When you see the cruelty of nature, are you convinced of a grand design?

Only an idiot would think there was a grand design...

Richard Dawkins: The total amount of suffering per year in the natural world is beyond all decent contemplation. During the minute that it takes me to compose this sentence, thousands of animals are being eaten alive, many others are running for their lives, whimpering with fear, others are slowly being devoured from within by rasping parasites, thousands of all species are dying of starvation, thirst, and disease. The universe that we observe has precisely the properties we should expect if there is, at bottom, no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pitiless indifference.

Xians “are really against anything that discredits their religion, and evolution does exactly that.

If evolution is true, then the story of Adam & Eve didn't literally happen, and if Adam & Eve didn't happen then Eve wasn't around to commit the "original sin" which means Jesus didn't need to die on the cross, and at that point their entire religion basically falls apart.”

There is no way known an educated person can come across Cretinism and think...

Yeah, that makes sense...

God is imaginary… http://godisimaginary.com/

"Religion is backward, primitive, retarded and ignorant, and it makes people think, talk and act, backward, primitive, retarded and ignorant!"

~

Of course there is a grand design, the God of the bible created all things. When He was finished, He called this work "very good".

Ge 1:31 And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

You might reason that the cruelty we see in nature could not come from a good God. But you are overlooking a variable in the equation, the fact that God has an adversary, who seeks to destroy what God has made. In that light, it makes perfect sense that this adversary is the one responsible for the corruption we see. God will allow the adversary a short time to do this, as a test to try us. Then God will put an end to the adversary, and creation will be restored to its perfection.

Re 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.

Re 22:3 And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and his servants shall serve him;

The bible indicates that the day will come with the Lion and the Lamb will

lie down together....so they will change their eating pattern.

For now, though, this is a 'sin planet', you'll recall how every human born here

is born in or into sin....so it's about sin, and destruction.

God created a fabulous place (all things considered) knowing He would

burn it up in the end due to sin.

Do you remember way back in Genesis where it said that man was

given 'DOMINION' over the animals?

What did man do with that 'dominion'? Was mankind ...kind to animals,

did man figure out humane ways to kill the animals (that I have seen done),

and for example ...perhaps good uses then for marijuana??

If I were killed humanely, I wouldn't even know it, and the animals

shouldn't either.

We were to take CARE of them.

One of the plagues in the last days is animals turning on mankind,

and I think we see why, don't we?

The cruelty starts with mankind, but is pervasive.

On the positive side which helps balance things, I saw a video here on

Yahoo of a woman playing to a big, brown bear in the forest...

this was a very wild bear, and she played the flute to it.

There was snow on the ground, and it was cold, winter.

The bear? Why he laid down, and went to sleep in the snow,

forgot all about the girl.

The girl finished her song, and then quietly left the bear to his snooze.

Dominion, kindness, it works.

...

Absolutely, leaves no doubt, anything and everything has a place and purpose in this world, it all makes the circle, except when "man" sticks his fingers in it.it is apparent that this animal was injured, it filled a need in the food chain. I witnessed a similar scene when a bull elk fell through the ice in the Yellowstone River around 8 in the morning, by 4 that afternoon the elk was feeding 15 wolves, it was sad to see he was still alive, thrashing his head a round, BUT, thanks to groups like the sierra club and peta, the ranger was NOT allowed to put the elk down, that just wouldn't be the "natural" chain of events.

This is fallen nature, after sin entered the world, not nature as God intended it. It says in the Bible that when Adam and Eve sinned and fell, all of creation fell with them. It says many places in the Bible that all of creation groans with the agony of sin. But it also says that in the end God will remake the heavens and the earth, and make all things new, and there will be no more killing and pain and death. It says that the lion will graze along side the lamb, the bear will eat grass with the ox, and that children will play next to vipers' nests and not be harmed. All of this will be recreated, and there will be no carnivores. If you always wanted a pet tiger, you'll be able to walk right up to a tiger in the new heavens and the new earth and pet it and snuggle on it without fear of harm. All will be made new.

The fact that there's sin and death in the world now is man's fault, not God's. God is the one who sent Jesus to fix it and make a way for us to live forever in the new heavens and new earth, if we choose to.

I'm convinced that Father created a singularity and set in motion the events that would eventually bring forth the soul who can know Him and commune with and understand Him and receive His love and give it back to Him. What if this is the way it must be done? What if He created the one universe out of the entire set of possible universes, in which sentient creatures would evolve, in which these creatures would have the mental and spiritual faculties to relate to/with Him, in which each and every creature would eventually come to be reconciled to Him, and in which the least amount of suffering possible (always given the attainment of these goals) would occur?

You preceive "cruelty" where it is just life and death. All things die the mechanizm may differ but ultimatly all living things die. All things kill to exist either activly or passivly. Why attempt to place a human concept on that which is not human?

You have the sanitary store shelves with your meat neatly wrapped in white trays. It doesn't take away the fact that something had to die to place that meat there.

God said he gave this earth to men. Then the first man, in charge, Adam, turned wicked and has perverted the creation of god. God had given Adam almost unlimited power. But he took that power and turned to evil with it.

At the proper time, God is going to cast this wicked one into hell fire to be destroyed forever. Then it will turn again to the perfect world God made.

Man changed the good life into something hideous and violent.

God created perfection, but sin ruined it.

Just like the Dr. Emoto experiment of rice and water, the disobedience of man affected the entire universe.

Yes, a grand design thwarted by rebellious entities.