Tinyfrog gives an example of how callous and uncaring nature really is. There are crater lakes in Africa which, by accident of their altitude, geographic situs in calderas, and the geology below them, trap immense amounts of pure gaseous carbon dioxide, which periodically burst to the surface of the lake and release tens of thousands of tons of this gas into the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is heavier than the nitrogen-oxygen-other stuff mix we call “air” and therefore flows along the ground until it disperses. Since most animals, including humans, cannot breathe oxygen, they find themselves blanketed by a flood of carbon dioxide.
This has to be an absolutely horrible way to die. Carbon dioxide is colorless and odorless. You’re just walking along outside, enjoying a beautiful day, when suddenly the air around you no longer nourishes your lungs. Instead, it suffocates you. The more you gasp, the more poison you’re forcing into your body, until you pass out and asphyxiate to death. Drowning while above ground. And then it passes, and when people come by later, they see you’re dead but without advanced forensics, there’s no way to figure out how it happened.
Holy crap, no wonder people in that area beileve in evil spirits and demons.
The answer, though, is not religion. It is not prayers to appease the evil spirits and demons. It is not faith in a sky god. The answer is science. Drill holes and plant pipes to the bottom of the lake, to vent the carbon dioxide. No bubbles of the gas builds up, then, because it’s always being vented in small, effectively harmless amounts. Once again, education and science provide the approach that provides an effective solution to a problem and saves lives; religion would obscure the truth, permit the problem to persist, at a cost of unknowable amounts of death.
Well when the ventilation system is in place, the Lord will have provided. He doesn’t do magic or miracles, he gave us intelligence so that we can solve things like this for ourselves. Why do you care about the people asphyxiating, because you have compassion, or your just making a point. I’m a believer, and God sometimes gives you a lifetime of experiences that at some point will serve his purpose.
Well yes, I’m making a point. I find it both easier and more palatable that a thing like this has a non-divine explanation, with a non-divine solution. If Jehovah is responsible for this state of affairs, how many people were killed and deluded into believing in non-Jehovaic spirits and demons so that we in the twenty-first century can eventually test our knowledge of this phenomenon? Is cancer like that, too — Jehovah’s way to incentivize humans to develop their knowledge and technology, at the expense of centuries worth of pain, suffering, and death? We wouldn’t morally tolerate a human being who created a system like that.
God doesn’t test people, he sharpens them, sometimes the hardest lessons in life are the most painful to learn. It is human beings that created this world, God just gave us a canvas to paint upon. Pain, Suffering, and Death are all part of life. I know that I will never win an argument with an atheist because your arguments come from logic. Logic is good but it doesn’t solve everything. Millions and millions of people have been murdered, tortured, and a myriad of other evils done in Gods name, but not by God. Mankind is capable of both good and evil, this why Jesus taught about turning the other cheek, forgiveness, and morals. I believe God created the universe, I know not a popular idea in a scientific world, then he gave us free will, the old testament is full of rules to tightly constrain people, but when Jesus showed up, it changed everything, no more strict rules, govern yourself. If you see a wrong make it right. He put the power to rectify the wrongs of the world in our hands.I love atheists though. Your arguments challenge my faith, and make me think about God in abstract ways I have not thought of before, and I always come away feeling more secure in my faith. I am sure you come away feeling more secure in your beliefs.I love the fact that in America we can talk about our differences without one of us trying to mind control the other. I dislike pushy Christians. Choice is a beautiful thing.