Quote:
Originally Posted by TexArcher
This is not intended to make light of the awful situation in Haiti, it's a serious question for theists, especially those who believe in an active god who controls the universe, "has a plan", answers prayers, etc.
According to wiki, Haiti is 80% Catholic and 16% Protestant.
Why would a loving god, who loves us and wants to be loved by us, visit death and destruction and suffering upon millions of people that do believe in him and love him?
If you don't believe that God caused the earthquake, why didn't God prevent it?
Why Haiti, of all places, where 96% of the victims are Christians who already had to live in the most destitute and poverty-striken country in the Western Hemisphere? Why would a loving god with the power to help us allow some of his most devout followers to suffer even more than they already were?
In any Atheist worldview, there is no "love", no objective "awful", no moral "should". There is only what was, what is, and what will be. You can't derive "should" from a godless universe. Whatever is evolving is doing so, but that doesn't mean it "should". It just is. It happens to be going that way. Therefore your questioning of God, whether He is loving, just, what "should" He do, is without meaning in your universe. Another way of putting it is, by what standard do you judge what is "loving", or "just", or what someone "should" do? Do you not have some subjective, arbitrary standard? If you have an objective, universally true standard, where does that come from?
Some tough questions for the Atheist who wishes to remain consistent, probably why C.S. Lewis wrote, "The young Atheist, if he wishes to remain consistent, cannot be too careful in his reading."