Dear God, you can't help a starving baby?

Dear god,
You created a universe over 28 billion light years across, containing billions of stars and planets, just so a few people on one single, insignificant world can worship you... but you can't help a starving baby?

Clement Chua
is your point about the nature of this notional god? or a search for the truth (ie a benevolent god=no suffering and since there is suffering there is no god)? as in i think taking exception to the nature of god is irrelevant. the search is more important.

Clarence Chua
nice thought process.

Clement Chua
so what if its ridiculous, if its eventually proved true? would you submit to it if it were?

Clarence Chua
Can't be proved la. Only way is if notional god appears irrevocably (and I am not on hallucinogenic drugs or hoodwinked by satan); then yes, I would. then i would commit suicide.

Terence Lee
I have come to a position where I find myself intellectually agnostic. It is hard to prove or disprove a god. To say that god exist seems a stretch. To say god doesn't is like attempting to look over a wall you cannot climb.


Wilson Ong
He can and He does - but I would like to think that the primary way in which He does this is through his created agents. The notion of suffering and a benevolent god is a subject much explored and there is much important literature around that has delved deeply into this topic. It's a great question, but it's important to let the question drive you to search - whereas most people quickly arrive at the assumption of the futility of an answer. Sometimes, the quest itself can be revealing.

Clement Chua
many arrive too quickly at the opposite conclusion - without consideration even for logic and rationality. to me thats the greatest pity about religion.

Clement Chua
anyway bro, cannot be proved meh.

Syaiful Hakim
I think one of the few beautiful traits of Man is the compassion that we have. We see a starving baby and we feel sad for his plight. Some even go to the extent of helping that poor child. God's way of helping is giving safe journey and resources to those who help. If God directly reached out His hand and helped every starving baby, where would Man's compassion go to after seeng there's no more pain in this world?

Clarence Chua
If the starving baby is a means to the end of one's personal journey of discovery, then God is not love; God is evil, pain-loving, morally bankrupt, heartless.

Clarence Chua
Syaful: God's way of helping is giving safe journey and resources to those who help....Er but missionaries and aid workers get killed everyday?

Wilson Ong
The concept of a benevolent God and the existence of suffering are not necessarily mutually exclusive. Religious theology (major religions) arrives at different conclusions for pain and suffering, Christianity teaches that in part, it is du...e to the presence of sin and the nature of the fallen world. Buddhism explains it as man's inherent desire, of anything. But I guess one's starting premise is important - one can always look at the 'wrong' in the world and see every 'wrong' manifest to conclude that there is no god. Another's starting premise could be to pursue a genuine (and sometimes lifelong) search for truth when confronted by such questions

Kiezin Teng
When an arrow hits a person. what is the first thing you would do? Would you
a) wonder who created the arrow, from which country did this arrow come from, which wood did the arrow come from.
or b) take the damn arrow and bandage the wound?

Clarence Chua
not quite sure I get u scott.. hahah

wilson, let me share my testimony. I started this honest search 5 years ago, when I was a Christian. and I gave up communities, relationships and lots of affection in doing so, because my conclusion was, ...no god.

the universe is so vast and all of it is claimed to be wonderfully created by god, with man as his ultimate creation - the 'fallen world' reeks of dark irony. and if notional god is able to alleviate this, but not willing, then he is cruel. if he is willing, but not able, then he is not omnipotent. either way, the signs point to no god.

I would think a loving, personal god would do so much better. I would think man is more moral than god. I would think by the logic of occam's razor I reject this notion of god, because this position uses fewer new assumptions than than the argument that there is one, and a supposedly benevolent one at that.See More

Ang UberSchwingfliegen
yes clar, but its still uncalled for to be so combative and spiteful in tone - do you know your inciteful statements and claims can hurt other people? So what if there is or there isnt god? arent we still living all the same? i think scotts telling you to stop whining and get on with life ... never truer words that i've heard =)

Wilson wrote:
"clarence, thanks for your honesty and candour, much appreciated and I guess you've shown your conviction of the matter with the sacrifice of community, relationships.

i've been on this personal journey myself, questioned the strength of my convictions and how much of it was based on rhetoric and because I didn't want my belief system around me to collapse. i came out of it with a renewed sense of understanding, purpose and a stronger sense of conviction on what my faith was based on.

ultimately, i realised that my search for God through intellectual understanding, while intellectually satisfying, was never going to bridge the gap to what you then described - a personal God.

for me, whilst i will never sacrifice intellectual rigour because of fear, i am willing to accept that my human capacity simply cannot comprehend every single aspect from which I would like to explore God from (arts, philosophy, science etc).

applying scientific and logical arguments to the metaphysical is a somewhat flawed exercise - just like a person's passion and appreciation for say, fast cars, cannot be applied to an appreciation for the say, classical ballet. studying a discipline requires an inherent willingness to be challenged to apply the tools of that discipline.

when i was searching, the following helped me:

letters from a skeptic - gregory boyd
the case for faith - lee strobel
the reason for God - timothy keller
why i am a christian and unshakable foundations - norman geisler

and strangely enough, reading the works of Dawkins and Hitchens pushed me towards a god :)"