(July 5, 2015 at 8:53 pm)Mr.wizard Wrote:(July 5, 2015 at 8:42 pm)Randy Carson Wrote: As a Christian, I'm perfectly at peace (though not always content) with the idea that God prevents some rapes, cures some cancer, and answers some prayers even though I know that this means the converse is also true.
As an atheist, you are NOT at peace with this because you want ALL rape, ALL cancer and (presumably) ALL prayer answered. When you don't get your way, you deny that God exists because an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God would be able to prevent pain and suffering. But pain and suffering exist so...
My response is simply that WE are not in a position to know whether God has sufficiently good reasons for allowing pain and suffering, so this is not the proof of God's non-existence that so many think that it is. Further, we have no way of judging the "butterfly effect" of any of these actions whereas God does and is more than capable of bringing the maximum amount of good out of any and all situations - no matter how horrific.
However, I have yet to see anyone propose how a world in which all suffering is eliminated without also eliminating our free will would actually function. Merely saying that "God ought to be able to figure it out" eliminates our need to think deeply, and it also overlooks the very real possibility that the way things are IS what God figured out.
No, my being an atheist has nothing to do with me not getting my way with god, I don't believe god exists at all and that is really why he doesn't stop rape and murder. It is pretty twisted that your the one who actually believes this garbage and your the one who is at peace with a god who lets rape and murder take place.
Isn't it interesting that theists are always portrayed as the "twisted" ones? Well, it is an atheist forum, after all...