16 Jan '07 14:32>
Originally posted by N8GrandjamYou haven´t answered my questions.
"So you hold to the opinion that for ALL people who suffer some grave affliction, horrific accident, abomination at the hands of another person etc.., and recieve no mercy other than a long and painful death; there exists NO person who sought God's help???"
Never have I alluded to such a preposterous possibility. I know that there are many people who p ...[text shortened]... irst quote... God cannot shape our choices, he made the world, its our pool to piss in.
You´ve talked about God not being able to prevent us from coming to harm as the result of our own actions or the actions of other free thinking individuals.
But, consider someone who is poisoned by Mercury, or another naturally occuring, toxic substance, that gets into their food or water supply somehow. Also consider that this event takes place in a time before this substance was even know, let alone understood. Is the suffering of this person just? If God is benevolent then it cannot possibly be just as this person has done nothing wrong, could never have done anything wrong because they had no idea of the existence of this toxic substance.
Your response makes sense if God is considered to be not benevolent, or does not directly involve himself in the running of this world. I´m agnostic, I don´t know whether or not God exists, but if He does this is the way in which I think He interacts with the universe. He does nothing, or he observes but does not act. He built it, started it up and then left it alone, hence the reason for all the suffering that I´ve highlighted. A truly benevolent God would not, could not, let that suffering happen unjustly because He would then not be truly benevolent. So, the nature of our world suggests to me that a Biblical representation of God is not possible. If you are a Christian then surely your religion requires that you believe God to be infinitely benevolent, because He died for our sins, right? Are you a Christian?