No you misunderstood me.
I'm not proposing that god make us love him.
I'm saying that the parent is attached to their child, not to make the child love them, but to keep them safe and protect them. If god is all-powerful and all-knowing then all he'd have to do is click his fingers to avert at least some of the evil in the world, or better yet, he should have created it in the beginning with less evil. Things like natural disasters and disease - what reason did god have to create them? If he was all-knowing then he knew they were going to come, and if he was all-powerful then he could remove them, but what does he do? He leaves them here for us to deal with.
God could easily get rid of evil in the world while still giving us the freedom to choose between loving him or not.
If a parent was all-powerful and all-knowing and saw that their child was going to come face-to-face with drugs one day, I'm sure they'd make the drugs disappear, but this doesn't mean their child will love them. Or imagine if their child was going to get hit by a car, if the parent could do anything about it, such as stopping the car before it hit the child, then I bet almost everyone would do it.
I would even bet that there would be at least a few parents who would switch spots with their child in the case of a car accident fatality. If they could go back to the time when it happened, they'd push the child out of the way, only to die. They'd do it because they had the power to do so. The only reason it didn't actually happen was that they weren't all-knowing.
Now god is meant to be all-knowing. He's meant to be all-powerful too. Yet with all his power and foresight he doesn't move a finger when it comes to human suffering. Or suppose he did already, only we didn't see it. There's still a hell of a lot of evil in the world; if god's all-powerful, why doesn't he get rid of that too?
What god might do to get rid of evil has no bearing on whether he makes us love him or not. He can still save the world while letting us retain our freedom.
Some might say he already saved the world with jesus, so why should he get rid of the evil present now? If that's true, then god's just sadistic; a cruel overlord who enjoys watching his creation suffer.
As I said earlier, Epicurus sums it up nicely:
"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?"
I'm not proposing that god make us love him.
I'm saying that the parent is attached to their child, not to make the child love them, but to keep them safe and protect them. If god is all-powerful and all-knowing then all he'd have to do is click his fingers to avert at least some of the evil in the world, or better yet, he should have created it in the beginning with less evil. Things like natural disasters and disease - what reason did god have to create them? If he was all-knowing then he knew they were going to come, and if he was all-powerful then he could remove them, but what does he do? He leaves them here for us to deal with.
God could easily get rid of evil in the world while still giving us the freedom to choose between loving him or not.
If a parent was all-powerful and all-knowing and saw that their child was going to come face-to-face with drugs one day, I'm sure they'd make the drugs disappear, but this doesn't mean their child will love them. Or imagine if their child was going to get hit by a car, if the parent could do anything about it, such as stopping the car before it hit the child, then I bet almost everyone would do it.
I would even bet that there would be at least a few parents who would switch spots with their child in the case of a car accident fatality. If they could go back to the time when it happened, they'd push the child out of the way, only to die. They'd do it because they had the power to do so. The only reason it didn't actually happen was that they weren't all-knowing.
Now god is meant to be all-knowing. He's meant to be all-powerful too. Yet with all his power and foresight he doesn't move a finger when it comes to human suffering. Or suppose he did already, only we didn't see it. There's still a hell of a lot of evil in the world; if god's all-powerful, why doesn't he get rid of that too?
What god might do to get rid of evil has no bearing on whether he makes us love him or not. He can still save the world while letting us retain our freedom.
Some might say he already saved the world with jesus, so why should he get rid of the evil present now? If that's true, then god's just sadistic; a cruel overlord who enjoys watching his creation suffer.
As I said earlier, Epicurus sums it up nicely:
"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?"
"I think that God in creating Man somewhat overestimated his ability." Oscar Wilde
My Blog | Why I Don't Believe in God
My Blog | Why I Don't Believe in God
