There is definitely no loving God. Fact.

we simply can't say flatly that there is no God, as we do not know.

I did say a loving God.

Still with earthquakes/natural disasters (as anything else can be blamed on mankind) I'm always struck when believers who've escaped some terrible disaster that's killed thousands, thank god for their deliverance!

Ah riverwalk that is because they are so very special and favoured by god.

I too am puzzled by the habit of thanking god when things go well, but not giving him/her/it hell when things go badly

I know what you mean Jingl, it's hard to understand, even illness, which ends the life of small children, although natural, is very hard to take.We can be doubtful, but ultimately do not know if a loving God is there or not.

No one is favoured by God , if some wish to think they are then they free to do so as those who do not believe in God are free do do so.

I believe in God but I am not favoured by God , and I do rant at him when I am hurting but I firmly believe in - Why me ? Why not you ?

But annie some people believe that they are. I remember hearing a survivor of the tsunami say that god had sent the tsunami to test his faith - so, all those people die just so god can check out the state of one person's faith. I fully understand that this poor man needed to try and understand the impossible, but that sort of personal god assumption seriously gives me the creeps.

"If you warn your child of the horrors of drug taking but they ignore you are you a bad mother ?"

No. But it would not have been me who created a world in which such drugs exist, nor created human physiology to be liable to addiction - all-powerful is the crux of the thing.

Luckygirl, of course I am not telling her she is going to hell!!!
If someone does one thing that God does probably doesnt agree with, they dont automatically go to hell!!

Sometimes you are very wide of the mark regarding Christianity. We would all be going to hell with that criteria.

God tests Christians. God doesnt test non Christians because the tests he gives Christians are to do with how how they cope faith wise. Non Christinas dont have it so it cant be tested.

Luckygirl, he believes it was ordained just for him , doesn't mean it's true .

And those drugs may have a good purpose but are used by man for ill purpose

My point in the question is quite simply God is a father, he can teach, warn but like all parents accepts free will

If someone gave you a map for a journey and you chose to rip it up thrn got lost, who is at fault, the one who gives the map or you for ignoring it?

I cannot say anything to turn an atheist into a Christian, I do respect and understand they are atheists . I am not comfortable with teachings which dish out fear , soon takes the Old Testament word for word, I do not yet we are both Christians , I have yet to find anything we agree on and I am sure it's the same for her

soon, you tend to be rather fire and brimstone

As I probably said before, I disagree with Anniebach about no one being favoured by God.

Luckygirl, we dont tell God off when things go badly[I dont], because everything is up to him.

I dont know why he created us jingl. I probably should know, so I will have a think.

I will tell you everytime I agree with you on this thread if you want Anniebach.

Annie I understand the father and the teaching bit and the following of a map ..... but, and I ask this is all niceness and without hostility, why would a god send earthquakes?

As Jings said, you believe he made this earth, so he's extremely well-placed to control it.

Doubt you will have cause soon, how can you believe God has favourites , he said - you are honoured in my eyes and I love you. He did not say Jo Blogs you are honoured in my eyes and I love you,

I am not an atheist, I am an agnostic - which means I do not know - just like every other human being. None of us know.

And I have respect for others' beliefs up to a point - or several points really: fundamentalism, child mutilation (either sex), suppression of women, hatred of gays...........

Chopping off hands, flogging, executions........

Lucky I try not to associate believers with oppression, mutilation, hatred, etc., as I think they're cultural constructs which are associated with those of religious faith, and those with none.

I'm more interested in the nitty-gritty ....... like the pesky earthquakes which I hope someone of faith will answer!

Aren't we kind of letting the concept of "God" run away with us? We are talking about Christian God. What about all the other faiths that have more than one god, and civilisations down through history and pre-history, who have believed in their own gods, which seem no more than totemic to us. Good and bad things (some of them very bad indeed) happened to them. Perhaps 'our' God is totemic. I have been known to offer up a silent prayer without knowing to whom or what, but this idea of a divine being who could intervene to stop bad things happening but who sits there with his arms folded while people are being burnt at the stake for the sake of their faith doesn't sit well with me.

Nor me.

Grey I assume that the majority of GN believers are of one of the three major faiths in this country, so they all believe in one god who is said to be benevolent.

This is what some of us are questioning, i.e. if their god is benevolent why do terrible, NON MAN-MADE/NATURAL DISASTERS, happen?

(Caps for effect, so no-one comes up with, free will and all that.)

I'm with the minority of grans - I am an athiest

I may have misconstrued this, but I thought that the original poster was questioning why a loving God could not intervene to save a child who was a victim of war, not a natural disaster.