(May 26, 2017 at 9:50 am)Little Rik Wrote:I have been a Christian for 28 or so years (a good portion of which I was quite dedicated, church regularly, even dreamed of being a nun).(May 23, 2017 at 7:24 pm)Aroura Wrote: How do theists justify the fact that people have different experiences, not under their own control in anyone's definition of free-will, and maintain that God is Just.
Let's play pretend.
Little Bobby is born in a nice western country. He is never hungry, goes to nice schools, and is taught about the glory of God and Jesus. He marries and has a wonderful, healthy family. 12 grandkids, all joyful.
He has some minor illnesses, but nothing major until whatever ends his wonderfully full life at age 89.
Little Jamal is born in a developing nation to a poor family, he is born with a major disability. He is often hungry, but his family scrapes by. His only education is in a hut by a foreign priest. He's lucky to have it at all.
He also is taught about the glory of Jesus and God his entire life. He goes to church, and is model. He volunteers in his community, shares what little food he has, etc. He maries, has kids, and then his wife is raped and murdered and his children die of starvation in a war dropped on his country that he aboslutely nothing to do with, when he was just trying to live well and get by.
He loses his faith, and dies in a ditch at age 45.
Now, let's even pretend that all of life is a test, and God will give every person a chance, after death, to recognize his glory and accept him. So even nonbelievers, fallen away believers, people of other faiths, etc, all get this sort of second chance to make this supposed choice.
If Jamal is so angry and upset by the fact that God allowed his family to suffer that he disavows God even after meeting him after death, but Bobby gets a straight ticket to heaven because he never had a reason to doubt OR to be upset at God, how is that anything remotely JUST?
If you only would exit the corral of mental dogmas and consider more options then you wouldn't stick to that only option.
Suppose there is God and reincarnation and the karma law and that poor child in the past life kill and rape.
Wouldn't be normal for that child to experience the same terrible feeling that he caused to other people?
Now don't come to quick conclusion once again thinking that I think that that child deserve the punishment.
That is not my job to give punishment nor to think that that child should suffer.
My job is to help that poor child to survive and do well.
At the same time if God exist and the karma exist then is in his hands to run the business to keep
justice in the universe so the people learn and the universe exist.
One more option to consider Aro would be to think that nobody really die.
Energy and consciousness are indestructible so that child will live on for ever after this terrible experience.
I have been a Taoist.
I have been an atheist.
I have looked into and adopted ideas from numerous religions, such as Buddhism.
I have been a compatibilist, a dualist, a determinist, and a naturalist.
Some of these I have discarded, some I may yet discard.
I have considered many ideas and options in my life, and even changed my points of view on more than one occasion.
I am still open to changing my points of view.
It seems to me that I'm not the dogmatic one. Perhaps you are projecting?
“Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where's it going to end?”
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead
― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead