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RE: Atheism Talk: The Problem of Evil
If this world is all there is, then this question might make sense.
If this world is, for example, a simulated bootcamp to determine and train elite officers for service in a higher reality, then what happens here cannot be used to presumptuously critique and understand God.
We know the military intentionally makes boot camps painfully difficult to weed out weak recruits and toughen up the rest. This life is no different. Getting your flesh and blood "avatar" killed or hurt here is nothing if your immortal spiritual self is all that matters.
You just need to think BIGGER, Pinky. :o)
Military boot camps are not benevolent.
That's for sure - while you are going through them.
But after you get the battle or Big Game, you understand that your usefulness and chances of survival have been greatly enhanced. So your drill sergeant or football coach was actually benevolent after all. Just like your mom making you eat spinach and do your homework.
But they accomplish their purpose - simulating stress expected to be encountered in another realm.
Testing the strength and reliability of those who can get through it.
Its a synthetic environment designed for a purpose and you can't deduce anything about the creator of that environment while you are in it.
What about all those that the boot camp weeds as unfit to serve? Why would a benevolent god create entities too weak to pass the training? If he knows they will fail and has the power to create them in such a way that they won't fail yet still chooses not too and instead chooses to construct them in a way that will have them tortured for eternity then he is not benevolent. I'm sorry but either omnipotence or benevolence has to go in order to match a reality in which evil exists. I guess you could just say evil doesn't exist but that wouldn't reconcile very well with most religious teachings.
"you can't deduce anything about the creator of that environment while you are in it."
Will you then admit that one can not deduce that such a creator even exists while inside that environment?
I did indeed enjoy the Harry Potter series.
I don't claim you can deduce Him.
I claim he has showed up in person and revealed Himself.
I don't claim to be smart enough to figure out why He does what He does.
It has something with wanting children to choose Him of their own free will.
He could have made robots that would behave robotically.
But where is the challenge or reward in that? His plans appear to call for raising a family that choose to love Him for who He is.
And evil occurs because most of us would rather pursue our own will instead of His.
He wants the one thing He can't use His omnipotence to create:
Children to love Him without being forced to.
LOL nice story. Have you ever read the Harry Potter series? You'd probably like those books too.