God doesn't punish people, other people do.

We live in a fallen world. It was and still is mans right to choose his own actions that's what got us in this mess to begin with. Hope u cheer up.

pray to God

I agree with papeaches. Pray to Him. I've been mad at him before....actually cursed Him. I was 11 and couldn't understand why He allowed my 19 y/o sister to be killed by not one, but TWO drunk drivers.
I've since asked for His forgiveness. I don't think He minds you taking your anger out on Him. It's better than hurting someone else. He can take it!

So avoid people!!! Spend as little time around people as possible. Go into nature. God is there, people-free.

Scratch my last post--it's bad advice. We can't avoid people, and we need each other.

Sharpen your intellect so that when someone says something that hurts you, you have a smart-ass jive or barb to throw back their way. Try to do it in a spirit of sense of humor, so the whole situation gets diffused with laughter.

I have thought about this alot. I have been back and forth with the God thing.
I blamed God. I prayed to God. I asked For help.

What I have come to realize, Is that God, And I do believe in God... God is not there to fix out problems or to cause us pain.

God is Like the caretaker of a great wilderness park. One such as Yellow Stone.

He/She created the park for Us (the Animals) to live in. But just like life and death in Yellowstone, God does nothing to change the course of Nature.

We are on our own here, to live and die as it happens. God does not do anything to help. or to make things better. Or worse for that matter.

We call disasters "Acts of God" but they are not. God does not say " I think I will cause a blizzard today that will kill 100s of people" It just happens. God does not do anything one way or the other.

To what end this all is...I cannot answer. I dont know what the purpose of all the praying and praising and such is. Pray and praise for what ? God isent helping us. So why should we praise him?

The only thing that comes to mind is this supposition of something better after we die. So let me get this straight...Our God, who wants us to love him and follow him, allows us to suffer and experience such unimaginable Horrors, for the supposition of something better after our bodies finnaly secumb to the pain of life ?

I guess what all this is boiling down to is that you cannot blame God for what is happening to you. And wasting energy asking God to help is just as fruitless.

You have to put your energy into yourself. Into those people that will help you thru the tough times. Dont make yourself feel worse by thinking God is punishing you. God is not the factor.

If you have options you need to use them if you can.

I really am trying to help, even if it seems like i am making it worse. If so forgive me.

God is awfully busy creating and evolving the universe, and, i agree, Stalhorse, he starts the ball in motion and then lets chaos work its magic, so, considering the VAST scope of His creation, it's unreasonable to think that he is preoccupied with every little detail, like us.

But he DOES care about every little detail, like us, and DOES get around to us eventually, it just takes time, and, since God is playing with the timelessness of eternity, his time may be, in our time, months, even years, but he DOES get around to answering our prayers, maybe not in the way we intended, but in some way that is even better.

Meanwhile, God helps those who help themselves. Do what you can to solve your problems in your immediate vicinity. Beyond that, continue to pray.

That was perfect Koolman just what I needed to hear. See stuff like that is what Im talking about wonderful!!

I truly embrace the concept of spirituality...

In my perception, it is full of light, laughter, and beauty...

It is when I reach for those moments of pure clarity and joy I feel most grounded and enlightened...

I try to leave it a whole less complicated and leave it up to the universe...

That works for me...

"I try to leave it a whole less complicated and leave it up to the universe..."

True that, Lila! I'd just like to add that one is PART of the universe, and when one PARTICIPATES in their universe, investing themselves wholeheartedly into a situation, that's when creative, fulfilling life emerges. The happiest times in my life were when I've been engaged fully, working hard, playing hard. The most blah, miserable times in my life have been when I chose to sit around doing nothing, letting life pass me by.

THIS day I choose to take a bike-ride to the gym and work out feverishly. I choose to open up, talk, be honest and listen with my whole heart, to anyone who wants to talk to me, about anything. Today will be a good day.

Stalhorse is on point. If what he says is true (which I do believe) then God is not who the Bible says He is: loving, compassionate, forgiving, merciful.

If God was all of those things, then bad things would NOT happen to good people & "repenting" of our sins would "redeem" us from our suffering or misfortunes.

When I look back at how much I prayed in my life, I realized that my prayers really didn't improve my circumstances. Things only got better when I received help from others.

Which brought me to the conclusion that there is no God. What we ALL DO know is that once you born, you will die. That's just about it. We don't know why we are here or how we got here. And the true statements stands that only the fittest survives. Amazing how people who do bad things seem to prosper. And people who rely on "faith" really don't get much of anything. Which brings me to my usual question here on DS, "Does it really pay to be nice?".

Good & bad things happen because of what people do, NOTHING to do with what "God" has done.