Why does God permit suffering?

Question: How do you spell "God" without an "F"?

LOL THAT was funny! rydinearth you totally walked into that one!

neologist wrote:

Hi Treya.

Wazzup?

Hey neo! Not much going on here. How are you doing?

Free will has become the handy religious excuse for the ills of the world.

Quote:

And you know this is true? How?

This is just the traditional view of God. Show me any religion where God admits responsibility for anything; Show me a God who says, "I regret that I have created a flawed being. I devote myself eternally to correcting my mistake." Nope. Instead (to take most Abrahamic religions as an example) God says, "I created them perfectly. It's their own fault they're flawed. " He never explains how a thing can be created perfect and yet have within it the seeds of imperfection. But one thing is clear. Whatever is wrong with us, he's not taking the slightest responsibility for it. Instead he's placing the blame squarely upon us. It's rather like creating a 2 legged stool and blaming it for not standing up.

Warning: I'm about to get very real, and probably offend some people. I apologize in advance. All I have to do is think for ten seconds about the 911 disaster, for example, and that's enough for me. When I think of the last moments of those poor people, some of whom may have been slow roasted to death, others suffocated by poisonous gases and fumes, others crushed to death beneath tons of rubble, others who had to make the agonizing decision whether to be burned to death or jump thousands of feet to their deaths. If I think about it for even ten seconds, it becomes too much for me to bear. My only thought is, if I were a God, and I knew that sentient beings were suffering to that degree, and I had the power to stop it, I wouldn't even think about it for a second. Yet we're to believe that God allows this kind of suffering every second of every day throughout the world, and does nothing, and yet claims to be the very definition of love. We're also to believe that he has specifically created a place where human beings who live according to the nature HE himself created in them, and who are not fortunate enough to find the correct religion, (ie the vast majority of souls who have ever lived) will be slow roasted alive for all eternity, with no relief and no hope for escape; not for purposes of eventual rehabilitation, but for nothing other than sadistic revenge, which can never be satiated. And yet we're to trust that this being is the author of love itself; that our love is nothing compared to His, that he loves us and has our best interests at heart. How can anyone think about that for 5 seconds without their brain exploding? What hope is there for meaningful dialogue, for appeal to reason, with a mind that can entertain such thoughts as this? And not only so, but with such a degree of certainty as to entertain no room for doubt or dissention whatsoever. It almost seems a waste of time.

It doesn't take much thinking to realize that a "loving" god really doesn't exist. What is more interesting to me is that the bible itself shows the wrath of god more than the love of god, and yet the readers of the bible come out believing in god's love.

I could never understand that!

God didn't create me; my parents did. You know, they had sex.

BTW, neo, did you hear about that woman in Southern California who had children through implants? God created them too!

I'm about to get very real, and probably offend some people. I apologize in advance. All I have to do is think for ten seconds about the 911 disaster, for example, and that's enough for me. When I think of the last moments of those poor people, some of whom may have been slow roasted to death, others suffocated by poisonous gases and fumes, others crushed to death beneath tons of rubble, others who had to make the agonizing decision whether to be burned to death or jump thousands of feet to their deaths. If I think about it for even ten seconds, it becomes too much for me to bear. My only thought is, if I were a God, and I knew that sentient beings were suffering to that degree, and I had the power to stop it, I wouldn't even think about it for a second. Yet we're to believe that God allows this kind of suffering every second of every day throughout the world, and does nothing, and yet claims to be the very definition of love. We're also to believe that he has specifically created a place where human beings who live according to the nature HE himself created in them, and who are not fortunate enough to find the correct religion, (ie the vast majority of souls who have ever lived) will be slow roasted alive for all eternity, with no relief and no hope for escape; not for purposes of eventual rehabilitation, but for nothing other than sadistic revenge, which can never be satiated. And yet we're to trust that this being is the author of love itself; that our love is nothing compared to His, that he loves us and has our best interests at heart. How can anyone think about that for 5 seconds without their brain exploding? What hope is there for meaningful dialogue, for appeal to reason, with a mind that can entertain such thoughts as this? And not only so, but with such a degree of certainty as to entertain no room for doubt or dissention whatsoever. It almost seems a waste of time.

On the eve of Christmas
hatred will vanish
the earth will flourish
war will be gone
and love will be born.

When one offers a glass of water to a thirsty person
It is Christmas
When we clothe a naked person with a gown of love
It is Christmas
When we wipe the tears from weeping eyes
It is Christmas

When the spirit of revenge dies within me
It is Christmas
When in my heart I no longer want to stay apart
It is Christmas
When I am buried in the being of God (which is love)
It is Christmas

God didn't create me; my parents did. You know, they had sex.