Mmmmm, why does everyone need proof to believe in something? There doesnt have to be proof of the lord, or anything else. If you think it does, then im afraid on the day of judgement, you gonna have a rude awakening..

Mmmmm, why does everyone need proof to believe in something?

I've got some nice ocean-front property to sell you in Arizona. Interested?

Hi Brendan,
Eric here:
I got bashed coming in here, you seemed to have touched a nerve. When terrible sadness strikes at peoples lives, like 9/11 and things to terrible to describe, you have to be careful how you judge God, He is the protector of mankind, not a killer. He will fairly judge each of us after this life.....try harder remember what you said.
Now I do suggest that before you bleat to loudly you first have a serious look at God, and His nature before you accuse him.
Your life is like a mist and could end at any moment. Miracles happen all the time Brendan...this is the nature of a loving Father, for this is God's nature to protect us from the evil ones, who would harm us. In truth may I say you were closer with the whole idea of life after death, you should have pursued it. Now you have wounded those whose faith is in a loving God. You have condemned your Creator, the potter, whoops...do a little study, it will help you. I suggest the book of Romans, Paul who was a very severe killer of people, Christians in fact, and a highly learned man both in Greek and Hebrew wrote this book as you call the Bible, it is not dead, it is alive.
Have you ever considered the death of all mankind since the beginning of time alongside the death of Jesus, add it up...Jesus is God, and he died to bring life, to those who would die...I cannot say much more you need to study God's Word and grow in wisdom, before you raise your voice against the Almighty....
I will help with one verse
Romans 9:22,23 ... it seems Paul had answered your question 2000 years ago, and I am sure if you really listen, like you say, you will hear Jesus saying to you, "I love you"
Good night

In every tragedy, there are two sides. A victim and a victimizer. In wars and natural disasters, anywhere there is pain and suffering, you have these two categories. Now every comment I've heard so far assumes that God is a cold, distant god all powerful and unaccessible. It is a Greek concept of God. He sits high above us and watches impassively at our suffering and confusion. Even the Christian arguements I've heard that seek to defend his name, operate under the assumption of his overwhelming power and omniscience. His mercy is beyond our comprehension. These tragedies are his will and we must blindly believe he loves us. We are really too stupid to realize him. But what good does that do me?
There is such a thing as omniscience of pain. What if you could feel every wound, every loss, every suffering happening in the world today? What if you were a god who was tortured in concentration camps and slaughtered in the wars of man? Such an omniscience would drive a man mad, but would result in a god who identifies with the victimized, the suffering, "the orphans and the widows". There is a story told by Eli Wisel, who suffered in a concentration camp during WW2. A little boy was caught and hanged by the Germans for aiding the resistance. Horrified towns folk wept and asked, "Where is God? How could he allow this to happen?" An old man pointed to the little boy and said, "God is hanging there." If the parables of Christianity are true, then we must face the possibility that god is not casually observing humanity from a distant corner of the galaxy, mocking and condemning us with his silence. I can hate a god who allowed the Holocaust to happen. But I cannot hate a God who wept as his children died, who felt every death and act of torture at the hands of cruel men. He is a stupid god who had the power to avert evil and did not, but I cannot hate him. Omniscience from a logical, scientific stand point is one that sides with the victimizers, the bullies, and the tyrants. But omniscience that is aware of the existence of suffering and decides to suffer alongside the victimized, would be tortured for eternity. I do not have it in me to understand such a god, only pity the sad creature who faces rejection and torture that he himself created.

Splateux, i said Believe IN something, not believe something. To believe in something is completely different to that of "believing"someone..

Im afraid bens last coment is true, but the other guy had a point :? - and to Eric, i didnt mean to hurt anyones feelings... What ben ment is that if we have no proof of something doesnt mean its there, this contridicts my article, but the article was just a piece of text that brings great deal of suggestion, and questioning whether this 'god' is true or not, i think its clear what my opinion is!

I USED TO BELIEVE; i really did, and to Eric, it was because of those disasters that i no longer have the faith to care about him, a lot of things have happened to me and/or my family, and god would never of let those thibgs happen, im not going to go into detail - but why does god ALWAYS seem to let these things happen? Its ok if he lets it happen once, maybe it was part of the plan, gods plan - but i must stress how many people are actually saved, and how many died.

I have nothing Against people who belive in him, its some peoples only hope; but i dont anymore...

Read the text again:

What if God, willing to shew His wrath, and make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction:
And that He might make know the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy which He had afore prepared.

This is very deep. Your question 'why does God always seem to let things happen?' From the above verse He is not letting them happen, in fact
He is holding back time, to enable men and women to come to faith in Him. His plan is to absolutely destroy this planet in it's huge ugliness and
create a New Heaven and a New Earth. ...'endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted for destruction'

Seriously, a careful read of the 7th Chapter of Romans will yield immense understanding about the nature of GOD....He is not a killjoy, this is serious
stuff. Mankind has continually been resisting His will, and in all patience He has not yet wipped us out completely. He sent His Son to die on a cross
and yet, look at us as a human race we still carry on resisting His wishes, and if you want to blame God, I guess you will have to do that, but remember
that all that blame was directed at Jesus when He visited death and punishment, and the curses of zillion evils on Jesus for us....it is mind boggling to think
that you would still think of God this way, if you look at the Cross do you see a God, getting even, I only see a battered mess of blood and flesh, and that is
a different sort of God, to this killjoy you talk of....he would never harm one of the hair upon your head.....there will come a time for Judgment, but it is not ours
and least of all ours to judge God, how are you able to think you could actually pull that off...lol.

Go back to being a human, and leave these Greek gods, to there childish whims, those are not God at all for they indeed do toy with human existence, Jesus who
is God, has shown his stripes, look now you are making me cry.......Good night, JESUS LOVES YOU BRENDAN

Hmm, Brendan it sounds as if your faith has died. You once believed in God but cannot anymore. You are the prophet Habbakuk who said,

"O Lord, how long shall I cry,
And You will not hear?
Even cry out to You, "Violence!"
And You will not save.
3 Why do You show me iniquity,
And cause me to see trouble?
For plundering and violence are before me;
There is strife, and contention arises.
4 Therefore the law is powerless,
And justice never goes forth.
For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore perverse judgment proceeds."

I lack the wisdom to answer your question. Nor do I have the skill to defend God from your accusations. But it is important that you seek the answer to your questions. I would encourage you to keep seeking answers even when you've lost hope of finding them.

Brendan, you do not seem to understand, If God saved everyone in 9/11, it would have been too obvious that he existed. Where would the test of faith be in that? We all have to make our own decisions in life, especially about god. If you dont believe, then i suggest you speak to my friend.
I dont understand the bible through and through, but if you read some of it, like the others have suggested, you might find enlightenment

So, are you really saying that, since God doesn't do things the way you want Him to, He must not exist??? Who and what else do you refuse to accept the existence of, simply because they don't do things the way you want them to?? If life was all sunshine and roses, don't you think we would still resent sunburns and thorns? Since you don't believe in God, do you resent nature for the horrors it inflicts upon us?? Afterall, even the tools of torture we bring upon each other were first created by the Earth and Nature.

No matter how idealic life could be, it would still come with highs and lows, and we would still feel the same extremes of emotion over them.

Scuse me, I think you will find the reason the Twin Towers didn't fall over was because of the way they were built. God's hand wasn't 'holding it up'.

the asian Tsunami, horrible as it was was caused due to the effects of tectonic plate movement moving the continents together, my science teacher actually predicted an earthquake before Christmas, and he isn't some kind of prophet.

I don't belive in God at all, I think that many people have easilly been manipluated by the teachings of churches.

And when you die, you don't turn to ash (unless you are cremated..) you rot, your body is absorbed back into the earth (except bone because it dosen't decompose).

hellfire is correct, in my opinion im afriad to say.