Just_me_Mike
Well-Known Member
OK so I am wrestling with this in my mind. And before I write this post I will upfront tell you this is an attempt to address MANY posters who question how a God, or at least one of the bible could allow all the death and pain we see in our lives. I believe in God, but join in with the question of "How can God be pleased with, or allow this to happen".
For each person the threshold is different when considering the value of life. We drive down the road knowing we will kill a certain number of bugs, we walk through the woods knowing we are killing small insects under our feet. ( I know there is a section of eastern thought that values ALL life equally, and they live as monks in monestaries, these are the only exceptions I suppose)
Yet, generally speaking the bigger or more complex the life form becomes we tend to associate misery with the loss of those lives.
If we run over a turtle, or hit a deer, the feelings change in our minds when compared to the death of an ant.
So, what I am wrestling with is how we rationalize this threshold? We as humans generally speaking don't seem to mind killing smaller life forms as long as it is in our pursuit of our lives. We justify the bugs on the windshield because we have to drive to work, and we have to go to work to survive. There are of course a thousand reasons why it is acceptable to kill these life forms.
However, as we graduate to humans everything changes (for most people). We prize our lives above all. So at this point I try to see the situation in a couple of ways.
1)If I was God would I care so much if I lost one or one billion of these life forms (humans)? And just because I lose some does that mean I am not a God of Love? If as we humans can kill along our path of living our lives, can not God do the same and be a good God?
2)If we as humans have the ability to turn off or simply ignore the reality that we extinguish life all day long as we move about, than maybe it is the same for God.
I do know we as humans are capable of great acts of love, and yet we can mercilessly kill many things at the same time.
At least I am being honest about this. I see where atheist are coming from, and other philosophical minds are coming from. So as a christian I don't mind asking the same question, because I think it is fair to analyze what we consider Love=God, God=Love vs our moral fabric and how we can do the things we do.
For each person the threshold is different when considering the value of life. We drive down the road knowing we will kill a certain number of bugs, we walk through the woods knowing we are killing small insects under our feet. ( I know there is a section of eastern thought that values ALL life equally, and they live as monks in monestaries, these are the only exceptions I suppose)
Yet, generally speaking the bigger or more complex the life form becomes we tend to associate misery with the loss of those lives.
If we run over a turtle, or hit a deer, the feelings change in our minds when compared to the death of an ant.
So, what I am wrestling with is how we rationalize this threshold? We as humans generally speaking don't seem to mind killing smaller life forms as long as it is in our pursuit of our lives. We justify the bugs on the windshield because we have to drive to work, and we have to go to work to survive. There are of course a thousand reasons why it is acceptable to kill these life forms.
However, as we graduate to humans everything changes (for most people). We prize our lives above all. So at this point I try to see the situation in a couple of ways.
1)If I was God would I care so much if I lost one or one billion of these life forms (humans)? And just because I lose some does that mean I am not a God of Love? If as we humans can kill along our path of living our lives, can not God do the same and be a good God?
2)If we as humans have the ability to turn off or simply ignore the reality that we extinguish life all day long as we move about, than maybe it is the same for God.
I do know we as humans are capable of great acts of love, and yet we can mercilessly kill many things at the same time.
At least I am being honest about this. I see where atheist are coming from, and other philosophical minds are coming from. So as a christian I don't mind asking the same question, because I think it is fair to analyze what we consider Love=God, God=Love vs our moral fabric and how we can do the things we do.
