Is God omni-benevolent?

[Eddi]

Why not? I would.

Why would you permit suffering if you were God?

I'm interested because I would

Although I am not quite sure why but I have some rough ideas that I hold only tentatively

 

[Aštra’el]

Why would you permit suffering if you were God?

I'm interested because I would

Although I am not quite sure why but I have some rough ideas that I hold only tentatively

Human suffering is a precious thing. It tempers our spirit and forges character. It pushes us to become better than we are, for ourselves and for those we care about. We suffer, we endure, and we fight… and in doing so we develop and evolve, individually and collectively.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Of course. The existence of suffering doesn't somehow cancel out God's goodness.

Why not?

 

[SkepticThinker]

Why not? I would.

Why?? I absolutely would not.

 

[Psalm23]

Question: Is God omni-benevolent?

As in totally good?

Yes.

 

[stvdv]

Question: Is God omni-benevolent?

As in totally good?

I never came across Omni benevolent while reading dozens of Spiritual Books during my 10 years stay in India

Omni Benevolent seems a Christian, Atheist or Abrahamics thingy

I never heard Sai Baba, the Poorna Avatar born in this Age, mention "Omni Benevolent". Sai Baba always mentioned "Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent" when describing God

HENCE, I assume that Omni Benevolent is not correct here, as Sai Baba was a Master in giving wonderful descriptions and I would be surprised if He would leave something like Omni Benevolent out (on purpose or for whatever reason; that makes no sense to me)

Also, using my own Common Sense:
Omni Benevolent does not fit in the same group as Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent. I think that is obvious from linguistic POV, right?

I can imagine, as it is easy, that a "smart" Atheist debater invents "Omni Benevolent" to disprove God or something like that, but as this description makes no sense to attribute to God, it is useless, but fun maybe for debate sake.

But, I never heard of the Wise in India using it as an attribute ascribed to God. Hence such argument to disprove makes no sense, and does not disprove God

 

[Exaltist Ethan]

I would argue that suffering exists because God, as in The Omniverse, does not have unlimited divinity. The amount of spacetime and entropy in this Universe seems to expanding rapidly, but the amount of extropy is solely dependent on us currently, and since there is hundreds, if not, thousands of times more entropy than extropy, the result is, some degree of suffering. If the amount of extropy matched the amount of entropy there would either not be childhood leukemia or if there was it could be cured right away. Unfortunately however nature is still a much more potent force than humankind, and nature has been shown not to be benevolent the same way we are.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Question: Is God omni-benevolent? As in totally good?

Since God "IS" love then He is our Benevolent Benefactor.
God 'has' wisdom, God ' has' mercy, God 'has' justice, but only God "IS" love as in totally good towards us.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Why would you permit suffering if you were God?.........

I find the universal issue of Sovereignty is involved as to who will govern best.
Sinner Satan not only challenged Job (Job 2:4-5) but by way of extension challenges all of us.
'Touch our flesh....' (loose physical health/permit suffering) and we would Not serve God.
Both Job and Jesus under very adverse conditions believed upholding God's Sovereignty proves Satan a liar.

 

[URAVIP2ME]

Human suffering is a precious thing. It tempers our spirit and forges character. It pushes us to become better than we are, for ourselves and for those we care about. We suffer, we endure, and we fight… and in doing so we develop and evolve, individually and collectively.

I think the Bible person of Job (chapter 42) would agree with the ^ above ^.

 

[sun rise]

i assume you have never seen a young innocent child (or adult) dying of leukemia. It is not good for the victim, it is not good for relatives and friends, it is not good for the medical staff.

If your god created everything then he created leukaemia and other suffering.

Yes, true. Most suffering is, as the Buddhists state, due to wanting. Desire can lead to selfishness and pain for others. Getting what you want proves to be ephemeral because that want is replaced by another and another endlessly.

And pain is not necessarily suffering. There are some people who look on bodily pain as just another sensation and don't get caught by suffering.

And without writing a book, the meaning and purpose of pain and suffering led me to accept reincarnation and karma as the only meaningful and just answer to the challenge.

Since according to Christianity (and other religions) their god made it all.

But of course it comes from evolution, that is not the discussion, the discussion is god and the attributes given to god.

God is who. Evolution is how. - so believe many believers.

 

[ChristineM]

Yes, true. Most suffering is, as the Buddhists state, due to wanting. Desire can lead to selfishness and pain for others. Getting what you want proves to be ephemeral because that want is replaced by another and another endlessly.

And pain is not necessarily suffering. There are some people who look on bodily pain as just another sensation and don't get caught by suffering.

And without writing a book, the meaning and purpose of pain and suffering led me to accept reincarnation and karma as the only meaningful and just answer to the challenge.



God is who. Evolution is how. - so believe many believers.

So wanting a cure for a deadly disease is what?

Not sure i mentioned pain,

That is your belief and you are most welcome to it.

True, and there are other beliefs too.

 

[sun rise]

So wanting a cure for a deadly disease is what?
.

Wanting a cure for a deadly disease is wonderful. I applaud advances in medicine. Further, I'm absolutely not aloof from those who suffer. We should do all we can to alleviate suffering.

Not sure i mentioned pain,

You did not. But some readers could take pain and suffering as synonyms so I wanted to draw a distinction.

 

[Wildswanderer]

Why not?

Why would it?

 

[Wildswanderer]

Then why does he allow it?

Ask yourself what you are assuming by asking this question?
Are you assuming that suffering is the worst thing possible?
Are you assuming that God can both prevent suffering and allow freedom?
What answer did God give Job about suffering?
When you have God's knowledge and power perhaps, then, you would be in a place to judge him... But that's never going to happen.

Job 38
English Standard Version

The Lord Answers Job
38 Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Dress for action like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
6 On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone,
7 when the morning stars sang together
and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

8 “Or who shut in the sea with doors
when it burst out from the womb,
9 when I made clouds its garment
and thick darkness its swaddling band,
10 and prescribed limits for it
and set bars and doors,
11 and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?

12 “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
and caused the dawn to know its place,
13 that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
and the wicked be shaken out of it?
14 It is changed like clay under the seal,
and its features stand out like a garment.
15 From the wicked their light is withheld,
and their uplifted arm is broken.

16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
Declare, if you know all this.

 

[SkepticThinker]

Why would it?

Typical non-response from you.

 

[Kenny]

I say no, because he allows suffering when he could stop it (e.g. childhood leukaemia)

But I think he makes up for this....

Because Jesus is

Jesus cares and heals afflictions

So, overall he is and he isn't

But the fact that in some regards he isn't fully good (e.g. not preventing childhood leukaemia when he could so easily stop it) disqualifies him from being omni-benevolent - as omni means "all"

If he was omni-benevolent then there would be no suffering in his creation

But I would say that he balances out as being mostly benevolent

And that no matter how awful the world is, everything will work out for the best in the end

I'd say God is very good, but not all good as he allows suffering when he could stop it

The prevention of suffering is obviously not a priority for him

This is real and raw. It is personal in the sense that we all have been touched by sickness in some form and fashion and many times to the very ones we love. It challenges our thinking but also opens a wide variety of thought.

In light of my signature, may I offer a perspective through questions?

If Jesus is the perfect will of God, what did he do with sickness and disease?

 

[Wildswanderer]

Typical non-response from you.

Ask yourself what you are assuming by even asking the question.
That's a good place to start.

 

[osgart]

Whatever produces life cannot possibly be Omni benevolent. Life is a process of discovery about self and other life. I don't think physical suffering was anticipated in life's makings. Life doesn't seem to be the primary motive of physical existence. If there is the spiritual then it ran into a physical existence it had very little answers for.

The idea of God assumes that life is the sole purpose of existence, and that there is only supreme reasons for everything life goes through. Nature has a lot of senseless aspects in regards to the overall most noble purposes of life. A few of the major religions seem to think that all suffering and bad occurrences is on purpose to change and improve character, and to end evil, and to transform people into a higher light of greater good. Death is considered a joyful release into a perfect reality free of evil and suffering and worth it all to just be there. I don't think any of that is real, nor justifiable considering that nature can be very cruel to any life whatsoever, at any stage of life.

If there is a creator than life is on a blind journey scrambling to survive and know anything at all.

 

[Brian2]

What you are saying is that man isn't qualified to judge what is good. If that's the case, he's also unqualified to decide if God is good, much less infinitely good. That is decided by faith, which leads to some unfortunate ramifications. It basically forces one to accept as good that which his conscience tells him is harmful, like gratuitous suffering. It's a basic motif in Christianity that human suffering is just.

The Bible is full of stories where man is punished because a good god was angered. Why do we not live in paradise? We don't deserve it because a girl ate an apple. Why can't we all understand one another? Man reached too high once again, this time by building a tower and was punished with a world full of different languages. It's believed that some astronomical event destroyed the city of Sodom: Fire and brimstone: Sodom and Gomorrah perhaps destroyed by 'cosmic fireball,' evidence shows - Study Finds

Why did that happen? A good god punishing evil man again. The theme is that all suffering is God's will and therefore good. It's called divine command theory. The icing on the cake is describing human sacrifice as an act of love. Suffering is good in this religion.

I say that we aren't qualified to judge God.
We are ignorant of the Big Picture and God's purposes.
We can condemn God for all suffering while not thanking Him for life and all the good things we have.
We can trust that what God has told us is true and so be humble when we don't know.