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December 14th, 2012
06:17 PM ET
Massacre of children leaves many asking, 'Where’s God?'By Dan Gilgoff and Eric Marrapodi, CNN Belief Blog Co-Editors (CNN) – As he waited with parents who feared that their kids were among the 20 children killed at a Connecticut elementary school on Friday, Rabbi Shaul Praver said the main thing he could do for parents was to merely be present. “It’s a terrible thing, families waiting to find out if their children made it out alive,” said Praver, who leads a synagogue in Newtown, Connecticut, and was among nine clergy gathered with parents at a firehouse near Sandy Hook Elementary School, where the shooting occurred. “They’re going to need a lot of help,” Praver said of those who are close to the dead. From the first moments after Friday’s massacre, which also left six adults and the shooter dead, religious leaders were among the first people to whom worried and grieving families turned for help. Over the weekend, countless more Americans will look to clergy as they struggle to process a tragedy in which so many of the victims were children. “Every single person who is watching the news today is asking ‘Where is God when this happens?’” says Max Lucado, a prominent Christian pastor and author based in San Antonio. Follow the CNN Belief Blog on Twitter Lucado says that pastors everywhere will be scrapping their scheduled Sunday sermons to address the massacre. “You have to address it - you have to turn everything you had planned upside down on Friday because that’s where people’s hearts are,” Lucado says. “The challenge here is to avoid the extremes – those who say there are easy answers and those who say there are no answers.” Indeed, many religious leaders on Friday stressed that the important thing is for clergy to support those who are suffering, not to rush into theological questions. A University of Connecticut professor on Friday hung up the phone when asked to discuss religious responses to suffering, saying, “This is an immense tragedy, and you want an academic speculating on the problem of evil?” “There is no good answer at that time that anyone can hear and comprehend and take in,” said Ian T. Douglas, the bishop for the Episcopal diocese of Connecticut, referring to counseling family and friends of the dead. “They’re crying out from a place of deep pain.” Praver, the rabbi, will join a memorial service Friday night at Newtown’s St. Rose of Lima Roman Catholic Church. “We’re going to have a moment of prayer for the victims,” Praver said of the service. “We cannot let it crush our spirit and we march on.” Some national religious groups are also sending staff to Newtown, with 10 chaplains dispatched from the North Carolina-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association on Friday. Public officials including President Obama, meanwhile, turned to the Bible in responding to the shooting. “In the words of Scripture, 'heal the brokenhearted and bind up their wounds,' ” Obama said from the White House, citing the book of Psalms. On Twitter, #PrayForNewton became a trending topic. CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories Some religious leaders argue that modern American life insulates much of the nation from the kind of senseless death and suffering that plagues much of the world every day. “Most of the world, for most of the world’s history, has known tragedy and trauma in abundance,” wrote Rob Brendle, a Colorado pastor, in a commentary for CNN’s Belief Blog after this summer’s deadly shooting in Aurora, Colorado, which left 12 dead. “You don’t get nearly the same consternation in Burundi or Burma, because suffering is normal to there,” wrote Brendle, who pastored congregants after a deadly shooting at his church five years ago. “For us, though, God has become anesthetist-in-chief. To believe in him is to be excused from bad things.” My Take: This is where God was in Aurora Lucado said there was an eerie irony for the Connecticut tragedy coming just before Christmas, noting the Bible says that Jesus Christ’s birth was followed by an order from King Herod to slay boys under 2 in the Roman city of Bethlehem. “The Christmas story is that Jesus was born into a dark and impoverished world,” Lucado says. “His survival was surrounded by violence. The real Christmas story was pretty rough.” Many religious leaders framed Friday’s shooting as evidence for evil in the world and for human free will in the face of a sovereign God. “The Bible tells us the human heart is ‘wicked’ and ‘who can know it?’” the Rev. Franklin Graham said in a statement about the massacre. “My heart aches for the victims, their families and the entire community.” Many religious leaders also said that such tragedies are a good time for lay people to express doubts about God – or anger. “This is a time to go deep and pray,” says Lucado. “If you have a problem with God, shake a fist or two at him. If he’s God, he’s going to answer. And if he’s in control, he’ll find a way to let you know. soundoff (9,195 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 Next » |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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America has lost it's soul! Sold to the liberal, gay, baby killing, far left.. Pathetic Americans!
Souls don't exists, so that is nothing to worry about. Leave the gays out of this. You can go after the liberals. You are more pathetic.
Sid, you would be right at home in far right Nazi Germany.
Sid, its, not it's. Shit, you bible nuts are illiterate.
Nazis ... really! And you are the sane one. I say there are no souls and you go right to the Nazis. I think we have more to fear from you ... than me.
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain." – John Lennon
John Lennon – wasn't he murdered by a born again christian with a gun?
God is imaginary.
Looking for God? He was at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012. That was his idea of a Merry Christmas.
So God was kicked out of schools , well he must have been kicked out of church too. People are getting shot at church and the priests can't keep their hands off of the little boys.
THERE IS NO GOD.... and there never has been one mearly just folk stories told and like usual taken way out of context and made into movies books and other useless things that our idiotic society has beleived for so many years. There is no proof and we all will never be around to ever find out if there is ever any truth to it.
"That's not entirely accurate" says the man.."Which part?" says the other with some interest.
"The part that we will never know" he pauses "For those with a soul, they will know at the moment of death".
the other man simply nods, and wonders what he is missing. the first man knows..its a soul.
Where was GOD when Alabama lost against Texas A&M? I know my friend prayed for Alabama, I didn't pray for crap; huh his prayer wasn't answered. We make our own choices in life, I don't have a ficticous book deciding my fate or how I am to act. These same church goers are the ones who will break the traffic laws, discriminate against you, drink, smoke etc but they believe in GOD and their sins are forgiven after 6 days of ruining ones life and breaking their GOD's so called words..
America's blessings are disappearing because of it's sick and prudent immorality.
I know right? Just like the Congo's blessings.
I'm only immoral when it's prudent.
The shooter was home schooled. So there's that.
When all is finally said and done, someone will be right and someone will be wrong. Unfortunately some will be doomed for eternal damnation and the winner will reap life eternal. That is when the debate will be settled. No sense arguing about this so let's pray for the families that have been impacted by this tragedy.
How many kids have you sodomized, Rev?
@ LH Nice 🙂 Its weekly for them when the offering comes.....
No, Earl, when all is said and done we will all be dead. Period. If we're lucky perhaps our DNA will survive in some watered-down, perhaps mutated, form in our off-spring, but that's it.
There is no supernatural. There's no afterlife. This is our one chance at existence.
Grow up. Deal with it.
Give me a call after you're dead and tell me how that turned out.
Pascals Wager! Nice try. Trying to scare the gullible into beleiving what you do, because you are so insecure. "Beleive in Thor or he will smash you with a hammer."
In the end, we are all doomed to either freeze in the cold darkness of space or get destroyed when the big rip happens. Since that is several trillion years away, we may have time to find the next universe and jump!
Dear Atheists, please do consider the calendar, "from the year of our Lord". Yes, time, as we know it, is measured from the birth of Christ!!!! There is nothing you can do or say to change that!
You are incorrect.
And the eight-digit standard way in the U.S. of representing the date four days ago (from current EST time) is 12/12/12. There is nothing you can do to change that (for a number of more hours). And other than that this is a reference point between us, this is important because . . . . . hmmm.
That is as good a way of naming it as any. Just made up by people. What is your point? It is also arbitrary, so the year could be anything, 5000, 6000. Ask the Chinese what year it is.
That's because we have brainwashed people in high positions that wouldnt dare change the # of days in a year.
Silly Christian. Haven't you heard of CE?
I stopped believing in Santa when I was a child. You are merely a sheep. I think its hilarious that people blame those who are not believers. Have we forgot about half the wars we have had? Much of it has been over religion. Look at our scientific society, much doubt is brought to question.
That is the dumbest argumet for the existence of God I have Ever. Freaking. Seen.
C'mon, Sy. It's just an arbitrary reference point. Surely you don't see any religious significance there, do you?
Look up on how each month got the number of days they have. It was infighting by people. I want more months than you wa wa wa.
Look up on how each month got the number of days they have. It was infighting by people. I want more days than you wa wa wa.
Sy,
The B.C./A.D dating system was the brainchild of a monk named Dionysius in the 6th century. The Church was very powerful in those days and controlled many aspects of society... still, his dating system took hundreds of years (nearly 1000) to be inst-ituted world-wide. Many cultures still keep their ancient calendars going on the side.
Tip: If you find a coin or sculpture stamped with the original date of 223 A.D. or something like that, don't pay over a nickel for it.
Sy,
Also consider:
Every week (52 times per year) in English-speaking places we have:
Tuesday = Tiu's day (Norse god)
Wednesday = Woden's day (Norse god)
Thursday = Thor's day (Norse god)
Friday = Frigga's day (Norse goddess)
Saturday = Saturn's day (Roman god)
And every year:
January = in honor of Janus (Roman god)
February = Roman purification rite, februa
March = in honor of Mars (Roman god)
April = in honor of Aphrodite (Greek goddess)
May = in honor of Maia (Roman goddess)
June = in honor of Juno (Roman goddess)
A lot of hoopla for those gods and goddesses. I guess that means that they were/are all real too then, eh?
Okay,Athiests here is your chance, and I will pay attention. it has been stated and I quote "THERE IS NO GOD". Ok prove it. take as much time as you need. and dont say I have to prove their is one, because I dont, I AM NOT THE ONE CRITIZING. so prove it!! if you have no proof, how about you just sthu. A christian, moslem, jew, whatever knows what they feel, you not convincing anyone. so prove your stand and lets put it to rest.
Don't need to prove it. We don't need to prove the nonexistence of every absurd notion someone invents. That's ridiculous. It's up to you to prove god does exist. Since you can't, the absence of god is the default condition. I know most of the words I used are above your comprehension level, but do the best you can to understand. Get a grownup to help if you need to.
Easy. There is absolutely no evidence anywhere in the universe that there is no god, from the expanses of space to the tiniest subatomic particle.
That takes the probability against god to 99.99999999999999999999%.
Then we go to each religion, and see if it says something clearly wrong (gods cannot be wrong). Let me use Christianity as an example, though they all fall apart the same way.
Jesus gave a long list of events that would truly happen in the lifetimes of some of those standing there listening to him. They did not happen, not at all. Jesus was wrong. Gods cannot he wrong, therefore, Jesus was not a god.
He does it again. Jesus says at the fig tree that prayer will work absolutely, exactly what you ask for, including having a mountain throw itself into the sea. That is totally wrong. Gods cannot be wrong, but Jesus was wrong twice on core issues of theology. Jesus was not god.
Furthermore, scripture cannot be wrong, but the Bible gives four radically different accounts of the resurrection, disagreeing on how many people went, what they found, if the cave was open, and what they did afterwards. Totally different and incompatible. At leastThree of the stories must be wrong. The word of god cannot be wrong. Therefore, the bible is not the word of god. And being the only evidence Christians can provide, Christianity is untrue.
You can do that for every religion.
No god. Proven.
I asked you to disprove God not the bible. it was written by man, not God, TRY AGAIN. THIS TIME PROVE god DOES NOT EXIST. READ WHAT I WROTE
Read what we wrote. You probably won't understand it, but read it, if you can. Again, a grownup might be able to help.
I did disprove Jesus. If the Bible is not a reliable source for what god said and wants, then it is nothing, and you just lost the last piece of evidence you had. Your religion is, by your own admission, based on errors and human creations.
No evidence anywhere in the world. Scriptures are the only possible evidence, and even by your admission they are often wrong and unreliable. No evidence, scriptures are wrong.
You have no leg to stand on.
God is in the empty space between the ears of those deluded individuals known as christians, muslims, jews, etc.
Well said!
Guess that includes those who created the country you live in dude:
"God rules this world. It is the duty of nations as well as men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow... and to recognize the sublime truths that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord." – Abraham Lincoln
"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors. – George Washington
"It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence." – John Adams
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated by with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." – Thomas Jefferson
God is just a place holder for "not us humans". Besides most of the founders wanted religion out of government. Follow what you want, but keep it to your self. Most religions can't even do this.
DUH there isn't one. If GOD made everything who made the Dinosaurs all everything else that lived before your GOD? There is FACT and FICTION, I believe is FACT and evidence, like Dinosaurs bones. Where are your GOD's bones? Brainwashed people, it's a fairy tale that has been told over and over, kinda like GOSSIP; the story changes and gets bigger and bigger. Kinda like Bible Edition Revision 232,432 It's no different then politics nothing is ever true. Let's keep lying about everything like Bin Laden, then sue, jump up and down when a move comes out that conflicts with the government's story. Truth is never told, us American's cant handle the truth but the truth is we were built on lies yet I don't see overseas countries like Germany, Norway, France, etc. having this shooting and blaming issue. Wait its because they are FREE of the FCC, corrupt politicians and government but they accept responsibility for their actions and not blame someone else or something that isnt real. Nope, it was the DEVIL 🙂
Jesus rode dinosaurs. He was a cowboy, uh, dinosaurboy up on Brokeback Mountain, with his handsome apostles.
I have a growing suspicion that the remarks of religious people here are actually being written by Mel Brooks. They are just too nutty to be true, and they are very funny.
If you can't make fun of all this - we would all cry 🙁
I wish. Unfortunately a good percentage of this country is comprised of people who base their entire existence around 5000 year old fairy tales.
Where was god? Balls deep in an altar boy while the church was covering up for him.
I encourage all fundiots to try their best to overturn the SCOTUS decisions of 1962 and 1963. In fact, you can do better. Mortgage all your homes and raise all the capital you can and create a giant super-pak-like fund solely for the purpose of overturning the SCOTUS decisions of 1962 & 1963 regarding mandated prayer and Bible reading in public schools. Now that there is even a higher percentage of non-Christians in school classrooms than when those rulings were made, you will have a tough road, though – I won't lie. Now it can only be done in two ways, so all your efforts will have to go towards either a Constitutional Amendment, or a SCOTUS overturning the earlier decision. So let's see how you do with that. The best of luck! (Don't forget to give all your money to the fund now! wink wink)
It's time for preachers across this country to stand up to the NRA so massacres like this stop. God helps those who help themselves. The time is now.
Now this I support even though I am a far cry from a preacher.
No where in the bible does it say God helps those who help themselves. Not sure where this came from but it's certainly not in the bible. God helps those who help others. God also wants you to rely on him for everything. Cast all your cares on Him!
OMG is a democrat!
truthful look in the mirror hurts doesn't it, easier to blame
523
They have to say "because they kicked god out of school." Unless you are tracking another idiotic cliche that happens to have the same count.
I'll keep that in mind. 😀
maybe time to stop counting and try to learn something, lol 🙂
God is love. The farther away you get from love, the more you get to be like this hateful shooter that hates everyone including himself.
522
Well, if it works for you, Surge, go for it. Strong people don't need it.
We are to blame, America's creators told us we needed God. Want to know who is responsible for these massacres, just look in the mirror because collectively we have turned away and this will keep happening over and over as we were warned:
"God rules this world. It is the duty of nations as well as men to owe their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow... and to recognize the sublime truths that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord." – Abraham Lincoln
"It is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favors. – George Washington
"It must be felt that there is no national security but in the nation's humble acknowledged dependence upon God and His overruling providence." – John Adams
"God who gave us life gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in the minds of the people that these liberties are of the Gift of God? That they are not to be violated by with His wrath? Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just; that His justice cannot sleep forever." – Thomas Jefferson
Additional quote, abominable deeds = massacres, systemic from "There is no God" ideology:
The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good. – David, Ps 14:1
you're a useful idiot to the causes that have linked their monetary success to your simplistic world view. i hope you don't have children, who will obviously be both genetically deficient and woefully raised.
521
@ LH.Way too harsh.Keep cool.
The religious breed like rabbits so it's probable the delusion is already passed to the kids like always.
getaclue,
"The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds, there is none who does good."
A quite old and sometimes effective tactic – declaring that those who do not believe your story are 'fools'. Nobody wants to be considered 'dumb' for not seeing the Emperor's new clothes, or a 'bas.tard' for not seeing the Sultan's new turban, or a 'cuckold' for not being able to see the Miller's gold thumb.
Even Joseph Smith used it when he gathered his 'witnesses' to his golden plates. He told them that only those with 'true faith' would be able to 'see' them.
The ancient, primitive Hebrews who originated those Bible stories were quite adept at manipulative mind-games.
Harsh, but probably true.
we're the ones to blame
getaclue,
Why do children get r@ped in churches where god is welcomed with open arms.
Absolutely right, cluey. Religious people are to blame.
So dismissive and condescending, time to stop counting (521) and maybe learn something here
Religious people too (sometime the worst), we collectively have failed, until we realize that and blame everything and everyone else, we won't progress. Deep looks inside for all, me too.