JanisChambers
17th April 2007, 01:28 PM
Imagine a man with two jobs, one is a Master Philosopher of Morality and another is the owner of a Prison. This man is so good at Philosophical debate that he can convince anyone to respect others and live a life of peace almost instantly, and yet he choses not to. By not doing so several people commit horrid crimes and end up as clients in his second profession, to be jailed all their lives and tormented forever.
The metaphor is obvious. God (by many Christians) is claimed to be all knowing. He doesn't have to force us to be good, he can convince us by use of reason... such an air tight case that no one could wiggle their way out of the logic. He is a being of never ending resource, nothing is impossible to him. Even our ability to resist is just a matter of effort for him to overcome, and he doesn't have to reprogram us in order to convince every single person to willingly be a moral and logical individual (having to do so would show he is not really all powerful).
The only question is why a being so powerful would not try to convince mortals to be good (and if he really is all powerful, trying means succeeding) the only answer is that he enjoys his second job, to punish.
The metaphor is obvious. God (by many Christians) is claimed to be all knowing. He doesn't have to force us to be good, he can convince us by use of reason... such an air tight case that no one could wiggle their way out of the logic. He is a being of never ending resource, nothing is impossible to him. Even our ability to resist is just a matter of effort for him to overcome, and he doesn't have to reprogram us in order to convince every single person to willingly be a moral and logical individual (having to do so would show he is not really all powerful).
The only question is why a being so powerful would not try to convince mortals to be good (and if he really is all powerful, trying means succeeding) the only answer is that he enjoys his second job, to punish.