Did God create Coronavirus?

[NowSissyThatWalk]

I'd really like to have a respectful discussion if possible!
I'm an atheist. I've seen a lot of churches etc posting on our local pages offering live services/ prayers etc.
I have to ask and I'm too scared to ask them directly
Surely if God created all, and is master of all our fates, he created Coronavirus? Or is it one of those 'We are in charge of our own destiny, he can't stop bad things from happening' situations?
Genuinely interested and hope this is taken in the vein it's intended.

@OchonAgusOchonO part II - Is God responsible for the old order of things...

Yes and no. Yes because the bible is clear that God was aware of the disconnection that would happen when people were given 'free will' but it also says that 'Jesus was crucified before the creation of the world'. Therefore it was broke and he fixed it in the spiritual realm before the physical world came into existence.

For some reason...and I don't know why ..we are still living in the time frame between it being broke and fixed and we still have to go through it. I think its about giving us a chance to choose to love ourselves without being made to.

I believe in God but don't believe he created this virus. Mind you if he did who could blame him.

We are destroying the planet and animals, plants etc. One way to reduce the ridiculously high population.

I remember being taught that illnesses like the flu that kill lots of people at the same time started having an impact when people started living in large Interdependent communities. When we lived in small self-sustaining communities viruses would not have spread as easily and there may even have been a localisation of viruses between villages so that villagers were immune / had antibodies to local viruses.

@Moodymagpie non believers rarely seem to have any respect for views other than theirs.

They supposedly KNOW for certain there is no God.

@myohmywhatawonderfulday - obviously I respect your beliefs but I really cannot fathom how anyone can believe in a loving and good god who would allow this sort of suffering. It's not just the current situation. We just have to look at the suffering endured worldwide at any given time. And yes, I get the whole free will thing but free will has not created cancer (I know some are lifestyle related) or certain natural disasters, such as volcano eruptions or diseases that kill innocent children.

In some ways, those of you with faith are lucky as you always have the solace of believing it is all part of a greater plan etc while the rest of us are going with "shit happens" and can end up feeling overwhelmed and helpless,

Lyndse19, agreed. I'm hard pushed to think of once I've had a christian try to shove their beilief down my throat tbh but I've heard so many atheists giving it 'there is no god' and look at you as if you are insulting their very being for believing in even the possibility of otherwise.

OP posed her beliefs fairly. But there are an awful lot of twats on here. And if you flat out said 'there is no God', I'm talking about you. You have no manners or or respect for others. It's really quite safe.

*quite sad

Thanks all

I guess a better title would have been 'Do those who believe in God believe he created the virus?'

I'm as atheist as they come, genuinely intrigued to hear what believers think.

As an atheist it would have made just as much sense if you had asked 'did CV create god'. The answer to both is no since there is no god.

Thank you @wanderlust

I think people on here should have a little respect. Religion and faith is a matter of individual perspective. By saying God doesn't exist is being extremely rude.

No, it's an opinion. People have just as much right to say god doesn't exist as they do to say god does exist. Religious people are entitled to exactly the same amount of respect as anyone else, no more. Why should your opinion that god exists be any more deserving of respect than anyone else's opinion about anything?

They supposedly KNOW for certain there is no God.

What, whereas religious people say 'Well I think there's a god, but I don't know'? Pull the other one!

I don't believe any such deity exists and this latest outbreak only reinforces that belief for me.

Take of that what you will, but I'm 27, otherwise healthy and seriously considering drawing up my last Will and Testament, just in case.

I believe the virus is in fact natural in origin, coming from bats as the Wuhan Institute of Virology were studying them at the time of the outbreak but the virus leaked outside the lab accidentally and now here we are. It definitely came from China because if the US military truly had planted it in Wuhan, that would be an act of war that the Chinese would be calling them out on. Which they're not doing.

I have faith, ironically enough, that we will get through this. I believe in the intelligence and resilience of man. No gods, but mankind certainly. I hope to still be here when its all over but for now, I'm going to hold my toddler daughter just that little bit closer.

People have every right to say 'I dont believe in God' and then contribute to ops question. Coming on here and going 'god isnt real' though is NOT the same thing. It's just being a knob for the sake of being a knob.

These discussions never go well.

The question you are asking is called theodicy. Which is the academic term for why does God allow suffering or the problem of evil. This is an area much debated by philosophers and theologians. An academic overview is here plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/

That overview starts with to sorting out definitions of God. Any self respecting philosopher will start with defining terms. It is what they do. What you will get on MN are people saying that God must be this (OT angry person) and Christians coming along and saying that this isn't their conception of God and it all goes pear shaped. There is usually a side issue of the authority of the Bible and the nature of fundamentalism. Just about every thread goes that way.

As a practical theologian ie a priest who currently has a dear friend hospital with it and is expecting to do a lot of funerals over the next year my answer is I don't honestly know. I fall into the free will argument most if the time. People have a choice and if we didn't we wouldn't be the people we are but it all falls apart when you are in the sharp pointy end of people you care about dying. My faith and experience of God assures me that God is with me in the mess because of Jesus.

So with prayer and all that I'm off to be a listening ear to someone whose partner probably died last night.

Haven't RTFT but what your talking about is an old philosophy problem, the Problem of Evil.

The problem is: God is good, all seeing, all knowing and all powerful. And evil exists.

Many philosophers have tried to solve it. Why not spend quarantine reading them. At the very least you'll sleep soundly

The problem of suffering is a huge one for Christians, there are many books, sermons and even a few songs written about it.

We don’t understand it but we find that having faith in a God who was crucified and rose again helps us through it.

I think many are crying out to God at the moment, or will be shortly. I believe He hears all prayers and answers all prayers, although sometimes His answer is not what we want to hear, with our limited understanding.

Perhaps the decimation that virus’ caused did create God (or maybe God created the viruses - in Hinduism it is the Goddess and not God who creates and heals disease). I think it definitely did create a belief in the afterlife. I imagine in the past when 50-60% of all live born children died before the age of 15, and anyone could literally drop dead at any age, rulers would have needed their subjects to have some belief in the afterlife so as not to descend into chaos.

Greek philosopher Epicurus puts it: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?"

Ummm...no. Scientific rationale is available. Not Santa or the Tooth Fairy either.

Really depends. Some crazy explanations:

The devil created the virus to test our faith and god will reward the truly worthy with eternal life in heaven.

We didn't follow lent so now we will be punished with food shortages for our greed.

This is one of the four horseman of the apocalypse.

God moves in mysterious ways.

Only the sinners will die those that repent will be saved.

We need to build an ark and take our families and some animals and start over.

Or any other number of explanations. Religion aims to rationalise things beyond our understanding. Even blind faith in science is a religion of sorts. We all have faith in vaccines and antibiotics. We have faith in our governments and World Health Organization. That doesn't make science superior, we are all just fumbling blindly for answers and for something to keep us going. Putting your faith in an omnipotent power seems pretty sensible right now, because nobody else has any answers

@mostlydrinkstea

I hope you are not stretching yourself too thinly, mostly.

From a fellow tea drinker.

You don't actually have to believe for it to be an interesting question. I mean it leads to all sorts of interesting places. Including self driving cars if you can believe that.

I suppose if you believe in god then you should believe or accept it was Covid-19 was created by God.

Whoever or however the virus came about humans are responsible for the transmission to themselves and the spread around the world.

Why blame everything on God?

Man is the creator of awful things and makes terrible decisions as well as amazing ones.

Nuclear weapons and (leaking) power stations, fracking, war, famine, greed and hatred, list goes on.

This is yet another wo/man fuck-up. Answer to everything in destroying this beautiful planet.