(May 24, 2017 at 8:36 pm)Aroura Wrote:(May 24, 2017 at 1:53 pm)SteveII Wrote: 1. God is just and I don't know how you got that from anyone's answer. Why do you say "picking them"? In your scenario, you said Jamal rejected God because of his experiences.Bold mine.
2. Why "for his own reasons" again? God could easily have created a universe without suffer. Obviously that was not his goal. Free will and the ability for people to love each other and love him seems to take precedence.
3. There is no logical problem with the concept--let's call that the intellectual Problem of Evil (PoE) (which has largely been abandoned by professional philosophers). You objection is based on empathy/emotions or the emotional PoE. I fully agree and understand that this is one of or the biggest obstacle for an open-minded person to have when considering the God of Christianity. However, I do have a couple of points about a Christian perspective on this issue (adapted from a podcast I listened to):
a. The chief purpose of life is knowledge of God, not happiness.
b. We are in a state of separation/rebellion against God and his purpose-spiritual evil can prevail for a time.
c. This life is but a blip when considering eternity and God has that perspective that we often don't see/remember.
d. The knowledge of God is of immeasurable importance--and far outweighs finite suffering.
Could you kindly back up this assertion with a link or two?
I actually spent some time seeing if this statement had any basis in fact, and only come across many modern references to people STILL discussing it. It is referenced in the "Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy", and I see conferences and meetings scheduled this very year to discuss it. I have yet to find any claim that it has "largely been abandoned".
There are modern philosphers even composing new arguments using the Problem of Evil, and of course, modern apologists right there to form there counter-arguments. This hardly seems largely dismissed
I'm sure he has his own definition of "professional philosophers".
"The last superstition of the human mind is the superstition that religion in itself is a good thing." - Samuel Porter Putnam
