If god is responsible for miracles then he must also be responsible for the horrible and tragic things that occur that cause so much suffering in the world, or at least he has the power to prevent it, and if that is the case then god is not a savior, god is a masochist. Or perhaps the more logical thinking is that miracles are simply coincidence.
we open our OWN doors to illness - drinking too much, over eating, unforgiving someone, etc. God can help us, but we need to also open that door. Stop drinking, over eating, staying bitter,judging others, etc. Hope you come to know the truth -it's a great life!!
I agree that people should exhibit control over their own life and how they live it which can be quite satisfying, but frankly no god is needed for this, you can do it all by yourself. However, what I was talking about are tragic things that one cannot control, such as things like a natural disaster, disease, children starving, or being brutally attacked by another, terrible things that happen to good people... god has the power to prevent these things, so why doesn't he? Either he is not able to, or he doesn't actually care, or he doesn't exist. If he does exist, he's an asshole and I would never worship such a being. However, logic tells us the most likely answer is that we just made this stuff up as means to control the masses. Hope you come to know the truth - thinking for yourself is a great life!!
This is very easy to explain. All of heaven is watching while God allows Satan to try to prove his rebellious point. God could squash Satan, but instead allows him to run the planet and screw things up royally.
Now, if while Satan is screwing up, God were to step in and fix things, well then He would be helping to keep Satan from failing.
So this mess will continue and get worse and worse until it is obvious to all Heaven that Satan has failed. Then God will finally step in, press reset, clean house and start over, having proved his point to all His Creation.
You think that bad things happening in this world are important. It sure seems that way if you think that this world is all there is. But everything here is throw-away expendable, including the short lives we have been given.
Remember the day you graduated from High School? Suddenly everything that was so important a day ago didn't matter at all any more.
Ever quit a job? Same thing.
Once you realize that leaving this life works the same way, you stop putting so much emphasis on why it isn't perfect.
It isn't perfect because humans decided to do things Satan's way. And God said, "Go ahead, knock yourselves out!"
Now we have to do it the hard way.
I have shared my limited understanding of what God has revealed in the Bible. It is entirely possible that my understanding has holes in it. But the only way I can know anything at all about God is if he chooses to reveal it. No doubt some of that is classified until the test is over. :o)
It's a good and convenient analogy which helps to explain a particular contradiction but still seems to be a masochist type behavior to watch his children suffer through no fault of their own to prove a point to his kingdom or Satan or whatever... not to mention that I don't see how you would even know this stuff as it seems rather arrogant that humans could possibly understand the will of god or even know what is going on in the supernatural realm, nor have they demonstrated in any reliable way that such things even exist in the first place.
Also, back to the original topic , if god wants us to do things the hard way via his "boot camp" then why is he providing miracles? Doesn't make sense.
Matthew 4:8-9
(8) Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. (9) And he said to Him, "All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me."
Satan's power is over all the nations of the earth. That could be very frightening when we realize he can influence men in such a way that they are not even aware that they are being influenced toward evil. His power is so extensive that he is over all the nations of the earth. Jesus calls him the ruler of this world (John 14:30). He affects people's attitudes by moving our reasoning processes toward satisfaction of the self. He gives disinformation and stirs up our spirit.
Here is what is so perverse about this: It is not evil for one to take care of himself. What is evil is to make the satisfaction of the self more important than God or others. We are to serve God before all else (the great commandment), and the second is like it—we are on an equal par with others physically. Nowhere are we given the right or privilege by God to make ourselves greater than or more important than God or other human beings.
We can imagine the direction Satan is going to move us toward—to the point that satisfaction of the self becomes more important than conforming to what God says is the limit of our authority. In other words, he will push us toward making ourselves greater or more important than righteousness or truth.
Ah yes Satan, you seem to be saying here that Satan is more powerful than God since God is not able to control the nefarious activities of Satan. Why is God such a weakling, I thought he was supposed to be all powerful?
In addition, why must god require worship? Is god such a needy narcissist that he will only help those that worship him? This does not sound like a forgiving, tolerant, loving god - this sounds like an ego maniac who requires constant validation from his inferior subjects.
Your problem is that you don't understand what is going on here. Sure, God could wipe out all the weeds in his garden in an instant. But that would harm the crop He is growing. You think comfort and safety in this world is important but that's just a tiny blip in all eternity. Everything that happens here is for the purpose of selecting those who get to be members of God's family for all eternity.
Here, think of it this way. Do the Marines try to make the recruits comfortable during boot camp? Of course not. They try to make it as uncomfortable as possible so that the weak are washed out and the strong are made stronger by overcoming the stress they are subjected to.
It is no different with God. This world is boot camp. Don't complain about boot camp being tough. You are expected to fail. Remember that, and don't!
Jesus said, "Let the little children come unto Me, for of such as these is the Kingdom of Heaven."
So a newborn child born into poverty and gets a deadly disease has failed bootcamp? Sorry but god is a real dick.