The Problem of Suffering

What about the Problem of Suffering? If God does care about us then why let people needlessly suffer? An all powerful deity could not create a universe where overpopulation was not a problem?What is heaven supposed to be like? Will heaven have disease, illness, and death? If not, then why does the Earth have to have these things?

I can think of two possibilities real quick. God is an evil asshole or it doesn’t exist and we are at the mercy of the purposeless dispassionate natural world. I prefer the latter.

I reckon he's just an autistic hobbyist, instead of building a massive train set out of matchsticks he decided to make loads of stars and just couldn't stop.We're an accident that he hasn't noticed yet. If he ever does, it's game over, we've made a mess in the corner of the Sol system, he's not going to like it.

I lean towards the latter as well. The universe is indifferent to the fate of human kind. It cares as much about our suffering as it cares about the orbit of a moon around Jupiter. That seems to fit the universe I see better than the idea of a omnipotent deity who claims to care about us.Can't help but think of George Carlin in moments like this:

quote:

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“Religion has actually convinced people that there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time!

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But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! He always needs money! He's all-powerful, all-perfect, all-knowing, and all-wise, somehow just can't handle money!”
--George Carlin

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I spoke of the earth, not heavenThe earth though is heaven to me, given that it is the best of all possible worlds, because it is the only possible world.If you have any suggestions to do better for life than the evolutionary system we live in, please offer it.Regards
DL

Why would you think a supernatural God would care about us?If a God cared about us, he would not remain a deadbeat dad.As to suffering, I think it would be quite stupid for a God to sit there and create situations of suffering.The only source of intentionally inflicted suffering or pain is all from human to human interaction.Nature hurts us but only inadvertently.Regards
DL

Ditto.Reality based thinking is superior to supernatural thinking.Regards
DL

You have a weird idea of perfect. Half the world is starving, the other half is trying to kill each other..Why does this god of yours require this bizarre experiment of earth at all?

My God is not causing all this.Other Gods are.My God is fighting it.Few see the evolving perfection of reality.We would not have a climate problem if we looked better.Regards
DL

Which other gods?
​ He's a pretty crap god then - he's losing.
​ Well that at least is correct - like I say, you have a weird idea of perfection.
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Edited by Tangle, .

It is an accurate view of reality, that can actually be argued.The Gnostic Christian reality.Gnostic Christian Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all.
[And after they have reigned they will rest.]""If those who attract you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you.If they say to you, 'It is under the earth,' then the fish of the sea will precede you.Rather, the Kingdom of God is inside of you, and it is outside of you.[Those who] become acquainted with [themselves] will find it; [and when you] become acquainted with yourselves, [you will understand that] it is you who are the sons of the living Father.But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty."As you can see from that quote, if we see God's kingdom all around us and inside of us, we cannot think that the world is anything but evolving perfection. Most just don't see it and live in poverty. Let me try to make you see the world the way I do.Here is a mind exercise. Tell me what you see when you look around. The best that can possibly be, given our past history, or an ugly and imperfect world?Candide.
"It is demonstrable that things cannot be otherwise than as they are; for as all things have been created for some end, they must necessarily be created for the best end.”That means that we live in the best of all possible worlds, because it is the only possible world, given all the conditions at hand and the history that got us here. That is an irrefutable statement given entropy and the anthropic principle.Regards
DL

Thanks, perhaps you could answer my questions next?

You seem unable to connect the dots.Who is God according to what I put already?If your reading comprehension is low, there is not much more I can say.Regards
DL

My reading comprehension is fine, but given that I have no idea what you're trying to say with your gothic puzzle language, why not just tell me who these other gods are?

He's Yoda with a speech impediment.