[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by Jessica Leigh

simply terrible... absolutely awful..... but honestly i believe these things happen for a reason... either to control overpopulation or something.... God has some plan.... even though we may not understand it.... i feel awful for these people- maybe this catastrophe is to teach people (such as the India indians) a lesson; subscribe to the tsunami warning thing based in hawaii.... they would have known about the tsunami 90 mins before it hit....

It's events like this that make me suspect more and more that there is no god, at least not one that did anything more than create the universe and then leave it to its own devices. Even that (like all spiritual matters) is arguable. Either way, I've decided that I can't be comfortable with revering a deity that can allow these things to happen. I'm thinking either life is a game or it isn't. I believe the latter. If I'm to be a puppet taken from this earth by some insane natural disaster without warning and for no apparent reason, it seems like someone is playing a game. And I don't find it the least bit amusing. I'd rather think no one is in control if that's the case.

And that is all my opinion and my cynicism showing through. It is not meant to criticize anyone else's beliefs. Those are merely ideas of mine and I am a fallible human being.

But something I'm certain of is that there's no way in hell I'd tell someone who lost his or her entire family to this catrastrophe that it was "all part of God's plan." In fact, I would have absolutely nothing insightful at all to offer that person because I cannot begin to comprehend what that person is going through. (I'm not implying that you would say that, Jessica; this isn't directed at you. I hope it doesn't come off like that).