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 A flood survivor is surrounded by debris on the Philippine island of Leyte.
November 11th, 2013
11:16 AM ET
Where was God in the Philippines?By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Co-editor [twitter-follow screen_name='BurkeCNN'] (CNN) - The disasters are always different and often devastating. But the questions they raise are hauntingly familiar. In the days since Super Typhoon Haiyan swept through the Philippines on Thursday, survivors are frantically searching for lost family members and international aid groups are springing into action. Officials say the death toll may rise to 10,000 in the heavily Catholic country. Meanwhile, many people are asking: How should we make sense of such senseless death and destruction? Was God in the whirlwind itself, as the Bible hints, or present only in the aftermath, as people mobilize to provide food, water and shelter? These questions may not be new, but we keep asking them, perhaps because the answers remain so elusive. For many Americans, a paradox sits at the heart of their thinking about natural disasters. According to a survey taken after 2011's earthquake and tsunami in Japan, most Americans (56%) believe that God is control of everything. But more Americans blame hurricanes, earthquakes and other storms on global warming (58%) than on an angry and punishing deity (38%), according to a 2011 poll by the Public Religion Research Institute. “These kind of questions about God being in control and there simultaneously being suffering are the kind of things that keep seminarians up at night," institute CEO Robert P. Jones said in 2011. "They’re thorny theological issues." READ: Typhoon Haiyan: Survivors in Philippines face grim struggle as death toll rises The Bible's Psalm 107 says that “For (God) commands, and raises the stormy wind, which lifts up the waves thereof. ... He turns rivers into a wilderness, and the water springs into dry ground." But, as the poll shows, most Americans have moved past the idea that God causes natural disasters, wrote Stephen Prothero, a frequent CNN contributor, in a 2011 column. "When it comes to earthquakes and hurricanes, our authorities are geologists and meteorologists," Prothero said as he rode out Hurricane Irene on Cape Cod in Massachusetts. "Most of us interpret these events not through the rumblings of the biblical prophet Jeremiah or the poetry of the Book of Revelation but through the scientific truths of air pressure and tectonic plates." For atheists, storms like Haiyan are proof that God doesn't exist, author and activist Sam Harris said. "Either God can do nothing to stop catastrophes like this, or he doesn’t care to, or he doesn’t exist. God is either impotent, evil or imaginary," Harris said after Japan's tsunami. "Take your pick, and choose wisely." God may or may not be in withering storms, but many religious leaders say they sense a divine presence in the aftermath, as people across the world mobilize to lend a hand. Rabbi Harold Kushner is one of the most famous names in the realm of theodicy, a branch of theology that tries to explain the unexplainable: why a good God would allow bad things to happen. After Japan's tsunami, Kushner called nature "an equal-opportunity destroyer," making no distinctions between sinners and saints. But Kushner, author of the bestselling book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," said he sees God's hand in the resilience of people whose lives have been destroyed and in the "goodness and generosity" of strangers who donate and pray for the survivors. READ: How to help victims of Typhoon Haiyan That still leaves a tricky question, though: Why do humans suffer, sometimes terribly, in the first place? There's no good answer, says the Rev. James Martin, a Jesuit priest and best-selling author. "Each person has to come to grips with that," Martin said. "It’s not as if some magic answer can be found. But the idea of God suffering along with us can be very helpful." Muslims, on the other hand, see stormy trials as tests from God, said Sayyid Syeed, national director of the Islamic Society of North America’s Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances. "Muslims believe that God tests those he loves, and these tragedies also serve as a reminder to the rest of us to remain grateful to God for all our blessings and cognizant that we must support those in need," Syeed said. Vietnamese Buddhist master Thich Nhat Hanh, whose native country remains in Haiyan's path, said such storms remind us that our lives are impermanent and the importance of treasuring each moment. "This is the best that we can do for those who have died: We can live in such a way that they can feel they are continuing to live in us, more mindfully, more profoundly, more beautifully, tasting every minute of life available to us, for them," Hanh said. Stephen Prothero, Jessica Ravitz and Eric Marrapodi contributed to this report. soundoff (3,827 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 Next »
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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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Who is the creature to question the Creator?! How dare you! Do you think this calamity stops here, Behold those calamities to come soon upon the whole earth for mankind has turned against His wise counsel! Do not question my Father in heaven!!!
Isaiah 45:5-7 (NKJV) – "I am the LORD, and there is no other; There is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting That there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.’
Jeremiah 6:19 (NKJV) – "Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people— The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words Nor My law, but rejected it."
Jeremiah 26:3 (NKJV) – "Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way, that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings.’"
Ezekiel 6:10 (NKJV) – "And they shall know that I am the LORD; I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them.”
Amos 3:6 (NKJV) – "If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the LORD have done it?"
Blow the trumpets across the earth and the nations!
REPENT! THE DAY OF THE LORD IS AT HAND!
John
why post quotes from your book?
Using the words of someone in the same cult as you, who is just as deluded as you, to prove your point is hilarious!
Well, that was very fire and brimstone.
The Creature is generous enough to allow us to ask questions.
Look at this example:
Habbakuk 1:3: "Why do you make me witness wrongdoing?
And why do you tolerate oppression?
Why are destruction and violence before me?
And why do quarreling and conflict abound?
Certainly God didnt punish him for those questions!
John,
Deuteronomy 25: "Moses said: "These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you":
"11 If two men are fighting, and the wife of one man tries to rescue her husband by grabbing the other man’s private parts, 12 you must cut off her hand. Don’t have any mercy."
Hey John,
Phuck your god too.
Another very mature response.
John,
Numbers 5: "And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:
take a handful of the sacrifice of that which is offered, and burn it upon the altar: and so give the most bitter waters to the woman [suspected adulteress] to drink.
27 And when she hath drunk them, if she be defiled, and having despised her husband be guilty of adultery, the malediction shall go through her, and her belly swelling, her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse, and an example to all the people."
What kind of stupid god would actually say such a thing as that?
SOON!
The LORD God says in Haggai 2 that He will shake heaven and earth on the "twenty-fourth day of the ninth month".
24 Kislev, 5774 = November 27, 2013.
Kislev is the ninth month on the Hebrew calendar. So, 24 Kislev is the "twenty-fourth day of the ninth month".
Hanukkah 2013 begins in the evening of November 27. Hanukkah IS ON Thanksgiving. Have you heard of comet ISON?
The stars will fall, The seas shall rise, Tears will flow, From many eyes.
Haggai 2:15-23 (NKJV) – "15 ‘And now, carefully consider from this day forward: from before stone was laid upon stone in the temple of the LORD— 16 since those days, when one came to a heap of twenty ephahs, there were but ten; when one came to the wine vat to draw out fifty baths from the press, there were but twenty. 17 I struck you with blight and mildew and hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you did not turn to Me,’ says the LORD. 18 ‘Consider now from this day forward, from the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid—consider it: 19 Is the seed still in the barn? As yet the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not yielded fruit. But from this day I will bless you.’” 20 And again the word of the LORD came to Haggai on the twenty-fourth day of the month, saying, 21 “Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying:
‘I will shake heaven and earth.
22 I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms;
I will destroy the strength of the Gentile kingdoms.
I will overthrow the chariots
And those who ride in them;
The horses and their riders shall come down,
Every one by the sword of his brother.
23 ‘In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel My servant, the son of Shealtiel,’ says the LORD, ‘and will make you like a signet ring; for I have chosen you,’ says the LORD of hosts.”
THAT DAY QUICKLY APPROACHES!
And what will you be saying after the 24th?
The crazies are out in force today.
Oh, I see 87% of Americans are crazy and you are the only sane atheist in the room. Get out the straight jacket
Majority doesn't mean a damn thing. It doesn't make your belief system true. The world population of christians sits around 2 billion, so please explain why it is that the other 5 billion don't pay heed to your belief system??? They can't all be wrong, can they?
You're not worthy of debate because you are too closed minded to look outside of your belief system and unless you're willing to do that it is futile speaking to you. I've given your side a goal and through whatever I have come to the conclusion that I see no justification in my life to accept it as truth.
Anyone who thinks the world is going to end on Thanksgiving is pretty insane. Hopefully even fred can agree with that.
As far as I can tell, most churchgoers don't believe any more than I do. They do it because it's good for business and helps you get promoted at certain jobs; also they think it's good for the kids.
truthprevails:(
"5 billion don't pay heed to your belief system??? They can't all be wrong, can they?"
=>I suspect even within the ranks of "Christians" a very low percentage follow the simple things Jesus made clear. Your shift to global statistics really does not change things as Jesus said the road is narrow and few are on it.
"You're not worthy of debate because you are too closed minded to look outside of your belief system"
=>you hypocrite atheist, you are more exclusive than Jesus when he said I am the way the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Only godless is the way under your exclusive belief everyone else is crazy.
=>someone or something in sheeps clothing missed you up bad to have such hate for Christ's message of love.
"someone or something in sheeps clothing missed you up bad to have such hate for Christ's message of love."
The more you post the more insane you sound without logic or reason. We could say the same thing to you about all the other gods out there, you are missing the love of all those other gods, Easter Bunnys, Santa Claus, etc...
The bible is not a historical docu.ment, it's full of litery genre and folk lore, just like all other religions, there is no truth to it.
Ummm
Before you hang yourself here is what the Smithsonian had to say:
"much of the Bible, in particular the historical books of the old testament, are as accurate historical documents as any that we have from antiquity and are in fact more accurate than many of the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, or Greek histories. ‘These Biblical records can be and are used as are other ancient documents in archeological work. For the most part, historical events described took place and the peoples cited really existed. This is not to say … that every event as reported in the historical books happened exactly as stated.’
=>go fish
this unverse was strated by the collision of two other universes (membrains) that means we have good and bad light and dark on and on (yen and Yang) life and death. GOD did create the universes and all those other universes and beyond. you can apear so small in a world so big but not one of you is unknown by GOD, not one of you is unloved by GOD. bad things will happen because this world is full of both good and evil GOD put man here to take care of it so it is our responsibility to do the good on this earth not GODs. you will never see GOD with your eyes but you can with your heart. may God bless you and keep you and his mercey be on you all.
your editor will probably reject that story but try vanity press.
do not know much science do you
significantly more than you obviously
i see you wish for me not to coment on that i don't blame you.
This is actually a current theory of creation, although a bit scrambled. They think there are two parallel universes, or Branes, and as their charge lessens they become less repelled by each other and fall back together in a Big Zap, which snaps them apart again.
Unless you are in the Philippines and some hurricane strikes, right?
"God is a sadist. He's an absentee landlord." – from the film "The Devil's Advocate.
and you believe the devil?
Believe in the devil? Well, I have seen his Food Cake.
oh just quoting a movie i see
"quoting a movie" MST3K
We've been asking this question since the Great Lisbon Earthquake of 1755 destroyed a city of peaceful Christians. Either there's no God, or He can't control earthquakes, storms, tidal waves, fires, wild animals, or evil men.
Hell is right here on earth people....
Purpose of natural disasters ....
It can be unhesitatingly stated that the earth will be afflicted by powerful natural disasters; indeed, these catastrophes should even be mentioned so that people will know that the respective events are not determined by coincidences. There is no such thing as a coincidence, everything is predetermined, and everything takes the path of higher development. And the forthcoming natural disaster will release countless beings and provide them with opportunities for new forms. At the same time, however the disasters are intended to affect people such that they will look for a connection with God. People only consider the latter very rarely now, this is why God wants to bring Himself closer to them again if only by means which cause fear and terror in people; but if events are proclaimed in advance a person will recognise the correlations and then entrust himself to the Power Which is able to help him. The forces of nature are the only means which can even shake up the most unbelieving person and lead him back to faith. Yet they never last long and likewise the will to believe only lasts for as long as a person is in danger of losing his life.
However, the eternal Deity will never intervene with anyone such that a person is forced to believe .... Even in greatest physical adversity He will allow him his freedom. He certainly fights for the still imperfect souls but He does not force them. And therefore natural disasters will also have to occur within some conformity to law, they just happen more or less violently depending on the necessity for those endangered people who lack correct realisation. And for that reason they shall be informed of the forthcoming events .... Humankind shall become utterly helpless and with childlike trust call upon God for assistance; prior to this it shall already be informed of the dreadful time it is approaching, and if it is only of weak faith all announcements will accepted with indifference since it will most likely assume that the announced event will not happen. And yet, people will remember it if their body and soul is in peril. And this intended, for as horrendous the effects of a natural disaster might be it always entails a shock to human thinking and this can also have a beneficial effect on people’s faith, providing they had received the knowledge beforehand. For the whole of humanity is facing a turning point of life. And blessed is he who recognises God’s will in everything sent. Then he will truly not be able to behave differently than according to His will and only ever see the great adversity of his fellow human beings and look at the disaster as a means which can ease this hardship .... And this disaster is imminent .... it will come like a thief in the night .... And is just as quickly over again, yet the result will be inconceivable ....
Amen
The great catastrophe that affects the whole world is close at hand. It will happen at a time when the nations struggle against each other and God will visibly manifest himself in the form of the great catastrophe to avoid humanity from destroying the planet. People will cry out and many people will suffer. Because of this most people will turn away from God and will refuse to believe in a deity that allows much suffering without knowing the actual spiritual purpose themselves. That is when the anti-christ himself will appear to ease the world of it's suffering while promoting hatred towards one another to gain favor for yourself. And will be destructive towards those who oppose him. Only those who remain in Christ will be given the strength needed to overcome the suffering and will be able to diligently work and help out their fellow human beings.
infantile slave mind
The truth shall set you free. Unfortunately, you are still a slave to the world and blinded by it.
The Matrix is everywhere. It is all around us. Even now, in this very room. You can see it when you look out your window or when you turn on your television. You can feel it when you go to work... when you go to church... when you pay your taxes. It is the world that has been pulled over your eyes to blind you from the truth.
Hey eye in the pie,
To long, too boring.....
" God will visibly manifest himself in the form of the great catastrophe to avoid humanity from destroying the planet"
So God is actually the Devil as well? Or maybe space invaders?
You left out the demons and the lake of fire, OV. You're slipping...
I can't believe they would even bring this up but hey, to answer your questions...God was watching...I mean there is senseless death, disparities and other "evil" things happening and nothing happens. I mean its a miracle when someone survives cancer but its "gods will" when they die...sheesh. its not that god allows it to happen or its a miracle that someone survives...its just that ISH happens and God just sits and watches or God isn't real...plain and simple. which side are you on.
Are you kidding me with this crap? Who decided to put this ON THE FRONT PAGE? Your opinion is news? Why don't you take your opinion and shove it up your ass? No wonder CNN is a bottom feeder in the news world these days.
pat has now taken over first place for dumbest post. This is an opinion forum, not news.
Coming from an idiot like yourself, I take that as a compliment. You seriously think your 'God is a big meany therefore there is no God' is sound logic? Explains a lot. Nimrod.
Has calling other people idiots helped you avoid admitting that you are reading the Religion Blog?
I wonder if it's pat the bunny?
Do you know what "opinion" means?
Opinion – The outward sign of people's stupidity.
Of course Phat knows what an opinion is.
He has one about his particular god, which he has no proof of.
The safest country in the world insofar as natural disasters are concerned is Uruguay.
They citizenry is 40% irreligious.
It would seem that a country's level if religiosity has nothing to do with its weather.....
Christians, is a god responsible for miracles? If so, then you can't logically argue it is not responsible for pain and suffering.
You wouldn't know logic if it kick you in the balls. Geez atheists are stupid. You have a demographic of people who think that things happen for no reason, it just happens out of the blue from nothing because of nothing. Then they want to talk about logic as if they had the slightest grip on it in the first place.
So you disagree with me?
"people who think that things happen for no reason, it just happens out of the blue from nothing because of nothing" Yes, those people are called Christians. We get it. Then you can't either define 'logic' or point out what's illogical about Bush's post. You also have no idea what "demographic" means.
try answering AB's question you tool!
While atheists are busy blaming God in these tragedies, Christians are busy providing relief to the victims of this tragedy. 🙂
Second dumbest post of the day. Atheists don't believe in good stupid.
I believe in good ...
LOL, I am an idiot. GOD GOD GOD
keep smiling there loony boy
Atheists no more "blame god" than we blame the Easter Bunny. We do not belive in God.
Plenty of atheists helping, I can assure you/.
Putting one's faith within atheist sarcasm is much better than having enduring faith in ongoing generations of Godly principalities... May any atheist's dying day be their last with no hopes in their living an afterlife more abundantly and with greater measure... Atheist believers are but sarcastic ridiculers of all forms of theocracies... May their last day here upon this earthen realm find them in need of nothing else except the sanctity of darkness forever past their last day of life... I am a God-fearing, Christian-loving humanoid who cherishes each and every afterlife that forever occurs from one life to the next... Death is just a gateway... A door to another afterlife onto an infinity of afterlife conditionings onward and into the forever of Life arranging momentums within the Godly schematics of Life's reincarnation...
more bloviating on the part of LL
LL, if death is just a gateway, and you know you are destined for heaven, what are you doing down here?
Phil, that is uttter bullshit, you fucking ass hole and liar. Many of the most effective charities in the world are not Christian, and the Christian ones give the worst return on work done for dollars in, partly because they spend so much money on fancy dresses for priests/shamans.
Phil,
And some of the money they are using came from contributions from nonbelievers who are also partly subsidizing all the churches who pay no taxes.
I donated to a Haiyan relief fund already before coming to the belief blog. I know that the $50, though small in sum, will help far more than any mental telepathy to an invisible being will do...
The Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, UNICEF, UN World Food Program – these are the organizations providing the fastest and most comprehensive relief to the affected people and they are all secular.
As an atheist I donate money to secular charities that help people, for example Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders. You don't have to be religious to want to help people.
I gave you life...you must learn to take care on one another. It's the only thing that needs to be done.
why post a quote from your book?
Using the words of someone in the same cult as you, who is just as deluded as you, to prove your point is hilarious!
Don't you think it is a good idea to take care of one another ? It sounds like a good plan to me.
Huddled and waiting, cold;
Hungry now but alive;
God will help us, he did not want to hurt us;
He forgot we were here.
God delights in the suffering of mankind.
god haters r afraid to test him
they want to rap sarah
in front of trig
The ONLY ones who can hate God are BELIEVERS. Talk to them.
Oooops.
sarah doesn't like rap.
natural disasters prove that your god either does not exist, is not in control, or is an evil, sadistic, malicious freak of a creature. Either way, why the HECK do you worship him?!
God is imaginary. There is no god. This is nature.
god haters r afraid to test him
they want to rap sarah
god haters r afraid to test him
Where was god? Religions are man made cults. Weather is natural and couldn't possibly care less who gets in its path. Where is god in any of the thousands of disasters that happen?