I'm feeling really sick and need help.

If we do not beleive in God, but only in 'Nature' then the recent disaster is a great terror.

British philosopher Bryan Appleyard concluded, "The simple truth is what it has always been: nature, uncontrolled, unbidden, unpredictable, can still humble our pride and wreck our schemes in an instant. We are a thin film of thought confined to a narrow band around an undistinguished planet orbiting a pretty average star."

Judgement through disaster is a biblical message - not at all popular today. But, part of the mission of Jesus was to rescue us from the horrors of God' judgement.

Suffering and tragedy can overwhelm us. But such events happen. We will resort to hope of some sort, or despair. They cannot be simply dismissed.

John
NZ
John
NZ

how is it so that because of a Tsunami, there's no God?

as to the cause of the Tsunami, there're different opinon on it. Check out this thread:
http://www.christianforums.com/t1172801-tsunami-leads-to-debate-over-god.html

canarysong said:

I am really struglling with the tsunami.
I have just turned toward religion in the last year, and read much Bible, but still it doesn't feel real to me. Then the tsunami hit and it threw out all possibility of a God for me. I even got really depressed and now I can't get out of it. I have small children and can't stop images in my mind of what I would do if I lost them like so many of the people have lost their kids. I wanted there to be a God so badly, I don't want to think that their is no Spirit, just a body, and we live and then die and become a terrible corpse and nothing more. Now that the tsunami has dashes the hope for me that there is a God, I am left with nothing but confusion and sorrow and terrified of death, which I know must happen for me and my kids eventually.. I have never been so sick and I'm considering going to the hospital for help, but I have to take care of my kids and my husband works....I am really really disturbed and I need something to believe in more than ever before. How can I believe that these children (and adults and everyone else for that matter) are with Jesus and are okay? How do I know that they didn't suffer for nothing? How do I get the images of death out of my mind? Can anyone understand? I need some peace.

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Hi there!




My friend, you have lost your perspective on life, and you have put this tragedy into the wrong perspective.

If you feel that you may need help, seek professional help.... that you feel overwhelming depression needs immediate attention.

I have small children and can't stop images in my mind of what I would do if I lost them like so many of the people have lost their kids.

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Don't dwell on the negative or it will destroy ability to cope with day-to-day problems. Every time that you have the images of the death and destruction, take control of those images by putting them out of your mind and put images of your present (and good) surroundings back into your mind. If problems are insurmountable for you, break the problems down into smaller step-by-step problems, and tackle them one at a time.

I am really really disturbed and I need something to believe in more than ever before. How can I believe that these children (and adults and everyone else for that matter) are with Jesus and are okay?

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First of all, God made man in three parts, the physical body, the spirit, and the soul. You may know that because you can touch the body, that you are breathing is the "spirit" or the breath of life that God gave you, and your soul is your inner self, the "you" of who you are. You know that you have all three of those things.

There is an assurance that one may know by being a Christian, and that assurance is that we have the Blessed Hope that Jesus saves, not just from sin in this life, but saves us from destruction in the next life, allowing us to be reconciled to God and to be ever in the presence of God after this physical body dies.

I hope this helps you... and I would recommend that you seek counseling, both professionally for the depression but also that you might just pick up the telephone and call a church in your area, any church, and talk to the pastor or priest. I believe they could help you to come to an understanding concerning your spiritual concepts of God, and also to help you put back into perspective all that has happened.



~serapha~

canarysong said:

I am really struglling with the tsunami.
I have just turned toward religion in the last year, and read much Bible, but still it doesn't feel real to me. Then the tsunami hit and it threw out all possibility of a God for me. I even got really depressed and now I can't get out of it. I have small children and can't stop images in my mind of what I would do if I lost them like so many of the people have lost their kids.

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You feel so much for these people who had been victimized in the tsunami disaster because you are seeing it as a mother see it. When one had lost their child before or those whom are mother, seeing so many children's life lost in such disaster is a very painful feeling. I've never been a mother but I adopt a group of orphanages in my hometown. When one of the boy died in 2003, my heart melted away and the pain was so bad. I couldn't stop imagining how difficult it is for him to struggle in the water. He died in the sea - not because of tsunami.

Sometimes, we wonder where God is when all these things happen! In this case, tsunami, not only the little children are lost in the disaster but many adults are as well. More and more children are becoming orphans within a slip of seconds. But, where God is? This certainly do stir the anger within a person wondering where God is and whether does God even care for what happened.

canarysong, I know that if I were to tell you that there's a reason for this to happen and God is in control, it doesn't help you at all but it's true. I would suggest you to read up "Where is God when it hurts" by Philip Yancey.

canarysong said:

I am really struglling with the tsunami.
I have just turned toward religion in the last year, and read much Bible, but still it doesn't feel real to me. Then the tsunami hit and it threw out all possibility of a God for me. I even got really depressed and now I can't get out of it. I have small children and can't stop images in my mind of what I would do if I lost them like so many of the people have lost their kids. I wanted there to be a God so badly, I don't want to think that their is no Spirit, just a body, and we live and then die and become a terrible corpse and nothing more. Now that the tsunami has dashes the hope for me that there is a God, I am left with nothing but confusion and sorrow and terrified of death, which I know must happen for me and my kids eventually.. I have never been so sick and I'm considering going to the hospital for help, but I have to take care of my kids and my husband works....I am really really disturbed and I need something to believe in more than ever before. How can I believe that these children (and adults and everyone else for that matter) are with Jesus and are okay? How do I know that they didn't suffer for nothing? How do I get the images of death out of my mind? Can anyone understand? I need some peace.

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"But I am afflicted and in pain; May Your salvation, O God, set me securely on high. I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving. And it will please the Lord better than an ox or a young bull with horns and hoofs. The humble have seen it and are glad; You who seek God, let your heart revive. For the Lord hears the needy And does not despise His who are are prisoners. Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them."

I pray that God seeks out your soul from amongst the wreckage of death and shows you the light to life in which only one path is avaliable.

In our world of pain, where is God? If He is good and compassionate, why is life often so tragic? Has He lost control? Or, if He is in control, what is He trying to do to me and to others?



Some people have chosen to deny God's existence because they cannot imagine a God who would allow such misery. Some believe that God exists, but they want nothing to do with Him because they don't think He could be good. Others have settled for a belief in a kindly God who loves us but has lost control of a rebellious planet. Still others cling tenaciously to a belief in an all-wise, all-powerful, loving God who somehow uses evil for good.

As we search the Bible, we discover that it paints a picture of a God who can do anything He chooses to do. Sometimes He has acted in mercy and performed miracles in behalf of His people. At other times, though, He has chosen to do nothing to stop tragedy. He is supposed to be intimately involved in our lives, yet at times He seems deaf to our cries for help. In the Bible, He assures us that He controls all that happens, but He sometimes lets us be the targets of evil people, bad genes, dangerous viruses, or natural disasters. If you're like me, you long for some way to put together an answer to this puzzling issue of suffering. I believe that God has given us enough pieces of the puzzle to help us trust Him even when we don't have all the information we would like. In this brief study we will see that the basic answers of the Bible are that our good God allows pain and suffering in our world to alert us to the problem of sin, to direct us to respond to Him in faith and hope, to shape us to be more like Christ, and to unite us so that we will help each other.
Warrior For Christ, Jeff

I personally believe that such distaters are a warning to society, mead your ways, or you will suffer for it. Yes people do suffer in these things, but God ultermately does it for the common good. If you have the misfortune to be involved in these things, then you get what you desvere after death, either Heaven or Hell. IF the surivivers take heed of this warning, less people will end up in hell then if it had been otherwise. Yes there is great pain caused by these events but they can and do cause people to find God, to be blessed with Heaven. If 100 sinners die but cause 101 more to find God it is good. Remember this, EVERYONE gets ample chances to except God and if you don't, thats your own problem.

I hope I have helped!!

God hears you in your pain, my friend. He is a mystery and tells us in Scripture that His ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. But in His great power and magnitude, this incomprehensible God who created all things, this God has chosen to love us, His wayward, stubborn and hard-hearted children. I do believe He allows suffering and pain for some reasons we can understand and for some that we may never understand in this life. Because you are hurting and your soul is calling out for peace, be assured that if you seek Him you will find Him. Don't give up on God out of despair - it is at these times that He is closer to you than you can fathom. He loves you with a love that spans all eternity and wants you to come home to Him, if you will accept this love.

Talk to Him about all the things that are hurting and frustrating you, and ask Him for help, and He will bring it to you. Coming here may very well be the first step in the right direction for you.

I pray for peace on your heart and help for your life.
wolf

I will pray for you that you will find God again.

I'm sorry for your suffering. If it helps, everyone goes through this stage in faith where they try to make sense of the terrible things that happen in the world. God will see you through this stage, and you will certainly find support here. This really is a good forum with a lot of godly people.

The other thing that it may help you to know, besides the fact that you're not alone, is that feelings are notoriously unreliable. In the same way that a passenger shouldn't pilot a plane, and the pilot should not leave the cockpit and become a passenger, feelings should not be in the pilot's seat of your faith, because the navigational skills of our feelins are terrible. They should always be in submission to our knowledge of God's word.

You've done a great thing by seeking the Lord through scripture; satan will always attack your faith especially when you are new.

Now for the question about how these things can happen:

It's all because of our choice as the singular race of mankind, to sin. Not that those people who got hit with the tsunami are more sinful than any of us; they're probably not. But sin is what unleashed all this, and that's why God does everything we need Him to, to get us to not sin. Tha'ts why he warned Adam and Eve. The best way to look at the tsunami is to remember that these things serve as a reminder that life down here is not what we should be living for, because it doesn't last.

It's horrible what happened to those children-there's no question. But even if all those children grew up and lived their whole lives, they would still go into the next world someday.

But there are a lot of rescue stories, too. A lot of people were spared, and look how something as terrible as this, can be used by God to teach us selflessness, giving, compassion, and love. When things like this happen we should pray and ask the Lord how He would use us in the circumstance. But whatever you do, please don't go through this alone, without proper support. Talk to your pastor, get very involved with a great church and keep that support. It's crucial. And of course we're here to help you as well.

Matthew 16:26

16:26For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? NKJV

Canarysong,
I'm sorry that you've been through this....there are a lot of things that happen in life that we do not understand....there are a lot of things that I will never understand until I ask God. But that is not a reason for us to loose faith in God. For example Abraham had faith so strong that even when God tells him to kill his own much loved son, he obeyed. The first time I read this verse I thought that Abraham had gone nuts, and that God was mean. But by studying the Word of God, I found that Abraham knew God. He knew that God loved him and was in control. God knows what is good for us. He knows our past and future. I found out that I should Love God the most, because He loves all the people that I love more than I can ever imagine. He loves them even when I'm upset at them, or dislike them. Most importantly He loves even the people I don't love. He's my answer. And knowing that God loves people more than I can ever imagine, I can't help but want to place my trust in Him. Canarysong, If I was one who died in the Tsunami, and If I wasn't a Christian, then I'd want you to feel sad because I wasn't saved, not because I died. What good is it for me to be alive, but have no salvation. I'd rather be dead, be saved, and spend eternity with the Father I love. I feel that your faith is not strong yet. I could be wrong. Do you know the story of King David, and how he cried when his son was sick, but rose up to eat when his son died? Well, He was a man after God's own heart. He knew that God loved his son. He cried when the child was sick and suffering, but when the child died he rose up to eat because he knew that the child was at peace with God. His relationship with God was that close, that He knew God much. Yes, I do cry for those who didn't know Christ as their savior. But for those who knew of that salvation and accepted it, I am so joyful for. It is hard for you....but sometimes faith takes a while to rebuild....why don't you check out a site that I found about God doing miracles during the Tsunmai? I hope it will give you another view of the Tsunami. I don't think I'm allowed to post a link, but go to google.com, and search for this,"Riding the Storm Out: A Tsunami Miracle." It touched my heart and I thank God. God bless you. I hope this helps....Pm me if you want, thank you for posting....