Lil Pun -- you ask great questions. unfortunately, i think we have a real hard time discerning the will of an omnescient God in our very temporal minds. we view death as tragedy...i'm not sure God necessarily sees it in the same light. He is eternal...we're very temporal. I think there are huge distinctions behind how we would view an incident and how He would view it...even those who seek to follow Him. theologians have been battling these questions for eons now. if you're really interested, you might pick up The Problem with Pain, by C.S. Lewis. Fantastic book...and I think you might really enjoy it.
Problem With Pain? What is it about, just give me an outline. Do I really ask good question or were you being sarcastic? I hope I am asking good questions because I am eager to learn about this stuff from ALL view points and not just a few. That is why I keep asking more and more questions.
Thanks for the input but all it does is leaves me with more questions. I won't ask anymore on that subject since that is all you can put in for now but I will continue to ask other questions about religion and so on. Thanks again.
I'm not being sarcastic at all!! I'm very serious! These are very weighty questions that need to be asked...ask away...you may not find all the answers from people on these boards, however...i hope that doesn't discourage you from continuing asking...and i hope that whatever deficiency i or another might have in attempting to respond won't turn you away from seeking Christ. here's a review from amazon.com for the Problem of Pain: In "The Problem of Pain" Lewis deciphers a very trying question for the whole of Christianity - why must humanity suffer. Many atheists argue that if God were both omnipotent and good, why does he allow such a world of pain to exist? Lewis answers this question and many others in a style that can easily be compared with a learned scholar, not a layman. While I don't agree with all of Lewis's suppositions in "The Problem of Pain" (namely some of the statements found in the chapter "The Fall of Man" dealing with the origins of the human species), he still by and large offers up a very convincing case deeply rooted in the best Christian doctrine around - The Bible. The problem of pain for the Christian may be summed up rather simply: 1) Man, not God, was and is the creator and instigator of pain through Adam's sin. 2) Pain is a megaphone God uses to speak to us - sharply perhaps, uncomfortably, even unbearably - but if pain did not exist, would the joy and peace of God's love be the same? God uses pain to rouse a deaf world, to let us all know that something is wrong, that we need something beyond ourselves. 3) While life can be exceedingly painful at times, there is always the happiness, the sunrises and the mountain streams, for us to enjoy. Pain allows us see joy even more clearly. As Lewis himself writes, "Our Father refreshed us on the journey with some pleasant Inns, but will not encourage us to mistake them for home." An interesting and thought-provoking read from the 20th century's greatest Christian theologian, apologist, and "layman".
C. S. Lewis is my favorite author. All his books are worth reading. Unlike American pop Christian authors who tend to give you canned answers, Lewis has some very fresh ways of looking at things. (And he's several decades before our time!)
Lil Pun, The Problem of Evil (Why is there evil with an all-loving and all-powerful God) is the hardest question to answer from the Christian point of view, IMHO. "The Problem of Pain" recommended by MadMax is a good one. Philip Yancey's "Where is God when it hurts" is good too, from a very different angle and style. If you are really interested in these things, you'll have to read some books. BBS conversations can only do so much--unless you are MacBeth, of course.
I havent personally read a lot of books dealing with this existense of evil/pain topic, but I would be interested in doing so if these books didnt seem to have a conclusion in mind before hand with the book being an attempt to twist logic to fit a pre-determined conclusion... i could be wrong and these books could start off unbiased and lead to where the logic leads it, but I am kinda doubting that is the case.. books on both sides of this debate seem to have an agenda before hand and simply reinforce that agenda...no real attempt of just going down the road that facts/logic/reasoning/etc take it, no matter which road that should happen to be... If there are such books out there, anyone care to recomend ?
again...i'd try C.S. Lewis...Lewis was very much an unbeliever and became persuaded by the logic he saw in "mere Christianity", as he would later title his watershed book. you don't have to agree with it...but i think you'll find Lewis to be extremely bright and well-reasoned.
It'd be practically impossible to find a book on any topic where the author didn't have a conclusion in mind before hand. I mean, would you actually write a book on something without knowing what your conclusion is? But I understand your point. Maybe someone can write how he/she came to the conclusion on this issue. I think the best bet would be to read books on both sides and decide for yourself who has the best argument. BTW, the book I've ever read that is closest to "not having a conclusion in mind before hand" is Frank Morison's "Who Moved the Stone." It's first chapter's title is (something like) "A book that refused to be written." But I'm sure those who disagree with him will say that it's all a fake. It's just impossible to get rid of biases, whether on the right or on the left. Those who think that they are purely objective are deluding themselves.
