If God can't prevent human suffering, there is no point in praying to Him
to ask him to do so.
Gordon Brown
Department of Mathematics
University of Colorado
Boulder, CO 80309-0395
On Thu, 28 Mar 2002, Howard J. Van Till wrote:
> I like Farrar's answer, as far as it goes. But perhaps this is more than a
> matter of God (presumed to be omnipotent) merely _allowing_ things to be "in
> their own way." Maybe it is necessary that things (creatures) must be in
> their own way. Perhaps it is in the nature of God and of the God/world
> relationship that the being of no creature is ever coercively overpowered.
> If God could have intervened to prevent human suffering and death in Lisbon,
> or in Afghanistan, but chose not to, then is not God still culpable? Does
> voluntary self-limitation actually eliminate culpability? Seems too facile
> to me.
>
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