Suppose God is all-powerful....?

Question

.....and is capable of killing the Spanish influenza virus before it killed off twenty million people. Why didn't He? Is it because He's not perfectly good?

If God exists, a being who is all-powerful and perfectly good, then this being must somehow ensure our world is perfectly good. The only way He can do this is to make all of the apparent evils we see in the world into means to a greater good. For example, the pain of a vaccination is in itself bad, but is a means to a greater good. Thus, if God exists, we must have evidence that all of the evils we see are means to a greater good. But even theists admit there is no evidence. That is why they must resort to talking about the mysterious ways in which God works. There's no evidence at all, for example, that twenty million people dying from Spanish influenza is for a greater good. The conclusion follows that God probably does not exist.

Or is it a Mystery we wont understand until we die?

Answer 1

I agree with you except an all powerful and all good god wouldn't need to cause pain in order accomplish the greater good. An all powerful and all good god would give you the vaccination without the pain.

Also, would you stop putting things into perspective and telling it like it is? All this education is ruining my faith in my imaginary god!

Answer 2

Radio astronomy and mathematical calculation indicate that the Universe is not infinite or endless, just extremely large. This points to the God who orchestrated The Big Bang to be extremely powerful but not omnipotent (big difference).

Although our ordered Universe provides us with evidence through observation that a God started ALL THAT IS, the lack of major miracles in the world today - like being able to stop various plagues - point to there not being a God or rarefied Ascended Master in this space-time continuum.

So yes...there was a God at one time.

No...that God is not around at present and The First Coming has yet to occur.

How do we know that?

We know that The First Coming has yet to occur because the miracles attributed to every major religion do not come close to the level of energy that was released to start The Big Bang.

When a God figure emerges that can heal MILLIONS OF PEOPLE AT ONCE, then we know beyond a shadow of doubt that we are dealing with the genuine article (i.e., The Original Creator) or a God who is even more spiritually advanced.

Answer 3

And then there's tsunamis, exploding volcanoes, earthquakes, and this is just the tip of the ice-berg. Maybe god is an evil thing that delights in suffering, a real sadist? But nevertheless he must be a genius to get the whole world to worship the holy book his devils wrote. Ah well, I'm a gnostic so I'm allowed to do that, but there's still a good god up there somewhere, problem is it's infinite and for anything whatsoever to happen it has to go into the finite department and this is where trouble starts. Parallel Universes.

Answer 4

Your illustration of the vaccination, inherently painful, but leading to something good is a wonderful illustration of what God is doing. Theists may admit that there is no evidence, but could it not be, rather, that they see the evidence but simply do not understand the evidence they see? If God is able to remedy matters and yet has not done so, there must be a compelling reason for his waiting, yes? And there is a compelling reason.

Let us look at another illustration: your child needs heart surgery. You are waiting for the heart surgeon to arrive at the hospital. Meantime, your child is suffering and on the verge of death. A nurse walks up and tells you she can do the surgery. She has seen it done a hundred times by the very surgeon for whom you are waiting. Do you allow her to do the surgery? I don't think so. You wait. And there is compelling reason for you to wait.

It is similar with God. So the conclusion that God probably does not exist is a faulty one and rests on the limited human assumption that if he does exist, he ought to be repairing the situation RIGHT NOW. But the panacea for all of humankind's woes is not one that is given RIGHT NOW.

Answer 5

God created a world that was all-good. The disobedience of mankind altered that goodness.

Also, in the case of something like a virus, there are (in this day and age) two possibilities:
1) someone of their own evil intent released such a virus, or
2) the cause and spread of the virus was natural, perhaps aided in intensity by human things (such as improper sanitation)

In case 1, it is clear that it was not God's will or doing that caused or allowed the virus, it was the disobedience of mankind that brought about such suffering. God gives everyone free will, and will not control their actions towards goodness if they will not be "good" and righteous by their own choosing.

In case 2, nature, despite its goodness and wonder, is a-moral. Nature does nothing purposely, or with any malicious intent. Nature does not know a good person from a bad person, it cannot reason as such. In such case, the flow of nature is something that works the way God created it to, and is never altered except by mankind.

"So high are my ways above your ways, and my thoughts above your thoughts." I trust in God's infinite wisdom and mercy, and can only submit to the fact that I am but human, and even in death will probably not fully comprehend the Lord.

Answer 6

Why do you think it is God doing the bad. It would be more like Satan punishing people in the world for being good or killing them off before they have the chance to meet God. God does exist and the signs of Jesus coming back are upon us, will you still feel this way when you see him. One of the signs of the coming of the end is the falling away from God.

Answer 7

God, our Father, loves us more than any earthly father could ever love his children. He can hardly wait to receive us into His new kingdom.
"The Father himself loveth you." John 16:27. (See also John 3:16; 17:22, 23.)

Answer: The Father loves people as much as the Son does. Jesus' key aim in life was to demonstrate His Father's character in His own life so people would know how loving, warm, and caring the Father really is (John 5:19).

Satan Misrepresents the Father
Satan misrepresents the Father as unfeeling, aloof, exacting, stern, and unapproachable (the devil's own traits). He even labels his own ugly, calamitous acts as "acts of God." Jesus came to wipe this slander off His Father's name and demonstrate that our heavenly Father loves us more than a mother loves her child (Isaiah 49:15). Jesus' favorite theme was God's patience, tenderness, and abundant mercy.

The Father Can Hardly Wait
In order to make people supremely happy, our heavenly Father has prepared a fabulous eternal home for them. Our dreams here are no match for what He has waiting! He can hardly wait to welcome His people on the glad homecoming day just ahead. Let's get the word out! And let's be ready. The countdown has already begun.

Answer 8

God is holy and perfect and His ways are higher than our ways. the issue is not that God doesn't exist but that man (from the days of Adam and Eve) has moved away from God's perfection and decided to do things "our own way". the evil we see stems from our own evil and sinful ways which have consequences that we ourselves have to bear. The devil is called the "god of this age", not that he is God, but because people worship him and allow his schemes to prosper. it is no wonder then that if people enjoy declaring wars on each other, if people love drunkeness, homosexuality, immorality, lies, selfish ambition, and every evil thing on earth, it is no wonder that the world is going the way it is. God can surely stop it but his aim is not to encourage us to sin but to make us see our evil ways and repent. his plans are perfect even for the suffering and i think it is better to be a poor person who believes and loves God than to be poor and not have the hope that is Jesus Christ. we shouldn't blame God for the disasters that we bring upon ourselves.
And ofcourse we can never fully know God until we meet with Him in heaven, and even then, He has given us an eternity to know Him because that is how vast He is.

Answer 9

Your whole argument falls apart when you understand God does not allow evil for a greater good. God WILL work a greater good though.
Evil/disease are a result of natural occurances sometimes predacted on man (STDs/AIDS) sometimes not. We have little control over nature but we do have control over our bodies. Do you realize we could stop the spread of STDs/AIDS in two generations by stopping formication and adultry .

Answer 10

You are asuming that intending good means intervention, when it might not be so. You are also assuming that things are inherently bad or good, is death necessarily a bad thing? If you assume God and heaven exist then death is not a bad thing. In any case, most of the "evils" of the world are man-made, they should also be man-solved. Therefore your argument does not necessarily disprove the existence of God.