Trailblazer said: God is in no way responsible for the evil that humans do just because God is All-Knowing and All-Powerful. There is no connection whatsoever.
if God is all powerful and all knowing, then God not only knows about the evil, but can prevent it without harm to free will. That makes any neglect in doing so evil.
No, God cannot prevent it without interfering with free will. That is impossible. The minute God stops a human from doing what he intends to do, God is interfering with free will. If there is an important purpose for free will, something we gain by having it, the God that created us with it is the only one who knows what that purpose is, unless He reveals it to a Messenger in which case we can know what it is.
If God is All-Knowing, then God knows more than you do about the purpose of both free will and evil.
Trailblazer said: One can think of this world as a chess board that God made for us to play on. God, the Maker of the chess board is not responsible for how the players play the game.
That is called passing the buck.
But he is responsible for the rules of the game. And those rule lead to preventable evils that are not simply the result of human actions (childhood cancer, for example). So the rules themselves are a demonstration of evil.
How can you know that the rules should be different, given you are not All-Knowing? That is the crux of the issue. God knows more than any human about how to create and oversee the world. If that does not sit well with you, you have the free will to choose to be a nonbeliever.
Diseases such as cancer are part of the natural order of creation. This mortal world is a storehouse of suffering by its very nature, it was never intended to be a paradise. But there is also happiness. Why should it be happiness all the time? That will come after we die if we live according to the rules of the game. This mortal life is just a very small part of our total existence.
Moreover, because God gave man free will and an innate intelligence, in the future diseases such as cancer can be fully eradicated. Man has that potential.
Trailblazer said: This idea that God is omnipotent so God should prevent humans from doing evil is completely illogical, because there is no reason to think God should ever intercede, just because He can. If God interceded every time people want do anything wrong, there would be no point for humans to even live on this earth. Of course it always helps to know the purpose of this physical existence, why good and evil exists.
The reason to intervene is to prevent unnecessary suffering. An all powerful and all knowing entity that *doesn't* intervene is simply evil.
Fine, if you want to believe that. I have made my case so I see no point in arguing about it. But please note, by saying the deity should intervene when it doesn’t normally do so, what you are saying is that you know more than the deity, which is logically impossible.
Trailblazer said: It also helps to have the instructions on how to play chess before you play the game. Those instructions come from the Messenger of God in every age. If people do not read the instructions and follow them it is unjust to blame God for their failure to lead a good life.
Well, that is a claim. It is a claim without any serious evidence in support of it however. Once again, the actual evidence is that the world is filled with preventable suffering that is NOT the result of human action. That alone shows an all powerful, all knowing, and all good entity does not exist.
Fine then, you have made your decision. It is a childlike way of thinking because it is so simplistic, but I am not going to try to talk you out of whey you believe. I have been down this road before on other forums and it leads nowhere, unless you have an interest in knowing why there is suffering in the world.
The best source of information for anything deity-related is the Messengers of the deity. Other than the Book of Job, I do not know if the Bible addresses this but the Baha’i Writings have quite a bit of information on suffering that is straightforward and much easier to understand than the Bible, which is mostly allegorical. We cannot know all the reasons for suffering, but we can know enough to be able to maintain a belief in a benevolent deity. We will surely know more after we die.
Also, it might occur to you to ask those people who have really suffered how they can still believe in a benevolent deity. They would be another source of information.
) Its an inner conviction and sense of peace and wellbeing. It makes you Want to talk about "evidence" because it becomes your life. You cant help it. It is not seperate.
