Regardless of anything else said here, I find it very obvious that the fictional character of the Bible that we label "God" is a sadist.
He reminds me of a child with a magnifying glass roasting ants, taking pleasure in their pain and death. If a child were to command ants to obey his will, and they continued to do evil by making their colony in a way that differed from the child's wishes, I think you could rightfully say that the child is delusional or has a mental illness. This is the God of the Bible.
Except it goes one step further in this case, because God created the world in which he has precidence over and still condemns us lower beings. Despite his capacity to create people with free will that would simply never do evil in their lives, he created a world of flawed individuals and allows evil thus. It's not technically free will if he creates people that he knew with his infinite foresight would simply never choose evil?
If God creates the world with omniscience, he is ultimately responcible for every single thing that occurs in his creation. That includes needless evil, death, famine, genetic flaws, needless slaughters, and natural evils like hurricane, tsunamis, and the predator/prey lifestyle of all living things.
He reminds me of a child with a magnifying glass roasting ants, taking pleasure in their pain and death. If a child were to command ants to obey his will, and they continued to do evil by making their colony in a way that differed from the child's wishes, I think you could rightfully say that the child is delusional or has a mental illness. This is the God of the Bible.
Except it goes one step further in this case, because God created the world in which he has precidence over and still condemns us lower beings. Despite his capacity to create people with free will that would simply never do evil in their lives, he created a world of flawed individuals and allows evil thus. It's not technically free will if he creates people that he knew with his infinite foresight would simply never choose evil?
If God creates the world with omniscience, he is ultimately responcible for every single thing that occurs in his creation. That includes needless evil, death, famine, genetic flaws, needless slaughters, and natural evils like hurricane, tsunamis, and the predator/prey lifestyle of all living things.
My conclusion is that there is no reason to believe any of the dogmas of traditional theology and, further, that there is no reason to wish that they were true.
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell
Man, in so far as he is not subject to natural forces, is free to work out his own destiny. The responsibility is his, and so is the opportunity.
-Bertrand Russell
