No our entire nation and politicians are to blame because as a whole we have accepted that is apparently good enough.
People pray for comfort. And those who gain comfort from praying understand. Those who don’t, bash those who do. If that makes you feel better, so be it. I’ve been thru parent deaths, too many friends, comforting parents of a 14 year old who killed himself. special needs son born and wife battling cancer for years, so I don’t need some schmuck to tell me prayer doesn’t work. I get things need to change. It starts at home and with personal accountability. Been a long week. Like Invol, I know families at this school. I know a lot of CPA families, where Covenant feeds into. I’m apparently more emotional about it than others who are worried about being right about the reasons, blaming a bad school experience from 18 years ago, or focused on “trans under attack” as the White House and media has stated, and worried about what [uck fay]ing pronoun to use for the [itch bay], instead of calling her a psychopathic mentally unstable piece of shit and moving on
Praying may help you and others cope and if it does that's fine. People are free to get solace any way they choose. Praying doesn't do shit to stopping future events which is my concern. Because if we keep it from happening in the future people no longer have to pray about it to get over seeing their children die. I'd rather prevent the pain in the first place than deal with it for the rest of my life.
And you know that how? Future events are stopped daily. More will if we stop worrying about feelings and flag people for posts, meds, gun purchases, ammo, etc. We aren’t privy to everything that’s stopped before tragedy occurs.
Why does God require multiple prayers to stop an event, to make someone better, etc.? "My meemaw was sick and we had our whole church praying for her and now she's better! The power of prayer!" Would God not have healed meemaw with just a single prayer? Is there a requisite number of prayers to remedy each situation? Why does he even require prayer at all to stop/fix those things? Shouldn't an all-knowing and loving God do those things on his own, without prayer?
Sometimes the answer is “no.” Maybe if the shooters prayed, they’d realize they are psycho and get help they aren’t currently getting from anywhere else.
Why would a loving God not stop children from getting gunned down in school? He 1.) knew that it was happening and 2.) had the ability to stop it, but let it happen. Seems [uck fay]ed.
Tough questions for sure. I’ve heard preachers mention free will when people make their own choices. I don’t have the answer. Evil has been around for eternity. There are car wrecks, sickness, etc where people have the same questions. I don’t have an issue with people having those questions.
I get the free will aspect, but there were still things that God could have done to stop it without infringing on someone's free will, assuming that he is all-powerful.
People make their own choices. He’s not a communist dictator. Does anybody here ever question you and your Buddhism? Don’t believe they do. You should give the same respect.
People pick at and mock my Buddhist beliefs (usually in good fun) all the time. We just haven't had a religion argument in a long time. And I try to show respect to others religions and beliefs as much as I can. And I am open to all criticism and critiques, as should you be. God doesn't want you to be a slave to dogma, I would hope. And if God knows everything that has happened, is happening and will happen, and He created all things, including those things that have happened, are happening, and will happen, then free will is completely incompatible with this. If I drop a hammer, and I *KNOW* it is going to fall to the ground, I can claim the hammer has the free will to float all I want, but that doesn't make it true. This is the Problem with Evil, and has been nagging theologians for millennia.
Fair enough Norris. I have no issues with you, your beliefs or your questions. Christians have faith, which is not understood by others and mocked. For some things, we don’t have answers. This life is supposed to suck compared to the next life, which gives some needed Peace.
I want you to know where I come from, so you understand me better: I was a Christian for 8 years from 10-18. Had faith, had belief, had deep, deep religious experiences that mad me feel close to God. Then, when I was 17, things started happening and my thoughts went to things that just didn't make sense. So just as I was 8 and Santa Claus stopped making any sense, the Christian God stopped making sense. I then wandered for twenty years being "spiritual but not religious", and then found my life wanting. And I remembered my Religious Studies class and how much Buddhism made sense to me. And I found a place to practice and then finally, five years ago, I found a teacher. And I am a far better man for it, and have had far deeper religious experiences in it than I did as a Christian. As far as free will and Christianity goes, there are multiple schools on it from free will to full blown determinism. It isn't one big monolith.
Y’all go ahead. Maybe make a Christian beliefs bashing thread for it though. I have no interest. Believe or don’t believe whatever you wish and for whatever reasons.
