How far reaching are God's powers?

[MilesAbbott81]

I'm unconcerned with whether or not a god is to blame for this or that oddity of human nature.

Is that so? That isn't the impression I am getting from the rest of your response.

These are the sorts of things I was wondering.

If we can't be meaningfully good or evil, then how can we deserve anything?  How do we learn, and what use would learning be?  What evil we commit, and what is being punished in others through us?

None of this is cogent outside of a meaningful ability to do or be good or evil.  

I never said we can't be meaningfully good or evil. I do say that we can't be meaningfully good except by God's grace, and that we can't help but be evil due to our nature, also except by His grace.

Consider this: when you go to school, does the teacher treat you fairly, or according to your need, assuming he or she is a decent teacher? Likely not fairly, but according to your need, however it needs to be in order for you to learn. So God does the same. He is our teacher, and He tests us rigorously. It's not fun and it's not "fair," but it works.

Your problem, I believe, isn't with the process but with the nullification of your agency. Obviously one can learn not to do evil from suffering the consequences of that evil, whether it's in his nature or not to do it. Who says God doesn't provide grace once you've learned your lesson? The problem is that sinners are stubborn, and often must be taught the same lesson many times before it sinks in.

Another problem is that we wish to be good, sometimes more than anything, above all else. And while it seems a lofty goal, it simply isn't possible. You can't become good, you can only walk in God's righteousness once you've been given the grace. And that grace can't be earned.

If a toaster is made to toast that explains it's toasting.  Here again I'm unconcerned with gods, so whatever greater good they might be able to do is irrelevant to me and to human beings, who are not capable of doing any meaningful good.

  

True, insofar as you remain unconcerned, if I'm understanding you correctly. It should be relevant, however, because one should always be concerned with the greater good. That's called loving your neighbor as yourself.

It doesn't seem unfair, it is unfair - but so what.  The universe may not be fair - and in point of fact, it's your contention that a god is unfair in precisely this way.  Fairness, then, is no moral rule.

(god can't be bad - either god is not god, or being unfair is not bad)

As ever, I'm interested in the human angle.  How can I take a gods intention into account and exonerate it of sin?  Am I in the possession of a competent moral agency and an amoral commitment to some unspecified fairness...but simultaneously unequipped with any free will to use it?   

Is this an accurate description of your own experience?  Do you find yourself cognizant of the difference between good and evil, in a fair manner, but unable to choose anything other than evil?

Well, perhaps I never should have said that it's unfair to a degree. I'm not sure I like the word "fair," because life only seems unfair from the carnal perspective. When one takes into account that God wipes away every tear in the end, then there will be no complaints about how "unfair" things have seemed. The suffering passes away, eventually.

If God having all the power is unfair, and us having no choice unfair, then we must realize it's unfair for a good reason.

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*Reads reply*

Okay, so some bad things happening to 'Not bad people' is/are becuase of "Sin".

Okay, cool.

Please explain what this 'Sin' is. Its nature. Its form. Its method of efficacy. How do we detect its passing through reality?

I mean... 'It' (This sin) has to pass from place to place and/or person to person or even from time&place to diffrent time and place, right?

How do we detect it moving about in reality? Just pointing to a tumour and going 'That's sin' doesn't work. The cancer is the result of the sin. The after effect. How do we detect the sin as it begins to interact with the body and before it causes the cancer?

*Note: You'll be aware that I'm not at the moment asking you to expand or elaborate on your previous claims of 'Omnipotence'. I'd rather keep things uncluttred for the moment.

Cheers.

Not at work.

The definition of sin is simple. Read the ten commandments, or the two commandments Jesus condensed them into (Love God, love your neighbor as yourself). Sin is the opposite of those.

If you want to prevent cancer, then don't sin.