If you're woman, poor and live in Somalia, you can still say that God loves you?

Haha, I suppose anyone can ‘say’ that…...

We can always blame ourselves… but it depends on how we view the world.

Yes.. Because God’s love is not dependent on circumstance, and circumstance does not prove or disprove God’s love.

What does happiness have to do with loving ‘God’ ?

@Maldadpermanente: You seem to be answering your own question. One can say anything one wants…but probably while being raped or diagnosed with AIDS or having too many children and not enough food, your first thoughts might not be of G*d., whoever he is.

“What does happiness have to do with loving ‘God’ ?”

Because in the end, it is nice (happy) to know everything will be ok.

@prolificus oooooooh really?

@Maldadpermanente Yes. I’ve met plenty of unhappy people who say they love God.

“Because we live in a world of wonders, if you’re not happy it’s your fault”?

There is an inherent arrogance and lack of empathy in this question. To decide for someone else that they should be happy despite their circumstance presumes too much. How can anyone tell another person how they should feel? And, more importantly how can anyone tell another person that they should believe in the love of God, or in God for that matter, no matter the circumstance?

I’m just hoping this question was an exercise in sarcasm.

@jealoustome agreed.

@jealoustome Yes, the subtitle about happiness was an exercise of sarcasm. The question wasn’t. Thanks for your answer my friend.

@liminal I know, lots of unhappy people still loves God but my question is if God loves them.

@Maldadpermanente OH, that was not clear to me. Thank you for clarifying.

@Maldadpermanente I’m so glad the subtitle was sarcastic. Thanks for clarifying.

@liminal You’re very welcome my friend. Thanks for joining the croud :)

@jealoustome Feel at ease my friend :) Thanks for being here.

Whether you say God loves you has more to do with the state of your mind than the state of your corpus.

These are not Somali but Massai. All I want to say is joy, peace, love, can exist anywhere, even in circumstances you can’t imagine.

Let life bloom and flourish against all odds.

I certainly hope so.

@escapedone7 Thanks for your links, although you hasn’t answered my question.

It wouldn’t be God’s fault that you’re in that situation.

@wundayatta I think if you believe, the love of God can’t be a state of mind, but something absolutely real. My question still remain unanswered.

It is not an ‘answerable’ question.

One woman may still feel into the truth of her beingness and another may be lost in suffering.

There is no formula for ones individual ‘enlightenment.’

Resiliance in the face of adversity is a mystery as is it all.

I’m an atheist so it makes no difference, for me. However, if the woman in question, in Somalia and poor believes in god, then yes he is supposed to love her, supposedly.

@Maldadpermanente It seems to be that belief is a state of mind, but I suppose I could be wrong. Where do you think belief exists?

@Coloma It’s an absolutely answerable question, it’s a logical question and it’s screaming for an answer.

@Maldadpermanente Sorry, no question regarding god and belief is about logic – that’s why it requires faith.

I don’t presume to be able to speak for God. I promise if I ever have the pleasure of having tea and a chat with God, I will ask him and get back to you. I said I hope so. I don’t see why a higher power wouldn’t love. I don’t see why love can’t exist everywhere. Am I psychic and all knowing? no.

@wundayatta Again we’re not debating the existence of God. Please the question is very simple. God is love, Gode loves all His creatures so they say. Even if you pray you get an answer. If you’re a woman in Somalia poorer than rats and you’re abused on a daily basis by, say, twenty disgusting men, can you say out loud that God loves you?

@Maldadpermanente Some women can and some women can’t. This is pointless.

@Maldadpermanente

I disagree. How can one answer for thousands?

Logic has no place in this question, it is about personal interpretation, the interpretation of the individual, our answers are mere speculation. If you want real answers you would need to interview the actual subjects.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I’m sorry you find this pointless because I think it’s not.

@Coloma Easy, try to put yourself under the skin of that woman in my question and give your answer.

@Maldadpermanente Well, obviously, it’s not pointless to you but you’re not doing a very good job of explaining yourself or entering into intelligible debate with others. If your point is to push some sort of an agenda or to praise or reject god, this is pointless and you can take it elsewhere. What do you really want to talk about?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir About the alleged universal, eternal and unconditional love of God.

@Maldadpermanente

I have. It is still subjective. I am still NOT that women and it is impossible to speculate on something such as this.

My ‘answer’ remains that it is an individual matter, complex dependant on the levels of consciousness of each woman in each circumstance.

I know that your ‘logical’ mind wants an answer..the answer remains, there is no one size fits all answer.

@Maldadpermanente So you don’t think he’s all loving and universal and all that jazz – great, welcome to the club but this quest will take you nowhere fast because as I’ve said previously, this is about faith, not logic – there are a thousand religions out there and there are infinite number of beliefs – you should understand people cope with life and death and pain and suffering through their trust in god so if they’re religious, they will blame themselves, the men, the poverty but not god…others will blame god…say ‘how could a just god do this?’ and on and on…what’s the point of either of these lines of thought? You can’t tell others what to believe or what not to believe. Having a Somalian woman be poor and raped consistently has to do with global sexism and economic disparity and we should focus more on what we can do to stop violence against women rather than on whether or not this is somehow proof that god isn’t all loving.

@Coloma You just refuse to answer and I don’t know why.

@Maldadpermanente

You refuse to hear my answer. lololol

Stick 3, horse one! hahaha

@Maldadpermanente What made you think I was debating the existence of God? I never said anything about that. I also never said that the love of God was or wasn’t real. I’m just talking about belief.

What I’m saying is that any thought or emotion comes from a person. And each person can, to some extent, choose to feel what they want, and to a full extent, they can choose what they believe. Belief does not happen out in the world. It happens inside a person. Beliefs are the result of a state of mind, not a state of corporeal reality.

Reality, of course, can be measured. God can’t. Your Somalian woman can choose to believe God loves her or not. It has nothing to do with me. Or you.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir Thanks for your elaborate answer. Another time I’ll post something about disparity and gender equality, violence against women and a lot of things that should be talked about. Now I’m interested on how believers try to explain the love of God between so much despair. I’m not trying to push anything on anyone, I expected honest answers but it’s being harder than I thought as you can see reading the posts :)

@wundayatta “Your Somalian woman can choose to believe God loves her or not…” And you, what you think? God loves her?

@Coloma Again, what do you think? God loves her or not?

This question angers me. Using the suffering taking place in Somalia to engage in abstract philosophical debate is pedantic at best and in no way addresses the urgent needs facing a somalian woman. If you want to start a question about the viability or veracity of God’s love please pick a different target. I feel sick that I gave it any energy.

@liminal You’re free to leave my friend. The suffering in Somalia is one of the many proofs that there isn’t anything called the love of God. As you see I’ve answered the question, honestly and directly and it wasn’t as hard as many think. See you.

@Maldadpermanente Again, some people will say yes he does, others will say no, he doesn’t. – where does it get us?

@Simone_De_Beauvoir To the answers, It’s not what’s this site about? :)

@Maldadpermanente

Again, how would I KNOW? One’s interpretation of God is highly personal.
Pushy little f—k arn’t you? lololololol

Aaaah…addendum: So you KNOW for a fact there is no God?

Well…clearly you HAVE all the answers, so why are you attempting to manipulate the rest of us?

@Coloma I don’t have all the answers, I have only mine and I gave it. You can agree or not and that’s your right.

You are on a site, if you haven’t noticed, with a lot of athiests as well as people with VERY diverse beliefs, from Wiccans to Satanists to Hindu to whatever. You have me so confused and upside down. Here are some ways you can ‘find’ what you are fishing for, I guess, in a better way.

“If you are a conservative Christian who believes God loves everyone, how can you explain widespread suffering in the world? Why do you believe “your God” allows suffering and atrocities to happen? I would like to know. ”

Or something to that effect.
They may go into something about their dogma, such as “free will” and how God will not force other people to not do bad things but they will pay in an after life. Of course I cannot pretend to know what they will say. I will reiterate that I am NOT all knowing, psychic, nor can I speak for a higher power or for other people.

You have a specific argument with a specific agenda with a specific target audience. I suggest you recalculate your target and aim, and then fire accordingly.

@Maldadpermanente

Um….if the shoe fits…..lol

You’re losing momentum on this not very well thought out rebuttal scene my friend.

Stick 7 and the horse still thrashes about. lolololol

@Maldadpermanente Yes I guess it is about answers – but not when it comes to people’s own ideas of God.

@escapedone7 Oh my, it’s a simple question. Really it’s this site full of atheists? I didn’t know and I don’t mind. It’s a question that can be answered by everyone no matter race, color, beliefs. You only give your opinion, of course based on your own thoughts and indpendent ideas, I respect you and we both move on. I don’t have any agenda specific or not but I have to confess I like to make annoying questions. I have another one you’re going to love, stay tuned :)

@Maldadpermanente What do my “beliefs” have to do with it? (I don’t believe anything, by the way)/

Anyway, if you can define God in such a way that I can makes sense out of your definition, I’ll tell you if I think that God loves her. But right now I have no clue

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I agree it’s always a tricky area, but interesting anyway.

@Maldadpermanente

But you just claimed that you believe there is no God. (?)

Damn man…how many horses can you change in mid-stream? lolololol

@Coloma “But you just claimed that you believe there is no God…” And that means I have all the answers?

@Maldadpermanente interesting? are young or something? these things always come out the same way, nothing new ever comes out

Well if we are going to be pedantic and stupid the answer is “yes”. I am not even sure what the predominant faith in Somalia is but I imagine it may be Muslim. So their God would be “Allah” I guess? I am going to pretend to be psychic. If I walked through Somalia and asked each woman if they “can” say Allah loves them, they will all say yes. Because they “can”. They have the ability to say “Allah loves me” in their language. If they struggle with English and insist they say it in English maybe they can’t.
Weather they believe Allah loves them (or God loves them) or not would be up to them. If they say it out of conditioning or true faith would be known only to them. I imagine if I hunted my friend, I can find some woman in some Somalian village that “can” say Allah loves her. If you said God and it is a Muslim Country, you might be in for another answer.

So Yes. A Somalian woman can also say the Martians are reading her thoughts, if she wants to say so.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir I wish I was young or even something lol You can see the answers here, people get into the question and I find it interesting, it’s a delicate issue I know, but I find it interesting.

@Maldadpermanente all right, whatever floats your boat…don’t come crying to me when someone random starts posting scripture or what have you up and down your question

Wait. I am calling Miss Cleo’s 900 number. I am going to get a psychic advisor’s answer for this. I am paying two dollars a minute damn it why am I listening to music? Maybe I should just call Somalia.

@escapedone7 Well, let’s be pedantic and stupid just for the sake of the discussion. I liked your answer and over all your reasoning. It’s another way to look at it. Yes physically she can say God loves her. Absolutely.

@Simone_De_Beauvoir “don’t come crying to me when someone random starts posting scripture or what have you up and down your question…” Oh my, it never occurred to me, you’re probably right I’m in serious trouble. Thanks again, I marked it as Great Answer.

@Maldadpermanente

You are quite inventive and humorously appealing I’ll give you that.! lolol

@Coloma I think there’s some mistake here. You said that because I don’t believe in God, I had all the answers. Your words:
Aaaah…addendum: So you KNOW for a fact there is no God?

Well…clearly you HAVE all the answers, so why are you attempting to manipulate the rest of us?

@Maldadpermanente

Okay…this is all about the laughs now, truly, not being disrespectful or sarcastic.

I said that you did, infact, hold a belief ( according to your no belief statement )...sooooo,’
that would BE a BELIEF, the one you don’t have? lolololol

@Coloma Yes, I see. Misunderstandings are the salt of life. It’s ok, I’m glad you joined the mess lol

@Maldadpermanente

Oooh….too funny…..I’m not laughing at you..I’m just laughing! It’s all good! lololol

God is love.

@silverfly So your answer is yes?

I think this is a “man thing” . He just wants us to say he’s right.

Maldadpermanente, you are so right. I’ve never met a man so right. Your rightness astounds me. Your Frankensteinness is…. exhilerating. I bet you never have to ask for directions either. The next time I need the answers to all the questions in the universe, I am coming to YOU.

OMG Miss Cleo just said I am about to meet a man with all the answers but phrases them as questions.

I’m truly freaked out. She said women in Somalia are suffering and need helped. She suggested if we believe in a higher power that loves them, perhaps that means we should do something to help their suffering.

But when I asked if I should wear my high heeled pink glitter shoes with my dress she said I’d look like a hooker. Since you are the knower of everything, I need to know if pink glitter shoes would make me look like a hooker. Also I want you to tell me what all men I walk past will think of me if you don’t mind, and what drives their belief that pink glitter heels are hookerish.

@escapedone7

Lol…..!

* waits patiently for a moderator to come tell me to stick to the topic and send me a warning *

I am always getting in trouble.

@escapedone7 My dear friend, you’re hired to my next show “Answering with the Stars” You flatter me and by the way I think pink glitter heels should be made illegal.

But…but….but…they were on sale

@escapedone7 Well, what is done, is done. But, for God’s sake: Mary Jane Heels Shoes Pink Glitter Dancer Sexy Exotic Stripper???????

I want my money back Miss Cleo is cramping my sense of style.

@Maldadpermanente Not necessarily. The way I see it, god isn’t really a being that loves or can love. It is simply the concept of love itself.

@gailcalled: One can say anything one wants…but probably while being raped or diagnosed with AIDS or having too many children and not enough food, your first thoughts might not be of G*d., whoever he is.

extremes can break your faith or make you crazy religious.

And she sinks it into the corner pocket!

ZING!

Different in every experience from one end to the other and back to the middle.

a thing to remember… in many parts of the world, including virtually all of Africa, you either believe in one “God” (belonging to the Abrahamic faiths) or another “God” (belonging to the Abrahamic faiths). atheism or agnosticism doesn’t come into it. the Enlightenment never happened in Africa.