Why?

[Western Deity]

Why does the news focus on "grave fears for 79 Australians" like they're more important or we should care more for them because they're Australian?

 

[loribee59]

Why does the news focus on "grave fears for 79 Australians" like they're more important or we should care more for them because they're Australian?

WD, the news are no more seriously focused on ONE group over the other. There are 1,000 missing Americans right now. The Swedes, the Finns, and the Danes make up the largest number of people missing. The tsunami affects us all. I don't know of any reason why the news stressed the importance of the missing Australians, but be sure it won't be long before the news stressed on another group being missing.

Sounds to me like you don't care, just only to nitpick. If I were you, I'd give the missing people, regardless of nationality the compassion and respect AND prayer that they be found....and soon.

 

[malkin]

I agree with you, WD, it is sort of dodgy if you look at it like that. But those 79 might have been already disabled, or old, or sick already, and even less able to cope or survive this disaster than other 'normal, healthy' people. But then there's that whole 'immediacy' thing, as well. There are something like 650 missing Aussies, and of those, 79 were already disabled, old or sick. But no less loved, no less missed.

 

[foursquareman]

Over 30,000 children die every single day of every year. Why don't we see the same level of support as for our neighbours suffering from the Tsunami?

Is it because it's not as "in your face" as the current disaster? Have I just got my facts mixed up?

I think with this tsunami, it is a lot easier for governments to agree on what needs to be done to help. Because of this, everyone can cooperate, and quickly try and fix the problem. With other humanitarian problems, there are political hurdles needed to be overcome to fix problems, like governments taking aid intended for the suffering, to help the rich.

Because of this, governments find it hard to agree on the best way to fix these problems.

Of course, this is just my opinion

Why does God just sit by and watch? Why doesn't he feed people who need it?

What's the point...

I've always thought that God was more concerned with our spiritual health rather than our physical health. Bad things happen to righteous and wicked alike. God is more concerned that we take each experience as a process of change and growth.

Pain isn't the enemy, and neither is death. They can be positive or negative, depending on the state of our soul.

 

[G4m]

The UN has already received $US1.5 billion in one week for those affected by the Tsunami. Contrast that with Kofi Annan launching an appeal for $US1.7 billion for 2005 to aid 26 million people in mainly african countries!

Then consider hunger has killed more children in the past week, than the Tsunamis have killed people in total! Also consider that these children will continue to die every single week...

Please don't forget these children or our neighbours in Asia...

 

[Wolflily]

G4m, I know it's difficult to wrap your mind and heart around the seeming unfairness of this situation. I would like to offer you something to ease your confusion and frustration right now, but the only thing that keeps coming to me is that life isn't fair and God never said it would be. We've got to acknowledge that truth and live each day as it comes - weathering the bad and enjoying the good. As Job said, "Should we expect only good from God and not trouble?" Be available for God to go where He leads you and act on what He would have you do. Pray for those who are suffering and be a beacon of light in the darkness. And remember that nomatter what else is happening around or beyond your circumstances, you are loved by God with an unshakeable love that was in place before the foundations of the world and that will last for all eternity.

Peace on your heart...

Wolf

 

[loribee59]

G4M, I found this commentary written by Cal Thomas, a well known columnist for the Chicago Newspaper, and I think this is an excellent piece I've ever read about the tsumani situation:

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/cols/thomas1.asp

Throughout the United Kingdom, following the Christmas tsunami that killed at least 150,000 people and changed the lives of their surviving relatives forever, some are asking how a "loving" God, if He exists, could allow such a catastrophe to happen. Another question is, "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

The questions are mostly rhetorical, since by asking them, the questioners don't actually expect, or even desire, an answer. They are asked in an accusatory way, as if the questions themselves indict, try and convict as fools those who believe in God.


One counterquestion should be: Why do good things happen to bad people? The Scriptures say, "Only God is good."
What about a "good God" allowing bad things? Death is the destination of all living organisms. Some die sooner than others. Shouldn't a "good God" provide a way to escape the grave? He has, but that requires faith, which critics and skeptics lack

Here's another question for those who ask the other questions: If catastrophe proves there is no God, does charity prove He exists? Individuals in Britain have contributed millions of pounds to the tsunami survivors, more than their government. Most of the world's charities helping in the effort are Christian and American.


Indonesia is the world's largest Muslim nation, yet Muslim nations, including the fabulously wealthy Saudi regime, have given chump change compared to those countries with majority Christian populations. Don't expect Christians, or Americans, to gain points with those who believe America is the "Great Satan."

Human tragedy is bad enough, but listening to some theologians trying to explain it is doubly irritating. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams, wrote a Jan. 2 column for The Sunday Telegraph about the tsunami disaster. The front-page headline about the column proclaimed, "Archbishop of Canterbury admits: This makes me doubt the existence of God."

The headline writer misrepresented the archbishop's view, but so convoluted was Dr. Williams' statement about the disaster (as noted by an editorial the next day) it is understandable how the writer of the headline reached his conclusion. Theologians should offer hope and truth. The pagans serve up enough doubt.

Rather than attempt to bring mankind up to God's level, many skeptics try to bring God down to man's level, remaking Him in a human image and thus encouraging the false view that God is someone who is supposed to make us happy and prosperous. If we are unhappy and not rich (or not rich enough), we will deny He exists. Prosperity and good health provide their own motives for unbelief, as C.S. Lewis and numerous other thinkers have eloquently written.

When Dr. Williams says prayer provides no "magical solutions" and most of the stock Christian answers to human suffering do not "go very far in helping us, one week on, with the intolerable grief and devastation in front of us," where would he suggest we turn, if not to God?


As with most liberal clerics who question God, more than trust Him, Dr. Williams offers nothing from Scripture for comfort and explanation. It was the same when Diana, Princess of Wales, was killed in that Paris car crash. Clergymen were interviewed, but none offered more than empty platitudes. What good are the clergy if this is the best they can do? Why are they drawing salaries paid by parishioners who might properly expect, even demand, more?


Let me, a nontheologian, offer some help to the skeptics. In Job, Chapter 1, Job suffers a catastrophe when God allows Satan to take away his children and worldly goods to test his faith. Job makes two statements that ought to be remembered and repeated in times like these. The first is, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. May the name of the Lord be praised." Job also says in response to his skeptical and nagging wife, "Shall we accept good from God and not trouble?"
If you prefer a secular source, consider Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address. Seeking to understand the Civil War catastrophe, Lincoln concluded, "The Almighty has His own purposes."


Those are answers (and questions) that resonate far better than the pap coming from the skeptics and certain theologians who have their degrees, but seem to know less about God and His nature than what causes an undersea earthquake.