Latest post of the previous page:
You have nothing to fear from me, Matt.Oh Nick, have mercy on this poor soul!
Your God, however, may be a different matter:
The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and maintains his wrath against his enemies. (Nahum 1:2)
I wouldn’t like to disappointI'll give you quick answers for how I see things, obviously many questions then follow (which I know you will ask )
Doesn’t that just sound...well...silly? Apart from the fact that your God seems, by his own admission, capable of far greater evil than I could ever contemplate (hmmm...flooding the world, killing just about everything on it would be another example), let’s consider the chronology. 14.5 billion years ago, God creates the universe. 4.5 billion years ago, He creates the earth. Millions of years ago He creates Life. Maybe 100,000 years ago he finally realises his masterpiece, the reason for the whole caper, Man! Still, He can’t be bothered with him for about 100,000 years, leaving Man totally ignorant of divine truth. Oh, and letting them die horrible deaths. During childbirth is particularly benevolent, don’t you think? And you think humans are responsible for evil?! And given that we are animals (apes, to be more precise) what is the difference between human ‘evil’ and other animals killing each other? Lions killing their young, seems a nice evil-free thing to do on a sunny afternoon in Africa....1) I don't think that the universe contained evil prior to humans becoming morally responsible (which I think is when self-consciousness emerged). That commits me to the view that some particular things (like the death of animals for example) are not evil, which I accept. Many questions to be raised here of all sorts, but most questions raised also apply to any worldview that does not accept the reality of evil (such as yours?).
But why didn’t God create a nice universe where, either by design or by the perfect result of our own free will, there would be no evil? Why create a defective model? Was God or Adam just being a cheapskate? If Eve was created from Adam’s rib, was that because Adam wasn’t prepared to pay an arm and a leg?So the question is (which may have been your original question in fact) Why does God allow evil in the universe? Because I think all evil in the universe is caused by human action, this reduces to the question of why God has set up the world such that human action is able to have such an effect. I think part of the answer is that in order to be morally responsible we cannot live in a magical world where evil actions don't have evil consequences.
A word to the wise: There are easier positions to defend! Why make life difficult for yourself?That needs a lot of padding out, and again lots of questions follow, and I don't claim that it is "the answer" to the question of evil.
You’ll need to explain that one more fully, I’m afraid.A final point I would say is that every worldview has to have an answer to the questions that evil brings up - and for me, Christianity best explains the phenomenon of evil in reality, and that the questions it leaves unanswered are less troublesome than the questions I have about evil as understood by other perspectives.
Yup. That’s about the size of it. The sun will eventually die. But don’t worry about being cold. In the dying days of the sun you will be overcome by the sun’s heat as it expires.2) I don't think humanists can really have the ultimate hope of restoration and renewal in the way I'm talking about. After all, if the universe is a closed system (i.e. if naturalism is true) it will eventually become a cold, dark place impossible for sustaining life.
3) I think there are plenty of good arguments for God, by which I mean the premises in such arguments are more probable than their opposites.
I await examples of this with interest.
Errr... given a modicum of common sense.But it is possible to consistently reject these arguments given enough ingenuity.
Just as well you were born in God’s country, then. And lucky also you were not born 3,000 years ago. That would have been a most puzzling experience. Being totally convinced about something you knew nothing about.....For me, it is the whole of my human experience - intellectual, emotional, existential - that convinces me of the existence of the Christian God. (And the qualifier of "Christian" is essential - I could not be convinced of the god of the philosophers).
I’m afraid I find your faith surreal and totally baffling.....