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God chooses to do nothing to stop children from being tortured to death because we haven't comported ourselves with his wishes?
Here's a joke I heard a long time ago, but since this thread is for pictures, I whipped this up in MS Paint
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God wants to prevent evil, but He put us in charge of the universe and our own lives.
That's not remotely close to what he said.
Let's go with this for a moment ...
Supposedly, we are created in His image. Each of us are a little piece of God. Therefore, He does have care, and concern, for Us, and how we're doing. However, not being a Puppet Master, He also granted Us "Free Will".
He passed down his wishes, and desires, for the ways we might comport ourselves, but also left it up to Us as to whether we would listen, and follow, or not.
We're also free to misinterpret, and even purposefully distort, His teachings. We are the ones left to create/manipulate the conditions in which we live here on Earth.
"Good" and "Evil" do, indeed, become evident through Our choices, and Our actions, because we Know how to "behave", but choose not to.
God is not a dictator nor interventionist. It is Through US that His positive intentions are carried out, or not. We are the physical beings in the physical World. We can choose to accept that Responsibility, or even deny and/or actively work against it.
What happens here is not God's doing, it is Ours.![]()
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God wants to prevent evil, but He put us in charge of the universe and our own lives.
Does this provide you with a satisfactory answer when contemplating, for example, children who have been tortured to death?
God chooses to do nothing to stop children from being tortured to death because we haven't comported ourselves with his wishes?
This is certainly a malevolent, as Epicurus says, (and petty) version of god.
There are better Christian reflections on our human state than that our poor behavior is the cause of all those innocents' griefs.
"And that's where concentration camps come from, children."
or
Jesus lets there be foot-roasting because vague concepts about choice are SUPER important.
Christians might pay lipservice to this sort of theology, but I don't think they subscribe to it, not when it really matters; if they do, I would say they're missing some healthy, important and regular constituents of human nature.
Actually, substituting the particular example of evil I supplied and referring back to Epicurus' un-willingness of god to prevent evil that is the entire basis of this discussion, it is an exact quote. \/![]()
There's just the point: we want to prevent evil too.
And, apparently, we are in charge of the universe (?!) and our own lives. So where does evil come from then?
Nothing apparently. Unless drowning everyone in a flood or turning them to NaCl is "not interfering."It has nothing to do with "concepts about choice", vague or otherwise.
If, after having assigned us authority over Creation, God stepped in and started interfering with every last individual life -- or, for that matter, even one -- what would His word be worth?
You highlighted minor elements and missed the point. Your error is sort of like looking at a new minivan and saying, "It's just like a barn -- they both have doors!"
The "we" that you claim is created in the image of a god.Read the news much? Of what "we" do you speak?
Your sentence answers your question.
Actually, Yes! Rather than asking what God is doing about it, or letting it happen, the question should be what are We doing about it, and trying to prevent it?
It is precisely our own poor behavior that is the cause of all those innocents' griefs. So ... What are We going to do about it?
