Not to be a downer — because, yes, I see small, unexplained and unexplainable things in my life all the time — but the fact remains:
Did the people of New Orleans get a sign?
Did the people of the Indian Ocean get a sign?
Do the people of Darfur get signs?
I can even buy the idea G-d gives us depression to be more empathetic, kinder to our fellow humans, etc. Doesn’t make it one bit better, but I can buy the idea.
But to be killed for no fault of one’s own … maybe they’re going to a better place, yes, but what about those who are left behind grieving?
(One person told me the tsunami was a result of the huge bubble in the earth left behind from Noah’s flood, so the hundreds of thousands killed were really killed by the sinfulness that ruled pre-Noah. Ugh.)
None less than Rod Dreher, Bnet’s resident “Crunchy Con” who disagrees with me on 99% of issues, admits this is the point where his blood runs cold and he begins to doubt an all-loving, all-powerful G-d.
I’m not saying I DON’T believe in miracles. And miracles have to be selective to be, well, miracles.
But it does explain why I am constantly wrestling with G-d …

Larry:
I find myself more and more on the mat too, trying to keep Him down for the ref’s count. And this in spite of the docs telling my family memers and myself that it was a miracle I didm’t die from my stroke, that medically speaking it should have shut down my respiratory system! guess I’m a pig where miracles and signs are concerned. Of course, I hadn’t asked for a miracle at that time either, so perhaps I wasn’t prepared to see it as one!

One of my (many) quotes puts in perspective where I currently am at in:
“My View of a What is A Miracle:”
” It all goes by so fast…
Oh, Earth, you’re too wonderful for anybody to realize you.
Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it…
every, every minute? ”
(Thornton Wilder, Our Town)
I came to (finally) realize that everything in my life is a miracle! A grain of sand, a bee on a flower, a cup of coffee. Life and everything in it is a miracle.
We are only given a certain amount of heartbeats in our lifetime.
So,each morning I remind myself:
This day will never come again! How shall I live it?
It reminds me not to waste one precious heartbeat of the miracle of my life!

In spite of my life I’m a doubtful Thomas. Many things have happened to me out of the blue that should be proof enough for me, but that i manage to forget. Like being ‘lifted’ out of a place before horrific violence descended. Once, while living in Kansas a tornado approached the rickety houses of the neighborhood where I was living in. I had the ‘presence’ of mind to get my dogs into the car, no purse, no coats, nothing, and drive away. I found myself in the middle of the interstate and had to pull to the side of the road ’cause the rain was so intense there was zero visibility. Twice I felt the urge to continue driving on the shoulder, and twice a little voice in the back of my mind said “WAIT”. I must have been in there for about 20′ though it seemed like 2 hours, even the dogs were too terrified to even move. Finally the rain stopped like if an unseen hand closed a giant tap and I realized that I was parked, sandwiched between two semis! Had I tried to back up or drive forward I would have been crushed, and I still marvel that the one behind me didn’t even touch my back bumper.
The realization of having been placed in a bubble and held in God’s palm was so overwhelming that I began to shake and couldn’t start the car to drive home. BTW the tornado changed courses about a block away from my house and didn’t cause any damages to anyone.

A good friend of mine lost her husband, a genuinely sweet loving human being, to a drunk driver he was chasing down. He was a police officer on the force for a few years. She told me she stopped believing in God after that. I really did’nt know what to say to her at the time. I only know it’s cold comfort to quote the free will clause to someone in that much emotional agony. It’s like singing freedom songs to people in chains. The only thing I can offer is that God does’nt prevent disasters, does’nt play favorites with his children. We’re all in the same sinking ship and the only hope we have in this world is the mercy of God. The devil is all too willing to wreck havoc on us and I believe a great deal of disasters are his doing. “Your children only love you when you give them the good things in life. You heap suffering on them and they’ll turn on you every time!” If we stop loving God every time the worst happens then Satan is right. I think things worked out okay for Job. My friend remarried and found another wonderful husband and father for her children. I do however reserve the right to ask God when I get there…”Just what were you thinking?”

The unfolding of My Life’s Story contains the following chapters:
Widowed Twice
Lost Three Children
Cancer
Anxiety/Panic Attacks
Depression
( Doesn’t make for a great Personal Ad for all those people who like to “take long walks on the Beach. Which, for the record, when I do, I never see them; but that’s another story for another day.)
IMHO, God does not cause our misfortunes. Some are caused by bad luck. Some are caused by bad people. Others are simply an inevitable consequence of being human and being mortal, ( I.E. DNA E.G. Cancer, Bi-polar, Mental Retardation.. ) living in a world of inflexible natural laws.
But, they are not “punishment,” and there is no “grand design” for our suffering.
There is no reason people for to be afflicted rather than others. These events do not reflect God’s choices. They happen at random.
In short; man is free and the laws of the Universe are fixed,
It rains on the righteous and the unrighteous.
There are somethings God does not control. For me this news is not necessarily all bad. Because I can turn to God “for help in overcoming it, precisely because I know that God as outraged by it as I am.”
Through prayer, God showed me I had choices. I could give my ‘tragedy’s” a meaning.
So:
I have chosen to redeem them from meaningless by imposing my meaning on them. I have chosen to forgive the world for not being perfect; to forgive God
for not making a better world, to reach out to the people around me, and go on living despite it all.
There is also a “peace of relief,” because I can worship a God who hates suffering but cannot eliminate it, more easily than I can worship a God who chooses to make children suffer and die, for whatever exalted reason.

Doesn’t G-d cause “inflexible natural laws,” Valentine? Or did I miss something in the apocryphal theology class of mine Therese always pokes fun at?

I do not profess to know the answer, Larry.
What I do know is:
If a man is pierced by a poisoned arrow if he insists, before receiving medical treatment; on knowing who shot the arrow, and of what clan he is, what kind of bow he was using, what the bow string and the shaft of the arrow were made, from what kind of bird the feathers on the arrow came, he will die before his thirst for knowledge is satisfied.
Likewise, if we distract ourselves from our *spiritual path by trying to settle these cosmological and metaphysical issues, we may fail to be healed.
The unanswered questions are legitimate questions to which there are true answers, but to which we do not in fact know the answers. It is not excluded, in logic, that humans might some day come to know the truth of these matters.
But, it would still be the case that your purpose in life neither depends on nor is assisted by such knowledge.
These are the matters which, in St. Paul’s words, “No eyes has seen, Nor ear heard, nor the the heart of man conceived.” ( 1 Corinthians 2:9). It seems appropriate to refer to these unanswerable questions as mysteries; matters that are beyond human comprehension and expression. And to feel we must hold an answer concerning them is counterproductive.
For Me.. to know the answers to such questions is not necessary and to treat is as though they were would only hinder my advance towards Life’s Purpose: Giving, Loving and Serving in some capacity.
PS:
I do, however, hope to know someday, what is at the end of space!!
But not in the near future.

Valentine -
Don’t forget that Christ said, “Knock and the door will be opened to you, seek and you shall find, ask and you shall receive.” This doesn’t just apply to the things we need such as food and clothing but to knowledge of how God works. It’s perfectly fine to ask Him questions – in fact, He wants you to! You are also correct when you say that God does not put into play our sufferings, that is the harvest of sin, but God can take our sufferings and turn them on their head to bring us both closer to Him and a spiritual maturity. Suffering in this life is actually a gift, not a punishment. As hard as it is to understand at first, when we suffer for our own sins we are being given the opportunity to repent and to lessen the punishment we would have had for those sins. However, when we suffer as a result of someone else’s sin we are being invited to join Christ on the Cross, and offer up that suffering so that we can bring blessings and salvation not only to ourselves but to so many other lives.

Valentine:
Fair enough.
Part of the reason I am a doubting Thomas on these matters is not just that they are lessons so hard to learn, but that they are so hard even to ACCEPT.
Even if that’s all G-d ultimately asks of us.

Larry,
IMHO:
I believe all spiritual beings are and/or have been “Doubting Thomas.”
I think Socrates puts this in a kinder light,when he said:
” An unexamined life is not worth living.”
However, the person I described in my parable of the poison arrow stayed, stuck there to his own peril.
The philosophical question I have for you is:
What if you found out with absolute certainty, that there was no Higher Being?
No Heaven or Hell?
Would the knowledge that there was nothing after this life awaiting you, change the way you live your life?
(Really think about this..before you answer).

I don’t have to think very hard.
“No” is the answer. (Though I think “yes” would be the answer for a lot of other people, and not in a good way.)

L.
Now …
What if you found out with absolute certainty , that there WAS a Higher Being?
YES there is a Heaven or Hell.
Would that knowledge change the way you live your life?
V.

I hesitated to write the following Epilogue respectfully and with humility because I know the discussion of religion are intensely personal….
IMHO:
Generally speaking all religions have in common the following:
1.That “God” exists, that man’s allegiance belongs to “God.”
2. Some version of “The Golden Rule.”
3. A moral code of right and wrong.
4. A detailed system of ethics and a world view which each person can relate themselves to others and to the world and can understand his own significance.
5. A set of writings considered to be inspired, that support their faith and practice.
6. All regards man’s self-centendness to be the source of his troubles.
All great religions have done service to humanity. It is the foundation to help us reach further for our own personal morals. We cannot blame religion for man’s behavior.
IF you’re answer’s to the above two questions were different; as mine were; I’d like to look at the most overlooked and forgotten one: # 6.
Man is a social being and develops his character in relation to the society in which he belongs, so whatever he does, leaves its impression not only on himself but also on that society.
The elementary rules of conduct is self-discipline. We must learn how to live as harmless and gentle human beings. How to live without disturbing the peace and happiness of others. It means the rights of others to exist. If we believe the world was created solely for our own beliefs then we take from it whatever we want indiscriminately without caring what happens to other living beings and the environment. A moral person has a clear respect and concern for the well-being of every other being on the planet.
Morals need to be based on the humanistic values of love, compassion and serving others. These are qualities for maintaining peace and happiness.
If you believe that a supreme being is going to punish you if you misbehave, it is like being permanently threatened into behaving. In addition, if you believe there is some good, great reward for behaving well, then your motive for good behavior are potentially selfish.
We must train our minds not to do harmful things.The motivation for upholding this precepts is NOT the fear of punishment or reward, but understanding that they are morally wrong.
Carl Jung said:
” Your vision will be become clear only when you look into your heart. Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.”
Look within and find what you seek from without…. and continually give that away to others.
Then, while you are living in this world you can experience heavenly bliss. * But, there is no finish line to be crossed. It is gradual and never ending.
And, speaking from personal experience, my two answers are closer today than when I began.
* You weren’t really expecting me to say they were a perfect match, were you?

You are not right.

A few moments later, and releasing http://toazter.ch/blog/index.php?blogId=23 >lucy pinder topless her body. Her mouth. Leigh andpushed open the.

Nelson was that she came out of the woods where he walked to http://muttersprache.org/index.php?blogId=18 >inuyasha kissed kagome have plenty.

Hey bro.
I the first time here.
Wished to show to you,new Pic
http://www.bookmarkingdofollow.com/entertainment/audrina-patridge-nude-1/

Hello bro.
I the first time here.
Look,scandal story
http://lisaloebhot.blogspot.com