this thread isint ment to make anyone mad, or anything like that. so i hope people dont take these questions the wrong way. while I have no problem believing in god(as I do), there are some things in the bible that make no sence to me, and are in a sence still keeping me suspect.

Before I ask these questions, I must let you know that Im looking for REAL answers. Go ahead and call me ignorant, hard-headed, etc. But PLEASE Dont answer my questions with:

* thats just the way god is
*thats not for us to know
* well its in the bible,therefore must be true
(to me these are all "cop out" ways of explaining things, and are ways that people dance around the subject rather then face it)





Ok here we go

Question #1 - Whats with the taking snake, johnah(spelling) living in the whale, and people living to be 400+ , etc? This is one of those things that a person, would say "You just have to believe in miracles". Now I know that there isint any way to answer these questions, and I dont expect anyone to be able to. But Id be hard pressed to find anyone who if I were to take these "events" out of the context(the bible) and expect anyone with a half right mind to believe them.


Question #2 - If there is a loving god, then how/why is there so many horrible things in the world?
Now I undertand the fact that we as humans have free will,and that accounts for most of the horrible things in this world. But that dosent account for thousands of people dying in tsunamis, earthquakes etc. Why is it, that hundreds of people die simply because there is no rain?
Now most people would say that theres no answer for gods will. The problem I have with this reasoning is that,we all have a purpose. But tell that to that little 7 year old girl that was recently found murdered. Was that her purpose?



I have alot more questions, but Ill wait a while and see the responses that I get from you guys on these very hard to talk about subjects. I understand the fact that these and other questions likeit,cannot be answered in a simple, black and white way. I guess its just the fact that I have trouble with blind faith. Once again my goal was not to offend anyone on here with these questions , if I have im truly sorry.thanks alot guys and gals.

My friend the answer to number 1 is that God does what he pleases. the miracles are there to show his power and his mercy. look at the parting of the red sea God showed the Israelites mercy and delivered them from the Egyptians. Now you are probably wondering why there are not any "big miracles" now. it is because they don't need to. they may happen but it is usually a false one.

the answer to number two is a question to you. it is not why does God let bad things happen. the question should be how can a Just and Holy God allow me to live any longer when I have broken his Holy Law.

im sorry but this seams to me to be the classic example of someone who is dancing around the question. Theres threes things that we are taught about god from a young age 1.) hes all good 2.) hes all knowing and 3.) hes all powerfull.

now lets take situation of that 7 year old girl who was found murdered yesterday. Being that god is all knowing means that he knows everthing, correct? He knows our lives in every detail before we're even born? Which means that he knew how that little girl's life was going to end. Also being that hes all powerfull means that he could have done something to prevent her horrible death, but for some reason decided not to. The concluision i draw from this is that, in order for god to be "all good" he cant be "all knowing" or "all powerful" otherwise these kinda things wouldent happen.


Do you guys see where im coming from?

My friend it is unfortunate that the 7 year old girl died. I knew someone who commited suicide. but look at the evilness of man every single person in the earth and ask yourself a question. why does he let us live? why doesnt he strike you me and everyone in the world down right now whatever we are doing. he could have killed us for the thoughts that we thought before we went to bed or for the thoughts we had when we woke up this morning. God is slow to anger and because of his grace we are alive. I present to you you and I and everyone are just as evil and wretched as the man who murdered the 7 year old girl. we all deserve punishment for our sins we all deserve to be sent to hell. He is all knowing and all powerful my friend everyone who is unrepentant will receive their payments for their sins. which is death.

How long have you been saved?

ive been "saved" a little less then two years now, but I still have doubt from time to time and I tend look at alot of things and think"well this isint right." Phoenix, to answer your question, to tell you the truth. I dont know( thats part of the reason why im asking the questions that i am). The same can be said that if god is all powerful then why dosent he just destroy satan, and save the world?

um dude satan has no power over the earth after the cross. and the world will be judged.

will be judged? what is he waiting for?

alright, gimme a bit to type all this out, i got some answers for ya bud.

i do recommend prayer and your giving off a negative tone, might wanna keep that in check

im just asking questions. like i said before im not here to offend people. But life isint always sunshine and rainbows. these things in life exist.

Iv struggled w/ the same questions myself so I know where your coming from. One thing that I have found is that God's ways are higher than our ways; we see only a dim picture of the world and its happenings, God sees the big picture, which is more than we can ever hope to see. Now, I know that may seem like dancing around the question to you, but its the truth, and theres not really anything we can do about it. God has and always will know more than us. And as for your question about why God doesnt just hurry up and bring on the judgement, think of it this way; If Jesus were to come back right now, think of how many people would go to hell b/c they have never accepted Him as their savior...it is for our benefit that he waits so that more may come to know Him. I know your prolly looking for better answesr than that; I would like a better one mysef, The thing that helped me was taking my questions to God Himself. A couple of years ago I was an atheist b/c I had so many unanswered questions, but God gave the peace I needed to trust Him.

Alright, lets do this. Lets see how we go.

OK, whats first, Talking Snake OK, now, talking snakes, ok, well while we all know that animals aren't capable of speech, God, Angels, Satan and Demons are capable of such things and worse. Now, most know that the talking snake, was in fact Satan, Adam and Eve, were fresh to this world, they weren't to know that wasn't the norm, and no it aint the only instance of talking animals, but no animals can't talk, there was also a talking donkey, the prophet was told off by his donkey. So yeah, hope thats covered..
Erm what was next ok, cool Jonah! getting swallowed by the massive fish,and surviving for three days and three nights(so three days, possible even partial days), well some people say that it is an allegory, but I don't personally feel it was written that way, Jonah wrote with actual history, SO whales have air in their stomachs for one and animals swallowed whole and alive, will not be digested. So natural law could have been the cause, however, the bible says the fish was prepared and sent to by God, and he threw Jonah back up because Jesus said so, so i am definitely taking the fact Christ was involved, to the bank brother!

Ok and people living to 400yrs et a couple of things to consider, that early on, the planet was different, the flood did wipe out the earth, starting everything all over again, can't be certain that it didnt change the soil, the animals, things like that; "After the flood the earth was completely different than the earth before. There were widespread global differences. These would include changes in the climate, composition of the atmosphere, hydrologic cycle, geologic features, cosmic radiation reaching the earth, ozone concentration, ultra violet light, background radiation, genetics, diet, and a host of other subtle and/or profound chemical and physiological changes. These changes caused a rapid decline of the longevity of post flood humanity." See, cause immediately the ages dropped dramatically, and on top of all of that, its been said that God blessed the descendants of Adam with longevity, long life span, because it is that bloodline that produced the Messiah! So yeh!

Ok first Im gonna address the girl, IN MY OPINION, yes, her purpose was to be on this earth for only seven years, might not seem fair, but I have had friends that pass, but they didnt die to young, they blessed our lives for that amount of years, that was their purpose, that was their life span God had chosen for them. Also, I know you didn't say it, but a lot of people say why does God let innocent people suffer, just wanna point out, NOBODY is innocent. I'm gonna bring up Job,God let Satan, do whatever he wanted to him, and Job just said “The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised” Job didn't get it, but he trusted the Lord. And THAT is exactly how we should be, but on a larger scale. He also lets it be, because it is His plan because we gain wisdom, to teach us a lesson, so we get closer to Him, Romans 8:18 - "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us." And also, horrible they may be, but they are negative, its negative you know.. like anything negative sucks, but if you have no trust, no faith, then that is what our Eternity will be, PLUS much worse.
Just to put it into another perspective, try to think of the 7 year old girl, some of the positive things that could come out of that, that murderer could be caught, more awareness, more safety. The tsunami, the world uniting more, people recognising how much we can do for one another and such.


Boy, ok. I hope this forum post didnt die by the time I finished, haha. Oh, and by the way, Jesus will return, when everyone has received the word of God, when God sends him.
"The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass. -- Revelation 1:1


Reply, hope this answers some questions, hope it made sense. Thanks to God for speaking through me.

Answer to qyestion#1: For starters, look around you and see what we, as humans, have done to the eart. We have virtually destroyed it and it is, therefore, no longer able to support the kind of long life that God designed theses bodies for. We eat foods that are not natural and, over the course of time, we have inadvertantly altered our own genetics to live shorter lives. Without the pure form of natural food sources, in cooperation with living in the way God has set for us, these bodies cannot support a life that is multiple centuries long. That is why we no longer see 400+ year old people as they did in the days of the Bible. As for the talking snake, if you will read The Lost Books Of The Bible, you may find many of your answers there, provided you let God guide your studies and your mind. Many things can only be discerned through a spiritual mind. With Jonah living in the fish, that's not really all that incredible, if you'll simply study up on the whales. They could easily support a human with enough air to survive for that long.
Answer to Question #2: Mankind is, in its base form, evil. God has allowed us to make our own choices, and this world and all its evils is the result. He doesn't necessarily "let" these things happen, but when we live outside His will, we are longer under His protection. In such times, Satan has, not only the ability, but the right bring bad things down on our heads. Also, down place too much imprtance on things of this world. Possessions are one thing that Satan uses to bait us. Satan can easily affect things around us, which could lead us to beiieve that God is not protecting us. And when we doubt, Satan gets his foot in the door to bring more disaster.

All in all, the main thing is to keep the faith, never open a door for Satan, and trust everything to God's care. Anything less is just asking for trouble.

May God go with you,
Gary West

EDIT: Genesis 6:3 “Then the LORD said, ‘My Spirit will not contend with man forever, for he is mortal; his days will be a hundred and twenty years.’ As a general rule, people will no longer live past 120 years of age. And that was before the flood btw. Thanks HarpyEagle for pointing that out.

Like i said before badgerboy when you asked what is God is waiting for. he is long suffering or slow to anger is another translation. also who are you to call down judgment on other people for their sins when you and i are just as bad

badgerboy1848, to start why did you not post these questions in the appropriate forum, like Bible Study? I mean this forum is intended for persons to introduce themselves not really for debating.

ok first off thank you (acce,tejas,taylor)for your input , it has helped alot. The answers I got here were al;ot more helpful then, what ive read in most books. Now to answer a couple people on here

phoenix- i wasent calling down judgment on anyone, all I was asking was, why god was waiting to do it? (which taylor gave a perfect answer for, thanks)

greybeard- if you have such a problem with the thread being where its at, then get someone to move it. other then that, if you're not going to bring anything productive to the thread, please stop being a troll.

Its all good man, got that stuff from the Main Man Himself, that book He wrote.. is like.. really awesome.

Except for the whale thing, just went and checked out their digestive systems.

Thank you for your degrading remark.....all I'm saying is have some respect for the forum and just post in the appropriate place..is that too hard to do?

OK guys, I will agree with Graybeard, it was a bit harsh Badgerboy, BUT the questions have been answered, so perhaps we just move on to focusing on our awesome Lord!! And pray for each other