RE: [asa] The Fall (humanity source of suffering)

God allows death. Everything else is small potatoes.

 
Moorad

________________________________

From: asa-owner@lists.calvin.edu on behalf of D. F. Siemens, Jr.
Sent: Wed 6/18/2008 4:41 PM
To: bsollereder@gmail.com
Cc: dopderbeck@gmail.com; bernie.dehler@intel.com; asa@calvin.edu
Subject: Re: [asa] The Fall (humanity source of suffering)

I don't know how God could have put a whistle on a volcano, so I'm going to use the example of physical pain. There are numerous individuals who argue that a good God would not allow pain. However, I note that pain is often a warning that something is wrong. A broken bone hurts. It tells us that the injured member should be rested. So pain is not all bad. Then the argument may become that pain beyond the warning is something a good God would not allow. So all we need is a mechanism to turn off pain as soon as the message is received. But I think of a person with a broken arm who didn't hurt enough to get medical attention until too late for a simple casting. The ER put on a splint and gave orders that the orthopedist be visited in the morning. Additionally, how does one construct such a mechanism? It would be easier, I think, either to make the body so strong that it could not be damaged or to heal any damage miraculously as soon as it occurred. A consequence of either of th!
 ese would surely be that the creature would not die. Either their number would increase to the "standing room only" state, or there could not be procreation. It seems that there are no end of problems with what can be so easily stated.
 
I note that whatever is disliked is labeled bad, something that a good God would never allow. It's a silly extension of selfcenteredness. However, the proponents are certain that they are right, so any doubt must be wrong.
Dave (ASA)
 
On Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:18:46 -0600 "Bethany Sollereder" <bsollereder@gmail.com> writes:

        David,
        
        You asked why God didn't reveal to humanity the technology needed to give aid earlier. You also speculate about whether God would have revealed advanced technology to people if they had not been tainted by sin.
        
        Two things: We should ask not only why God didn't reveal technology earlier, but why he didn't put more warning signs into nature. He could have devised a system where a loud whistle emits out of an about-to-explode volcano three days early, infallibly, to warn people to clear out. He could have done many things to reduce the "evil" effects of nature, but he didn't.
        
        Second, speculating about whether a sinless humanity would have been shown how to build technology that saves lives is certainly beyond the scope of the Bible. Also, the one sinless human being to walk this earth did nothing of the sort. You don't see Jesus pulling penicillin out of moldy bread, or developing defibrillators, nor even teaching basic anatomy to help with surgeries, or any of the things you could expect. Certainly one who was not only human, but God himself, would have done those things if that was the way that he worked in the world. But it seems it isn't.
        
        Bethany
        

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Received on Wed Jun 18 17:41:39 2008