Josh McDowell

[Thor]

Sorry to unleash on you like that, I thought you were just using human suffering as a way to deny God.

Nope. I don't use human suffering to deny "God". Suffering can be useful. If you stick your hand into a fire you will suffer a painful burn. But you'll learn not to stick your hand into a fire. My problem is with needless and pointless suffering. For example, a child gets cancer, suffers horribly for a couple of years, and dies. Needless and pointless. There can be only four reasons a deity would allow such a thing:

1) The deity wants the child to suffer and die. This makes the deity a heartless prick.

2) The deity is powerless to stop the suffering. This means the deity is not omnipotent.

3) The deity doesn't care if the child suffers. This means the deity does not love us.

4) The deity doesn't know the child is suffering. This means the deity is not omniscient.

So which is it?

But in response to my statement: People suffering in the body is not the same as choosing to suffer in the soul.

So now we're talking about the soul "suffering"? Seems to me that you're moving the goalposts.

If you are offered Jesus Christ and deny him, it's not your body that will suffer, it's your soul. Every soul is in a condition to choose, whether the body is healthy or not. Therefore God does not want anyone to suffer, but he gives you the power to decide where you soul will go, either with him or away from him.

And if your deity is truly omniscient, won't he already know whether or not I'll accept him? Then what's the point in allowing me to choose? He already knows (before I'm born!) what my choice will be! So what's the point in creating me when he already knows what will happen?