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If everyone was perfect there wouldn't be anyone without legs and therefore, no need to learn how to take care of people with no legs......'cause there wouldn't be any.
True enough!
But then we would probably all be a bunch of egomaniacs (not that we aren't already) because we were so perfect... its tough to teach humility when you are perfect to begin with.
But then we would probably all be a bunch of egomaniacs (not that we aren't already) because we were so perfect... its tough to teach humility when you are perfect to begin with.
Not if being humble is part of being perfect. Plus, how much of a superiority complex can you have when everyone else is just as perfect as you?
God wants evil to exist for a time, and then He will abolish it. The riches we will receive by this experience of evil will far outweigh (infinitely) any suffering we go through on this earth.
See, if God hadn't created humans in the first place, we wouldn't have this problem...humans wouldn't need to suffer evil, and people wouldn't feel the need to defend God when evil exists.
Yes I understand, but first we have to learn what humility is before we can be humble. Yet another reason for this life here.
This life is part of the process that will make us perfect: humble, good, patient, caring, and loving.
So dear chap, your argument is that the suffering now is a means to an end....the end being good. So let's see. Let us assume that a doctor amputates a patient's leg, (an "evil"), in order to prevent gangrene from spreading throughout the patient's body which of course we would consider "good". Now the doctor has limited powers so he chooses the lesser evil; since there was no way of saving both the patient's leg and his life. However, this analogy cannot be applied to God and the problem of evil, since God, unlike the doctor, has unlimited powers. In fact, a more accurate analogy is a doctor who first actively infects the leg of his patient (God is the cause of all things), and then decide to amputate his leg when a less severe cure was available (God is all powerful). We would call such a doctor wicked and mad. Why do you call such a god good?
So dear chap, your argument is that the suffering now is a means to an end....the end being good. So let's see. Let us assume that a doctor amputates a patient's leg, (an "evil"), in order to prevent gangrene from spreading throughout the patient's body which of course we would consider "good". Now the doctor has limited powers so he chooses the lesser evil; since there was no way of saving both the patient's leg and his life. However, this analogy cannot be applied to God and the problem of evil, since God, unlike the doctor, has unlimited powers. In fact, a more accurate analogy is a doctor who first actively infects the leg of his patient (God is the cause of all things), and then decide to amputate his leg when a less severe cure was available (God is all powerful). We would call such a doctor wicked and mad. Why do you call such a god good?
its the age old question isnt it-why do bad thing's happen to good people?
its karma and its temporary,some have to suffer more than others but the tables can be easily turned determined bye ones actions in this life
So dear chap, your argument is that the suffering now is a means to an end....the end being good. So let's see. Let us assume that a doctor amputates a patient's leg, (an "evil"), in order to prevent gangrene from spreading throughout the patient's body which of course we would consider "good". Now the doctor has limited powers so he chooses the lesser evil; since there was no way of saving both the patient's leg and his life. However, this analogy cannot be applied to God and the problem of evil, since God, unlike the doctor, has unlimited powers. In fact, a more accurate analogy is a doctor who first actively infects the leg of his patient (God is the cause of all things), and then decide to amputate his leg when a less severe cure was available (God is all powerful). We would call such a doctor wicked and mad. Why do you call such a god good?
Hi Rafius,
On the one hand you say God is unlimited and omniscient, but then on the other hand you compare God to be no better than a doctor who decides to amputate a leg for no reason? The doctor did not create the patient. The doctor is not all-knowing or all-powerful or all-loving. The doctor cannot ensure that a greater good would come out of his actions.
There are many things that finite man cannot and should not do, that God can and does do. God can kill and God can make alive, and He can guarantee and ensure it will result in a greater good for all.
What your analogy above is missing is purpose. There is no good purpose for the doctor to choose as he did, and even if there was such a good purpose, there is no way the doctor could ensure that purpose could be realized, because the doctor is finite and limited (unlike God).
Again I bring up qualities and virtues like endurance and patience. Patience, by its very nature, is not something that can be learned instantly. It takes a lifetime of enduring and overcoming and waiting to learn what patience is. God is teaching us a whole lot of patience in this lifetime.
its the age old question isnt it-why do bad thing's happen to good people?
its karma and its temporary,some have to suffer more than others but the tables can be easily turned determined bye ones actions in this life
Yes - God is teaching us the law of reaping and sowing. He is teaching us there are consequences to actions. Yet another purpose for this life we have here.
A question for everyone:
You're arguing opposites, right? What happens if, when you die (apologies for the thought), nothing of what you are saying with happen, actually does? I can't help thinking that would kind of suck and make this topic of the existance of evil quite useless! Haha!!
Hi Rafius,On the one hand you say God is unlimited and omniscient, but then on the other hand you compare God to be no better than a doctor who decides to amputate a leg for no reason?
Watcha Lego. No mate. I think you might have got that wrong. The doctor doesn't amputate the leg for "nothing". The doctor amputates the gangrenous leg (the evil) to save the patients life (the good end). The doctor can't do anything other than amputate because that is the only option open to him with his limitations. But with an omnipotent deity, it would not be necessary to amputate the leg because the options for the end result of 'good' (saving the patients life) would be limitless.
Sorry old beast, I've just read that again and it doesn't get the message across as I would like. Really not firing on all cylinders this evening after a bummer of a day. I'd better try again later.
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