Why?

[Dondi]

Ah Dondi, you forgot why "bad things happen to good people" and why are "innocent children born with birth defects."

Maybe God isn't that nice a guy after all. It seems he has no power over nature.

Can we petition God with prayer? Or is his mind already made up?

What is the basic essence of God? What is God made of? What does God look like?

I suggest reading HarperCollins "Bible Commentary" for starters, if you really want to learn about the Bible from professionals and not snake oil salesmen.

I know why bad things happen to good people and why innocent children are born with defects. We live in an imperfect world, a cursed world. But I think God will change all that. One day, He will set everything right, that I have no doubt.

But see, we live such a short time here compared to eternity. Whenever someone dies, they are not really dead. In fact, I think they, in most cases, are better off than we are.

Are we to blame and curse God on tragedies in our lives? We could, but what is the point. Job learned it doesn't do any good to curse God. He simply accepted his predicament. God rains on the righteous and the unrighteous.

I believe in randomness, to a certain point. I believe this randomness is monitored by God and that nothing escapes His will. I think at times, God honors prayer and responds by causing or changing events. I also think that He is most concerned with our character and therefore His answer is not always what we want, but according to His wisdom. I believe that God is in control and has an overall plan for humanity.

BTW I have HarperCollin's "Bible Commentary". I'm also deep in study with the Old Testament and using all kinds of resourses at my disposal. I'm determined form my own opinion about the Bible and filter other's opinions through the reason of my own mind, thank you.