General Chat

Generally people either have faith in God or they don't. When terrible things happen people question their beliefs. When the plague arrived in Britain, it forced people to question the idea of God - many thought (as people did when AIDS arrived) that God was using disease to punish evil-doing and sinfulness. Some turned to self-flagellation to appease Him. Others questioned the necessity of confession if when you were dying there was no priest to confess to. I personally don't believe in God as a father-figure, but I do believe there are strong forces which can act for good or evil, over which people have no control. Believing in God is some people's way of regaining control over things they can't understand. But as an earlier poster said, belief in God can provide comfort to people and I'm all for that. nell

CB....... There is a scientific theory (widely excepted) that matter cannot be created or destroyed it just changes form solid to gas to liquid to energy etc. It has been postulated in some scientific circles that "souls" are a form of energy and as such cannot be destroyed at death either.

Quoted from online Telegraph(.)co(.)uk: "In a deeply personal and candid article, he says "it would be wrong" if faith were not "upset" by the catastrophe which has already claimed more than 150,000 lives. Dr Rowan Williams: Prayer provides no 'magical solutions' Prayer, he admits, provides no "magical solutions" and most of the stock Christian answers to human suffering do not "go very far in helping us, one week on, with the intolerable grief and devastation in front of us". Dr Williams, who, as head of the Church of England, represents 70 million Anglicans around the world, writes: "Every single random, accidental death is something that should upset a faith bound up in comfort and ready answers. Faced with the paralysing magnitude of a disaster like this, we naturally feel more deeply outraged - and also more deeply helpless." He adds: "The question, 'How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?' is therefore very much around at the moment, and it would be surprising if it weren't - indeed it would be wrong if it weren't." Dr Williams concludes that, faced with such a terrible challenge to their faith, Christians must focus on "passionate engagement with the lives that are left"." I think that the last paragraph quoted is very important. Joy

Daniel...I dont necessary believe in God but, strange as it may seem, at times like this I wish I do! People talk of the "comfort" they get from their religion, of a knowing that they are not alone in these sad times.

Someone found the following words scribbled on the wall of a Nazi concentration camp at the close of World War II: I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining. I believe in love, even when I cannot feel it. I believe in God, even when He is silent.

"The question, How can you believe in a God who permits suffering on this scale?"

I'll fix it Joy

Mother nature did the deed, not god I assume. Some will live and some will die. The world will continue to turn. Elaine x

Those were not his exact words, Daniel. Joy

Does it you?