Quote:

Nonoxynol9 said:
But the point I'm trying to make is, do you really think it's God up there in Heaven gettin' all pissy at us, causing earthquakes, tsunamis, bombings, murder, rape, kidnapping, racial bigotry, war, disease, famine, death, destruction, lions, tigers, and bears? Don't you think that's kind of petty, and more than that, a little, what's the word? Abusive?



Even the Old Testament portrays God as a vindictive, vengeful force, puninishing his "chosen people" when they did wrong.

Quote:

An easy answer would be to blame it all on Satan. But Satan's not effective if he's seen as some red-skinned, horned monster roiling in a pit of burning flames and sulfur. No, no, no. No one would ever voluntarily serve a Master like that (unless you're a severely disillusioned wanna-be Goth). Instead, Satan's greatest power is deception. His most amazing trick is convincing everyone that he does not exist. And neither does God. It's the oldest freakin' trick in the book. Even Batman took some lessons from that battleplan. An even craftier trick of Satan's is to convince others that, Ok, yeah, God's real, but He's a mean old turd who gets his kicks by tormenting us.

Evil originates from Satan, but is made manifest in man himself. BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO GOOD PEOPLE BECAUSE PEOPLE ALLOW IT TO HAPPEN.

It has nothing to do with God.



I really don't mean any offense by this, but the idea of Satan just seems like a cop-out. Like the ending of a movie where the conflict is resolved or explained in a horrendously convoluted and overly-complicated way.

"John didn't kill all those people, it was Nhoj, his evil twin! See, he's got a mustache!"

If the idea of God is difficult to buy, then the idea of God and Satan in some sort of war of good and evil is infinitely moreso.

Quote:

P.S. Even if you don't read the Bible, or don't believe in it, READ THE BOOK OF JOB. It's in the Old Testament. It explains EXACTLY and PERFECTLY why God allows bad things to happen to good people.



I read the book of Job many years ago, but I don't remember anything specifically beyond the general plot. Perhaps you could paraphrase what you thought was so profound about it?

MisterJLA is RACKing awesome.