quote..

And that why can only be answered in one of three ways:
1. Your god didn't know penicillin existed.
2. Your god knew about penicillin and kept secret.
3. Your god doesn't exist.

You tell me ... which of these 3 you believe. It is, after all, your personal god.

Speaking for myself ... if (1) Then god didn't create it ... if (2) god is a genocidal maniac filled with hate and malice. Thus I choose 3.


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I have heard this kind of arguement before. What kind of god allows suffering? Well is may be that children dying from penicillin treatable illnesses is a direct consequence of 'The Fall' and is part of a universe that God did not want, but humankind chose. C.S. Lewis wrote 'Suffering is God's bugle horn to an otherwise deaf world'.

And although in this case God may not be involved at a Macro level - who can say whether God is involved at a micro level - in the lives of the individual dying - preparing them for something else or talking to them when they are most willing to listen. Who knows what pacts are made just before closing time.

And yes of course, if you do not believe in anything other that life as an uncreated series of chemical reactions with a very final end, then suffering is nothing more than pointless and meaningless. But if life is about choosing and a preparation for a more permanent experience of existence, then suffering can lose some of it's indignity and horror - and will be seen in the end to be only a drop in an ocean of experiences.

There are more options that the three you posited. Do you want a creator to end all suffering? Then that creator must also stop humankind from doing almost everything, and keep people in a moral straight-jacket that would be suffocating, because most of what we do causes someone or other pain. Ever been selfish, unfaithful, told an untruth, became angry, insulted anyone and made them feel small, or even lived in a society that consumes more than it needs whilst children die in some parts of the world for want of cheap oral rehydration therapy?

I think on the whole we need to look closer to home to find out why most suffering is not alleviated, instead of blaming God.

Sorry for this post, I know this is not the site for it, but it won't do to let points such as this go unanswered.

Regards,

Blacknad.

I expect most people to now give me a one star rating smile