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Old 01-24-2015, 11:37 PM   #11
Archaea
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MikeWaters View Post
So God confirms a decision and things don't go the way you expected, then God doesn't exist? Or doesn't care?

I understand that people can feel that way. But it doesn't seem like a really grow up way of dealing with things.

For example, my daughter might ask me if she thinks marrying so-and-so is a good idea, and I might say yes, and it didn't work out. Doesn't mean I didn't care or didn't have the best intentions, or even that it was the wrong decision.

I know a family in my old ward, their toddler son died in a tragic accident. They didn't lose their faith. Some people actually gain faith when something doesn't work out.

Again I understand people being "mad" at God. But if one's faith is dependent on everything working out as expected....life can be a harsh teacher. Because for 99.99% of us, it's not going to go that way.
But faith in the LDS society doesn't teach that things won't work out for most of us. The constant in LDS rhetoric is that he is there, he intervenes and that he cares. There has been a consistent teaching that Joseph Smith literally saw God. The BoM is literal, not a figurative inspired narrative. We were told the stories of "garments" saving the life of a member. And so forth.

If you hear that constantly from the pulpit, and what you believe to be religious confirmation leads to unhappiness, you question the authenticity of your own convictions. It certainly forces a re-examination of the premises.

I believe you when you write you are aware of people whose faith increased through a tragedy. Personally, I do not know a single person whose faith increased through tragedy. I know some who held on to some faith, but I don't know anybody unchanged and stronger in faith through tragedy.

Example number one. We had a good family with three boys, one girl. The father served a mission, served diligently in all ward and most stake callings. The mother the same.

One week before somewhat rebellious son number two is set to go on a mission, he goes up to Utah for one last snowboard trip. He gets caught in an avalanche, and dies. Mom is annihilated. Father is devastated. Father and Mother remained active, but the light was gone in their eyes. And just as they were recovering, a few years later, third son over-dosed and died. There were a number of other tragic deaths in the family, but I won't bore you with the details. This family still hopes, but their faith is not stronger. It has been challenged to the core. The goodness of God, once so certain, now appears less good.

I have not witnessed anybody who loses a child or family member who comes out believing more strongly in an Almighty. The people weather the storm, but are not stronger.

It sounds you are resolute, but it also, thank heavens, you are untested. I hope you are never tested. People lose faith because things not only go well, but go horribly wrong. One can add the somewhat long list of horrors that happen every day, but it is one's own horrors that one uses to judge his own reality.
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