Presumably ‘true faith’ requires believing without any evidence.
Does contradictory evidence affect true faith?
Why would a loving God be interested in seeing our grief?
Is this like the Old Testament God killing all the Egyptian first-born children?
If the dead are ‘already in a better place’, why do we bother saving victims from death?
I’m sorry to be confrontational, but it seems that you are determined to believe in God and come up with implausible reasons to do so, even when confronted with terrible tragedy.
It is interesting that you mention several major Gods. Which of these is the correct one?
Why do you want to pledge your allegiance to a God that sets up a world, then kills millions annually with natural disasters?
If the victims did not worship your God, what happends to them? Are they not breaking the commandment about worshipping false Gods?
Why did God build in (for example) malaria?
What is the purpose of all this carnage?
The natural disasters are a great catastrophe, and many people will never be the same. The scope is so far beyond anything we can conceive that it changes every time I pick up the paper.
At the same time, look at the tremendous response to the needs of the survivors. Immediate, massive humanitarian aid from many different walks of life, prayers from every religion, all to help people in need without the expectation of profit or repayment. These events inspire because they often bring out the best in the human race.
I only wish our “leaders” would give more support. If we can afford to spend so much on a war that we are obviously not serious about, surely we can offer more than a few million in humanitarian aid.
When evolution is forbidden in many of out Christian schools and now I read that Bush wants creationism taught as a science, I can only hope the parents will get with it and demand heavier academics especially in the sciences.
We need more secular private schools that will ignore the religious right and get back to the reading and writing academics.
My greatest fear stems from the 60 million voters who voted for the one man given to them by their ministers for only one reason; they want America declared as a Christian Nation! None of them have checked out the history books to see what happens to these nations when they are run by any God. Christians in! Jews out! Not acceptable to me!
I believe it is feasible to teach both theories, and let the children decide for themselves. So many children rebel against religion to rebel against their parents that teaching only one theory will inevitably backfire. Now, back to topic.
I see our leaders finally increased the aid money to something more meaningful. While India may not accept it, there are plenty of other nations struck by the catastrophe that could surely use help. Besides the immediate assistance needed, long term plans need to be set in place to help fight the outbreak of diseases and assist the creation of an early warning system.