Question about God and what He thinks about certain topics

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tmkdva1

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I wasn’t sure where to send my question. I’m new at Catholic Answers. I listen to to your show on Real Presence Radio 970. I sponsor a 26 year old male at RCIA and he asked me some difficult questions. If his is the wrong way to get questions answered please let me know. Thank you
This are the questions.
  1. Do you ever think God feels guilty about the bad things happening on earth? Like he feels somehow responsible for it for creating life in the first place?
  2. For not maintaining a more transparent presence here on earth? Not exercising his powers to halt all evil.
    3.If society evolves into a utopia i think it’d be worth it, all the pain and suffering. But it looks like the environment will be depleted before we reach that point. It’s just insane we produce enough food for 10 billion people yet there are so many people going hungry just because they have nothing to give in return. The main goal of socialism is the equitable distribution of goods. For everyone. I don’t see anything wrong with that.
 
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Hi, welcome to CAF.

First of all you’re in the Site Feedback section, which is where people post threads about features on the forum not working or needing improvement. Like “There is a pop-up blocking my menus when I view the site on my Android” or “The moderation policy for trolls is not working”, that sort of thing.

If you want to ask questions about God, you probably should be posting in Apologetics > Philosophy or Moral Theology.
Maybe someone with admin powers will kindly move your thread.

Second, this forum right now has nothing to do with the Catholic Answers radio show. What you see on this forum is a bunch of random Catholic laypeople and one or two priests/ religious/ deacons, trying to answer questions and have discussions. (There are also some non-Catholics who hang around.) We do not work for Catholic Answers, we don’t appear on the radio shows and we aren’t affiliated with them. We just drop in and post on the forums.

Third, with respect to your question, God doesn’t feel guilt. Guilt is a human emotion associated with failure or sin. God doesn’t fail, doesn’t sin, doesn’t miss the mark of being perfect ever, and therefore he could not possibly experience guilt.

The question of why God doesn’t just stop all evil and cure all the kids with cancer and so forth has been discussed dozens of times on here. Maybe someone else can point you to a pertinent thread or make the best arguments for why God doesn’t do that (such discussion is not really my forte).

I’m not really sure what socialism has to do with “what God thinks”. It’s kind of a separate topic. God doesn’t endorse political systems. I’m sure if you start a thread about Christian socialism in the Apologetics > Social Justice forum, some people will jump right on it.

I hope this is helpful.
 
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I will add my opinion of your questions and I hope you do not take offence
  1. No God doesn’t feel guilt. It is not his fault that he created a beautiful world for us to live in and people decide to sin by starting wars and murder etc etc .
  2. Evil is caused by people who choose to do wrong, this is not God’s fault and the only way he can stop it is if none of us were born in the first place as unfortunately we are all guilty of sin
  3. While I agree that there are people going hungry and others have plenty to eat i do not think equitable distribution is the right way to go …and as for your statement of it being beacuse of people not having anything to give in return is a complete fallacy.
    One day my Fiance cleaned an elderly neighbours gutters and chimney he didn’t expect anything in return, the next day the elderly guy came over with the most amazing chocolate cake I’ve ever tasted.
    Everyone has something they can offer even those with no money can donate there time or there skills Have a look at time banks
 
St Pio, a great modern saint, said that this world is like a spiritual training ground. That seems a very helpful analogy and I’d add that we are using live ammo. Just to make it seem realistic.

In general terms We thank God for all the good things in life and blame you know who and ourselves for all the bad stuff. If you bear that in mind you can’t go far wrong in my opinion.
God bless.
 
We are crated with free will. If God were to have ‘more of a presence exercising power’ as you put it on earth then we would be compelled to always do good and would not be truly free. Remember Jesus said ‘my kingdom is not of this world’. Having said that, the Lord is truly present in the Eucharist for those who seek him.
 
First, some essays:

On the Nature of God


and on the Problem of Evil


I’d suggest a couple of books:

“Theology and Sanity” by Frank Sheed and Peter Kreeft “Practical Theology”

To leave behind our human idea that God is somehow a human with superpowers is difficult. The nature of God is that He is perfect. He could not feel “guilt” any more than He could lie.
 
I agree that God does not feel “guilt” per se, because He is not responsible for our transgressions, but He does feel regret and sorrow:
The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” Genesis 6:5-7
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Regarding “not maintaining a more transparent presence on earth”, ever since Jesus walked the earth, He has had a mostly hands-off policy regarding us. We are free to sink or swim, do good or do evil, on our own. God values our faith very much, and our faith is more valuable when we don’t see, and yet still believe. (John 20:29)
 
tmkdva1 said:
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  1. a) Do you ever think God feels guilty about the bad things happening on earth? – No.
    b) Like he feels somehow responsible for it for creating life in the first place? – He is responsible for giving free will.
  2. a) For not maintaining a more transparent presence here on earth? – Grace is his presence.
    d) Not exercising his powers to halt all evil? – He allowed it by giving free will.
  3. The main goal of socialism is the equitable distribution of goods. For everyone. Is there anything wrong with that? – There is some error in it, because it lessens some individuals ability to exercise charity, which is a voluntary sacrifice.
 
tmkdva1 said:
Not exercising his powers to halt all evil.
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I don’t know if this will help, and it’s not an answer, but an insight…

God does not merely sit on His throne passively or gleefully watching us suffer.
He became one of us and suffered everything we do, emotional pain and physical pain.
So whatever our hurts are, He did the same thing, and for our salvation…
 
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