If you really think about it, then the answer is obvious. IF there is a God, and IF there is an eternal afterlife then this life is not that important. If you die in this life, oh well, there’s always an eternal afterlife - so why would God get worked up about it?
Excellent thought! Everyone is saying “this truly proves that there is a god.” what about the countless others who were kidnapped and found dead or never found at all? I guess god doesn’t like them.
They are? I haven’t seen anyone, much less everyone, say that. The Smarts were already pretty sure, I think. Have you got a link?
I don’t think anyone at all thinks God ‘doesn’t like’ people who die in sad ways. He’d have to dislike half the population of the world. Everyone’s story is different, that’s just how things are–it doesn’t mean that God loves one person more than another.
Geee…
They got their daughter back safe after 9 months. They didnt know if she was alive or dead a week ago. Now theyre happy. If you listen closely, theyre thanking everyone and everything. Let them have their moment. Theyre not preaching or trying to convert anyone. They are just very very happy. Its as simple as that.
With all due respect to the Smarts, and I’m certainly glad they got their daughter back, but perhaps the real lesson to be learned here is to be careful about bringing whackos into your house, esp when you have children there. Ricci apparently didn’t do it, but he robbed them nonetheless, and this guy “Emmanuel” was a panhandler but was apparently able bodied enough to do handyman work for the family.
Yeah, Jesus said help the needy, but I don’t think he meant us to go so far as to endanger our families.
I knew no matter how carefully and politely I worded my question, someone would get their panties in a bunch over nothin’.
“But when bad things happen–or more precisely, when people do bad things like kidnapping little girls–for better or worse, God can’t interfere with their choice.”
This is an old question but what about bad things not caused by people: earthquakes, floods, hurricanes etc. God could stop those without interfering with free will but apparently chooses not to and let millions suffer. Why?
I have never seen any satisfactory answer to this; only vague hand-wringing about God’s will being mysterious etc. It’s one of the reasons I am an atheist.
It’s only because you’re a godless heathen, Eve. Now go say a rosary or something. 
They are NOT in a bunch! Its these thongs… they grab ass hairs something fierce… 
I dont mean to sound condescending or overly righteous but the Smarts and even the police and FBI are very emotional about this whole thing and are just expressing their profound emotions.
I would like to know if Richard Ricci died as a result of misguided prayers when many people were convinced that he was the one who kidnapped and killed Elizabeth. You have to admit, he died of rather mysterious causes. It is entirely consistent with a God that endorses free will; be careful what you pray for. If those who were certain he was guilty prayed for divine punishment, God might kill an innocent man just to teach a lesson about hasty judgement. After all, he works in mysterious ways, right?
Astorian puts it quite well:
God’s will is that we be good and loving human beings. To be truly good and loving, one must choose to be good and loving. To this end God gives us free will. Some people choose not to be good and loving, and kidnap children. Or steal. Or rape. Or start wars.
The belief that if one is a good Christian (of whatever denomination) one will be rewarded in this life is quite Calvinist, and smacks of predestination, and in my view (and the view of my denomination) is entirely incompatible with the idea of free will.
Now, can prayer be effective? Perhaps, but not in the sense of God “doing a favor” for someone. Might there be, as a result of prayer, an increase in God’s gift of grace to the person doing the praying? Perhaps.
And finally, Eve, sometimes it is mysterious, and sometimes we just don’t know.
LMM said, “And finally, Eve, sometimes it is mysterious, and sometimes we just don’t know.”
No, actually, you NEVER know. You can’t know. It’s unknowable. You can hope. You can have faith. But you will never KNOW.
Terry Pratchett asked a similar question in one of his Discworld novels. Paraphrasing him, he asked why is it that when someone’s life is saved by some outrageously improbable string of events it’s called a miracle, but when a life is taken by some outrageously improbable string of events god is never mentioned.
I think my post above addresses it well enough.
Not really because most religions don’t say that this world is unimportant . On the contrary they have strong ethical codes about how to behave in this world and stories about how God is compassionate and intervenes directly to save this or that group of people. Your point only applies to some mystical traditions.
Neurotik - do you mean this?
Are you serious? So you dismiss God’s interest in humanity when the problem of evil comes up, but havent you noticed that so many theists always want to tell us how interested God is in what church I do or do not go to, how much money I do or do not give them, where I do or do not put my genitals and with whom I do or do not put them, etc. etc. ???
God doesn’t care about earthquakes but he does care that Esprix digs the dudes? 
WTF?
I think the entity responsible for Elizabeth’s return is the Devil.
The entity responsible for her abduction was God.
Prove me wrong, I dare you.
Sorry if I didn’t make the spiritual/physical dichotomy clear. This world matters in that it affects your afterlife (again, we’re assuming this is true for the sake of the argument). It isn’t the physical consequences that matter, it’s the spiritual consequences - hence the moral codes. That is also an answer to Mars Horizon’s post.
While there are stories about God intervening in a few select cases, if you take all the instances of something bad happening in the world, it’s clear that those were not the norm. After all, why bother setting up a preisthood and giving laws about how to try this or that individual if God is just going to avenge every murder and solve every crime himself? It’s clear he doesn’t and expects humans to look after themselves for the most part, to choose to act in a good manner on their own and to make the best of this world until they reap their eternal reward in the next.
I think you are correct, and He doesn’t get worked up about it.
Physical life is just a classroom, sort of Accelerated Spiritual Growth 101, we choose to come here to learn in a dualistic environment. The “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” cause us to ponder and learn ways of handling the vissitudes of life. Those who do well graduate, the others get to try again.
The circle of life goes on.
While I think Neurotik may have oversimplified the matter, I suspect that what he was getting at is that God isn’t outcome-determinative. Moral matters aren’t concerned with persons’ lives insomuch as they are their souls. (Please don’t take that the wrong way–by no means do I think that human life is something to be callously disregarded by any Christian or theist. Christian missions do, however, have a central purpose of evangelization through mercy and charity–i.e., by caring for the poor, the Christian hopes to be a living example of Christ in the eyes of others. The feeding of the poor is important, but not the end of it.) But the matter does ultimately revolve around the state of a person’s soul.
I’m thinking of the movie Signs here. The chain of coincidence leading up to the film’s climax wasn’t solely to save Mel Gibson’s son from the alien, but also to have Gibson’s character realize that a loving God exists.