John Piper - When Tragedy Hits

When all the support systems that you hold onto fail, it's easy to question your faith. John Piper calls us to endure through those hard times by holding onto Christ.

For more resources, visit www.desiringGod.org.

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[StrumstickJoe]

@Creationcreed

You believe in "it", ergo you must worry that it seems not to care for humans. I don't, so I know why humans suffer in the bad and dangerous parts of the world - nothing to do with any magical deity.

You have misrepresented what I have said all along. Your words come from your creed and not your mind. You have no life outside what you think your fearful deity grants you.

If you "love" what you "fear" then you are a masochist.

I hope you find clarity, but don't know how.

[Creationcreed]

@StrumstickJoe "but it should on you! It must be very worrying to realise what a bastard he is"- God is mean; therefore he doesn't exist? What do you mean when you say they are Hypocrites? Hypocrite to what?....

[StrumstickJoe]

@Creationcreed "..assumes God guilty until proven innocent!!" What??

Whether "god is mean" has no bearing on me, but it should on you! It must be very worrying to realise what a bastard he is.

The irony of Africa is tragic, tragic. All those people giving their all to keep the pope and the archbishops in palaces.

Religion = Hypocrisy. Piper, Osteen, Swaggart et al are charlatans of the worst kind!

Your post didn't make a lot of sense, actually (either in meaning (obviously!) or grammatically)

[Creationcreed]

@StrumstickJoe Your the kind of person who assumes God guilty until proven innocent? What about the millions of kids not killed, or dying in a hospital: healthy? eh, that MEAN God! God is mean is has no bearing on whether he exist or not. I noticed that people outside of the agony of Africa, point to them as an example of why you shouldn't believe in a god,in debates they repeat "How can u believe in such a God!", the irony is that most of Africa, even in all that, believe in God and Jesus!

[StrumstickJoe]

@Creationcreed I am correct and there isn't a god'

The "gospels" were not written about what they thought they saw; the were written about what they wanted to see.

And you still want it to be true (though I fail to see why, because even if it were, divinity remains unproven)

JC left behind not a single shred of evidence of existence, but it doesn't matter anyway.

Over 60,000 kids under 5 have died while we talked - and who cares, eh? Your god?

We need to shed this trash and sort the world!!

[StrumstickJoe]

Here's a thought that's well over 2,000 yrs old:

Is god willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Then he is not omnipotent

Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent.

Is he both able and willing? Then whence comes evil? (How come it exists if he is able to prevent it?)

Is he neither able nor willing?

Then why call him god? (or even claim he exists)

Epicurus.

[Creationcreed]

@StrumstickJoe "Impossible" - You would be correct if there isn't a God. I would be a fool if it were...magic...if your definition of magic is slight of hand, illusion, of an event. You would have to recommend me to a doctor and 500 witnesses of the resurrection as well: Ascending into the Heavens. And they didn't have After Effects Software, nor camera trickery, etc. The Gospels were not written about what they THOUGHT they saw, it was about what they DID see, and experience first hand.

[StrumstickJoe]

@Creationcreed I didn't say you said that.

A miracle would be the suspension of natural events. (Impossible)

That would include god doing anything at all.

"No god = no miracles" Hmmm, don't know what to make of that.

I say there is neither, which would mean you were saying 0 = 0

I don't know why you're in denial about miracles = magic (I'm not saying they are synonymous btw ) - it could be that if you had to admit that "divinity" and healing et al were magic, you'd feel a fool.

[Creationcreed]

@StrumstickJoe Semantics? You do have to define your terms...I never said there was an "act of God", I said that is what a miracle is: intervening in nature. If an apple falls from a tree, we catch it, did we contradict or violate nature, because the normative scene wouldve had the apple fall to the ground? No. We didn't violate anything, If God were to split the river, there is no violation of the natural laws: interference. No God= No miracles, just Fairtales or lie in a book.

[StrumstickJoe]

@Creationcreed

The difference between the words "magic" & "miracle" is mere semantics.

There never was an "act done by god"

It is really strange to be accused of speaking nonsense by someone who holds the beliefs I summarised below.

You believe in magic (though you want so much to call it something else!) - I don't.

The universe is wonderful, amazing, ever-evolving and stupendously big - but it is not magical!