Many natural phenomena are considered Acts of God. For example the latest tragedy in Asia. If they are Acts of God are they deliberate? Care to discuss?
God or the Devil, who the hell can figure it out. Just get on your knees and pray, you know you've been bad.
Under the law in the United States, an "Act of God" is a euphemism for an unavoidable and inescapable natural event like a volcano erupting. Try praying a lightening bolt away from your house. A flood caused by too much rain is a natural event. But if it resulted by a failing dam, somebody winds up in court.
I believe legally in the USA God is responsible. In a case I think in 2002 someone took God to court over an act of God on his home that was destroyed. The judge found in his favor but left it up to him to collect the compensation. Sorry but I can't find that article at the moment.
If they aren't deliberate then they must have been accidental, but God is perfect and can do no wrong so they must have been deliberate. If God deliberately causes chaos and death to innocent people then he can't be good, but God is defined as all good. This paradox means that God does not exist.
God does not interfere with the natural workings of the Earth. If an earthquake or a tsunami happens then they happen naturally. By not stopping them does not mean he causes them. The reason why the tsunami produced so many deaths was man's fault not Gods. If the same thing was to happen to the United States there would be very few deaths. We care about our people and have invested millions in early warning systems. The countries that were affected certainly could have had warning systems of their own but the leaders are more interested in building palaces and enriching themselves rather that protecting their people. All of the deaths were inexcusable based on all the technology we have.
Then the same can be said of the apparent Noah flood, the ten plagues and so on. Mankind just looked/looks for a convenient scapegoat, and created a god being for that sole purpose. Welcome to life, no god's required. Or are you saying god does interfere with the workings of the earth?
Snakelord Before the atonement God's judgment was much more severe. All of mans sins were on there own shoulders, but Christ changed that. He paid for our sins so it allowed God to show mercy on us. It doesn't mean however that we are not subject to natural consequences of our actions. You could say that God follows the "prime directive". He does not interfere with our free agency or nature. Remember, our test to being on Earth and to have mortal bodies is to see how we will behave and learn being out of his presence. Any interference would jeopardize that.
Earth is Goddess. 'God' is an upstart. And the corps, orgs, and companies, who call disasters 'acts of 'God'' do so to legally get out of helping out with money got -usually-from the people its happened to If we was a community we'd all natrually help wouldn't we?
Maybe natural disasters are the eventuallities in the absense of the spiritual force ? Some events still just do happen for no reason aswell. :bugeye:
Actually Gambit Star, you touch upon an issue of interest to me. Does everything have to have a reason other than natural cause and effect? To personify a natural event by giving it a reason in Human terms seems to be a fear based reaction some would consider superstition. I guess this is in part the premise of religion. However one could ask is God subject to natural laws and events just like we are? Now of course we will get the ole' omnipotent arguement that neutralises God to a state of nothingness. Being so omnipotent that he can't exist simply because logic takes it to that extreme. Is reality a platform for God to playwith therefore subject to natures activities or is reality God and he is just playing with himself?
Certainly the God as per your definition may not exist, but surely God does not necessarilly ko-tow to the definition we give of him.
A proof for the non existence of a personal God concerned with the wellbeing of an insignificant speck of vainglorious hypocrites in a godforsaken part of the universe. Nothing too personal.
So wait Brutus.. god does interfere with the natural workings of the earth or not? Simple question really.. You said no earlier, very distinctly with: "God does not interfere with the natural workings of the Earth." But now you seem to have changed your tune. A yes or no please: Did god cause the Noah flood/the ten plagues etc? If you answer "no": Were they natural occurences? Your beating around the bush really isn't needed. I did not ask for the lowdown on jesus. Thanks in advance.
Snakelord Ok as a matter of course God does not interfere with the workings of the Earth. In certain situations he has caused things to happen like the flood. However he did it he used natural means to make it happen. Have you heard of the "canape" theory? Some speculate that before the flood there was a canape of water vapor that completely encircled the Earth. This made the earth a perfect greenhouse. The flood was caused by the canape condensing and flooding the earth. The remnant of this are the polar ice caps. Scientists say there is enouph water in the polor ice caps that if they melted the water would cover all the dry land. Remember "Water World"? This could also explain why there was never a rainbow before the flood. I wonder if there is any scientific evidence to back that up? We know that places that are frozen now were once lush and green so we know that the Earth was more of a greenhouse before than it is now. I think that the stories in Genesis actually happened a very long time ago. Much longer than 6000 years ago. Adam and Eve could have been in the garden for thousands of years before they fell. Who knows? Remember that God rested on the seventh day. How long was that seventh day? This period of rest would have been while Adam and Eve were still in the garden. So it could have been for a very long time. Long enough for Dinosaurs to have come and gone perhaps?
Is it that hard just to say 'yes' or 'no'? Yeesh, what's the world coming to? So.. any 'workings of the earth' that don't feature in the bible are nothing to do with god, whereas the ones in the bible are? That's basically what you're getting at. But then, all it takes is for someone to write an NNT, or for god to dictate an NNT and you might just find he does actually cause the more modern day catastrophes aswell. It would be in keeping with his biblical history. The very notion is based upon Babylonian astronomical understanding, (the firmament) - but other than that, has no actual merit. Says who? A day? I find it amusing that religious nincompoops would spout such nonsenical crap that 1 day actually means a millennium when they "feel like it", but then revert right back to a day meaning a day when they "feel like it". None of you have the decency to be consistent. Let's state that a day does actually mean 1000 years. This would show that the completion of the planet, universe etc took 7,000 years. It would also mean that it rained for 7,000 years during the Noah episode, and that he spent an extra 40,000 years sailing round like an asshole. Hmm, wait a sec... That would also mean that Adam lived to be 339450000 years old. Well, that's certainly impressive. How many of us can claim we lived for three hundred and thirty nine million years? Dude, a day means a day. Ok? If 1 day did actually mean 1000 years, then I can do nothing more than laugh. My god creates planets, living beings and universes by snapping his fingers. It takes 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000001 of a second. 7000 years? Rest? ehehehe noob.
