(April 24, 2015 at 2:39 am)robvalue Wrote: Nic: I would agree that if anyone is in control of the world, it is an evil being. No argument there. What I don't get is the belief that there is a much more powerful good being, who sits by and allows the evil one to do this. More "realistically", god is actually evil and has created a little inept minor deity to pretend to be the good one, without the power to stop him, so he'd have an excuse.
But really, what's so bad about Satan? He stood up to god for being a psycopathic monster. Good for him! I know which side of that I'd be on.
Thats all interesting. Think about it this way, what was God's original purpose for the earth? From my reading, it was that he wanted mankind to live in peaceful paradise conditions. He asked one thing, don't eat from this one tree. Its like if someone gave you a home to live in for free and said, "please just leave the one closet alone. Its my closet" Satan came down and convinced Eve that god was lying to her and hiding a big secret. After that god could have just zapped them and started over. But obviously since he didn't, he must have a greater goal in mind. He asked them to trust him implicitly and they couldn't. So it seems to me like god gave them the opportunity to prove if they could really govern themselves. He was voted out of office in a sense. Instead of acting as a bully he decided to devise his own plan that would lead to his eventual original purpose for the earth.
Is god really a psychopathic monster? I think you would have the burden of proving such. God is responsible for the deaths of many men women and children. Is it impossible that it could have been for the greater good of human kind in general? I am not even saying that I am right and you are wrong. I am just saying that it is possible that god's certain seemingly indiscretions could have been justified for a greater good.
Lastly, I do think that if there was a good god up there that he would do what he could now. If god exists that means that he would have existed since the beginning of the universe. (of course this god would be a timeless being prior to creation) But on the scale of time that we can somewhat comprehend, 6000 plus years is nothing for a being that has existed 13 billion plus. And you could say that his word the bible is his attempt to help people now protect themselves from the evil one. Because it all still comes down to humans personal responsibility. Satan cannot control people like robots, but he can trick them and manipulate them. If he exists!
Not trying to preach, I just have a lot that goes through my head.
