Do things happen for a reason?

[Straight Shooter]

Do things happen for a reason or do things just happen? The Newtown Conn. school massacre of 27 people including 20 young innocent children comes to mind as does the suicide of 15 year old Amanda Todd and the list goes on and on. With tragedy's comes changes(sometimes) with new gun laws proposals and anti-bullying laws but is that enough to stop the madness that has reached epidemic proportions. If there was a god wouldn’t he stop this madness and make this a better world? I truly would want to believe.

[Glacier]

If God gives people free-will, and then stops them from raping and murdering people, did he really give them free-will?

[goatboy]

Well, things do happen for a reason. The reason Newtown happened is because a mentally ill man was able to obtain access to firearms and then decided to take out his anger on innocent children. Anybody that thinks this is God's will is delusional. Does anyone else find it unreasonable that a God would allow something like that to happen while at the same time allowing "miracles" to happen?

[fluffy]

If there was a god wouldn’t he stop this madness and make this a better world? I truly would want to believe.

Maybe God's job description doesn't read quite the way you think it should.

[Liquidnails]

Are you talking about physical cause and effect, or about a higher power orchestrating events for a reason?

I think that for every so called act of evil there are thousands of acts of love and kindness. You'll rarely see those acts in the news though.

[dirtybiker]

I think that for every so called act of evil there are thousands of acts of love and kindness. You'll rarely see those acts in the news though.

The Attilas,Hitlers and Hannibals are much more newsworthy than the Mother Theresas.

This has been going on since the advent of mankind.
Now there is media to bring it to the world as it happens

[cliffy1]

There are all sorts of reasons things happen. None of them have to do with a fictional character.

[Thinktank]

... things happen. None of them have to do with a fictional character.

That's true. It has everything to do with a non-fictioal character.

We were told to be good but we didn't listen.



.

[cliffy1]

That's true. It has everything to do with a non-fictioal character.

We were told to be good but we didn't listen.

No proof of existence makes it a fictional character. But we do have Karma: for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Makes more sense than an insecure tyrant punishing people for not being prefect.

[Glacier]

Who said god was punishing people? If I tell my child not to drive 200 km/h, and they do anyway, and kill someone in the process, is that my punishment for disobeying me?

[cliffy1]

:137: Who said god was punishing people? If I tell my child not to drive 200 km/h, and they do anyway, and kill someone in the process, is that my punishment for disobeying me?

If they kill someone, it will not be you punishing them. Even if they did manage to "get away with it" - what goes around, comes around. It is natural law. There are no places called heaven or hell, it is all in our minds.

[Glacier]

Okay, then why did you bring in the false dichotomy? ie. "Makes more sense than an insecure tyrant punishing people for not being prefect."

ETA: Okay, I think you were talking about the eternal punishment/reward heaven/hell whereas this thread is about the here and now or the physical world (or at least I think its). In that case, ignore my above comment, and I apologize for the confusion.

[fluffy]

...I think you were talking about the eternal punishment/reward heaven/hell whereas this thread is about the here and now or the physical world...

In a metaphorical sense, the concepts of heaven and hell can refer quite handily to the idea that our quality of life in the here and now is directly dependent on the way we choose to live it, again with the Karma thing, or the idea that continued sinning will land us in a living hell through guilt, shame, fear and all the other manifestations of an immoral life, just as living a "good" life has its rewards in joy and peace of mind. Maybe it's not the "afterlife" they were talking about?

[zzontar]

If they kill someone, it will not be you punishing them. Even if they did manage to "get away with it" - what goes around, comes around. It is natural law.

No proof that that's true also makes it fictional.

[steven lloyd]

- what goes around, comes around. It is natural law.

Not true at all (and no more, or less credible an idea than an all supreme deity).
Good things happen to and for bad people and vice versa.