So, I've decided that; in addition to telling you guys about the day to day, I'm going to go ahead and pick a subject a posting, and write on it. So, tonight I present you with "Does God Care?"
I suppose we're assuming that there is, in fact, a God so, I'll put doubt aside. On the one had we have all the suffering on this planet. All the pain and misery inflicted on people by other people and outside forces might make it a bit hard to believe he does. Epicurus (a Greek philosopher for the uninitiated) put it in an eloquent way when he said, “Is God willing to prevent evil but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?”
The only rebuttal I've ever heard comes from the Bible in the book of Job. My understanding of the sum of it is that there was a good and God fearing man named Job that had been blessed by God with wealth, good health, and a loving family. So apparently, one day the devil went to God and said, “You know that the people have no real love for you. Take Job for example, he only praises and worships you because you have blessed him. If you took them away, I'd bet you he'd curse you in a second.” God disagreed so they made a wager. God would take everything from Job and, if Job cursed him, the devil won. If not, victory goes to God. I'm not sure what they wagered but, I'm under the impression that it was nothing. So, God kills Job's family, ruins his health, and takes his wealth. Job does not understand why God is doing this to him because he has been a good, god fearing man his entire life. Job asks God why he torments him so and God asks him who he thinks he is, to question God's will. He tells Job that he cannot begin to fathom what the lord's plan is. Job accepts this.
I wouldn't. That's not good enough. If he he is truly omnipotent then he would have to give me a damn good reason for keeping evil around. In fact, I'm not sure that one exists. So yeah, God is a cruel bastard.
6 comments:
In the grand scheme of things there has to be a balance of light and dark, birth and death, etc. If all you want to do is hold contempt for something you think you haven't experienced, then you're just adding to the bad juju brewing around in the cosmos. Over time, that accumulated bad juju has to go somewhere, right?
It's easier to see all the bad stuff that's happened because we can remember it more easily. The good stuff comes naturally, so most of the time we don't notice it. We can't all lay down and expect some omnipotent being to do everything for us. As a species who can do things, learn things through mistakes or repetition, we can also help determine how things happen.
I'm not saying that there isn't something bigger than us, but it's my personal belief that you can't ask it to do everything. There has to be pain to enjoy what we have, to treasure who we have around us now, to love.
What brought this on anyway?
Boredom. Chose a topic and wrote about it.
I tend to see god as always there, but very rarely interfering in his design. I see god as the creator of nature, and nature the producer of the bad and good that occur, due to it's laws. Therefore we would be the cruel bastards in my eyes, because taking the law of cause and effect(karma) into consideration, anything and everything that happens to us is our own fault, based on that sharp throny boomerang known as natural law....which can also be a nerf boomerang depending on how you treat others.
-Jacob(since you probably didnt recognize the screen name, heh)
Hahaha. I figured. God as a clockmaker. I've always liked that explanation and it's what I abide by personally and I agree as far as evil being our own in the sense that men harm men but, what would you say about disease, famine, and any of the other natural occurrences that smite humanity everyday?
This is McHale fyi,
Just to throw in my two cents about the mater. People seem to regard God as above the universe, an entity that is either the Creator or at least the origin. Then they also go so far as to regard him as a concious, sentient being, one who either looks at the universe from some extra dimension, and then comes the part where he either plays with it or leaves his clock.
I come from somewhere completely different. I believe God to be a part of the universe, made with it, not the creator origin or anything, simply a part of the universe. Just as light ensues from the electromagnetic force, life ensues from God. Maybe he is sentient or not, however I do not believe God, in whatever form, to have a part in the physical occurences of this world. Perhaps he can alter coincidence given enough faith or need, but he cannot move that book if you ant him to.
Thus, I feel that evil is simply a byproduct of natural instincts for self-preservation, and Godliness is the ultimate pursuit of mankind. Hopefully we are improving, and moving closer to Godliness
Hmmm, God as a unifying force and something to be aspired to. Definitely not a Catholic thought McHale but, deep.
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