This is a little argument from a friend of mine, Julian. Let me know what you think:<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
GOD AS THE SINNER!<\/p>\n
Substance Of A Fresh Argument<\/p>\n
1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Before the Creation, there was only God.<\/p>\n
2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 There was no sin, sorrow\u00a0or suffering \u2014 neither temporal nor eternal.<\/p>\n
3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God created the world and gave man the \u2018loving<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>gift of free will\u2019.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 By his\u00a0<\/span>omniscience<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>God knew that most of those wrenched into existence without their consent would be unable or unwilling in their human fallibility, to follow his rules.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God did not use his\u00a0<\/span>omnipotence<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>to leave those\u00a0<\/span>\u2018many\u2019<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>uncreated. Nor, did he repair their defects and create them so they would use their \u2018free\u2019 will as the \u2018few\u2019 saved would do.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Nearly all sentient animals lived in fear and struggle for food and water; and then, for countless millions, awful suffering and death. We can be thankful that Hell is not in the Divine Plan for them.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0(Still. can you imagine loving, gentle Jesus watching unaffected as Bambi is being eaten alive?)<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For all those civilized who value love, justice and mercy, forgiveness for infinite cruelty which was\u00a0<\/span>foreknown and easily prevented<\/em>, is simply impossible.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Thank God\u2019 there are a ton of solid reasons for knowing it is all just a nightmare of man\u2019s invention!<\/p>\n *****<\/p>\n Christians\u00a0<\/span>must<\/em>\u00a0<\/span>give an unqualified yes to 1 \u2013 6, must they not? They can only contort about 7 and fulminate against 8.<\/p>\n But, is this not a far easier ground to argue to the average person, and assuredly to the young who are\u00a0already\u00a0more dubious, than trying a conversion on the basis of arguments long met and honed with contrived and practiced obfuscations?<\/p>\n Aren\u2019t the young more likely to see this God, claimed as a\u00a0<\/span>\u201cloving, just and merciful father\u201d, as a cruel mockery of the meanings of those words?<\/p>\n At the very least, is it not a welcome new line of argument,\u00a0<\/span>simple, with self-evident aspects and maybe even interesting?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thanks Julian! Keep ’em coming.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is a little argument from a friend of mine, Julian. Let me know what you think:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,14,16,18],"tags":[531],"class_list":["post-4867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-gods-characteristics","category-morality","category-philosophy-of-religion","category-problem-of-evil-2","tag-gods-characteristics-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4867\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/tippling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}