Why doesn't God stop evil, pain and suffering?

[Alla Prima]

What would one expect God to do in the first instance?

Some think God created all things. Idea doesn't but some do. If God created all things then he he could have created us all happy. But he didn't. He botched the job.

 

[idea]

You said:

No, the so called pleasures of this life are dependent on opposites. Happiness (not the fleeting relative pleasures you're referring to) is dependent not on it's opposite (unhappiness or suffering) but on right actions of body speech and mind.

What is a "right" action? Right / wrong - these are relative terms. Right does not exist without wrong.

So God is just another player. Ok.

Not just another player, the most intelligent one.

Some think God created all things. Idea doesn't but some do. If God created all things then he he could have created us all happy. But he didn't. He botched the job.

So - your choices are:
A. God did not create everything. He will help form those who want to refine themselves though...
B. God botched the job, God is not perfect, loving, etc... He is some hypocritical monster -
C. There is no God – mysteriously the universe has formed itself with just the right conditions for life – but not god-like life, only people life – people are the top of the chain, there is no other life that is higher than our own...

 

[Alla Prima]

What is a "right" action?

That which produces happiness.

Not just another player, the most intelligent one.

That's debatable.

So - your choices are:
A. God did not create everything. He will help form those who want to refine themselves though...
B. God botched the job, God is not perfect, loving, etc... He is some hypocritical monster -
C. There is no God – mysteriously the universe has formed itself with just the right conditions for life – but not god-like life, only people life – people are the top of the chain, there is no other life that is higher than our own...

So your choice is A.

 

[Freelancer7]

Some think God created all things. Idea doesn't but some do. If God created all things then he he could have created us all happy. But he didn't. He botched the job.

He Botched the Job?? Your Inner Self is the key to happiness, you might be upset what you see around you via news networks, but that is by no means the Lord Almighty's Fault. Love Your Intelligence, Love the Intelligence of Life.

 

[Alla Prima]

He Botched the Job?? Your Inner Self is the key to happiness, you might be upset what you see around you via news networks, but that is by no means the Lord Almighty's Fault. Love Your Intelligence, Love the Intelligence of Life.

Sure we struggle along in spite of this so called 'creator's' botched job. What choice do we have. My point is it makes no sense why an omnipotent creator (postulated by religious people) would create a world of suffering for creations he is supposed to love.

So either he is not omnipotent or he doesn't actually love his creations. You can't have both.

 

[.lava]

God is owner of eternity and hs no weaknesses. which also means God is owner of infinite patient. all-powerful, God can create everything from zero right now, no matter what happens, there is no loss for God.

.

 

[Caladan]

God is owner of eternity and hs no weaknesses. which also means God is owner of infinite patient. all-powerful, God can create everything from zero right now, no matter what happens, there is no loss for God.

.

I believe the death of millions upon millions throughout history would be a great loss for a God, the oppressions and persecutions of history would be a great loss for a God. ignoring the age old suffering of sentient beings is a great loss for the 'humanity' of God.
Im curious, what gives you the confident to describe your mythological god in public in such ways?
no sane being would believe in a God who 'owns', or 'all-powerful'. however ignorant masses have adopted this notion in medieval history, as they lived in poverty and nullified social life, whats our excuse for advocating this?

 

[Jeremy Mason]

Most monotheistic religions (certainly Christianity and Judaism) say three things about God:

• He's omniscient and omnipotent (there is nothing he does not know or cannot do)
• He's omnibenevolent (he is all-loving)
• Evil and pain and suffering are real in the world

But one look at the world around us shows us that these three things cannot all be true. Consider:

• The day after Christmas in 2004 an earthquake in the Indian Ocean caused a series of massive Tsunami that killed over a quarter million people. Parents who could not hang on to their children watched as they were drowned in the flood.
• A year later in 2005, a hurricane ripped into the southeastern U.S. killing over 1,800 people. In New Orleans, homeowners retreated to their attics to escape the rising flood waters, only to huddle together in fear as the water rose and they watched each other drown.
• Around 10,000 BCE, a virus came into the world that killed 20% - 60% of the people it infected (except for children, where the mortality rate was 80%). This was not a quick death, but often took days of being covered in painful pustules on the skin and in the throat. In the 18th century, it killed 400,000 people per year and was responsibile for a third of all blindness. During the 20th century it is estimated that this virus killed 3 - 5 hundred million people.
• Too many more like this to list them all...

If the Christian God exists, he knew about the Asian Tsunami, Hurrican Katrina and Smallpox before they occured, yet he did nothing to prevent them from happening. Why not?

Imagine the person you love most in the world. Now imagine that person in a hospital bed before you wracked in pain and dying of pancreatic cancer. After attending to your loved one for several days and taking in the full extent of their suffering, a doctor walks up to you and says "You know I have a cure for that type of cancer." You think to yourself "this is fantastic! My loved one can be spared!" But when you ask the doctor to give your loved one the cure, he refuses. You beg, you plead, you take legal action, but none of it works. The doctor refuses and your loved one dies shortly afterward.

What would we say about this doctor? Would we say he was a good man? No! We would probabaly say he is a demon. But God is just like the doctor. He sits back and watches the evil and suffering that plagues humanity knowing full well that he could prevent it, yet he refuses to.

So, what can we say about God?

FYI, we are all going to die. You see acts of nature as being bad and yes, they are hard for us human to go through. But physical death is the birthing pains of a brighter spiritual life. One I'll be happy to shed.

 

[Sententia]

FYI, we are all going to die. You see acts of nature as being bad and yes, they are hard for us human to go through. But physical death is the birthing pains of a brighter spiritual life. One I be happy to shed.

Spiritual life? What is that? Your beliefs based on what some people have told you. Others believe in reincarnation of is solving this worlds problem and clearing your mind to free your inner thetan. Others believe in the power of the force and guard their lives against the dark side. Some believe you just die and will be ressurected and judged later.

Its all hear se. There is no proof. Lots of different ideas but nothing more. Some believe their story more the others believe theirs.

 

[Beaudreaux]

No, my answer was that suffering enriches life.

I see. Let me ask you this. What do you feel detracts from life, if anything?

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Part of it, anyway. Should I bother explaining further, or am I talking to a wall?

To be clear, you are talking to a person who has ideas that differ from yours. There are many, many of us out there and it is not fair to characterize us as intransigent with regard to our positions just because we don't completely agree with you. I have changed my beliefs several times in major ways because of arguments that have compelled me, but the arguments have to make sense.

So, not a wall, but not a floormat either.

 

[.lava]

I believe the death of millions upon millions throughout history would be a great loss for a God, the oppressions and persecutions of history would be a great loss for a God. ignoring the age old suffering of sentient beings is a great loss for the 'humanity' of God.
Im curious, what gives you the confident to describe your mythological god in public in such ways?
no sane being would believe in a God who 'owns', or 'all-powerful'. however ignorant masses have adopted this notion in medieval history, as they lived in poverty and nullified social life, whats our excuse for advocating this?

people commit crime and people hold God responsible of this. first you explain me what kind of sane logic is this.


.

 

[Beaudreaux]

perhaps the greatest conundrum of Christianity - why does God allow evil?
(Allow, not create, for God is not the only self-existent entity)

(This is from Peter Marshall? I think?)

There is no use trying to evade the issue.
There are times when God does not intervene-
The fact that He does nothing is one of the most
Baffling mysteries in the Christian life.

It was H.g. wells who voiced the dilemma
That many troubled hearts have faced in war-time:

“Either God has the power to stop all this carnage and killing and He doesn’t care, or else He does care, and He doesn’t have the power to stop it.”

But that is not the answer…
As long as there is sin in the world.
As long as there is greed
Selfishness
Hate in the hearts of men
There will be war…

It is only because God is God that He is reckless enough to allow human being such free will as has led the world into this present catastrophe.

God could have prevented the war!
Do you doubt for a moment that God has not the power?
But suppose He had used it?
Men would then have lost their free agency…
They would no longer be souls endowed with the ability to choose…

They would then become puppets
Robots
Machines
Toy soldiers instead.

No, God is playing a much bigger game.
He is still awaiting an awakened sense of the responsibility of brotherhood in the hearts of men and women everywhere. He will not do for us the things that we can do for ourselves…

Natural disasters have nothing to do with free will. A child is playing on a beach in Sri Lanka and then he is swept away to drown. God could have stopped it but he didn't.

 

[Jeremy Mason]

Your beliefs based on what some people have told you.

In part yes, but I hope by now you've read enough of my posts
to know that my beliefs go beyond main stream Christianity. If you have not I encourage you to do so.

Others believe in reincarnation of is solving this worlds problem and clearing your mind to free your inner thetan

I too believe that we should leave a better world for our children. I hope I have never given you reason to believe otherwise.

Others believe in the power of the force and guard their lives against the dark side.

May the force be with you...always.

Some believe you just die and will be ressurected and judged later.

We have nothing to loose by loving God and our neighbors. :yes:

 

[idea]

Natural disasters have nothing to do with free will. A child is playing on a beach in Sri Lanka and then he is swept away to drown. God could have stopped it but he didn't.

Sri Lanka has a reputation as a pedophile’s paradise. In 1997, it was considered the principle. source of child pornography for the United States and Europe ...
http://www.childtrafficking.com/Docs/protection_project_2002_trafficking_sri_lanka.pdf

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
(New Testament | Mark9:42)

Choices, choices, I see choices.

Now I am not saying that every natural disaster is a result of people being horribly evil, in some cases it is sin, in some cases it is not:

2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
(New Testament | John9:2 - 3)

God gives us the experiences we need in order to grow - what experiences we require - that is up to us, if we would grow without experiences, then great, it will be less painful for us. Be grateful that we are given what we need to grow, and not left to wallow in our unformed state.


This life is not the only place to grow... Children in horrible places, God would be horrible to leave them there, to not gather them back up to heaven.

 

[Sententia]

In part yes, but I hope by now you've read enough of my posts to know that my beliefs go beyond main stream Christianity. If you have not I encourage you to do so.

I too believe that we should leave a better world for our children. I hope I have never given you reason to believe otherwise.

May the force be with you...always.

We have nothing to loose by loving God and our neighbors. :yes:

Correct. But some take their beleifs too far. They declare there is a war on christmas or that their god is better. I am not saying you per se. Just that religion is often used as a means to divide.

 

[Alla Prima]

people commit crime and people hold God responsible of this. first you explain me what kind of sane logic is this.


.

Simple. God created people able to commit crimes.

 

[Valjean]

Perhaps God permits suffering and disaster in the same way the Tooth Fairy permits toothache and gingivitis.....

 

[Alla Prima]

God is owner of eternity and hs no weaknesses. which also means God is owner of infinite patient. all-powerful, God can create everything from zero right now, no matter what happens, there is no loss for God.

.

Glossy brochure stuff to be sure but I don't buy it for a minute. Why? Doesn't make sense. If I had this kind of power I would have created a Heaven instead of this world of suffering.

 

[idea]

Simple. God created people able to commit crimes.

Simple. God did not create people.

 

[starlite]

So, God couldn't create a place where there is no sickness, suffering or death and where we live forever. Got it! A place like that would be...oh, what's the word....."heavenly"?

God will fulfill his purpose and restore the earth to it's original Garden of Eden condition.....please read Psalms 37: 9-11 and 29