Did God Create the Best Possible Universe?

[tonyrey]

God thinks very highly of himself, you kind of expect that any worthless crumb that he will give away, he expects eternal praises for.

People often attribute their own vices to others, such as thinking highly of their own opinions.

I’ll take your compliment, but it doesn’t further the discussion. Personally, I think God’s gift of life to me is actually not a gift according to how most people with 2 cents of good faith would define “gift”. I actually think that you ought not to go to jail for a distant cousin of yours who commits a serious crime, likewise I see no reason for God to plunge me in a filthy bowl with “original sin” written on it at the time of my conception because he doesn’t understand that i am not Adam, do not know him and had no say in his personal choice of disobeying God once (slight overreaction BTW). Call that what you like, i could not care less.

We couldn’t care less about irrational **opinions **about the Creator who has given us everything. Crude vulgarity reveals nothing more than filial ingratitude and lack of appreciation of our freedom to choose what to believe and how to live, of taking everything for granted and expecting to have everything for nothing. It doesn’t require much intelligence to criticise but to create a universe is a vastly different proposition…

 

[tonyrey]

• It is never in our interest to ignore, despise, harm or neglect others and live for ourselves.*

Human fallibility doesn’t alter the fact that it is never in our interest to ignore, despise, harm or neglect others and live for ourselves. The right to defend others or ourselves from unjust attacks doesn’t mean we should hate our enemies even if we are compelled to kill them.

 

[soulfree]

People often attribute their own vices to others, such as thinking highly of their own opinions.

We couldn’t care less about irrational **opinions **about the Creator who has given us everything. Crude vulgarity reveals nothing more than filial ingratitude and lack of appreciation of our freedom to choose what to believe and how to live, of taking everything for granted and expecting to have everything for nothing. It doesn’t require much intelligence to criticise but to create a universe is a vastly different proposition…

If you think God is all that, and that this universe with its tragedies and almost endless human suffering is the greatest possible universe, that God can do no wrong, that everything he does is magic and perfect, you have no business in this thread. Rehashing that God gave us everything does not make it so, saying that God is infinitely just does not make him so. Just rehashing the old tired stuff you memorized years ago doesn’t achieve anything. Look up “obsequious” and “servile”, then look in a mirror and repeat those words over and over. With your “filial ingratitude”, you do sound like a one-track mind, Tony. A broken record. Try and think more, parrot less.

 

[Aloysium]

. . . . Rehashing that God gave us everything does not make it so, saying that God is infinitely just does not make him so. Just rehashing the old tired stuff you memorized years ago doesn’t achieve anything. . . Try and think more, parrot less.

Life here is suffering.

• Consumerism’s solution is the distraction provided by things.
• Totalitarianism gives false hope in a perfect world unfettered by human freedom.
  Religions offer transcendence
• Buddhism, a way out.
• Hinduism is as good as your Guru.
• Catholicism, God’s Church, lead us into life through love

There is no greater suffering than a lack of love in one’s life; and, there is no suffering that love does not make easy to bear.

servitude to what has been revealed is to walk in truth
but, it can be difficult to understand the reality of a loving God given what you witness

no one would disagree with your observations about this world
you have reconciled the issue by dismissing the positive
“God is good, this is evil” is difficult conceptualize,
easier if one thinks “this is evil and God has some major faults”
or “there is no God” - this will ultimately lead to “there is no evil, it is all about power”

The problem lies in what you “memorized years ago” and never really thought out.

A few points you may wish to consider, if you want to “think more” on this:
Humanity is as one body. That is why we think in ways that are communicable - words, images - ideas.
That is the why and how this conversation is happening.
We are all manifestations of what constitutes humanity.
Humanity itself broke up and splintered when it (we) chose ourselves over God.
God is Love and the glue that holds us together was discarded in that choice - your choice and my choice in our essential humanity.
So, here we are arguing and fighting in this world - self vs other, everywhere.
It is pretty clear that all the suffering in the world goes back to a lack of love.

I could go on but this is already too long, and if it is just to be seen as an obsequious parrot, there’s little point doing so. Its to the point and terse, hopefully not sounding condescending. Take it as you wish, just trying to help.

 

[tonyrey]

If you think God is all that, and that this universe with its tragedies and almost endless human suffering is the greatest possible universe, that God can do no wrong, that everything he does is magic and perfect, you have no business in this thread.

No one has ever produced a feasible blueprint of a superior universe. Any presumptuous wiseacre can suggest piecemeal improvements to the existing system but to design and create just one planet with interdependent living organisms and independent rational beings requires an amount of intelligence, knowledge and originality far beyond the limitations of any person who has ever lived on this earth.

Rehashing that God gave us everything does not make it so, saying that God is infinitely just does not make him so. Just rehashing the old tired stuff you memorized years ago doesn’t achieve anything.

Look up “obsequious” and “servile”, then look in a mirror and repeat those words over and over. With your “filial ingratitude”, you do sound like a one-track mind, Tony. A broken record. Try and think more, parrot less.

Tedious, fatuous repetitions of ad hominems are no more than a substitute for an attempt to produce a rational objection to the belief that God created the best possible universe. Scepticism is not only self-contradictory in its reliance on the power of reason but also self-destructive in its rejection of the immense value of life. A consistent pessimist would put a swift end to it all instead of wasting time and energy attacking the beliefs of “obsequious”, “servile” Catholics with “a one-track mind” who imagine being alive is a precious gift instead of an appalling sequence of tragedies. It just goes to show that those who lack appreciation and creativity resort to negativity and futile attempts to destroy the faith of others for want of anything better to do.

 

[Achilles6129]

If God has perfect foreknowledge, why did God the Son pray to the God the Father “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”
Matthew 26:39
Luke 22:42

Because God the Son did not have perfect foreknowledge, as is shown elsewhere in Scripture:

“36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,** nor the Son**,[f] but only the Father.” Mt. 24:36 (NIV)

 

[Achilles6129]

The best analogy for this is marriage.
Two people united in marriage know from the beginning their partner will hurt them (for better or worse). It happens to everyone. Despite that foreknowledge, because they love, they give. Its the nature of love to give, to pour one’s self out completely.

What I’m trying to point out is, when you parse what God is capable of, you deny his nature. God is love. He creates. It is presumptive and nonsensical to say that he could have done better. He offers us himself in eternal happiness. What else is there?

On your 50th wedding anniversary, ask your spouse why she didn’t do better at loving you, when he/she has offered her whole life as a gift. It’s an ingratitude of hellish proportions.

I think you’re misunderstanding what I’m trying to say, or maybe I’m misunderstanding you. Regardless, there’s a misunderstanding here. I’m saying that God could have in fact created a better world in the sense that he could have created a world where a greater percentage of creatures freely choose to obey his commands. I offered heaven as an example. However, I then said that it’s not at all certain (and, as a matter of fact, I think it’s false) that God would be required by his goodness to create a world where he foreknows that most people will freely choose to obey his commands or where Adam/Eve freely choose not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good/evil.

My entire premise in this discussion has been that it does not follow that the actions of free creatures affect the goodness of God. Thus, God can create whatever world he chooses (even one in which everyone rebels against his commands) and he is just as good no matter what.

 

[Achilles6129]

The a priori that God is just, good and perfect is inherently problematic. It all boils down to: God can do no wrong.

What, exactly, is wrong with that? I said earlier that for the purposes of this thread I would be willing to accept a definition of good/evil based upon logic, since God would obviously be logic itself. Therefore, I would invite you to prove to me through logic that God is evil.

You have to twist “justice”, “love” and “perfection” to the point where they are no longer recognizable to apply these attributes to God.

Not at all. Like I said, it all has to be based off of truth and logic, since obviously God would possess both of this attributes.

If you’re worried about justice, send impenitent souls to a temporary “place” of suffering and expiation, then let them cease to exist. Would 5 billion years of intense suffering for the likes of Hitler, then annihilation, satisfy you?

That depends - do you think that would be justice above eternal torture in hell?

What does “undo” mean in the context that you use it? I hope it’s not the confounded “to bring a greater good” nonsense?

No, it means to purge something completely and cause it to “un-happen” so to speak. The doctrine of forgiveness of sins, for example, is based on the idea that God can undo actions. I’m saying that this is the solution to the problem of evil.

 

[soulfree]

No one has ever produced a feasible blueprint of a superior universe. Any presumptuous wiseacre can suggest piecemeal improvements to the existing system but to design and create just one planet with interdependent living organisms and independent rational beings requires an amount of intelligence, knowledge and originality far beyond the limitations of any person who has ever lived on this earth.

Tedious, fatuous repetitions of ad hominems are no more than a substitute for an attempt to produce a rational objection to the belief that God created the best possible universe. Scepticism is not only self-contradictory in its reliance on the power of reason but also self-destructive in its rejection of the immense value of life. A consistent pessimist would put a swift end to it all instead of wasting time and energy attacking the beliefs of “obsequious”, “servile” Catholics with “a one-track mind” who imagine being alive is a precious gift instead of an appalling sequence of tragedies. It just goes to show that those who lack appreciation and creativity resort to negativity and futile attempts to destroy the faith of others for want of anything better to do.

Oh, a veiled reference to suicide? Congratulations. So, essentially I can’t criticize a master baker’s chocolate cake because I can’t produce a better one myself? I’m sure there is a crown of glory awaiting you in Heaven for being such a great defender of God. Why don’t you stick to “This world is awesome, God is awesome, what more could anyone possibly ask for?” threads? I hope the two question marks in one sentence do not overly confuse you, Tony. Whatever God may be trying to say, however you want to gild the cage, plant flowers around a gulag, however lovey dovey God may be painted as (in the prodigal son’s parable for instance), he has the subtlety and finesse of an uneducated red neck who goes on one of those American day shows (Jerry Springer, Maury etc.), saying,“It’s my way or the highway”. The tragedies, chaos, human suffering beyond belief, you see as part of a greater plan of love and care, I see indifference, dolorism and God letting the chips fall where they may. Particular cases of great human suffering have struck me: David Reimer, whose tragic life ended in suicide, Natascha Kampusch held captive by a deranged man for years and years etc. etc. God could have placed someone at the exact moment when Natascha Kampusch was abducted. Because of God’s peculiar makeup, her suffering did not cause him to try and shorten her ordeal or stop it altogether. have you ever thought how dumb it is that God snatches people who love life and would give anything to live and give life, keep sustaining those who don’t? Would you have accused Jeremiah of filial ingratitude when he cursed his own life and conception? I WILL criticize God’s chocolate cake because if you have two cells of judgement and lucidity to rub together, you see that it leaves MUCH to be desired. Eternal hell shows God’s character best I think. Obedience is more important than his creatures’ welfare and happiness. Jesus’ exaltation>the unnecessary suffering, temporal and/or eternal, of billions of people. God, the quintessential “don’t you know who I am?”. “To bring a greater good”, “God is love, therefore…”, the two filters that keep reality from hitting you, Tony.

 

[soulfree]

Achilles6129,
God, in certain circles, enjoys a perfectly guarded immunity. I want to temporarily remove that immunity and look at facts. God is big on justice, we all get that. If I was the creator, heck if I begot children, if i knew that out of the 100 (for argument’s sake, let’s say I’m king David to make this plausible), 30 would not go with my plan and would be free thinkers, or whatever you want to call them. If I knew that by virtue of my internal makeup, I would have no choice but to punish them in such a way that they would forever be miserable, in agony, in utter despair, what I’M SAYING IS IF I HAVE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF THIS, I MAY VERY WELL CHOOSE MY POTENTIAL OFFSPRING’S FUTURE HAPPINESS OVER MY OVERLY HARSH JUSTICE. A guy with Latourette may not be able to refrain from coprolalia, God may not be able to do anything but keep in eternal misery an impenitent soul. So why create it, why allow it to be born for eternal tragedy. You will talk of personal choice, God’s grace and whatnot, WHAT I’M SAYING IS THAT YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT IN THE END SOULS, MANY SOULS WILL BE LOST. Why if you’re perfectly good and loving would you even do that? Give a child a grenade, tell him not to touch it, when it blows up tell him that none of this would have happened if he had not disobeyed. His 3rd degree burns all over his body are his own making. Better not give him the grenade. Anyone reasonable would reach that conclusion. But God does not.

 

[Cimachol]

It’s rather i see a chasm between how God is painted as and how God really is. “Inner pain” is what it’s about, though, can’t deny that. It’s dumb to put someone thru something which will make him miserable, and expect gratitude and permanent tear-filled praises. My father and mother have at least human ignorance on their side. They couldn’t foreknow, unlike God, that I was going to be a tormented loser with despair as a semi permanent companion.

While I would never presume to compare my pain to anyone else’s, I will say that depression is something I’ve struggled with throughout my love, and for a long time it seemed to play a role in keeping me away from God.

I’ve come to see it differently – for example, I’ve come to find that my depression wasn’t keeping me away from God so much as my keeping away from God was feeding my depression. I also believe that in some way my depression will have played a role in my own salvation and perhaps that of others with whom I might interact, assuming that in the end I am allowed into heaven. Maybe my tendency toward pride could only be shaken by brokenness. Maybe I needed a taste of Hell here on earth to have adequate concern about going there permanently.

God allows pain in the universe not because He doesn’t care, but because it is somehow part of His plan for our salvation.

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” - Leon Bloy

 

[soulfree]

While I would never presume to compare my pain to anyone else’s, I will say that depression is something I’ve struggled with throughout my love, and for a long time it seemed to play a role in keeping me away from God.

I’ve come to see it differently – for example, I’ve come to find that my depression wasn’t keeping me away from God so much as my keeping away from God was feeding my depression. I also believe that in some way my depression will have played a role in my own salvation and perhaps that of others with whom I might interact, assuming that in the end I am allowed into heaven. Maybe my tendency toward pride could only be shaken by brokenness. Maybe I needed a taste of Hell here on earth to have adequate concern about going there permanently.

God allows pain in the universe not because He doesn’t care, but because it is somehow part of His plan for our salvation.

“The only real sadness, the only real failure, the only great tragedy in life, is not to become a saint.” - Leon Bloy

It’s something i’ve never understood of God. Matthew 7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! " Growing up as an anxious, self-conscious and socially inept kid, with hypersensitivity to boot (thank you, God), the disarray and loneliness and despair was almost unbearable. Anyhow, it’s no fun being me. Never a bright period where the future looked promising, where I realized my potential could get me somewhere. Unskilled labour for this moron by eternal decree from my daddy-in-the-sky-who-loves-me-more-than-words-can-ever-express. So anyhow, whatever has kept me from a real life well lived, anxiety, hypersensitivity, learning disability etc. etc. all of that fuking sit is located in my brain. If I went to my biological father, tell him about my life-long struggles and ask him to fix my brain so I can be a normal human being with som epotential, he would if he could. Now, from the aforementioned scripture, it’s obvious God thinks very highly of himself, thinking he’s so much better than those lousy human beings, yet the good things that i’ve asked from my daddy in the sky, he has denied them. My Heavenly daddy is so wonderful: he can heal me of what has plagued me all my life but he does not want to. Reminds me of a song from Johnny Cash: “I knew that snake was my own sweet dad”. Contrary to what Matthew 7:11 suggests, expect nothing from God but hardship, vexation, exasperation and silence, and you won’t be disappointed. But God is graceful, though, i can forget about him and his genius plan and system for about 7 hours every day. Praise the Lord. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack in nothing”. How many times does a naive believer need to repeat this lie to believe it? Did David write that before or after the Bathsheba “incident”? Uriah

Tony has an answer ready for me: God is neither Santa nor a vending machine. You can’t ask anything from God apart pain and suffering without being made to feel bad. God and his raw deal disguised as God and his unfathomable love for his creatures. Nothing is as oppressive as God’s freedom. Nothing so hateful as his love. Nothing any more unjust than his justice.

 

[clem456]

Achilles6129,
God, in certain circles, enjoys a perfectly guarded immunity. I want to temporarily remove that immunity and look at facts. God is big on justice, we all get that. If I was the creator, heck if I begot children, if i knew that out of the 100 (for argument’s sake, let’s say I’m king David to make this plausible), 30 would not go with my plan and would be free thinkers, or whatever you want to call them. If I knew that by virtue of my internal makeup, I would have no choice but to punish them in such a way that they would forever be miserable, in agony, in utter despair, what I’M SAYING IS IF I HAVE FOREKNOWLEDGE OF THIS, I MAY VERY WELL CHOOSE MY POTENTIAL OFFSPRING’S FUTURE HAPPINESS OVER MY OVERLY HARSH JUSTICE. A guy with Latourette may not be able to refrain from coprolalia, God may not be able to do anything but keep in eternal misery an impenitent soul. So why create it, why allow it to be born for eternal tragedy. You will talk of personal choice, God’s grace and whatnot, WHAT I’M SAYING IS THAT YOU AND I BOTH KNOW THAT IN THE END SOULS, MANY SOULS WILL BE LOST. Why if you’re perfectly good and loving would you even do that? Give a child a grenade, tell him not to touch it, when it blows up tell him that none of this would have happened if he had not disobeyed. His 3rd degree burns all over his body are his own making. Better not give him the grenade. Anyone reasonable would reach that conclusion. But God does not.

 

[Tomdstone]

Because God the Son did not have perfect foreknowledge, as is shown elsewhere in Scripture:

“36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven,** nor the Son**,[f] but only the Father.” Mt. 24:36 (NIV)

This is a problem because you have some people saying God is omniscient, and that He has perfect knowledge, past, present and future. Now you say that is not true for God the Son.

 

[tonyrey]

This is a problem because you have some people saying God is omniscient, and that He has perfect knowledge, past, present and future. Now you say that is not true for God the Son.

The Son wasn’t omniscient on earth because He chose be a man like us in all things but sin. If He couldn’t do that He wouldn’t be omnipotent!

 

[tonyrey]

Oh, a veiled reference to suicide? Congratulations. So, essentially I can’t criticize a master baker’s chocolate cake because I can’t produce a better one myself? I’m sure there is a crown of glory awaiting you in Heaven for being such a great defender of God. Why don’t you stick to “This world is awesome, God is awesome, what more could anyone possibly ask for?” threads? I hope the two question marks in one sentence do not overly confuse you, Tony. Whatever God may be trying to say, however you want to gild the cage, plant flowers around a gulag, however lovey dovey God may be painted as (in the prodigal son’s parable for instance), he has the subtlety and finesse of an uneducated red neck who goes on one of those American day shows (Jerry Springer, Maury etc.), saying,“It’s my way or the highway”. The tragedies, chaos, human suffering beyond belief, you see as part of a greater plan of love and care, I see indifference, dolorism and God letting the chips fall where they may. Particular cases of great human suffering have struck me: David Reimer, whose tragic life ended in suicide, Natascha Kampusch held captive by a deranged man for years and years etc. etc. God could have placed someone at the exact moment when Natascha Kampusch was abducted. Because of God’s peculiar makeup, her suffering did not cause him to try and shorten her ordeal or stop it altogether. have you ever thought how dumb it is that God snatches people who love life and would give anything to live and give life, keep sustaining those who don’t? Would you have accused Jeremiah of filial ingratitude when he cursed his own life and conception? I WILL criticize God’s chocolate cake because if you have two cells of judgement and lucidity to rub together, you see that it leaves MUCH to be desired. Eternal hell shows God’s character best I think. Obedience is more important than his creatures’ welfare and happiness. Jesus’ exaltation>the unnecessary suffering, temporal and/or eternal, of billions of people. God, the quintessential “don’t you know who I am?”. “To bring a greater good”, “God is love, therefore…”, the two filters that keep reality from hitting you, Tony.

It is pointless attempting to reason with some one who prefers to insult God rather than have a rational discussion.

 

[soulfree]

It is pointless attempting to reason with some one who prefers to insult God rather than have a rational discussion.

Translation: My “God is good, therefore it’s all good” falls way short, therefore I will direct the attention elsewhere. You trust God because you trust God. “God is good because we couldn’t call him “God” if he weren’t”. “God is surely reliable, because where else could we turn?”. “God’s perfection makes him perfect”. You might impress kindergarteners with those. Your little circular system of Q&A is to the complexity of reality and the depth of human suffering like going to war with a slingshot. Oh wait…

The chocolate cake could have used a tiny amount of additional sugar, a couple of egg whites to make it fluffier. Since you probably block out info that doesn’t agree with your “God is perfect and this world rocks” prejudice, the previous sentence had to do with my brilliant master baker’s chocolate cake, I will allow myself to say it falls short if I think it does fall short. God has created a court of obsequious jesters around him, the universe may be the best possible for God, but not for the stupid jesters who see nobility and selflessness where there is none. We were created to serve God. If I create a child to be my servant and obey my every command, then I’m not selfless, I’m selfsih. It’s all about me. Forget about God being a daddy, abba, he’s a despot who does not tolerate disobedience. God is a despot, relatively or absolutely indifferent to human suffering, who get inebriated with his “justice” when he considers the eternal fates of the damned. “We all derserve hell”. Rather, God deserves hell for placing humankind in a position where, by simple virtue of existing, not having made yet a rational decision for or against His Highness, it supposedly deserves hell. Parody of justice, Tony. You love God, want to see him for eternity, great, do just that, I want oblivion, ideally I want what Jeremiah cried out for when life was not so great. Propaganda is trying to believe a lie (God is good) when reality screams otherwise. When reality knocks on your door, i understand you fear your memorized Q&A about God will not hold out. I say your fear is warranted.

PS I’m “Wonderfully and fearfully made” by God, but i have occasional dyslexia. I guess “dyslexia” falls under “wonderfully made” and “fearfully made”. As in all things pertaining to God, the reality is always more depressing than the pompous, poetic and meaningless verbiage, “wonderfully and fearfully made”=having a soul. God, why not cut to the chase? Not any harder for God to create a soul than for a bird to sing, or for a llama to spit in your face.

 

[soulfree]

While we’re at it, what is so great about God’s love and goodness if he has no choice but to be good and loving? If such is his nature, through no fault but not merit either of his own, why is it a big deal? God is literally a robot because he cannot do anything but will the best for me, he is just obeying his inner program, just like my dog barks when there’s a knock on the door or wags its tail when its happy? God is good, but he couldn’t be anything else even if he wanted to. God is patient, he doesn’t have to expend any energy to be like that, no conscious decision to be patient when he could not be, God is bound by his nature. To God goodness is as natural as spitting is to a llama. “God loves me, he’s so good”. He cannot not love you even if he wanted to, he has no choice but to love you. God is not responsible for his existence, either. He could have been a meanie, sending people to eternal misery for deigning not to like his higness. We got very lucky, i guess.

 

[Cimachol]

It’s something i’ve never understood of God. Matthew 7:11 "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! " Growing up as an anxious, self-conscious and socially inept kid, with hypersensitivity to boot (thank you, God), the disarray and loneliness and despair was almost unbearable. Anyhow, it’s no fun being me. Never a bright period where the future looked promising, where I realized my potential could get me somewhere. Unskilled labour for this moron by eternal decree from my daddy-in-the-sky-who-loves-me-more-than-words-can-ever-express. So anyhow, whatever has kept me from a real life well lived, anxiety, hypersensitivity, learning disability etc. etc. all of that fuking sit is located in my brain. If I went to my biological father, tell him about my life-long struggles and ask him to fix my brain so I can be a normal human being with som epotential, he would if he could. Now, from the aforementioned scripture, it’s obvious God thinks very highly of himself, thinking he’s so much better than those lousy human beings, yet the good things that i’ve asked from my daddy in the sky, he has denied them. My Heavenly daddy is so wonderful: he can heal me of what has plagued me all my life but he does not want to. Reminds me of a song from Johnny Cash: “I knew that snake was my own sweet dad”. Contrary to what Matthew 7:11 suggests, expect nothing from God but hardship, vexation, exasperation and silence, and you won’t be disappointed. But God is graceful, though, i can forget about him and his genius plan and system for about 7 hours every day. Praise the Lord. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack in nothing”. How many times does a naive believer need to repeat this lie to believe it? Did David write that before or after the Bathsheba “incident”? Uriah

Tony has an answer ready for me: God is neither Santa nor a vending machine. You can’t ask anything from God apart pain and suffering without being made to feel bad. God and his raw deal disguised as God and his unfathomable love for his creatures. Nothing is as oppressive as God’s freedom. Nothing so hateful as his love. Nothing any more unjust than his justice.

Sometimes it is hard to understand why God doesn’t just give us whatever we ask for, when we ask for it, especially in light of such passages. Clearly Jesus’ earliest followers did not understand him to be saying that, literally, anything they asked for they would get right then and there. They knew that carrying crosses was part of the journey, even sometimes to the point of martyrdom. But still, if God CAN give us anything He wants to and loves us, why doesn’t He just do it?

I don’t have an answer that will clear up your pain and frustration in one fell swoop. God gives some gifts to everyone but doesn’t give everything to anyone, and sometimes those who seem closes to having everything are the most miserable. We aren’t meant to be isolated individuals, and perhaps giving us each unique gifts helps encourage us to work together.

While there is nothing inherently wrong with menial labor, I suspect you are underestimating your potential based on your writing and analytical skills. I don’t agree with your conclusions and I think you could tone down the hostility, but you do communicate clearly and are able to take information and look at what it might mean in another context. Whatever your gifts are, there is good that can be done with them.

I will continue to pray for you. One thing I would suggest is to take your anger and frustration and bring it to God. Go to Church, go before the Blessed Sacrament or the cross or even the top of a mountain and be completely honest with God about what you’re feeling, then spend some time trying to listen. Be respectful, but don’t hold back. At least you’ll be communicating with Him.

 

[Tomdstone]

The Son wasn’t omniscient on earth because He chose be a man like us in all things but sin. If He couldn’t do that He wouldn’t be omnipotent!

Did God the Son have two minds which were not in harmony with each other?