translated and so on. The version of the Bible you refer to is not definitive and like all versions it is riddled with ambiguity and contradictions. Hence why everycdhurch denomination has a different fancy dress code and a different set of sins and virtues,.
There are many things which god doesn’t expressly forbid or condone. Therefore if, as you say, god’s justice is different; then it’s carte blanche for believers in nonsesne to make up their morals and justify their actions by quoting whichever bit of the Bible suits their agenda,,,Hence the parts where god encourages, demands, actively carries out genocide is used by human beings to justify genocide…..
The Bible doesn’t specifically forbid paedophilia. Is this why so many priests and pastors rape and molest children? It’s well known that religion is a route in for these creeps and perverts to access children to abuse. If god thinks child rape is wrong, it’s curious he would allow paedophiles to become priests and pastors….Maybe, because it’s up to us to feed the starving children, it’s up to us to save children from being raped….One way to do that would be to reduce the capacity for churches to act as a conduit for these deviants. Perhaps by closing down every place of worship where a paedophile pastor has been discovered. This would of course result in the closure of 1000’s of churches, but god would see that as a good thing because it’s human beings taking responsibility to prevent children from suffering. If on the other hand, god doesn’t think it’s a good thing for us to eradicate paedophile preachers by closing his grovel shops, this infers he doesn’t think it’s a sin to rape a choir boy. And only cares about having his monstrous ego massaged while the righteous priests does his ‘placing of hands’ in all the wrong places.
Ultimately, all of the above references to what god does, doesn’t, ought to or ought not do is semantics, because god doesn’t exist. You have no evidence beyond anecdote (which is no evidence) and your reference book is a litany of nonsense, mythology, supernatural wizardry. There is even a talking donkey! How can any grown adult with any intelligence take this book or it’s ludicrous characters seriously?
Talking of the talking donkey, perhaps you can explain why it is part of god’s plan to give one donkey the power of speech, but no other donkeys have been afforded a similar privilege? More importantly, since Balaam whacked his donkey with a stick, millions of children have been born or gone blind, deaf, mute…… The Lord God can make a donkey talk for the purpose of illustrating a tiny Biblical point; but those children?….as one of your pedarast priests might mutter…..’ Fuck ’em’.
In conclusion,
God is a delusion.
Which is just as well,
or you’d be going to Hell,
Author
Hi Craig. I can fully understand where you’re coming from. There have been many atrocities done in the name of religion. In my opinion, most of these things have been done by fake Christians. They say they are Christian but they act in a way that is completely contrary to what the Bible teaches.
Are there differences among Christian denominations? Yes, there sure are. While there might be some differences in some of the minor details, most Christians agree on the big stuff. There is a lot of unity among Christians worldwide, but you have to be able to separate Christians from the fake Christians as well as from Christian cults.
As for pedophilia, while there is no direct mention of pedophilia in the Bible, there are numerous biblical principles that apply to this perverted and abusive sin. One such principle is the Bible’s view of the sin of fornication.
The word translated “fornication” has the same meaning in both the Hebrew and the Greek languages. The Greek word is porneia, from which we get the English words porno and pornography. The word in Scripture refers to any illicit sexual activity, and this would have to include the abhorrent acts of a pedophile—including the gathering and trading of obscene or indecent pictures of young children.
You also said in your comment that I have no evidence that God exists. That is not true. I actually have plenty of evidence from both the scientific and philosophical realms. The thing is that we all have the same facts but we have different interpretations. Just because you reject these evidences then that doesn’t mean that they are not true. Many people take a look at the same evidences and have come to the accurate conclusion that God does exist.
Speaking of no evidences, if you’re an atheist, then you have absolutely no evidence that God does not exist. You might be thinking that you don’t have to prove that something doesn’t exist just like you wouldn’t have to prove that Santa Claus or unicorns don’t exist. However, how do you explain the universe coming into existence? Do you believe that our universe was created from nothing? That is an absurdity and is a both a logical and scientific impossibility.
Anyways, feel free to reply to this comment if you like. I’d be willing to have a conversation with you in the comments section of my blog about these topics.
Where is this evidence you talk about? First of all we don’t even have to talk about the origins of the universe just that according to the bible it was created a little over 6 or 7 thousands years ago that’s just nonsense when we clearly have FACTS and an abundance of evidence that disproves that. And we all now that. I respect what you believe but there’s no reason in this time and society where we are so advance in science and technology to even still believe in a book.
Author
Here is an example of some of the evidences that I’m talking about. You can watch this video but you have to watch until minute 6 to get something out of it https://youtu.be/UpIiIaC4kRA
I don’t know if the man writing the article is a “good bible student,” but I do know u just proved that you MOST CERTAINLY are man FULL of PRIDE.
Your so called “facts” are wrong. Where did you recieve that faulty information? You heard someone taking about it? Or you believe everything your told? Because evolution has been refuted a long time ago and the whole billions of years theory is irrelevant to God being real. I pray you stop being decieved. Have you ever even LOOKED at Christian apologetics? My guess would be not. Answers on genesis, the lie of evolution, even just research bible prophecy and when its PROVEN date of completition was and how accurately Isaiah predicted the birth of Jesus. Even bible code bombshell will be enough proof that the bible is divine.
I can debunk that. The bible was written and controlled by higher power evil AI entities (not god, but the archons I explain to you in my message below) This is how they are able to predict the future, they are interdimensional. So are we but they robbed us of our power. We allowed it. Anyway so there in a nutshell you have been debunked. I know about Gematria and all that. But I also know about TRUE unconditional LOVE which is something you must not know anything about if you are belieivng that a loving god would let kids starve because of the lies written in the bible.
My message is going to PROVE beyond any doubt that this article is wrong. At least prove it to those who DO know what love is. Christians will not understand this, as it goes over there head. They dont know what love or justice is according to their standards because they believed the lies told by satan in the bible. To the author of this article- You are very brainwashed my good brother. And I will prove it by asking a questions that you wont be able to answer.
Ok so if you are correct with your “reasons” for god letting poor kids suffer and starve, then here is my next question- WHY didn’t god give us the same sense of justice that he has? How can he apply his insane extreme out of this world (no one understands it type) of justice FAIRLY to those who have a different sense of justice. This is impossible to do. So you wont be able to answer this one truthfully. Whatever answer you try to grasp straws at (like you did in this article, even though you used bible verses, this proves the bible was not written by an all loving and all just god.
Do you even know what UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FEELS LIKE? IT WOULD NEVER LET KIDS STARVE> GOD KNOWS THAT THERE ARE NO PEOPLE TO FEED THOSE KIDS AND HE LETS THEM GO HUNGRY ANYWAY. THAT IS INDEED EVIL. While I am not an atheist, I have to agree with them there. The christian god is not a good god.He is a liar if he says he is. Actions speak LOUDER THAN WORDS! What have gods actions been? Threats, lies, and deception. I can prove this too…just ask if you’re ready for the harsh truth about your supposed god. .
Also why is it OUR responsibility to feed them when GOD is the one who made them. It’s his creation,not ours. It’s not our responsibility to fly to a different country and feed them. I am afraid of flying. Planes are not natural. Why would go expect there to be rich people in the land of the poor? There is no one there to logically feed them (btw I do feed the poor) Maybe the truth is that your god DOESNT HAVE THE POWER TO FEED THEM BECAUSE HE ISNT REALLY GOD AND HE JUST LIED TO GET YOUR WORSHIP(war ship) AND SOUL ENERGY. This is why you research soul traps, you find out that Jeuss is a demon in disguise who waits for you in the false light when you die, then tricks you into reincarnating. LOOK IT UP! It’s all true, and been proven.
Now if you asked my theory on why god dont feed the kids, here it is- #1- He doesnt have the power to. God has its limits too. #2- They dont ask to be fed, and since god lives from within, they created their own situation by allowing themselves to be tricked into agreeing to that life…which boils down to the soul traps again and the lords of karma. Ok christians I told you, that you wont get it but thats the truth and I just proved it. Just not to you, beause you dont know true love. I do.
I have a connection with the true god. I am sorry that you dont because your mind is powerful you will manifest your psycho god(s) after you die during your NDE and you may end up as a starving child in your next life. All because you agreed to it. Basically these archon demons are violating ignorant people’s free will. Even the universe can be manipulated. Time to wake up guys.
Not one of you christians will be able to prove me wrong. You can try but you will fail. And that is a guarantee!
I am so sorry to hear your answers. God gave everyone something more important than food- freedom of choice. This is not something plants and other creations get. Everyone’s physical body dies someday. Even if they get fed every time they are hungry. Unconditional love means letting go and letting the one you love decide: to love you back or leave you. God gives us sufficient resources and guides us where needed and when we ask and choose to listen. If we choose Him, He will honor us. If you don’t choose Him, He will be sad, but He will continue to wait for you. The heavens weep and rejoice every time there one of God’s creation returns to Him. I pray you let God find you one day.
The entire point is that they DON’T have sufficient resources. Food and water, insufficient. Clean water, often nonexistent.
beautiful comment
Hi, i was born a christian and have lived my life as a christian(i am 31). When I was younger it was more expected of me and now that I am older I rmain a christian by choice. Thou I have become more spiritual than religious. If Indid not sprout out of my religion to a more spiritual sector with christ, I probably would have lost my mind, as well as been an athiest or agnostic. Because there are just to many questions that a relion or religious person can not phantom or began to understand because of the bubble in which we were taught…certain things and certain answers. Ex. I was only given baby food as a christian in my religion, now I am eating solid whole meals as a christian in my spirituality.
I have come to believe more in Jesus and the Father ghan in my religion.. the connection is different… i am going straight to my father versus his secretary and then to him.
However, in my spiritual journey I havr always been perplexed in the understanding of “his will”.. it never adds up and I am forced to fill in the blanks with “have faith”, “believe in him”, his plan will be revealed soon”, etc. however, how soon is soon… like any feable mind we sit and wonder.. while we wait and wait and wait on the answer.. especially an answer from God that will allow us the ability to move on with life..abundantly.. and in goid spirits……
I am still waiting……
I am soooo sad… but im still moving….hoping… and believing……that one day …soon ….it will be revealed……..
In July 2004,>>>>>>I sat behind my mothers car in my car as we both waited on the light to turn green… she was headed to work, I was headed to school… the light turned green… my mother proceeded with caution through the light… in the left lanes (3 lanes), peering and speeding thru the middle lane, an F-350 Diesel truck smashed into my mothers car, hitting her directly on her door.. her car was lifted from the ground and moved through the air about 50-75ft. I sat and watched this special effects happening and froze until reality made me jump and run to her side. Her neck was broke, eyes were closed, and blood was trickling down the side of her ear to her neck and chest. I screamed. I looked At the killer, a 16 year old boy in the car with his girlfriend speeding to make it school for practice. They sat in the cutb crying. I wad crying too. I was shocked. I still am. The medics tried to calm me and tell me it’s going to be ok. As their voices faded I peered around their bodies and their vocals and saw my mother… then I saw a fire man with a blanket…. he put it over my mother…then the voices got louder .. and they said “im sorry your mother is Dead”…. I ran
Im still waiting on his plan to be revealed…
Until then I am only left with this image, this moment, this thought
It has been 12 years respectively…
It is still yesterday, everyday
So again, we>>>>alll>>>agnostic, athiest, christians, orthodox, non orthodox,
Ask… Why!?!?!?…and why and why and why
Not only are they dead and gone.. why are we still here suffering with the scar… with no explanation but to trust, believe, stay steadfast, stay ready, pray, keep praying, i have a plan for you, just believe…
And still I wait
And still I rise
Author
I’m so sorry for your loss! I read your story and my heart goes out to you. I can only imagine how difficult this must be for you.
In terms of your question of why this happened, I cannot answer. Only God knows. However, somebody wise once shared something with me that might help you. This friend of mine told me, “Peter, when you want to ask why, remember the acronym W.H.Y – Why Hurts You.”
I found that asking why in these kinds of situations does hurt because there is nothing that you can do to change the past. All I know is that it was your mom’s time for her to go home with the Lord.
One day, you will be able to ask God why things happened the way that they did. Until then, keep trusting, keep believing, keep having faith.
Thank you (from: Im Sad).
On a side note:
to all those who believe or dont believe in God…
with all religion and spirituality put aside, evil is evil and good is good.
If God has not given you a good enough impression, and you feel indifferent about Gods existence (or any other higher being)…at least in all you do live by a code of conduct:
“Do unto others as you will have them do unto you”…
By applying this code of morality to your everyday life you will only encompass good. And guess what God is, good!
God is peace, love, honesty, joy, happiness, and all else that is good.
So if your having trouble believing in God just remember all of these ACTS are good ACTS and therefore God is an ACT…an action, movement, work, operation,…..and such is love and peace and hope…
Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the EVIDENCE of things not seen.
I have faith in Love, I have faith in peace, I have faith in hope, I have faith in joy, I have faith in perseverance…..WHY? Because I have seen these things with my very own eyes!
…Though I do not see these acts at times that does not take away their existence… I have faith, and therefore I have hope that all of these acts will be revealed today, tomorrow, future….
These acts cannot be denied, because they exist! Period.
So unless you are of the devil and of evil, there can be NO denial of GOD because he is ALL of things good. And This is how he reveals himself! Not in the flesh, but in the spirit. Your spirit. My spirit.
When you are doing good God is within you, therefore there is a God …because there is love… because there is hope.. because there is peace, long suffering, and gentleness…..
For the sick, hungry, homeless, and poverished people …I have faith in love, peace, joy, goodness, and endurance and therefore I have GOD… and furthermore YOU will have him too.. because I will show it to you… I will “do unto you as Id want you to do unto me”!
Though it is truly sad in these 3rd world countries, they still have GOD…thus they have Love, Peace, Joy, and Long Suffering!
And as for us, the tangibly blessed….
“I give so that you my give in return” and please,
” give so that you may receive”
Though their conditions are horrific think of the sacrifice they give…. their story, their lives give hope and love for those individuals batteling between good and evil.. these people on the fence can either go Left or Right…
they then decide to give a little, a lot, or even all they have …soon they are being filled by the spirit>>>love, peace, joy, happiness…God.
Ultimately, they are making room to receive…
To receive their blessings… money, peace, Joy, Job, career, family, children, food, shelter….
So whether you believe in, God or not, his acts and these acts are unquestionable, they exist!
Embody the fruits of the spirit, and you will be made whole. God will not force himself on your life…it will be your choice to embody these acts… and as a domino effect occurs you will soon embody God, the ultimate Act.
You cant deny what you can see! God makes that easy to understand!
I love therefore I am
I give therefore I am
I suffer therefore I am
I endure therefore I am
Sounds like science… intellectual, practical, systematic…
Action-Reaction.
Godspeed to you all
People always expect God to do something when people are in need…and that’s where their problem starts….WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN?
God as a “Helper/Comforter” have always been prophesied in the Old Testament, and such a character have always been made known since the beginning of time…but according to the Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:1-5, our time is within the “dispensation of grace” wherein the message he brings is the “mystery” of Christ which was kept a secret in ages before him and is only “now” revealed in our dispensation….it is a Christ which is silent when even the innocent are suffering….He is silent…and we don’t SEE his miracles….and through that, true faith comes out from us.
We don’t need to SEE miracles to believe that He exists.
We don’t need to SEE HIM hanging on the cross to believe that He died for us.
We don’t need to SEE the holes in His hands to believe that He conquered death for us.
2 Corinthians 5:7(KJV) For we walk by faith, not by sight
God does exist and why some of us are more fortunate than others is a difficult ? To answer but maybe perhaps those children suffering are really angels who feel no pain
Peter, you and others here are not addressing the only real issue.
Love. The love you do, the love that’s part of empathy, if one can put it that way.
Jack (CS) Lewis put it like this: We know what we mean by the word ‘love.’ He said If Got means something different when he uses this word than what we mean, then we can have no relationship with him. We can only say, then, in Lewis’ words, “God is we know not what.”
So, assuming God and we mean the same thing when we use that word, we must look at what happens when either God or we says “I love you” to a person or a people.
It’s a very strong statement we have here, because by saying “I love you,” we are implying very heavy responsibility. We are saying there is a relationship between ourselves and the loved one that is in dead earnest. We are saying “My love for you dictates that you are more important than I am, that I would give up all I have for you, that I would give my life for you.” If we don’t mean and feel these things, Peter, then we really don’t love after all.
Implicit in the above statements concerning commitment to the loved one, we assume that we have the ability, the power, to act on them. I would throw myself in front of a car to save my child at the cost of my life, but if I am in wheelchair I cannot do this.
God’s John 3:16 love is of such commitment that he is bound, not against his will but because it is his wish, like everyone who loves someone, to use whatever power he has to protect the object of his love, us, from all harm — physical, mental, spiritual. If he does not do this, and he obviously does not, we can draw one of three conclusions: he does not love us, he doesn’t exist, or he has purposes we’re not privy to for this screeching contradiction, i.e., right now, men and women are standing in their doorways, sobbing, as their spouses leave them; people are screaming in agony in any number of situations, from falling off cliffs to suffering from cancer eating them from the inside out, beyond the reach of any drug; parents are getting telephone calls telling them their child has died in a wreck; people are putting belts around their necks, pointing guns at their heads, getting ready to take cyanide or are hooking up hoses to their tailpipes because their suffering is more than they can bear.
You, Peter, would not allow any of those things to happen to someone you love if you had the power to prevent it.
God allows it because he does not love us, he’s not there, or he has some other purpose. But this last is no good, because regardless of what that purpose is, he is not doing what someone who loves does: see to the welfare of the ones he loves.
A condition of sanity is that things must make sense. Insane people are no longer able to make sense out of the world. Religion is a wonderful tool we use to make sense out of the world, which most certainly makes no sense.
I am a weak, frightened, human being like every other who’s ever lived. Look what our fear causes us to do: disagree, argue, fight, kill. Those are the consequences of God not coming to our aid when fear and pain have us by the throat.
No one needs God more than I. Millions need him just as much, but not more. I have begged him on my face for faith, and let’s face it, to rely to that with “You want faith for selfish reasons; you should want God because he is worthy and is infinitely good in himself and those are plenty enough reasons to want him” does no good, because uncountable numbers of people cry out to him every day from their fear and their pain. Some gain faith that way, but others never do.
The Christian who possesses that most awful of characteristics, certainty, always blames the person doing the asking, or they fall back on “God’s purposes are not our purposes, ” or, most cowardly and sadistically, “We gain from suffering; God has a purpose in allowing us to suffer.”
If you choose to answer, I hope you are not so lame that you will answer in one of those ways.
Hi George, thank you for your comment. I’m not sure if my answer will be considered lame by you. But if it is, that’s no problem. I’ve certainly been called worse ? .
George, I can tell from your comment that you have a Christian background. I’m not sure where you are right now spiritually, but respectfully, it doesn’t sound like you are in a very healthy place at the moment.
I can go on and address the many different points that you made in your comment. However, I’m just going to address the one overarching theme in your comment if that’s okay.
George, throughout your comment, you compare God’s love to the love of humans. You give the example of what you would do to protect your children. You also state your expectations of how God should show His love for His children. When God doesn’t do the “loving” things that you want Him to do, then you are disappointed. And then it causes you to doubt God and to not believe in His existence.
My dear brother, with all due respect to your beliefs, you have made a God of your own imagination. The God that you talk about is a God that does not exist in the Bible. So when God doesn’t do the things that you want Him to do, then you are disappointed in His performance.
This is probably just the first of a long discussion. If you would like to continue it in the comments, feel free to do so. Or if you like to make it private, you can use the contact link in my navigation on my blog and send me a private message.
Peter, I’ll go back to my initial premise, put succinctly by Mr. Lewis: If we and God mean different things when we use the word “love,” then we can have no relationship one with the other.
Tell me if I’m wrong, but I sense from you what I’ve gotten from others, a benign “Who the heck do you think you are, demanding God conform to your desires, expectations, and so on?” That’s just what I’m not doing. I’m saying that if God is going to tell us he loves us — heck, if he’s going to say anything at all to us — then we have to know just where he’s coming from. I’ve seen a great deal of work whose premise is “Here’s what God REALLY MEANS by ABCD.” Wow, I guess without this or that particular book in our hands, we’ll go our whole lives without knowing what the Bible actually says in any number of given situations.
Oh, come on.
You say I’m comparing God’s love to the love of humans.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m doing. Love is love. It isn’t one thing for us and something else for somebody else. It has one definition, one set of implications. You love someone or you do not. If you do, you act in certain defined ways toward that person, and if you don’t, you don’t love him or her.
By that metric, there’s no God, or he is the worst possible monster. If we are God’s children, well, those who are parents know exactly how they feel toward their kids. You think a normal parent is going to stand by and watch his child get killed?
God stands by and lets us get killed. Every day. All the time. It’s as common an occurrence as dirt.
Yes, the God of the Bible quite obviously is not the God I’m apparently talking about.
George, your definition of love is that of using CS Lewis’s definition of love. However, God’s love is not like human love. Therefore, when you attribute God’s love to be like human love, then you will reach the conclusions that you are reaching.
I understand that you say love is love. However, that’s not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that there are four types of love. In the Greek, they are defined by the words philia (brotherly love), storge (family or friend love) eros (physical love), and agape (sacrificial love like that of God).
The highest form of these types of love is agape love and it is not possible for humans to love in this form unless they are empowered by their Creator.
Look, Peter, love is love, the kind where we put the object of that love before ourselves. The implications of that definition make it not necessary to say one more word about it. If you love someone like that, and human beings certainly are capable of it, then they mean it to the extent of giving their lives for the loved person. Fini.
I, with all my faults, will instinctively lay down my life for one I love. It happens all the time. Men in war jump on grenades to save their fellows. Parents give their lives to protect their children. Husbands for wives. Wives for husbands. Children for parents. Lovers for lovers. And not because we want it to be that way; we’re wired to be that way.
It’s common, Peter.
And God most certainly does not love us in that way, or in any other way.
In fact, our relationship with God is Stockholm Syndrome. I know a couple, and this is no joke or exaggeration, who have monstrous health problems. He has been in constant pain in most of the bones of his body for the better part of 10 years, He cannot sleep in a bed. His children no longer know him because it takes all of his strength just to withstand the onslaught.
His wife has lupus and another autoimmune disease, I forget which. Now she has massive bleeding from her colon and has been in the hospital for a month. She is scared to death. It’s literally one thing following on the heels of the last thing with them.
For several years they have posted on FB asking for prayer and praising God for his goodness. Their friends send prayers by the bushel basket load, and how much has that prayer availed them?
God’s goodness has been showered on them, has it? If they allowed their children to go untreated for something, CPS would have yanked those kids out of such an obviously abuse home years ago. But God, allowing this to happen to these good and kind people — is ‘good.’
So go ahead, your turn. Tell me how God is good but he lets this happen, and to so many, over so much time.
God expects us to feed the poor starving children? And I suppose that means the starving here at home as well?
Yet 80 percent of Christians vote for politicians who say they will slash domestic and foreign aid. Will these Christians who vote Republican go to Hell?
Most people who have the capacity to help are incapable of helping due to unknown need and distance. The government is a perfect vehicle for helping the poor.
Will every Christian who votes Republican go to Hell or just the majority?
Martin, When one becomes a Christian, the Bible tells us that we become a new person. Our eyes are opened. We become far more loving toward our fellows. One would think that along with this would come the obvious-to-all-but-the-blind realization that you don’t put people in authority who publicly state they are going to hurt people.
God did not give us free will, he hid the tree of knowledge therefore he did not intend for us to have free will he wanted us naked and ignorant, the devil gave humans free will if u want to be technical
The reason that there are starving people in this word is the same reason for all are problems in this world and it is called sin. I know that in 2016 no one wants to talk about it but sin is what causes all the problems in my life and in the lives of the people around me It’s the reason that there’s wars. It’s the reason we hurt one another. It’s the reason when someone cuts us off on the highway are natural reaction is to get back at them. It’s the reason why my church gives a bunch of stuff to Africa and only some of it makes it there. The government takes most of it. There is more than enough food to feed everyone it’s just that wicked man got in the way and doesn’t distribute it equally. By no means am I saying on without sin nor do I look down on anyone because I’m no better than anyone. But with the knowledge I learned in the Bible I can look at this world and see sin causing problems everywhere I look just turn on the news. why is it that we steal from one another and hurt one another. Why when I turn on the news it’s all negative? How come when I turn on the news we’re not loving one another and helping each other? The answer is sin.
Remember that Jesus poured out his blood for all of us he suffered on the cross for all people. He’s the God that’s for Milyer with suffering and he did that on a personal level for you.
To my eternal family in christ Jesus let us not Answerback in anger but in love. Also if I have to suffer every day of my life how can you compare that little bit of time (80 years if I’m lucky) to eternal life?
It’s good that this bothers us. So instead of arguing back-and-forth wasting energy what can we do to fix it?
You are like most religion individuals , Instead of looking at the most logical answer staring you in the face. You make excuses to cover up the obvious.Nothing against you as this is A typical of the Bible supporters
Author
And your criticism is typical of skeptics and atheists…
I believe they are starving because their parents do not follow Christ and because enough people are not helping the children. We need more missionaries to tell the children and their parents about Christ and feed them and clothe them.
We need much, much more missionaries to go the starving countries and the starving parts of our own country, tell the children and their parents about Christ and feed the families and clothe them.
And richer countries need to send the starving refugees to another place to live that has fertile soil so they can grow their own food, and show them how to make their water safe to drink.
A big problem is that families are fleeing war torn areas and richer countries are not accepting the refugees. They are left starving and being without shelter. We need more Christian politicians and leaders to change things so richer countries will become more giving and help the refugees.
So Christians out there if your looking for a career get into politics and study theology as well, so with God’s, Jesus’s , and the Holy Spirit’s help you can help these poor, starving people know Jesus and help feed them and clothe them.
After reading the article as a fellow Christian Im a palled at what you came up with. No one asked to be on this earth..so yes it is Gods responsibility to feed all these children….I hate when people try to shift the blame. I myself and some other well meaning Christians aren’t in the position to feed everyone that is starving… I do think that God does work through us to accomplish a lot of things.. But if he rained mana down before I just don’t get why he can’t so that again to preserve the life of children… I know got a ways are different then ours…but there will be no good reason for starving children or the execution of entire families in Aleppo…none.. We only get one life on earth, one. We aren’t dolls…were breathing,feeling, sentient beings… I don’t care if it is God..,He can’t toy with people like this..its not right.
Author
The reason there are starving children in the world is because of sin. It’s the same reason why there are rapes and murders also. One day, God will judge everybody for what they have done here on this earth. But until then, God is giving everybody a chance to repent, but their faith in Jesus, and to get saved.
@George keller, that’s horrible…that’s why I feel we shouldn’t wait around for God to have mercy or feel like he wants to do something..if there’s a need we can meet.. We should do so as swiftly as possible….because it won’t get resolved otherwise. Unless your gods favorite and by the looks of it….a lot of us aren’t.
My partner and I were discussing this subject and had come up with a couple of theories of our own just before we came across your 3 reasons. We agree with your reasons and would like to share with you some of what we came up with, also.
We are eternal beings sent to live on Earth for a short time: the blink of an eye, when you think about it from Eternity’s point of view. One of the gifts that our loving Father has given to us, His children, is a lifetime of full of happiness, sadness, laughter, love, dreaming, hoping, hurting, learning, growing and – living. During this lifetime, we also receive the precious gift of free will. We’ve been blessed with the freedom to make up our own minds and to choose. Because we are not perfect, we don’t always make good choices. God doesn’t take our free will from us simply because we do not choose wisely. He allows us to learn and grow from our mistakes. No matter what, God’s gift of free will is ours for as long as we are alive on this Earth. Unfortunately, there are many people in this world who choose to do very bad things with their gift of free will. God is good and loving, and He does not want anyone to suffer or to starve. For God to step in and stop the greed that consumes the wealthy leaders of any country where children live in abject poverty and are literally starving to death, then He would be taking away His gift of free will. While we are here, He wants us to use our free will in a loving, helpful, positive way. He wants us choose to feed the starving children, rather than turn a blind eye. He will not offer us free will then take it away just because we can’t seem to use the gift properly. He will, however, welcome us all home when we pass away from this Earth. He will wipe our tears, fill our bellies, and chase away all of our fears, as He welcomes us back to our eternal home.
Sure, I understand what you’re saying Erica. Your comment makes sense to those who are in a position to help feed starving children. However, based on the comments on this article, there are some who would say what about those children who do not have the capability to feed others, but are starving themselves? Why is it that they should starve? Why doesn’t God intervene and magically cause chicken to fall from the clouds so they can eat?
How would you respond to those people?
I think god was created for ease of business. Look at church, temple, mosque and other places. Give this , donate this, give up this if you want to have a grace of god. Most of the people who worship god are wanting something in return. Let it be happiness, long age, wealth, prosperity..etc etc. So as far as I know or think which many might disagree , I think god survives on our fear. I have seen many people who have given , donated money and food just because they do not want to upset god as they fear that consequences can be harsh. If god loves you why does he expects that you should follow him, love him and give things in his name. It was easy to say that in entire bible there was no place where it was mentioned that god has promised he will give the food to starving. But don’t we think and know that each life created is gift of god. So can I say that God is saying in bible that he will abandon his own creation for food and happiness as he has not promised in bible that he would provide food and shelter to needy. I am not asking asking god or comparing god with me or any human. But don’t we all know that god is above all tricks. He is simple to understand and hence he loves all his children equal, so how can he think of such tricks that “Okay, I have not written in bible so I will let these kids starve.” If god is simple and lovable and each individual will go and should go to him , accept him on there own will then why are random people knocking on door and asking to become member of a particular religion. I love and respect all religions.
I used to trust in him but not any more. I am just a human who loves peace and lives his life with the belief that if i want to eat food I will have to work for it as there is no god who will help me . People might curse me after reading this but its just some logical thinking from my side. All comments are very much appreciated and respected. Thanks
So it sounds to me like you used to believe in God at one point but you no longer believe in God anymore. May I please ask you if you have a Christian background? Or did you believe in a God from another belief system?
Sir before I reply to your question why is so much important to you know if I am a Christian? Is being a christian only a sacred proof that one believes in God. In school we were taught that god is One and we all are children of the same god. Coming back to your question yes I believe in Jesus…Sorry, I Believed in Jesus. But as I lived my life and learnt more things, most importantly when I applied to logic it was clear that there is no god. For example a God (Jesus) who came to earth in human body was not able to save himself . Then how can such god save me or billions of people from happening bad to them. Good people except few lucky ones stay poor , live mediocre life and die while people who steal, rob and cheat live a life full of money. If god is there why doesn’t he do justice and give wealth and happiness to poor. Well to me god is just a word who was created by bad people to get money, scare people and keep them under control. I respect your feeling and aspects about god but no thanks I am not wasting my single second of my time on such irrelevant and fictitious thing. Thanks. For me Christmas is just another holiday.
It’s actually not important at all. The only reason I asked is because from your previous comment, you sounded like you were once a believer in God and then you are no longer a believer. It doesn’t really matter whether your previous beliefs were from Christianity, Islam, or Judaism.
You said in your comment that when you applied logic, that you came up with the conclusion that God does not exist. May I please ask you how did you come up with this conclusion?
Thanks for the reply sir. Look around you what is happening everyday. Good people who do not do anything bad to any one die like crazy at young age. While the one drinking, drugs, smoking, lie and cheat are the one who have money and best facilities in life. Also better medical facilities. I apologize to other reader who might get offended as I am talking in generic terms and not specifically about any individual. Coming back to what is happening in Syria. I am huge supporter of US and other peace loving nations. I myself believe in non violence and follower of Gandhi and Lincoln. But the question is that if there is God then why did he let evil groups like terrorist and ISIS let create and prevail in the world. Please do not get offended but even you are using this blog for advertising the services you provide by taking name of God. I am sorry If you have been offended. So right from start when a person goes to church , Temple, mosque the donation boxs are placed and till the end people will use name of god to attract people towards them so that they can do marketing of there product and services. What should I think about it? Would it be wrong if I assume and believe that God is created for “Good Faith OF Business”. My request to all those who are keeping and prevailing term “God” is that please , people are already suffering from scarcity of money, less time for family…Please don’t ask them to waste there time on these fictitious things. Thanks. I will not come back to this forum again as I do not think this place will be able to reply questions to my satisfaction. Sorry.
Pingback: The Poor You Will Always Have With You – A Response Post – Grace and Truth
Pingback: The Poor You Will Always Have With You – A Response Post – Ufuomaee's Oasis
Hey Peter! I really loved this. I was interested as you said – less because I had a doubt against His goodness and more because whenever I’m asked this question by a non-believer I really struggle to answer in a way that makes sense when they don’t really know or see the world through God’s love if you get what I’m saying? Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for this. I found it really helpful. I also wanted to ask; as I was reading the first I kind of got a picture of in an explanatory-way to others of it being similar to how a decent Manager in a job will delegate tasks out to all of his/her employees rather than take on all tasks for themselves. The Manager is trained and perfectly capable of doing all the other tasks but will step back and allow the employees to do well on their own, while they encourage. For instance, in a contract I signed just today it was outlaying how if I work my way up to leadership it would be my job to allow autonomy within the rest of my coworkers and that in difficult circumstances they not be helped unless necessary due to encouragement of making fast paced decisions and such. This is quite obviously not at all a comparison in the sense of us being anything like our Father AT ALL but I’m just thinking that the role could be used as sort of a metaphor possibly? I have always struggled with answering this side of things and rather than confronting the question, I just kind of take a deep breath and pray that though I might not understand it now – I trust that He is doing it for the good of His children. It was really lovely to finally have it stated in a way I understood and could get my head around though so thankyou. 🙂
I’m so glad that you found this article helpful Josie. If I can be of further help or answer any questions for you, then please let me know.
God’s justice is different to that of humans….. Yes, God is a nasty, spiteful deity whose choices as to who to save are arbitrary and absurd (or would be if it existed). Human beings generally apply objective morality to justice, albeit there are frequent conflicts of interests which diminish our capacity to do the decent thing. God would know this, if it existed, so would have a moral duty (as omnipotent creator) to sort out this mess…. but doesn’t because it doesn’t exist.
You’re a deluded fool who on the one hand says that none of us understand your deities doings and reasoning, yet think you know enough to be able to speak on its behalf using human vanity, pride, arrogance and conceit.
By the way, the Bible cites hundreds of atrocities perpetrated by god, which are indefensible by any definition of ‘justice’. I
Author
“Yes, God is a nasty…” So from the looks of it, you confirm that God does exist but you just don’t like the way He behaves because it’s not according to your standards.
Hi Peter, Thank you for the encouraging Words! Well said, sir.
I posted this in response to “AMBER ALL”. But I wanted to share this with you, as well. It’s a big out of mainstream, I know, but it’s what the Holy Ghost confirmed in my heart. 🙂
God provided Adam and Eve everything they needed to fulfill His plan for their lives. Adam was created with a perfect body. Eve was created from Adam’s perfect body so she, too, was fashioned in perfection. I like to say that their bodies were …well…fire proof, because they could stand directly in God’s presence and speak to God face-to-face. When Adam sinned. Yes, Eve gave the fruit to Adam, but we read in Genesis that Adam was standing there, with His wife, and He failed to lovingly stop her and remind her of God’s instruction to them both. So they became sin and – I believe God changed them to sinful flesh at the moment. They were changed into something grotesque. Archeologist refer to what they became, as early man. Scripture refers to them as “brute beasts”. Why else would God need to kill an animal and make skins or them to wear? All, Christians, Agnostics, Atheists, alike , read Daniel 4:1-37, then John 1:1-14, then 1 Cor 15:1-58 then 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. For unbelievers, this will seem like nonsense. As Christians, it is our place to plant. It is God’s Place to Water. And for the unbeliever that is reading this post, I pray that the Watering comes soon! For Christians, who have and know the comforting, nurturing and teaching of God’s Spirit, the indwelling Holy Ghost, fully understand how He confirms truth in their hearts. So be encouraged and strengthened. Live out the remaining time you have on this earth, in His service. And know that your reward are not money, houses and cars — forget name-it-and-claim, it is just another one of Satan’s distracting lies! –But lay up your treasure in Heaven! Commit/continue to serve Him now…KNOW Him now. He will then greet you in Heaven as an old friend and not as a stranger… ohhh no!… you certainly do not want arrive in heaven, a stranger!
AMEN! ☺
I have not read all the replies here but I do want to add my thoughts on the subject. Im not extremely knowledgeable on the Bible, havent even read it all the way through. But I do know what God has put in my heart. And from my heart it goes something like this. In Genesis, God created man last… and he gave him dominion over the world. It was a beautiful place where all man’s needs were met. Then Satan enters the picture…and then this all became like a game. This is just a realm we are passing through and how well we do here will determine if we move to the final level. Think that sounds elementary? Maybe so but consider the story of Job. That story has always bothered me. God and Satan play a little game…they wager a bet and poor Job pays the price with tremendous suffering. I hate that story, because I do not understand it. I have read many explanations of the story but still…it confirms my “game” explanation. We are entertainment. Like it or not…sin is the cause of suffering. And if God stepped in to feed the starving children, then what about those raped and murdered? He created the world to be PERFECT…but man decided to do His own thing…so here we are doing our own thing, starving, killing, raping, and saying God isn’t real. There is a price to pay for all this sin…some pay more than others…and I don’t necessarily mean God’s discipline…but natural consequences. When ppl hold onto money they could use to feed the poor, their sin (greed) is responsible for starvation. When you say God answers prayers for a promotion, if you are an atheist you really should not speak on that because you know nothing about answered prayers. So don’t say oh he gives ppl promotions but will not feed starving children. I know you dont actually believe he gives ppl promotions so don’t use it as a counterpoint for your argument. Just say…he doesn’t feed all the starving ppl in the world and I think he should…and I am the best judge of what God should do. Because that is what you are doing…saying God should feed everyone. We all suffer…each and every one of us has some sort of suffering. Without suffering there would be no need for salvation. Who turns to God when all is right with the world? How can we demonstrate obedience without contrasting disobedience? How can we demonstrate righteousness by doing our part to alleviate suffering if there is no suffering? And besides…by not choosing to believe in God, you have no moral obligation to concern yourself with starvation. God is the originator of moral obligation. I know you will argue this point but it is what I believe. Why would you conclude starvation was bad if you werent subscribing to the tenants that God laid down in the Bible. It’s a contradiction to use God’s own moral tenants to say there isn’t a God?
I mean to say without suffering there would be no desire for salvation.
Hello Amber,
Well stated. That sums it up quite nicely. God provided Adam and Eve everything they needed to fulfill His plan for their lives. Adam was created with a perfect body. Eve was created from Adam’s perfect body so she, too, was fashioned in perfection. I like to say that their bodies were …well…fire proof, because they could stand directly in God’s presence and speak to God face-to-face. When Adam sinned. Yes, Eve gave the fruit to Adam, but we read in Genesis that Adam was standing there, with His wife, and He failed to lovingly stop her and remind her of God’s instruction to them both. So they became sin and – I believe God changed them to sinful flesh at the moment. They were changed into something grotesque. Archeologist refer to what they became, as early man. Scripture refers to them as “brute beasts”. Why else would God need to kill an animal and make skins or them to wear? All, Christians, Agnostics, Atheists, alike , read Daniel 4:1-37, then John 1:1-14, then 1 Cor 15:1-58 then 1 Thessalonians 4:1-18. For unbelievers, this will seem like nonsense. As Christians, it isour place to plant. It is God’s Place to Water. And for the unbeliever that is reading this post, I pray that the Watering comes soon! For Christians, who have and know the comforting, nurturing and teaching of God’s Spirit, the indwelling Holy Ghost, fully understand how He confirms truth in their hearts. So be encouraged and strengthened. Live out the remaining time you have on this earth, in His service. And know that your reward are not money, houses and cars — forget name-it-and-claim, it is just another one of Satan’s distracting lies! –But lay up your treasure in Heaven! Commit/continue to serve Him now…KNOW Him now. He will then greet you in Heaven as an old friend and not as a stranger… ohhh no!… you certainly do not want arrive in heaven, a stranger!
AMEN! ☺
hey thanks for clarifying. i think this answer makes more sense than what i had received from muslims priests. i am a muslim & no muslims priests had ever gave me a straight answer that i can understand. its hard to even admit i am a muslim today because of how bad our image is what with the Syrian heretics pouring into Europe and laying waste to civilized people… us muslims are in an internal conflicts im sure you would know. the muddy ones are mixed up with the clear ones that everything is in shambles within the muslim community.
I hope & pray that this never happens to another religion community. We need something to believe in. Something to grasp on when we feel alone and falling when our friends or family or lover cant be there for us. Peace & wealth of life be upon you and those who stands by the ever-slipping righteousness.. or whats left of it.
Thank you Safuan for your feedback and your very nice comment. I appreciate all that you had to say about the subject.
With all that is going on with the Muslim community, may I please ask you if your faith has been shaken in your religion?
Shaken? .. Heh kinda. it is funny. All I ever wanted in this world since I was a child is to have a peaceful job live in a peaceful place, have & nurture a normal family..
It seems as if I am asking too much since I was born a muslim. As for your question, with all honesty yes, shaken, but i still have faith in the Lord. Faith is the only thing that had kept me alive You have no idea what the Mosque priests preach of nowadays. Last week they speak of that Americans are attacking Islam and deserve death. (Donald Trump recent election).
I lived next to a mosque so I can hear everything during their morning sermon in friday. I thought to myself. Why cant they realize that Islam real enemy are ourselves? We have become so obsessed with DEATH & ENEMIES that we forgot to fix ourselves. The quran.. They misinterpreted everything. I am alone, shaken, shunned by my own deluded muslims. Yet I still have not lose faith in God. God’s path & my brethren’s path are not the same. I believe there are people like me out there who are an outcast of the muslim community for going against our own community.
I am more worried about Europeans however, who had been deceived by the Syrians heretics. I heard their conditions are getting worse and worse each day, Austria, Hungary, Germany, France… They even attacked the Christians in Germany and this does not sit well with me because Christianity had always been a religion of righteousness and mercy… Pray to your lord that the Christians and innocents there will take proper actions in dealing with our heretics if I was there I would dealt them myself. For whatever measure your people shall use against us. We deserve it. God is too kind to deal his judgement. That is why crusaders exists. To hand out god’s judgement.
Thanks for asking and sorry for the rambling hahaha. You should stay strong & steadfast for your brothers & sisters too. The conflicts within my religion will involve all of us… sad but true.
Hi Ahmad, what a beautiful answer! I would like to have a further discussion with you about your faith. If you’re open, then please use the contact link in the menu on my blog and send me a message. I will reply back as quickly as possible.
Safuan Azizul, go HERE > http://www.answering-islam.org/ and your questions will be answered.
I love animals. One day I was browsing Youtube for animal videos, and found one about how the habitats of the Orangutans were diminishing. In the background you could see the machinery tearing trees down. It hit me. Here we… 7 billion of us… have been given this beautiful world… YES, actually given to us! It IS ours! … with all its myriads of resources, plus a conscience so that we can differentiate between good and evil and actually do something about it… and brains that have gotten us to the moon and can now even do face transplants… ha! (Oh, plus God, IF we want Him)
YET we still blame the One who gave us all these things! SO, WHY were we given all these things then??
Its like if you and your family were poor and you saw your neighbor set a box full of food plus pots and utensils outside your door and instead of thankfulness you shake your fist at them and say, My kids are starving! You sit over there in your nice house… you could have easily cooked it for us!
I can’t, you can’t and anyone person can’t do everything… but each person can do something. If even if 3/4 of the 7 billion people in this world actually took ownership of this planet and did something… as anything living must be taken care of …each person doing their part… reaching out each day or on a regular basis to help a neighbor or write a letter to an organization or government to get them to do something and to keep them honest or donate food or whatever is in your conscience to do… then kids would not be starving in this world. They just wouldn’t.
In fact WE will be judged on how we have used what we have been given and cared about our neighbor. We think we can judge God for not cooking the food for us?
Read Matthew 25:31 to the end of the chapter. It is not a parable. It is a clear fact. We will be judged for not providing the basics of life to those around us.In fact that is how God is going to divide us up. Those that have and those that havent. Thats how serious it is.He even said that if you or I have not done this for even the most insignificant person, then we have not done it to Him.He takes this personally!
Matthew 25… in many translations it refers to this chapter as three parables, however, this is obviously not a parable. It means what it says.
This is the 1st Commandment in action… which is a command by the way. So, obviously people who profess to love God, the evidence of that would be the other half of this command.
We are saved by grace. But a person who has God’s Spirit will at some point begin sensing the inward unction to follow God’s 1st command.
The rest of the world has a conscience and so they can’t excuse themselves either.
31 “But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left.
34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry, and you fed me. I was thirsty, and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me into your home. 36I was naked, and you gave me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for me. I was in prison, and you visited me.’
37“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38Or a stranger and show you hospitality? Or naked and give you clothing? 39When did we ever see you sick or in prison and visit you?’
40“And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters,f you were doing it to me!’
41“Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons.g 42For I was hungry, and you didn’t feed me. I was thirsty, and you didn’t give me a drink. 43I was a stranger, and you didn’t invite me into your home. I was naked, and you didn’t give me clothing. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’
44“Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and not help you?’
45“And he will answer, ‘I tell you the truth, when you refused to help the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were refusing to help me.”
What a preposterous response! I am a Christian, and NOT an atheist, and yet the idea that a loving, all-powerful God lets people suffer if humans don’t deal with the problem is the answer of a juvenile. You rightly say it is a human rsespobnsiblity to feed the starving, if they can, but if they can’t, or worse, don’t, saying God should not intervene makes him a monster. If even a sparrow doesn’t fall wihtout His notice, why would he let a baby starve because we on earth are too sinful or greedy to help this child? If a cop is walking down the street and sees a man beating and raping a woman, and walks away without helping the woman, saying, “Well, humans are evil!” we RIGHTLY call him a fiend, and would most likely put HIM in jail for not doing his duty. Let God do the same, and ZIP He’s off the hook. Try again.
Author
Hi Koohai, I respect your stance on this topic. You said in your comment that you are Christian and that you agree with me that it is our responsibility to feed the starving children. However you said that it’s juvenile of me to say that God shouldn’t intervene in the matter if we fail in doing our part in feeding the starving children.
So then may I please ask you why are there starving children in the world? How come God doesn’t intervene in feeding them according to your viewpoint?
I became an atheist after reading this article!!!!
I don’t know bible well as i am a new born again Christian. One reason i could give to the above arguments is that: God doesn’t feed the poor as God has his own purpose to fulfill through them. This may be weird,one would say that by keeping a child starve, What God want to do or prove. One of the reason i think of is that, So that one who is having food could understand the value of it and Praise and Thank god for giving daily Bread or meal. But this doesn’t mean that if we find a poor then we should not feed him. “We should be giving to Others as God has Given to us”. And i think if a person has to starve inorder to go to heaven, i think its worth it. God is very intelligent, its far beyond our Level of Understanding and before criticizing God(who created all of us) we should look into our selves as we are covered in Sin and only God can save us. Sorry for bad english by the way.
Today only I stumbled on your site. Though discussion is centered around Christ/Christians, I feel the questions raised about God is common irrespective of one’s religion or race.
With this brief intro ,I shall put forth my views on certain points discussed in this website. If feeding the starving is our responsibility, politely I am asking then what is the God’s responsibility. If I ask the same rudely, what the hell is God’s responsibility?( I don’t imagine myself as God, this is my humble question)
If God shows mercy for the sinners, so that sinners can repent, why can’t God show the same mercy for victims( rape/murder/violence etc)
It was mentioned that God/saints allows sin to happen , because he can foresee the future which humans can’t. In that case why can’t he stop the pending disasters. The disasters can be assassination of political leaders/murders/rape/accidents etc and natural calamities.
I have put forth the similar points in various forums, but I did not get any suitable answers which can be accepted not only by me ,but which can be accepted by majority of the people. Hope to get the suitable response.
hi Krishna, your question about why God does not feed the starving kids in Africa or why He doesn’t stop the rapes, murders, and violence, is a very good one. In fact, it’s a question that many people still struggle with.
Here is my personal answer to this question. Basically what you are saying is that you want God to put a stop to all of the bad things in the world, correct? That would mean that He would need to end all the sin that there is in the world and bring to judgment all the people who commit sin.
Now here’s the problem. There are a lot of people who commit sins out there. If God were to judge the whole entire world right now, where would sinners end up going? How about you Krishna, where would you end up going if God were to judge you today?
With all due respect to you and to your current beliefs, I ask you these questions:
1. How many lies have you told in your life?
2. How many people have you hurt with your words?
3. How many people have you hurt with your actions?
4. How many bad things have you done knowingly or unknowingly intentionally or unintentionally?
5. How many negative and bad thoughts have you had throughout your entire life?
All of these things are considered sin. And I have done so many bad and wrong things in my life. And there is no amount of good things that I can do in order to erase the bad things.
The only way is to accept God’s free gift of erasing sins which is believing in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. So God is giving a chance to sinners to believe in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior so that they can go to heaven instead of receiving the penalty of their judgment. Until the Judgement Day happens, then there will continue to be the effects of sin in the world which includes rapes, murders, and starving children.
Does that make sense?
Well . In the Bible,God several times mention of the human being that we should love each one another and from my understanding love means care, ..
And if i have means to help ,care someone so thats the right thing to do…This weak argument of God does not exist because he does not feed the who is starving does not make sense…I do agree it is our entire responsibility help who needs..God is good and i love him.
Hello peter,
I am really struggling at the moment, I read a story about a little boy being beaten, tortured And starved to death by his parents, for the best part of his life of 7 years.
No one helped as no one knew peraphs?
Anyway I consider myself a Christian although I am not currently a member of a church. I was or I am going to join a church very soon as my eldest daughter is hopefully going to be going to secondary school at a Catholic school.
I always believed that there is a god and he stands for all that is good, pure and love.
And that there is a devil at work peraphs responsible for the horrors that befall so many precious children.
But I just don’t understand why god didn’t intervene somehow?
Like when someone is found or just saved in time and we say thank god.
It’s made me question my faith and it upsets me so much. I’m starting to think are we just us there’s random coincidences and that it?
If read parts of the bible. PleaseTell me as this little boy was unable to become a Christian of his own choice will he go to heaven now he’s dead? Was it the devil’s work?
I can’t seem to rest it in my own mind.
I await your reply.
Thank you
Laura.
Laura, I wrote a blog post addressing these types of questions before. Here’s a link to it, please check it out and see if it helps https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/god-exists-stop-rapes-and-murders/
If you need to have a further discussion, please click on the contact link in the menu to send me a private message.
I couldn’t figure out where to leave the comment so I apologize for replying on someone else’s. Your first argument as to why God doesn’t feed All The Starving Children is that it is up to us to do so. I actually agree with that as I don’t believe that a God exists that can do it for us but if that is the case why is the majority of religious right-wingers opposed to national food stamp programs? If comparing ourselves to God is a mistake why does the Bible say we were made in His image? it certainly wasn’t his physical image the author was speaking of but then again this author knew nothing of science and believed the Earth was flat, it was okay to stone children for back talk, and that executing women for being unfaithful was okay. I think where most atheists have trouble with Injustice in the world is when we see and are taught that a perfect being exists that is all knowing, all wise, and all-powerful yet doesn’t step in to ease the suffering of human beings even though the suffering they experience is at the hands of other imperfect humans that he himself created knowing when he did so what would come of it. In other words, the reason the scripture gives for God creating man(the fact that he was lonely and wanted companionship) isn’t a good enough reason to set in motion what would end up being every act of evil and Injustice ever known to man. As George Carlin would say “if this is the work of a supreme being I am not impressed.. this is more like an office temp with a bad attitude”. No matter what your religious political or moral argument is to any issue the bottom line is that a Biblical view of reality is no longer a debate as science and fact have proved beyond any reasonable doubt that our universe wasn’t spoken into existence by the father of a deceased 6000 year old Jewish man who was sent to Earth to be tortured for the mistakes of imperfect beings created by a perfect and loving God. Nor is that deceased son going to split the heavens on a white horse and Lead an army of risen Christians who believed all this medieval bs to destroy the devil and his throne on the Earth. When you say it out loud it sounds totally insane but millions of modern-day Believers actually think this is true and they vote and that’s what makes it a problem and a danger for the rest of us. At the end of the day no matter what religion it is being discussed there is always the obvious red flag…. you don’t get your reward or riches or virgins or mansion in the sky until after you’re dead…
You said that quote “I can’t think of a single Bible verse in which God makes a promise to feed all the starving children in the world.” Ok but what about the following from Matthew Chap 6:
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Author
Sure, that’s a great a great question Hector. The answer lies in you going back to Matthew chapter 5 and figuring out who Jesus was speaking to. In Matthew chapters 5 and 6, Jesus was not speaking to the general public. Therefore, the verses that you cite are not applicable to the general masses and nor are they applicable to the starving children that are mentioned in this article.
Well if you want to play it that way. Then I could add 2 more reason.
1. They are praying to the wrong God. And if you are refering to the God of the Christian which is Yahweh. Then it was clearly Yahweh has no power over life. Hence Eostre would easily owned Yahweh in terms of the gift of life. Because thats what she did. She gives life. Goddes of the dawn. She brings light, joy, happiness, not suffering. Her gift is life. And as the bible mention Yahweh claim there are other gods, but not as great as he is. Thus the ten commandment say do not worship other gods. But then again worshiping him doesnt pay anyway.
2. If you say we are supposed to feed hungry children. Then why god set us on a different geographical position with surely a different advantages but ridiculous access. Lets just say famine has been on going since the time human ever exist, how the hell people in asia send food to the starving in africa in let say 900AD. Thats is one lame excuse of a god throwing responsibility. Remember no human asked to born, not to mention in a place where starvation is common.
Author
As far as your question number two goes, why do the people in Asia have to feed the people in Africa? Why don’t some of the people in Africa in 900 AD who did have food help out their own people?
We can’t assume that all of Africa didn’t have food because then everybody would have died. But it is reasonable to believe that there were some people who did have resources. But instead of sharing them they were selfish and just let people die.
Peter, God loved the Israelites enough to rain manna down on them in the desert, but he can’t do the same for starving children? Paul says God isn’t a respecter of persons but apparently he respects and loves Israelites more than he does everyone else.
God made us therefore he’s responsible for us. Any father who told his son, “It’s your job to feed your little brothers and sisters, not mine” would be locked up and prosecuted. It’s not a matter of God never saying in the Bible he would feed people, it’s a matter of who assumes responsibility for God’s creation, God or us?
Sorry I don’t buy your extremely weak arguments.
Jack, I sympathize with your points; also one thing to make note of in the Matthew 5 chapter, regarding the feeding of the birds of the air as a message of comfort to the Jews exclusively and not to all peoples of God throughout time: Does this verse only apply to the “birds of the air” during the generation of Jews to whom the book of Matthew was addressed? Or is the verse a timeless reminder that God who loves the Jews more than He does the birds will surely feed the Jews whom He loves more? Also, why does the verse seem to imply that none of the birds went unfed? Did such a promise of provision of food and clothing terminate after the generation of Jews to whom Matthew was addressed died? Does such a provision carry over to all periods of time after that specific historical time period during which the book of Matthew was written? If it carries over, then why does the logical entailment of “do not worry about food or clothing” not also carry over intertemporaly and intergenerationllly? If God will provide for The Jews whom He loves more than the birds of the air, and because we should not worry about food or clothing because the God who loves us more than the birds and yet feeds them, so will he not so much more feed and cloth us?” If God’s greater love for the Jews entails his greater or equal provision for them than if God’s love for the Jews (and all men generally) is still greater than His love for the birds of the air, than why would the principle implicit in the original promise no longer be relevant in the context of its application to God’s people in general and across all time periods?
Author
Scott, Matthew 5 was not spoken to the Jews exclusively. Matthew 5 is Jesus speaking to His disciples. Therefore, the promises that Jesus is promising are only for those who are His true followers and not for everyone.
Author
Jack, a couple of things about your comment:
1) The interpretation that you’re proposing about God not being a respecter of persons is out of context and incorrect. When you read in Acts 10:34, God not being a respecter of persons, it has to do with salvation. Peter was saying that God is not a respecter of persons when it comes to giving salvation because salvation wasn’t just being given to the Jews but also to the Gentiles.
2) If your hypothesis is correct that God is the One who is responsible for feeding ALL of the starving children, then why would Jesus, who is God, say these verses to the disciples and include “those who are hungry”?
“And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? 38 When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? 39 Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ 40 And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’”
-Mathew 25:33-40
Peter… What in the world. You have been arguing this for over a year. You are casting pearls before swine. Look how much of your time you have allowed the enemy to waste. Perhaps the quickest response to all these (most I didn’t read) is this…
God has always turned his back on people who have turned on him. First off. Second, who says death is bad thing, yeah starving may be no fun, but why do we have this belief that it’s a bad thing. Humans see it as the end, God sees it as the beginning. Besides this, don’t we get closer to God the more we suffer? Doesn’t he put in trials for that reason. I don’t think he cares much if we die our first death because he knows whats awaiting. The Only reason we are even here is to gather more crops for the harvest anyway. Going home is a graduation, not a termination.
You have been sitting here arguing for a year with anti-Christs and “atheists” wasting all this time, being distracted from going out in the highways, and in same case over something as silly as caps or no caps.
while God shouldnt have to be responsible to feed us as it is us individuals who is responsible to survive (most of us know or should know how to survive its a given…but governments have that darn population control thingy (taxes and fines on hunting and fishing).. and people look to the government for money and jobs and food since were not allowed to hunt and fish for free..homelessness is a direct cause of greedy land grabbing humans..not enough people out there willing to take on a nuclear enforced army of republicans and democratic government look what happened to the native american fight for water over oil (STANDING ROCK IS PROOF YOU CANNOT TAKE ON THE GOVT FOR YOUR SURVIVAL NEEDS)…if us humans are responsible for feeding the hungry then we are in big trouble..corporations have made it impossible for an individual to survive you cannot just grow food you have to have land which is severely costly most die trying to pay off mortgages … monsato has created monster foods and most of our foods now are poisons… our grains make us itch with disease for they are not pure any longer we have genetically altered all of our foods…and we cannot make rain out of thin air like Haarp claims it can do…yeah sure we can boil and purify water to drink but it takes a lot of purifying to grow a garden in a desert..(it will rain on monsato but it wont rain in africa) .if money and the credit system dissappeared how would we pay for our hunting and fishing licenses) look at what we are doing in order to try to feed all the people…which has left the planet in a state of dissaray if you believe in global warming (im not a flat earther) and the bible lies too many contradictions…thou shalt not kill yet your supposed to kill heathens…all of your foods are clean Mark 7:19 but their not clean (pigs are not but no food on earth is clean and most are a cause of cancer thanks to monsato. Easter Acts 12:4 all sorts of strange goddesses here (eostre, astarte, ishtar, aphrodite, semiramis your queen of heaven who you give thanks on easter sunday) Lent celebrates the death of tammuz the son of semiramis and nimrod..the lord whom you call upon is it the Lord or is it baal lord …this is a title given to baal and should not be used but its everywhere in your pagan christian bible. humans are destroying the earth attempting to feed the populations but they dont care they need money, oil, fuel, fire, and pig parts for medicines for the fake foods and diseases they create..yeah were doing a bang up job feeding the populations..if joel osteen came to my house for a cup of sugar id have to tell him to go get it off of monsato …..my part time job and taxes on my health and freedom…. does not pay for that ……
btw athiests are not making god in mans image..they are simply pulling out all the lies in the bible.(too many lies to be believable http://www.answering-christianity.com/101_bible_contradictions.htm) . there is a God somewhere but he has no control over what we miscreants do to this planet (monsato) because of our free will….free will a funny thing were allowed all sorts of evils and get rewarded for it on this planet of hell .(ive seen the pope wave the devils fingers or hook em horns i luv satan hand sign) (btw if you google i luv satan hand signs all your famous preachers wave this sign or the famous hand mudra sign the 666s)…..i cannot pray that evil goes away any more than our government will stop making us paying for survival (land fees and permits and licenses to fish)….because were all allowed free will ..and christians are in danger of hell anyway..thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ..yet almost every christian has a painting, picture, or necklace of a cross or jesus hanging around..
Jesus Christ is IC XC or also known as ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ Ἰησοῦς Χριστός do you know who this is i dont …i dont know who this is nobody else does either cept google translate or the christogram…. papyrus 115 states that the beast is 616 or XIC this is in this jesus christ name…people are questioning these things because lies are coming out now and bits of truth are being revealed which is coincidentally breaking peoples hearts and making them hate God…but i dont …and why because there are things that noone knows and there are people who are given premonitions about things that are bad that can happen to them soon.. like dreaming about someone passing away and they actually do….
also i dont believe in hell a true loving God would not send anyone there ….if you had a dog that killed your cat that killed your rabbit would you kill the dog in spite of killing the cat no you wouldnt..same with lgbt, murderers, thieves, liars, cheats, people with glasses, marks on their skins, two headed people, multicolored skin disorders such as Vitiligo which is still rather beautiful but you cannot enter Leviticus 21:18..why would a loving God destroy his people because of defects and sin no man is sinless Ecclesiastes 7:20..i didnt ask to be born i did not ask to be near sighted or fat with monsato foods, i did not ask to have a abusive husband, i did not ask to have a bad memory so that i cannot make it through college to get myself a nice paying job just to be a slave to this dang matrix and pay for all the necessaries of life electricity, phone, water, and insurance you cannot go to work or have a job without these. id rather believe in a God that chooses to do nothing than a lying christian who thinks God put two of every kind on tiny ark and killed off all the bad ones on a flat earth. and your gonna be sent to hell for having a same sex partner (though im not) who has tattoos, and is in jail for stealing a cup of tea or smoke from the local gas station while the pope (scarlet whore) protects his pedophile lovers.
Author
Sorry Lori, I’m not sure I understood your position. Are you saying that you do believe in God or that you don’t? Or are you saying that you do believe in God but not in the traditional interpretation of the Bible?
Totally agree. It just doesn’t make sense therefore it is not true. The cold reality is there is NO God. I have waited and waited and nothing. He just cannot be real. I could not let people starve or be homeless. The shootings don’t make sense either. God cannot stop them. Children were killed. I cannot endure the evil any longer. It is affecting me. I cannot stand suffering. But, God seems to allow it. So, therefore, something is very wrong.
Author
Hi Nisey, has there ever been a time when you did believe in God?
Reason #4. There is NO God. That is why nothing is getting done. It is up to us to do what we can. We are on our own in this life. I know that because I am alone and if I want to make something work I have to fight for it. Unfortunately, third world countries exist and people are suffering. There is no one to help them. Heartbreaking. Lonely planet and if you live long enough you realize no one gives a damn about you.
To answer this I think we need to look closer at the question. “Why doesn’t God feed the starving children?” This question implies that God isn’t feeding the starving children. I believe that in itself is completely false. Critics will say the fact that starving children are present refutes this claim. My argument is that God has already given us abundant food on the planet, wealth, and technological advances that are sufficient to feed all the children of the world. The problem here is that people are believing a lie which is that God isn’t feeding the children. Is it God who isn’t feeding them when He has already provided the means to feed them?
Who then is to blame for the starving children? I encourage each of us to get up and go look in the mirror right now. Do you see God looking back at you or a human face? The reality is that we humans are the ones to blame for the starving children. We put ourselves or “self” before one another every day. Have you ever shut off the t.v. when an add came on asking to help feed the children? Have you ever said no to a charity? And if you haven’t already why have you not ever given up months of your life and income to go to another country and serve it’s people who are suffering from illness and starvation? Selfishness, greed, and desire for power prevent humankind from feeding each and every one of this world’s children and none of those things was given to us by God. Those who believe in Him AND follow His commands are compelled to put their “self” aside and help others in need.
This question also overlooks the fact that there are countless ministries whose main goal IS to feed the poor just as God commands us to do. You could read about some of them here http://www.theologydegrees.org/best-christian-charities/
If so many Christians are donating money, time, and their service to help feed the poor then how can anyone blame God for the starving children. How many more children would suffer and die without God’s command to feed the hungry? I wonder how many of us would even know about the children who are starving if it weren’t for Christians first bringing it to our attention.
Satan was a liar from the beginning. It’s his goal to get everyone to think God doesn’t love us and won’t help when in fact He already has. I hope this was insightful for at least a few.
I know that this is such an old post, but I have to say that I COMPLETELY agree with you. People
Who blame God for starving children or starving people in general are really lacking accountability. There is plenty of food on this planet for EVERYONE. However, greed and gluttony make it so that many of us are obese and many of us are starving. One who has plenty and doesn’t share with those in need, and is of no service to the community, is a hypocrite if they say that God should be stepping in. WE should be stepping in and helping one another.
god says that if you believe in him, you can ask for anything you want and it will be given. Im sure missionaries have been to regions where starvation is common. Im sure the missionaries shared the “gospel” with them, and im sure the people have tried pitting faith in jeeezus so they can ask for for good health via good to eat. If this actually worked, word would spread to all around the world like a wild fire about how they all can pray for food by believing in jeezus, putting an end to world hunger
With all due respect your comment, you have to take the entire Word of God into context as opposed to taking just one verse out of context which will lead to false assumptions. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 26:11, “For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always.” Therefore, Jesus is saying that there will always be poor people in the world.
There are multiple places in the New Testament in which the apostle Paul gives instructions to believers to feed the poor and to help them. Therefore, it’s safe to believe that God is saying that there are always going to be poor people in the world and its our responsibility to help them out.
Furthermore, the verse that you are quoting about asking for anything from God is dependent upon His children abiding in Christ. When Christians abide in Christ, then we will know what God’s will is and we will be able to pray according to God’s will. So that’s why we can’t pray for Cadillacs, mansions, etc. and expect forgot to fulfill that prayer.
Even if it does not mention but actions speak
Louder than words and he did make an effort to feed the 5000 and then 4000 so he does want to end the hunger even tge Catholic Church has so much money that they can feed shelter and clothe every single person on earth but choose not to do so but ask the normal people who find it difficult to run thier daily lives to feed the hungry .i guess the churches are the biggest hypocrites with the biggest sinners and hypocrites up at their pulpits .what with Vatican rocking with the sex scandals and rapes of innocent children
Reason #1 – It Isn’t God’s Responsibility to Feed the Starving Children of the World
The argument made here, the whole and entire argument, is that God “didn’t promise” to do it. So… is that the only way that something becomes someone’s responsibility? I don’t recall ever promising to feed my own daughter, and yet I think that everyone would agree that it is my responsibility to do so nonetheless.
Reason #2 – God Isn’t Like Humans
Unlike the argument made in Reason #1 where you claimed to have “read the entire bible cover to cover” and “not found this claim”, this is a claim that Christians have found in the bible (https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/jesus-is-fully-human). You also confused the idea of empathy with considering yourself equal with someone. If God claims to love starving children, and we ourselves know what it means to love starving children, we aren’t “making an idol in our own image” just because we’re trying to understand the claim from our own experience of what that claim means.
Reason #3 – God’s Justice is Coming Soon For All
This is a total non-sequitar. What does “God’s Justice” have to do with starving children? This would make sense if about a topic of why God is treating people too well (because we haven’t seen the other shoe drop yet), but has nothing to do with why a person would be treated too poorly by being allowed to starve.
I don’t think you understood the argument that atheists are trying to make. If the bible claims that God loves children, and yet he allows them to starve (an idea incompatible with love), then this claim of the bible is contradictory with our observed experience. I know you want to equivocate the idea of “love” by claiming that our love isn’t like God’s, but if you do that, then how can anyone know that it’s true that “God loves” if the tools we have for evaluating what love is don’t work? It’s just a mere assertion that’s untestable as best and untrue at worst.
Author
Here is my reply to your comments:
Reason #1 – It Isn’t God’s Responsibility to Feed the Starving Children of the World
Your analogy of not ever promising to feed your own daughter and comparing that with God not feeding starving children fails. Why?
While you didn’t make a promise to feed your own daughter, it is implied whether through society or your own morality that it is a parents duty to feed his or her own children.
1 Thessalonians 5:5 says, “You are all children of the light (speaking to believers) and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.” That means when we are born, we are not born as God’s children, we are born as children of the night of darkness. So we don’t have a father/son or daughter relationship with God.
God doesn’t say He is responsible to feed the starving children. He says it’s the job of people who have to share with the have-nots. So that would be you and I.
Reason #2 – God Isn’t Like Humans
I clicked to the link regarding your desiring God article. It doesn’t seem you understand the implications of what it means for Jesus to be fully human.
Jesus was fully human during the time that He spent here on earth. So that would be from around 0 AD to 33 AD. During that time, the article that you shared applies in terms of describing Jesus’s humanity during this time period. That means that while Jesus was here on earth, He had to forego some of His divine qualities in order to become fully human.
But after Jesus died and resurrected, He no longer has the shortcomings that He experienced while being in a human body.
Reason #3 – God’s Justice is Coming Soon For All
It’s not just starving kids in Africa who need God’s help. It’s also people who have cancer, people who have been molested, people who have been hit by drunk drivers, etc. So in order for God to not just help out the starving kids in Africa, but help out all of those who have suffered, it would require for Him to judge everyone in the world.
If God gives out His judgment, then what’s going to happen to you? God’s going to judge you by the 10 Commandments and since you’ll be guilty of breaking them just like I have, then where are you going to go for eternity?
That was the point of this third reason.
Again, just in case you missed this point, empathy and love has nothing to do with this. God says that we are the ones who are to have empathy and love towards those who are starving, who don’t have clothes, and who are orphans. It is us who are responsible for helping the suffering of this world and that this the point of this article.
You may not like the answer and you probably disagree. But that’s why you will always have a problem with the Christian God because of your own beliefs about how He should behave.
Let’s get real for a damn minute!You wanna know the real reason why there are so many starving little kids in African countries?I’m glad you asked,because those countries governments could give a s#$t about their own children!We keep sending millions and millions in aid and guess what?There’s still countless starving babies and children in a lot of African countries.Where in the Sam hell is all that money going to?In a lot of African countries you’re not allowed to own land and the police are so corrupt that it’s impossible to start your business without constantly paying bribe money.Go read Dead Aid by Dambisa Boyo.
And while we’re on the subject ,let’s be be brutally honest,it’s almost always white Christians who send this aid only for it to get gobbled up by African government politicians.
And then we have the audacity to sit here and throw this on laps of the Allmighty Creator?
GTFO with that.I know a great way to eradicate the plight of hunger for starving African children,OVERTHROW THEIR DAMN COUNTRIES because they sure as hell don’t know what they’re doing out there.Real Talk!!!
do you know why hystorians say that hitler started the world war 2?
because have evidence both that the second world war started by hitler and that there was only one world war before the world war that hitler started.
the shit you say here are not based on any evidence.
the god according to religion loves everyone,is all powerfull and knows everything.
where is the evidence for any of these claims?
they asked god questions and he failed to give a single wrong answer?yeah right,there are no hystorical reports for this ever happening and there is no rituals to communicate with god,if there was,then scientists wouldn’t need to do research,they would take their answeres straight from the god.
therefore the claim that god knows everything is something religion made up.
with the same logic you can disprove the claim that he is all-powerfull and that he is loves anyone.
after all it does not even make sense that religion tells us to pray to god.pray for what reason?if he knows everything then there is no point in letting him know of our problems,if he is loves us then he would help us either way.
all the things you say here about god are things you completely made up,if they were true they would be based on facts.
Author
Mario, are you familiar with the difference between proof and evidence? You use the word evidence in your comment but I think that what you are insinuating is more along the definition of proof.
Science is looking for proof that God exists and there is none. However, there is plenty of evidence like I outline in some of the articles that I wrote on this blog:
Who Else Wants Indisputable Evidence That God Exists? https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/indisputable-evidence-that-god-exists/
Scientific Evidence for the Existence of God https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/scientific-evidence-existence-of-god/
This is the Best Proof that God Exists (in My Opinion) https://notashamedofthegospel.com/apologetics/proof-that-god-exists/
there is a difference between evidence and proof?okay i didn’t know it.
english is not my first language and a dictionary translates both of these words the same.
but what you are saying is almost irrelevant to what i said.
WHERE IS THE PROOF that the god is an all-knowing,all loving omnipotent being?
this is not a rhetorical question give me proof for every single one of these things.
in your original post you said”I can’t think of a single Bible verse in which God makes a promise to feed all the starving children in the world”.that’s a stupid thing to say since the bible is full of shit.
take for example everything the bible says about exodus.go ask any hystorian you want exodus never happened.pretty much the whole old testament is full of shit.and let’s not start about the contradictions that exist everywhere in bible.
but okay if you want to use bible verses then how can you say that the god is a good guy when bible clearly states that he sent 2 bears to murder childer just because they made fun of a soldier’s baldness?
(2 Kings 2:23-25)
if you want to take the bible seriously then answer this question if you don’t want to take the bible seriously don’t answer.
also did you even check the url’s you posted on your response?
they are full of shit.
all of them are made by people who either lie or have no idea what they are saying.
and the fact that they are all from this site with you replying in the comment section is what makes these articles even less trustworthy.
also even if they were right i don’t see how any of these with any way proves that the god knows everything or that the holy books of any religion are with any way trustworthy,anything about after-life or that there is one god instead of many or anything related to the world hunger or anything you said in this article.
Author
I’m sorry Mario that English is not your first language because I think that is what’s causing the communications problem here. What I’m saying is that there is no proof for God that you are looking for. And Christians should not be trying to prove God. But what we can share are evidences and those two words (proof and evidence) are actually very different.
You said that if we were to ask any historian about the events in Exodus, that they would say that they never happened. What if I was able to show you a historian that shows you that the events in Exodus did happen? Would you believe him or her? What if I showed you 10 or 20 historians that say that Exodus did happen, would you believe them?
So I know that there are other things that you said in your comment and we can discuss them once we’ve discussed these other points. I don’t want to write very long comments so that we can keep our responses short.
Thanks 😊
Good day.
First of all, I want to clear off something. I’m atheist. And I made atheist by myself, just by thinking, not because anyone tell me.
I went here looking for answers.
I refuse to believe in something that has the power (god is omnipotent ?) to solve literally ALL the problems, and he just doesn’t care at all. And even if he where real, I would hate him. If you have the power to help anyone who needs, and you don’t help him, I don’t care about your reasons, you are the worst kind of being that there is.
If there really where something above us, he would just touch the world, and everything, the wars, the diseases, the starvation would just… disappear.
#1~If it’s not God responsibility to help the world, why is he there for? Why would he just let us die suffering. What have we done -or, for example, a newborn who hasn’t literally done nothing bad yet- to deserve that?
#2~” any time you blame God for not doing something that you would do, you’are making an idol in your own image. ” No.
If you help feed someone who needs it, you have already helped him more than god. I don’t believe in anything else than the human being. We are the one who are really helping each others. So far, God has not come anywhere and said “Here you go buddy, here’s some turkey.” Or “hey pal, I have cured your polio!”
#3~ First, people have been saying that the judgement day is coming since 1200. Secondly, WE should be the one who should judge him. If you are in a fire, and you can clearly save someone without losing anything, but you just leave because “It Isn’t my Responsibility” (besides being illegal) you are a horrible human being, why’s not God a monster for not helping like 2/3 of the world population? Why don’t he just help us?
That’s my question.
Finally, I wan’t to point something. I don’t think that the religion (not just christianism, but all) is bad at all. It helps people to be nicer and kinder, and find their way. It also helps people. Actually, it really helps the starving childrens, thanks to the missionaries. The point that i’m just trying to say, is that, the one’s who welp then are us, the humans, not any kind of lazy-supreme being up there.
That’s it. Sorry if my English is not my best, its not my main idiom.
Have a really good day 🙂
Author
Hi INeedAnswers, welcome to the blog 😊.
I read your comment in its entirety and here are my responses to some of the things that you said.
#1~If it’s not God responsibility to help the world, why is he there for? Why would he just let us die suffering. What have we done -or, for example, a newborn who hasn’t literally done nothing bad yet- to deserve that?
A newborn baby that does not have the capacity to understand the things that it’s doing would certainly not go to hell. He or she would go to heaven.
What is God here for?
I believe He is here to lead us to the truth.
#2~” any time you blame God for not doing something that you would do, you’are making an idol in your own image. ” No.
If you help feed someone who needs it, you have already helped him more than god. I don’t believe in anything else than the human being. We are the one who are really helping each others. So far, God has not come anywhere and said “Here you go buddy, here’s some turkey.” Or “hey pal, I have cured your polio!”
Let me ask you this question, if someone told you that they were hungry and God gave him a turkey, would you believe that person?
#3~ First, people have been saying that the judgement day is coming since 1200. Secondly, WE should be the one who should judge him. If you are in a fire, and you can clearly save someone without losing anything, but you just leave because “It Isn’t my Responsibility” (besides being illegal) you are a horrible human being, why’s not God a monster for not helping like 2/3 of the world population? Why don’t he just help us?
So what you’re saying is that if someone doesn’t help somebody during a fire while that person has the ability to help, then he or she is a bad person, right? Why is that person a horrible person? Aren’t you just infringing your sense of morality on that person and judging him or her?
i guess i would believe them,but you cannot find any hystorians because there are absolutely no reports in the egyptian hystory of the exodus.
what do you mean that the cristians should not be trying to prove god?of course they should.just like scientists are providing people with evidence for their claims,and lawyers are trying to find evidence to save their customers so religions should do the same with all their claims.not just christianity,all religions.
statement that are not backed up by facts should be rejected.
in your article you said that the lack of biblical quotes that suggest that it is god’s job to feed them is evidence that it is not his job to feed them.
why would you take this book wich is full of fairy tales and contradictions seriously?
Author
Here is why I said that Christian should not be trying to prove God. What is proof? Proof in this case is something that would be a fact and that cannot be argued against.
But the Bible says that there is no such proof. Hebrews 11:6 says, “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him.”
That’s why I say that there is no such thing as proof for God because if there was proof, then that would eliminate the need for faith. However, while there isn’t proof, there is evidence. Evidence is what you might see in a court of law. There is both the plaintiff and the defendant and each side tries to provide evidence to support their case.
It seems that the illusion that God is love is distributed equally among all people at all times. It was only when i was able to define what love is that i realized that the best God has for us is giving us his principles to deal with thr various siutaions thay we are all dealt with. Many consider the outcome of when Christianity is applied as the measure of Gods love or perhaps the ability to achieve or bring into fruition the things hoped for. Lets face it, all successful nations or blessings are only achieved from murder and stealing and setting up laws.. the more alignment of earthy blessings with christianity equates to truthfulness. Ethnicity, timing, common wealth, genetics and environment often have a great deal of to do with the outcomes of applied faith and good works. The west and its duality is confusing because how different the Christian experience is compared to the first century. Makes room to call God partial. Unless of course God is just not partial in regards to the fate of our afterlife.. than that would make the western Christian blessings superficial and not from God. But dangerously against God. The very foundations of nature defines a partial and biased God. But I have believed for so long before realizing and have some sort of understanding of what God wants but as someone ethnically disadvantaged as a mixed race person. Its hard to consider that the ethnic pyramid is aligned by domination from ancestry or on the other end a common struggle from slavery and servitude. Whats left is not much which puts emphasis on Gods analogy of having children eating first and dogs will eat the left overs; something that someonr would be proud to justify to the lower echelons of society but would consider it sin for themselves to partake in the lessor glory. Does God become lessor to that person or does something compensate for some vessells lack of earthly preparation..
“Why doesn’t God feed all the starving children in Africa, etc.?”
I find it quite stupid that people would actually complain about God not deciding to feed all the starving children of the world without first stopping to consider the main reasons why starvation is such a global epidemic (in the first place) and then consider also the fact that it’s not merely about feeding all the starving children of the world because God knows their rather hypocritical demands wouldn’t end there, either. No, what these whiners and complainers truly, truly desire is a life void of any and all suffering, whatsoever. First it’s, “God, feed all the starving children in the world!’, then it’s, “God, put an end to all murder and rape!”, next it’s, “God, provide us each with an equal income so that none of us is ever homeless!”, on to, “God, please provide us with the perfect climate year-round!”, continuing on, “God, heal ALL diseases!”, and on, and on, and on, and on, like a broken record.
What we desire isn’t a right relationship with God. No, instead we desire for God to meet our every “need”, want, and demand. We don’t want to take responsibility for the fact that WE HUMANS are the ones to blame, period. The reason that there is rape, murder, starvation, and all other evil is the world is NOT God’s fault; it’s ours. The only “mistake” that God may have made was deciding to gift His human creation with the ability to choose to either listen to His every word or else choose to decide for ourselves to live our lives not heeding a single word that God has spoken to us. The real question ought not be “Why doesn’t God feel all the starving children of the world?” but rather, “Why do we continuously choose to ignore Him?” Those kids are starving because of our own human greed, no less.
I mean, how many times do you reading this eat in a day? 3 times? 6 times? While you’re getting all fat n’ happy you could be practicing the self-discipline of fasting a few times a month or so in remembrance of those who are not nearly as blessed as we Americans are to stuff our faces with food, 24/7. So, until some of you atheists actually step-up and take responsibility by either depriving your own fat gut of food every so often or else joining up with one of our Christian missionaries (or hell, start your own secular-missionary) and helping to feed the hungry and starving in the world, kindly, STFU. You have absolutely NO room to talk, complain, or criticize, “O ye holy lardos”… bows down
You know, God created humans with the GIFT of freewill and just like any other gift, it can either be used or it can be abused. The choice is yours. It is not incumbent of upon God to feed all the starving children of the world when there’s tons of fat, lazy, 30, 40 somethings playing X-box who are still living with mommy and daddy and can’t even hold down a decent job, no less.
-_- Jesus had a rather useful and telling word for people like that: he called them HYPOCRITES. Well, if the shoe fits, then lace that mother up, friends. Lace it on up!
Well in that case let me pay for a one way plane ticket to a muslim country. And either admit the so called blessings of the west is founded in stealing and murder and that the invasion of your country is a justified thing. Free will i tje vrssel and timing your bown onto dictates the boundaries of your will. Show me free will out of the boundaries it mentioned . Ill wait u got free will go do soemthing i think you cant. Well see how free it is. Free in the confines of the first world right?
First, sorry for taking too long to reply. I was expecting a email to pop-up once you reply, but no. Secondly, let me answer your questions:
1) I like the point (serious talking) that someone that has not done yet anything can go to heave. Im curious about if pets can go to heaven too.
Anyway, as I said, I refuse, for now at least, to believe in something that let people, not matter what they did (everyone deserves at least a chance to redeem), die for no reason.
2) No, I won’t believe him. So far, in hour history, no god has come into our world and give a turkey or any kind of food to anyone. Or at least it hasn’t been recorded anywhere!
3) Alright, I put a bad example there. Imagine a king, who has tons of food on his pantry, or maybe a magical cure to a disease that has been ravaging his kingdom for years. He ten goes to the street, and see some childs starving and begging for food. He has a backpack full of food. Then he stops in front of them, he stares at them, and then leaves, not doing anything else. Hes a horrible king and, more important, a horrible person. Yes, I’m judging him. Yes, that something bad. The point is that, I think Im not a bad person for judging someone -long as I dont say it and hurt his feeling- what would REALLY make me a bad person would be if I could help someone who needs it, and I just don’t do anything.
That’s it.
As I said, sorry if I had any mistakes, and sorry for taking too long to reply. I’ll try to reply next time ASAP 🙂
Have a good day!
Author
In point number three in your comment, in your scenario with the king, may I please ask you what is it that the king cares about the most?
There is no issue with god not being responsible for us, but what then gives him the insalible right to judge us? Should we not be allowed to use our own legal process? Have we zero human rights under god? If we have none,there’s literally no reason to be alive. If god simply orders what be done, and we have no legal right under him to question it, that is slavery by any definition
Author
Well John, do you believe that there is such a thing as a universal moral standard?
Nothing, at least that the folks of his kingdom can know. Maybe he has lost hope on his people. Or he just doesn’t care at all about anything.
As far back as recorded history goes, societies have held different morals and punishments for crimes. Including the rise and fall of christian morality. Some things persist, for example killing an innocent person is generally considered wrong and of course Christianity was not the first to implement this.
But where, for the sake of not putting words in God’s mouth, the catholic church believes premarital sex or being gay is wrong, in Roman and Greek society these were common place (and those societies did not self destruct because of these things or something else awful happen as the catholic church might imply). We do not have a right to tell another culture how to run itself, and we would be unhappy if another culture tried to force it’s views on us.
So to answer, no. There is a very general idea of basic morality which the vast majority of people do not disagree with (crucially we do have the right in most societies to disagree where it does not harm another person). But when the church concerns itself with peoples personal sexuality, and condemns them for this, that goes against the very fabric of who we are as intelligent beings and if God holds similar views, simply he is by our cultural standards illegally forcing them upon other people and thus should have no expectation that he would be appreciated or followed.
Author
Okay John, so if I understood your comment correctly, you are saying that there is some sort of basic morality, is that correct? And if I am correct in coming to this conclusion from your comment can you give me an example of what this basic universal morality might include?
As i said in my first paragraph; killing an innocent person has been considered wrong by most societies (what defines an innocent person is subject to that culture), a more enlightened modern example might be the belief that all people have a right to a dissenting opinion and are allowed to voice this without government repercussion. Crucially, in some societies this is not the case, and this is where conflict may arise.
So to say universal morality, is still subject to commonality. If a Catholic society believes premarital sex is wrong, and the vast majority of others disagree, their simple belief does not validate it. But still, we don’t go to a different country and tell them what they can do. When this has happened it is usually met with resistance.
As intelligent beings, we have a right to individuality (in my opinion), as long as you are not harming other people (and especially if you are not) some higher power (or in a human case a more powerful nation perhaps militarily) cracking down on your individuality is the height of amoral practice
Author
Okay, so let’s go to a historical example. Hitler and some of the German people committed genocide when they killed 6 million Jews in the first part of the 20th century. Was that something that was morally right or morally wrong? And is genocide sometimes it morally wrong or is always morally wrong?
I am very depressed. Suggest me some tips to gain confidence.please…………
Author
I am very sorry to hear that you are depressed, Lakshmi. It’s hard to suggest some tips to get out of your depression without knowing the reason of why you are depressed. Please share with us if you can and if it’s a private matter, then please use this link to send a private message https://notashamedofthegospel.com/contact/
@Gordon Culp: Okay, there, ‘Sam Harris’ (another ignorant person who denies human freewill, no less): you don’t believe in freewill, now do you? If wanted to I could assassinate the president of the United States (note: if you want to report me, I’m a Marine Corps Vet and I voted for President Trump so feel FREE (eh hem, freewill) to interrogate me all you want to) then I have the ability to do so. In fact, anyone could for that matter! Would it be easy? No! But this isn’t merely about being ‘easy’; ti’s about having both the ability and capability to dd so! Therefore, while it wouldn’t be easy to fly into a Muslim country in order to minister to the lost there, by NO means would it be impossible, either. You’re chalk full of excuses, aren’t you? See, I don’t put up with excuses like others may naively choose to do merely for the sake of ‘peace and goodwill’. RUBBISH!!! -_- And let me add that in traveling to a Muslim country (which, I have been to before, by the way) and in exercising my own freewill, there may be, indeed, a consequence, either negative or positive, for my actions. Yet, if I have determined the risks involved and STILL want to go minister to the lost souls over there EVEN IF it ends up with being imprisoned, torture, or death, then by God I WILL DO IT. Period. Just the same as if I decided to put a bullet in my own head after tying this, no less. It’s called FREEWILL for a reason, there, wiseass. Anymore foolish questions/assertions you’d like to share, hmmm?
I think most people look at the holocaust and can see that it matters which side you were on. What makes it immoral, in the end, is the fact that the majority did not agree with hitler and he did not have the power to enforce his will outside a certain boundary. I am not saying I think it is moral, I am saying I can recognize that it is only my opinion that it is immoral. And in my country, I am guaranteed a right to an opinion. The key difference is that Hitler did not commit crimes against my people until late in the war, and that was in a military situation. I don’t actually have a right to march into Germany in peace time to enforce “justice” especially involving other people. In fact, I’d say God has more of a responsibility to do something as he insists he has authority to judge us where as I do not proclaim to have the authority to judge others. I think one can realise that if Germany won we would not be having this conversation, and that is on God as we cannot be expected to always have the military might to resist evil (God also cannot blame those now born into a Godless society as they know no other life and he will not give them anything contrary to what they know)
Author
If every country is entitled to its own opinion, then what happens when one country tries to exert its opinions against another country? Sounds to me like that’s the reason why wars break out.
As His church we are His hands and feet on the earth. God has given us the responsibility of looking after the widows, the orphans, the hungry. There is more than enough good but the food mountains, created to keep the price of hoods up go to waste rotting because of man’s greed. I remember organisations trying to get food into Ethiopia a number of years ago during a famine and their government officials refused to let the ships in until they received “payment”. Mat 25.42 “I was hungry and you gave me no food……….” Jesus gave us the responsibility to look after our neighbour. I think those who blame God and others generally just want to absolve themselves of responsibility/guilt for doing nothing themselves. Most of us, including myself could do more of what Jesus asked us to do. He has given us all that is needed to do it so rather than building bigger barns to store it all why don’t we do what He asked?
Thank you!!! 👏👌👍
You put my “Thank you” reply under the wrong person’s comment. Now I just want to delete it, and can’t find a way.
Dear Peter
Thank you for your very initial topic about God’s feeding the starved children… I was surfing the net to find an answer to my son’s claim that if God is existing why…bla bla bla as you can imagine this everyday question…I would like to ask 3 points please:
1. How does the third point (God’s judgement) help this issue of starved children.
2. How does the promise of the care of the birds fit in this issue, dying starved children in an extremely poor christian family, and to the parents are clinging on this promise
3. Beside this subject how can you help me to bring back my son to the faith in my beloved Jesus.
Thank you and God bless you
Author
Hi Gamal, I’m glad to hear that you stumbled across my article about this topic. I’m going to do my best to answer your questions in a short and concise manner. But if you would like to dig deeper and have a more in-depth conversation, then please send me an email using the contact link in the navigation bar.
Let me ask you this, young children who are not capable of knowing what sin is and can’t make a decision to accept Christ, if they die, where do they go? I believe that the Scriptures teach that when they die they end up going to heaven. So sometimes in the cases of the starving children, if they end up dying, then it’s actually good for them because they end up not staying here suffering on this earth and end up going to heaven instead.
In the promise for the care of the birds, if you read that passage in Scripture, you see that God is speaking to His disciples. So God’s promise is not that He will take care of everybody on the planet, but that He will only take care of those who have put their faith in Christ and who are His true adopted children.
How old is your son, if I may ask?
I liked this article very much. The question of why GOD doesn’t seem to care for the troubles of the down and out and innocent has plagued all humans at one time or another. But as a recently “returning” Christian my eyes have been opened to many things as of late. One of those simple truths is that we humans think like HUMANS, and so we don’t know the Almighty’s plan as we are not He. That having been said, we have work to do here. He wants all of us to come to Him out of love as He loves us. And as He loves us, we are in return supposed to love our fellow brothers and sisters on earth. He wants to see US taking care of his downtrodded children, in HIS name and out of love. He also doesn’t want ANY of his children to be turned away from the Kingdom of Heaven and so He waits to see if the wicked, greedy and uncaring can have a true change of heart – this is why some cruel and greedy people seem to be skating along in life not reaping what they are sewing. He is waiting to see if they will have a change of heart, accept him, and glean their reward in Heaven with Him, or if they just want their earthly glory that will soon be over. Many will change their hearts, many will not. Maybe we, as Christians, as well as taking care of the needy, can help by example to feed those who are starving morally.
Author
Lisa, you said that you are a recently returning Christian. May I please ask you what was it that caused you to depart in the first place and how long ago it was?
I thought the Bible said that when He sends Rain, it rains on the good and the evil. Also, Biblical principal says evil men know how to give gifts to their loved ones and Who am I if I follow this path, ie. only being kind to people I love. God Loves us all the same…………I beg to differ. The word says God is Love. Any time someone interprets the Bible to say otherwise, they are interpreting incorrectly and don’t understand what they are reading.
The starving children dilema is especially hard for those who read Matthew 6, BUT don’t expose themselves to the world outside themselves. Here’s what we do at our church. Be part of the solution, its FUN!:
https://donate.worldvision.org/give/chickens
https://donate.worldvision.org/give/medicines
https://donate.worldvision.org/give/goat-2chicken
CLEAN WATER! (should actually come first) for starving people, including children: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57AaTjJcxUc
Fish populations are being depleated and the death of humans is important for regeneration. Of 5 lion cubs only 1 lives to
adulthood and so it is sort of similar for humanity. Why are the poorest having so many children when they cannot even
feed themselves? Perhaps the HIV/AIDs is punishment for sex outside marriage. Africans will never get on the boat with
their high birthrates expecting the starving children to be the social security system for adults. Africans should stop having
so much sex and children and the HIv/Aids virus and starvation would stop immediately.
I didn’t even read your article. The title says it all. I mean, really. How could anyone with a heart….even mere mortals/humans that are imperfect/have flaws…..but still have compassion, could EVER allow a child to starve to death if they had the capacity and power to change it? Nobody would!!!!…or very few. It’s very sick to think that there is a god that knows that, sees that, feels that and ALSO has the power to change that but doesn’t. Its cruel and sickening. No thanks. I will pass on THAT type of a god.
Author
Shannon, may I please ask you what is God’s ultimate goal, in your opinion?
We are the problem, not God. Here we are with more than enough food to feed the whole world. Corporations would rather throw food away than give it away. Before people start blaming God for everything take a look around and see if humans could fix it ourselfs, if we all really wanted to. But syn is why many people don’t want to. Greed being a massive reason. Violence in war torn countrys, which can make it difficult or impossible, for even charitys to get to the people.
We have free Will. Before you start blaming God. What do you do to help feed the starving children of the world? Only humans changing for the better could solve that problem. For people who try to connect with God. Read the bible, pray ask Questions, he will change your life. The holy spirit will change your life.
AMEN. Excellent article, brother. PREACH.
Author
Thanks so much, Jaime, I appreciate your support. God bless you always 🙂
Hi Peter, I agree the world is a messed up place. Linking on to a previous comment about consequences. An aspect that nobody has touched on yet is the question who messed it up? Also why are there so many people starving? Did they consider the consequences of having children and accompanying responsibilities, are they honestly taken responsibility to produce food or a living by different means or do they believe that they need to be looked after by others? In short my point before pointing a finger to God look at humans and their actions and the consequences. They exercised those choices not God. Although the referred passage speaks of God’s provision (as was pointed out in a specific context) it does not mean to say by ‘do not be concerned” that we can stop working but rather that in and through that God will provide by whatever means.
Thank you for your article i agree with what you say.
God bless
Stephan
Author
Thanks Stephen for your kind words. I totally agree with you and I understand where you’re coming from.
May I please ask you if you have any thoughts on the question of why God, since He has the power to feed the starving kids, then how come He doesn’t?
LOL more silly rubbish to try to explain away that there really is no omniscient, omnipresent caring deity, which is why 16,000 kids die of starvation EVERY SINGLE DAY! The reality is that a bunch of people are having sex, too many embryos and births that are not sustainable. There is no deity creating all these embryos. If there were such a caring deity, and we are made in its image, and we care, then the deities would care too. Further proof the gods are made up.
Author
May I please ask you where are you getting your ideas about a “caring deity” from? What sources are you using?
Actually starving children die because thoroughly capable human beings… human beings that were created to be FULLY capable and equipped to take care of one another… let it happen!! WE are selfish and even when there is a surplus of food we will let it rot instead of giving it to those in need. SO please do not pass the buck to anyone else. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for our own children. OUR CHILDREN die because of us.
I’m sorry. But like, DON’T EVEN GO THERE. A little child is INNOCENT and did NOT put himself or herself on this earth. If there a being, or spirit, mind you, who CREATED those little innocent little starving children and PUT THEM ON THIS EARTH, this it’s his f*king responsibility to feed them. To say otherwise is BS!
The Bible was written by MEN, by the way.
Dear Peter
Thank you for your very initial topic about God’s feeding the starved children… I was surfing the net to find an answer to my son’s claim that if God is existing why…bla bla bla as you can imagine this everyday question…I would like to ask 3 points please:
1. How does the third point (God’s judgement) help this issue of starved children.
2. How does the promise of the care of the birds fit in this issue, dying starved children in an extremely poor christian family, and to the parents are clinging on this promise
3. Beside this subject how can you help me to bring back my son to the faith in my beloved Jesus.
Thank you and God bless you
Author
How old is your son, Hopps, if I may ask?
What benevolent God would let children starve ?
Author
What is your definition of benevolence and what is it based on?
Wow! So many comments, I didn’t read them all but I did appreciate some of them, and your (the author’s) thorough responses. I did agree mostly with the article and appreciated it’s perspective. I didn’t think of those things. What I did wonder is if you consider human depravity to be a reason for why God doesn’t provide for all starving children. The fact that, we as sinful humans, are not automatically innocent. We were born into sin. We deserve hell. We don’t even deserve to live. We are self-seeking and selfish. So to demand any provision from God is already wrong… yet we do receive mercy and the option to repent and believe. So that’s another aspect of truth to consider. I guess I would argue that because of God’s promises, He would provide for His children (those who are saved). I do know that sometimes our idea of “needs” are different from God’s idea of needs. And God also may allow a time of suffering and need for His children, where He allows a lack of resources according to His omniscient wisdom and ultimate plan. He works for our ultimate good, not just physical good (ex: a lack of resources may drive us further to God, or a lack may test us to still have faith even while suffering for a limited time). Those are just some of my additional thoughts, sorry if they’re a repeat of any comments! I did really appreciate the article, and it’s a great springboard for discussion.
As I said as a reply above… Actually, starving children die because thoroughly capable human beings… human beings that were created to be FULLY capable and equipped to take care of one another… let it happen!! WE are selfish and even when there is a surplus of food we will STILL let it rot instead of giving it to those in need. SO we should NOT pass the buck to anyone else. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for our own children. We are the stewards of the earth. OUR CHILDREN die because of us.
Also I believe I found scripture in Isaiah 30 that says Ethiopia will always be a poverty nation because of how it stuck by Egypt. Am I understanding this correctly?
I read every day!!! I found this page looking up scripture to match up with what’s in my bible scripture. Yes there are many of us who read everyday because the lord does tell us that we should and I hope you do too someday. Reading daily allows for the holy word to become alive inside of us and we have better opportunity to represent god and be more managed in that way and that’s another reason we are to read daily. I’m no better then anyone I’m just letting you know as a christian yes I read everyday and I kW many of us who do read daily 🙂 god bless and hope you can read more if you have the time because its a lot of fun figuring out the truth of gods word and wow he is amazing! He really does give us answers to questions that no church has ever taught me. I find those answers by reading for myself. You’d be so shocked at how little the churches do teach … Anyway take care godbless have a happy wonderful life to my fellow christian whether you read daily or not 🙂
I’m not sure that this is on topic, but I need an answer. Everywhere I look for this answer gives basically the same answer. Faith is useless without “works” , give to the poor and God will repay in kind. Here is the problem I have; I took God and Jesus into my heart about 40 years ago, been existing in poverty through these years. As I said, I am one of the poor. I go days without food as is. If I give to other poor people, I would starve to death myself. Well I have given to the poor in the past ( almost died), and God still hasn’t responded. I need God to help me so I can help others. Money won’t help me ( or others) from the afterlife, I need God’s help in this existence as well as the next. Does God expect me to die before He will show me any mercy, love, compassion, etc..
Author
Ken, I have a few questions that I would like to ask you. Please forgive me, I don’t mean to be insensitive to your situation. I just don’t have any background information about what’s been happening in your life.
Do you currently have a job?
Have you’ve been out of a job for long periods of time?
Do you have any health issues or disabilities that would prevent you from getting a job?
That was for Terry
It’s called free will! Which He granted us with so that He could honestly experience true love.
If he made everything to act exactly like He wanted and made us love Him. That wouldn’t be love, that’d be robots working for Him.
Side note: I’m guessing all these atheist are believing in the so called “Big Bang” theory, not due how many explosions y’all have been around but all the ones I’ve witnessed always needed someone to set the fuse.
My question is regarding God’s promise in Matthew 6:25-26. I’m certain that there are Believers among the poor and starving in the world
Author
It seems to me that this passage is mostly about worry. The mention of food and clothes here is saying that God will meet the needs of the believers but not necessarily their lavish desires. If they have food to eat and food to wear then God has met their basic necessities.
I beleive that the number one cause is that our ticket to heaven is simply believing in Jesus. So for many that means ignorance of everything else other than their immediate surroundings. People are too busy having success families careers and maybe donating or volunteering in their community and that’s all folks. The more platform you live on, the more Jesus is simply belief and tool to carry out mans will. Like creating a website talking about How God doesnt feed the poor, which is most likely a worldly venture. which is why you have copy right on your page. people from the west like to include their crafts or ideas or creations or inventions or dreams as a part of Gods will.. DENY your SELF peter. America is why the world is starving.
perfect! Everything I have been thinking but couldn’t put in to words. Thank you.
unless we are gonna send out children there, we cant tell people that God loves them.. Because if that were the case, step off the partial experience in america and go to Somalia to preach, God will love you there too I dont take christians seriously that have sold out to the system , even if its for Jesus. Deny yourself peter
Wow. I just stumbled across this site in looking for a few stats on starving children. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so much interest in such a sensitive subject.
I am a Christian and like Peter try my best to regularly read my Bible. Here’s my brief take on this subject.
1: God has given this world into the hands of mankind to rule and rarely will He intervene to solve the issues that mankind has created. We all know that starvation could be completely eradicated if the Governments of this world spent their incomes responsibly. Just one years expenditure on weapon’s would feed the millions of starving for years. But as Jeremiah 17:9 says, mankind is generally incapable of directing his own affairs and as a result we have inherited a pretty nasty planet that is incapable of solving the worlds issues just as Christ said would happen in Luke 21:25-27 just prior to his return to this earth.
2: God & His Son have every intention of stepping in to save the poor and needy of this world. In fact if you look at Psalm 72 which is actually a prophecy about the near future when Christ returns, you will see how much priority is placed on God wanting to save these kids. Man cant do it – But God and His Son will.
3: In the Lords prayer it states very clearly that Gods Will is to be done on this earth as it is in heaven. this will be the time when at long last mankind’s 6,000 year reign since Adam & Eve will end and Christ the Son of God will take over. Daniel 2:44
So don’t blame God for all of mankind’s ills and woes. We are an incapable lot when it comes to making the right decisions to run this planet and so hence we have a violent, polluted, unequal, bankrupt and at present sick planet in need of desperate repair. Not God’s fault that it is that way but it will be God and His Son who will finally fix it up. BRING IT ON! I SAY!!
Get ready for that day everyone …. can’t be too far away now.
I came to this site because of Psalm 145:15-16, where I read that God does feed all his children.
He fed the people of Israel fir 40 years while they wandered in the desert. Thoughts? Obviously he us able but not willing. Why?
I am amazed when people read Bible in a year. It takes such a determination. May God bless you to continue studying His Word.
I appreciate your quick (but effective) 1-2-3 answer. People get sucked into the particulars of starving children — and they should… and they should send relief! I agree with all your points. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle is that they postulate a god that is just us — only on steroids… but such a God does not exist. If they purport to enter the Christian conversation about God, they should use our definition of God. And how can they do that without studying the Bible and Natural Theology?
As I said as a reply above… Actually, starving children die because thoroughly capable human beings… human beings that were created to be FULLY capable and equipped to take care of one another… let it happen!! WE are selfish and even when there is a surplus of food we will STILL let it rot instead of giving it to those in need. SO we should NOT pass the buck to anyone else. WE ARE RESPONSIBLE for our own children. We were made to be the stewards of the earth! OUR CHILDREN die because of us… because of our sin nature. In fact it is a perfect picture of the sin nature at work. There are plenty of hands (to love their neighbor) in this world… yet we are choosing not to use them.
.
The problem is the west and its illusion of christian inheritance and entitlement by the mystic feeling of justified happenstance based privilege.
No one really cares about the starving kids r Christians. They care about paying their bills, studying for their desires employment, and then going to church pretending like the west is all that exists in the world. And theb are super sensitive against any persecution and llive q protectionist lifestyle and then you realize that God and his commands above civil obligation is 2nd to temporal blessings falsely attributed to christ.
People will thank God ans hold hin accountable for your privilege and america etc.
If those same people claim God is impartial everywhere around the world by means of scripture, but their actions being so protectionist and about building your life on the platform of worldly growth is making God a liar.
We would tell people living there to trust in God and hes impartial but wouldnt send your own kids there…
The other problem is that nuclear family being the concept of the west. Which is not apart of Gods wishes. In fact Jesus causes a break in the natural, he bringa division among the natural in order to divide who loves him truly by those who dont.
Too much focus on the nuclear family has caused those Christian’s who dont belong i the cultural worldly substrate to feel excluded.
People feel that if their born on a wordly platforn they ate entitles to spens their life building it and justifies it through their idea of Gods blessing which is a parti man made construct, further dividing christians.
Moat people only care if God is ever questioned
Pero. The Governments of the world could feed them. On that basis the Governments don’t exist!!
I totally agree with u. I’ve tasted God’s goodness noone can ever take his hands on events that happened in my life. Prayer is very beneficial. The world has 2000 billionaires combined has a networth of trillions of dollars. There shouldn’t be a starving child or homeless person in this world but God warned the world of (greed) The ones that are able to make things happen in this world will reap dearly of their unkind act. God bless u all
You will never get a thoughtful (or truthful” response from Peter. Peter is a liar.
Gods ways are not our ways. If you question Gods ways, read Job, and you’ll soon come to realize that we can never fully understand an infinite God. We have evil because of free will and the fall of man. Yes, death, disease, sickness, hunger these were not Gods original design, but pure love, by nature must include free will. Sin on earth is a result of man’s fall to sin. If God fixed the laws of consequences for the sinner that would not, by definition be true love. Those born into sickness, poverty, disease, suffering is heart breaking. Do as God says, go be the hands and feet. The enormous prosperity gap has universal affects. There is plenty for everyone, but Americans are greedy. This has universal consequences. We sow what we reap. Others suffer the consequences of our selfish actions. The problem lies with you and I, not God.
Hasn’t anyone come up with a better example in 3000 years than job
I’m all for the example in Job but perhaps you could give us an example in your own life that illustrates that trusting in the story of job is something we can expect in our own lives practically and for real….
I am a die-hard Christian and I believe in God up and down there’s certain things I don’t know when I do pray for the wisdom of those things to come into fruition one day.
Anyone that’s lost anything like Job did and got it all back systematically like Job did
If a god is all knowing, then he knows that when he creates a baby that it will die or suffer or eventually have to send it to a mythical hell just like he is mythical. Sounds to me like a pretty goddamn evil God. I’m definitely not worthy of worship. Not to mention look at all in the f***** up latency creates, supposedly.
Crazy to know that this is still here in my bookmarks after 5 or 6 years. I think when I originally came to this post, I was a Christian looking for answers. As an agnostic (still believing in a higher power, but not necessarily God) I have come to terms with all the negative things in my life that have occurred and simply say if I didn’t put in the work, it’s not gonna happen, and therefore I don’t have to “blame” God when things don’t go my way.
I guess as for the question, I work on my own personal homeless project when I have the money to go out and give stuff every once in a while. I also work downtown Philadelphia, so I continuously give out typed up lists of resources people can go to to get food and not be outside. However, I am one person and I can’t control things that happen because of “shty people (excuse my language) and shty institutions and bad management of companies, which is mostly causing people to be homeless.
I can honestly think of a multitude of situations where people can not always be there to help someone in need, and therefore it’s up to God to keep that person from suffering. For example, a child could be stolen and sold into human trafficking. As long as the captors keep tabs on that child, that child could be in human trafficking for not days, not weeks, not months, but YEARS. And of course I’d ask, where was God? Where was he when the “CHILD” was being raped, beaten, starved, destroyed, and weighed down all those years…nowhere because he doesn’t exist OR the higher power was watching to see what would happen. Those are the only two answers. Not everyone can tell the tall tell signs that someone is being human trafficked, that’s why signs are up in closed in places where trafficking can happen saying to grab an employee if noticed or if you are the one being trafficked (SEPTA in Philadelphia is a huge city transportation system and so there are employees and Septa police everywhere, for example), but again the child (or adult) would take the risk in being found by her captors again and being killed.
I say all that to say that we the people have to take responsibility for helping people in the world. Not because God told us to, but because the past has shown us that he is either just watching OR doesn’t exist, especially in the most dire situations of people who are not victim by choice. Now I respect Christians (or anyone in any religion) that follows a high power in order to have their life structured and keep up with their morals. I’ll still go to church if asked and our circles (our groups of people we hang or are family with) still use Christian tradition to bury and respect our dead, but I refuse to go out of my way for God without physical or mechanical proof. Air can be proven, gravity can be proven. If no one is going to be able to prove God, then we have to be the change we want to see in the world.
The world is pretty bad right now with the recession and covid and political issues. Please be safe out there.
So it could also be said that because I have children I don’t have to feed them. (Following the logic of God not having to feed his children) We can make all the excuses we want for God, the fact remains that he has forsaken us all…
Someone else will feed my children?
If he made us in his image, it’s not a sin to compare ourselves to him or the things we do.
I believe in God, I don’t believe in his methods, we were left alone on this Earth to fend for ourselves. Jesus: “Father why have you forsaken me?”
Is the Sheppard not responsible for his flock because he is better than it, or because it is a flock. Is the flock supposed to make sure each other is fed and safe, or to stay with the flock. Or is it the Sheppards responsibility?
You are a funny man. How much you profit as advocate of evil. Your explanation is nothing than just purely justifications. It is very obvious that you twist and interpret the bible in favor to you. As if only you has the expertise of interpreting the bible. I tell what. YOU TWIST THE CLEAR MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE JUST TO SUIT YOUR OWN CONVENIENCE. 🤣🤣🤣