I would disagree with it being an argument. If it was, it could only be used to suggest that there is no God. As far as I am concerned, and as you freely admit, it’s a reason for doubt.
Some people, and there are many in current threads, will give you as many answers to the problem as you can handle. It’s because of the fall. It’s because there is a greater good. It’s because there are always problems in a complicated existence. It’s because we are allowed free will and if someone suffers, then it is the price we pay. We need suffering (the kiss of Jesus!) so that we can rise above it. It’s because it’s meaningless when you consider an eternity of heaven.
Well, Habemus, you pays your money and you takes your choice. Take a few. Take them all. They all make sense to the people who espouse them. None of them make any sense to me, but that doesn’t in itself make me an atheist. Maybe none of them make sense to you, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be a Christian.
But it really passes all my understanding that almost all Christians will defend their faith to the bitter end and refuse to admit to any doubt whatsoever. So they will take one of the arguments I mentioned, or any other that suits, nail it to the mast and declare it to be what they believe come what may. How many times have you seen the phrase: ‘I don’t know’ in this forum? How many times have you seen: ‘I am not sure’?
I’ve been around the block to know a fair amount about the human condition and I know that people always have doubt, whatever they profess and however strongly they profess it. Nothing is as certain as we’d like to think. Doubt is good for the soul. It forces you to address questions that might have otherwise been blindly accepted. So you are no different to anyone else.
But far be it from me to encourage it. I will give you all the reasons why I personally think the arguments are weak, but I can’t tell you what you should think. Just concentrate on the things that you are sure about and accept that some things are beyond human understanding.
And the ultimate irony…an atheist quoting scripture to help out a Christian: Job 11:7-12
Hey Bradski.
Alright. Let’s see if I can spin this sad sad story of an iffy God who seems(?) to be forgetting that some of us are hurting down here on a daily.
Look at God a minute. Then look at us. Now God’s been hanging out in a rezoning project of His own making for all eternity non-time. And we’ve been firing like bullets through a very temporary window of time that seems really important to us, but actually isn’t.
Let’s look at us and tip our head just ever so slightly and see if things look the same way. I’m going to tell you something deep and plain about my life to show the drop-off point.
Now when I was young I had a girl who loved me. She loved me so much she died for me. And that’s helped to make my life a living hell. To give you a taste. Just a taste of this just live knowing that without you, a perfectly fantastic person would still be around. The pain of it never leaves. It never flows far. It never stops.
But if it hadn’t happened? If my girl had lived and none of it had happened? She’d have lived a normal life. I would’ve married her maybe. We’d be sitting with maybe some kids at this point. And life would be in full swing.
But so what? As an atheist, what difference does it make to you whether I’m single or married? Whether my girl died in a way I’ll never forget. Or whether my girl lived until she was older and died of a more
natural cause?
What difference does it make to you if she’s forever immortalized in my mind as young and perfect? Or got to break through into the times of ancient age where her death would just be routine? I mean maybe by then our love might’ve faded. Or maybe she’d have lost that spark that made her such a charm to be with. Or maybe I’d still have become an alcoholic and made her life hell instead and ended up breaking her myself. Or maybe ?
So is God a villain for not coming down and standing strong to defend her when He should have? Maybe. Maybe. (Really. Don’t get me started here.) Or maybe that was my job? Instead of passing on that and drinking instead?
And since when did God promise us anything other than death? And since when was life so worth living that dragging ourselves through each and every day should move God to give us any kind of guarantee?
I mean are we really arguing here that we’re owed some perfect measure of temporary? If death wasn’t on the table in general? Then yes. Every death would be a terrible thing to handle. And the younger, maybe the worse for it. But if we’re all expecting our end from day one what difference does it really make to die young or old? To die with the minute hand on the 5 instead of the 11? The feeling of death itself’s about relative. The pain and fear of that moment can depend a bit, sure. But you end in the same state. It’s over and done in the same way. So why would we sit here and figure that death of a child by chocking on food’s any less horrible than him being done in by the local screw-ball?
I mean why should we expect God to jump all over the earth saying, “No. That kind of death’s not allowed! Children can only die from drowning, disease, or falling down the stairs!”
Guys look. We sit here in a place where we hate seeing where we’re headed. And where we think our life’s really important. But God’s on the other side of the finish line. He’s aware that our life’s just a 5 second action. So why should one type of death really move Him around instead of another? He’s ready to catch our fall regardless of which dive we make.
Or something.
Peace Bradski. You’re a good sort. Give me fair thoughts on this one.
-Trident
