harmony wrote: Yes, bad stuff happens to good people... and bad people too. It's not what happens to you that matters; it's what you do with it that matters.
If everyone lived their life with this understanding, the world would be a much better place.
It's very disheartening to see so many God fearing believers use tragedies like earthquakes, hurricanes, tidal waves, etc. as God's punishment for "the wicked" when there is no discrimination in these events.
I know the rich and poor all suffer but no matter how painful my struggles may seem at the time someone else always has it much worse.
"Happiness is the object and design of our existence... That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another." Joseph Smith
Seven wrote:This has been the most challenging issue for me as a believer.
Most Mormons believe God intervenes on a daily basis in their lives while millions of children are starving, abused, neglected, orphaned, etc. Why doesn't He answer the prayer of a parent who is searching to save their kidnapped child who is about to be tortured and murdered? Why does He allow horrible atrocities to take place everyday while answering the prayers of TBM "Sister Jones" who needs direction on where to move? I know many Mormons who believe God is blessing them with their big fancy homes, or whatever good fortune they enjoy because they pay tithing.
At a recent get together with Mormons, I was telling a story of how I lost my child's winter coat and this woman responded "Did you pray about it?" For a few seconds I thought she was making a joke about the "lost keys" stories and I started laughing and nodding my head in agreement. (after reading these boards for so long it's easy to forget the mentality of Chapel Mos) She then tells me several stories of people who lost various items and found them after praying and testified "prayer works." Like it's some kind of medication you take.
The only peace I have found on this issue is to believe in a non intervening God who uses this suffering on earth to refine our characters, and bring us closer to understanding the purpose of the atonement. The people who are able to forgive these atrocities truly have charity, the perfect love of Christ.
Ether Chapter 12 verse 34:
And now I know that this love which thou hast had for the children of men is charity; wherefore, except men shall have charity they cannot inherit that place which thou hast prepared in the mansions of thy Father.
That's the only sense I can make of it.
Seven
I agree with everything you said.
by the way, when I was 7 I lost my a real cool pocket knife. I prayed and prayed to find it. Never did.
Even as a TBM praying to find lost keys never really gelled with me.
Jason Bourne wrote: Even as a TBM praying to find lost keys never really gelled with me.
I have a real "lost keys story" but I've only ever cautiously related it to gullible people who dwell in cuckoo-land. I've had some pretty "strange" things happen to me, but I've wisely learned to shut up about those events.
