toldailytopic: Did God predestine and therefore orchestrate the Sandy Hook Elementary

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for December 17th, 2012 09:58 AM

toldailytopic: Did God predestine and therefore orchestrate the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre?

Take the topic above and run with it! Slice it, dice it, give us your general thoughts about it. Everyday there will be a new TOL Topic of the Day.
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[Nathon Detroit]

Did God predestine this tragedy?

Answer: NO!

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;

Man is responsible for this wickedness not God.

 

[Nick M]

Only in the perverted mind of a calvinist or other false teacher.

 

[bybee]

Did God predestine this tragedy?

Answer: NO!

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;

Man is responsible for this wickedness not God.

:cheers:

 

[Silent Hunter]

toldailytopic: Did God predestine and therefore orchestrate the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre?

As fodder to further this interesting discussion I would like to ask a couple of questions . . .

1. IF the christian deity had predestined and/or orchestrated the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School would it still have been an evil act?

2. IF, as I think we all agree, the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School was an evil act, why didn't the christian deity do anything to stop it?

 

[Nathon Detroit]

As fodder to further this interesting discussion I would like to ask a couple of questions . . .

1. IF the christian deity had predestined and/or orchestrated the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School would it still have been an evil act?

Good question. Either.... evil would have less meaning OR God would be evil.

2. IF, as I think we all agree, the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School was an evil act, why didn't the christian deity do anything to stop it?

Another good question. The answer is... freedom. While it's tragic that free people do evil things, the alternative is far worse. The only way for God to not allow people the freedom to do evil things would be for Him to remove their freedom. If humans had no freedom it would defeat the purpose of God creating us in the first place (i.e., to have a loving relationship).

Imagine the father that locks his child in the closet because he is afraid they might hurt themselves or someone else. That father is evil.

A good father allows his children some degree of freedom even though he knows that freedom could lead to pain.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

Did God predestine this tragedy?

Answer: NO!

Correct

Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin;

Canned, simplistic

Man is responsible for this wickedness not God.

The state is responsible.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

The state is responsible.

That's your answer??? And you called my biblical response... "Canned, simplistic"???? :down:

 

[Sherman]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for December 17th, 2012 09:58 AM

toldailytopic: Did God predestine and therefore orchestrate the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre?

No. The concept that God predestines such stuff is blasphemous. Massacres are the result of evil in people's hearts. God doesn't have anything to do with it. Man's free will and his choosing to do reject God has everything to do with it.

 

[Paulos]

The answer is... freedom. While it's tragic that free people do evil things, the alternative is far worse.

The shooter was mentally ill; therefore, he was not free.

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/adam-lanza-20-deeply-disturbed-kid-article-1.1220752

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...tting-worse-burning-himself-months-sandy-hook

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...Lanzas-mother-was-preparing-for-disaster.html

 

[Nick M]

1. IF the christian deity had predestined and/or orchestrated the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School would it still have been an evil act?

He would be evil.

2. IF, as I think we all agree, the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School was an evil act, why didn't the christian deity do anything to stop it?

He didn't plan it. You have to live life and make the right choice. Why didn't you stop it?

 

[Nathon Detroit]

The shooter was mentally ill; therefore, he was not free.

Having mental illness doesn't mean you are not free. In fact, your statement doesn't even make sense. Everyone has a will. That doesn't mean they don't have physical or mental problems that might effect what they do with their will.

I have relatives that suffer from the EXACT same mental issue that the shooter had. None of my relatives will become mass murderers.

 

[Silent Hunter]

IF the christian deity had predestined and/or orchestrated the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School would it still have been an evil act?

Either.... evil would have less meaning OR God would be evil.

IF the christian deity is not evil, and, given the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School, how do you account for the times when the christian deity has been responsible for the orchestration of the killing of children such as the flood and the conquest of Palestine?

I bet you saw that one coming . . . :think:

IF, as I think we all agree, the events at Sandy Hook Elementary School was an evil act, why didn't the christian deity do anything to stop it?

The answer is... freedom. While it's tragic that free people do evil things, the alternative is far worse. The only way for God to not allow people the freedom to do evil things would be for Him to remove their freedom. If humans had no freedom it would defeat the purpose of God creating us in the first place (i.e., to have a loving relationship).

Why couldn't the christian deity have allowed freedom of action without loss of life?

Imagine the father that locks his child in the closet because he is afraid they might hurt themselves or someone else. That father is evil.

Why?

A good father allows his children some degree of freedom even though he knows that freedom could lead to pain.

You would allow your child the freedom to murder even when you know you can prevent it?

 

[dave3712]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for December 17th, 2012 09:58 AM

toldailytopic: Did God predestine and therefore orchestrate the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre?

Take the topic above and run with it! Slice it, dice it, give us your general thoughts about it. Everyday there will be a new TOL Topic of the Day.
If you want to make suggestions for the Topic of the Day send a Tweet to @toldailytopic or @theologyonline or send it to us via Facebook.

Yes, as Pat Roberton so poorly and imfamously tried to explain about 911.
The tragedies that follow a sexually promiscuous society are as preordained and unavoidable as smallpox, once one has contracted for the disease.

We shall see America decline as the military becomes impotent and weak due to the allocation of resources to Welfare and Social Services which are already higher than the Defense Spending.

The patriarchs at the gates of this feminized matriarchy are lusting to loot the richest nation inthe world, while the inner cities are full of people raised by Single Mothers and armed with illegal weapons and criminal minds.

All the sociaL evils which we see in these mass murders are attributal to the decadence of the culture, and Natural Laws of God will have there way as these are consequences and hence preodrained sociological result that can be predicted.

 

[Silent Hunter]

He would be evil.

See my last reply to Knight.

He didn't plan it. You have to live life and make the right choice. Why didn't you stop it?

1. I don't live in Connecticut.

2. Unlike your deity I do not have the clairvoyance to know a person's intentions . . . see also my last reply to Knight.

 

[Wile E. Coyote]

That's your answer??? And you called my biblical response... "Canned, simplistic"???? :down:

The pagan state took religious education out of the schools and replaced it with hopelessness. The young man was a product of the pagan state. I will blame the Church if you want.

 

[Paulos]

I have relatives that suffer from the EXACT same mental issue that the shooter had.

Do you really know the full extent of the shooter's mental condition?

"Nancy told me he was burning himself with a lighter. In the ankles or arms or something," a friend of Adam's mother, Nancy Lanza, told the New York Daily News..."She just looked down at the glass and said, 'I don't know. I'm worried I'm losing him'...She said it was getting worse. She was having trouble reaching him."​

http://www.radaronline.com/exclusiv...tting-worse-burning-himself-months-sandy-hook

 

[jeffblue101]

Silent Hunter, does evil exist in your worldview? And if it does, then how would you define evil.

 

[HisServant]

It all depends on your view of humanity.. are we basically good, or are we basically bad.

I believe we are basically bad.. from birth we are selfish and despise those more fortunate than us.

 

[ThePresbyteers]

I believe God knew the shooting was going to happen. I don't
know Open View but I think in Open View God had no idea that
was going to happen. Right?

God being in multiple places during multiple times as well as all
at the same time makes no sense to a human mind.