Isnt it obvious that, if God exists, he is entirely inactive?

Question

This to me seems very plain and is reason enough to reject islam, xianty and judiasm which propound an active God who was and is tediously involved in human affairs.

If God really is tediously involved in human affairs and we just cant see him, now we have the problem of a non-sensical or cruel God who kills infants with cancer and doesnt save the school children from the terrorists bomb.

To me, this seems so clear...I just dont get how people intellectually reconsile the two. The claim that "we know not his ways and will understand in the after-life" is circular and a cop-out. If we debate the concept of an active God, it is circular, in the face of absurdity (infant with cancer) require me to assume that, if we assume God exists and is active, then we cannot hope to understand "his way" cause we are lesser....again...you ask me to assume that which we debate.

Answer 1

All lives, persons, things are inter-vined, on a scale that is difficult to understand. The thread on one border of a fabric will not be able to relate with those just an inch away, and yet they are the stuff of the fabric that make it. Only the weaver knows the importance of each thread, and how one affects the entire fabric, how they are inter vined with each other, same could be the case with the creator of all that we see around us, and as the aim of the weaver is to make a good fabric, so is probably the aim of the creator, he'll snip, he'll cut off things that effect the whole. You pull one thread of the tapestry, the entire fabric gets pulled unless the thread snaps first.

On a karmic scale, every action that every creature does, effects everything else, and those effects ripple down the ages, in a manner that we would not be able to track.

The ultimate aim of each soul which is takes on different bodies is oneness with the supreme being, and the only way to do that is to remember him when you are taking in the last breath of life, but very difficult to achieve, cause how many know when they are breathing their last? This is what the Gita (Hinduism) has to say about the reasons and cause for creation.

Just a co-incidence, I have created a blog on the Reason for life , titled (Does it really make a difference to Isaac Newton or da Vinci or Galileo or Napoleon or Hitler? )
Please do share your thoughts, ideas, suggestions, criticism on the blog on this matter. Check the link below.
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Answer 2

Quite the speach. Almost poetic. Remind me to send you an email on speaking plainly.

I agree with your sentiment though. The purpose of God's are to explain the unexplained. This is evident throughout history.

Once upon a time there was a Sun God until we learned what the sun really was. Likewise there was a God for almost everything until we learned what these things really were / are.

Unfortuantely, there are still two questions we don't know the answers to with no uncertainty.

1. Where did we come from?
2. Where do we go after we die?

I have my beliefs, you have yours, but the reality is that noone knows for sure. So God remains until we can answer these questions.

Unfortunately, the powers that be have used God as a means to also govern us. These powers differ and thus we have different religions. God's are used to create moral compasses for us to follow so that our societies fit our leaders' visions.

As an Athiest I conclude by saying:

"My country is the world and my religion is to do good."

Answer 3

Exactly.

To the idiot that says we hold all the choices.. what on earth are you talking about? This questioner has no choice over a child with cancer. You're an absolute moron. Good grief.

And if you read the Bible, you have God's name wrong. God doesn't even have a name - it's an unheard of unspoken name. And this Bible that you speak of has no more substance / proof than the Harry Potter series. Give me a break. If God did exist.. when was the last time you saw a person in charge, hide so well that nobody even knew his/her name?

And to SpreeBree: Umm. if you're so hung up on spelling, try spelling your own correctly. him should be Him. Freaking hypocrits to the top I tell ya.

According to the Bible, we're all going to hell unless we ask for forgiveness for nothing we ever did. Peaceful dude eh? And according to the Bible, it's okay to make the choice to kill, and it's okay for us to have sex with our mother. What the flip?

A fact is only what you believe to be the truth. You can't tell me that the Bible IS the way, that it is the only option and that all others are idiots that do not believe. Well you can, but you'd be naive to do so.

If you do believe, and you are so sure of yourself, then that would indicate that you are actually - in turn - the most unsure of yourself because you do not question yourself or your ways any longer. Tiz a bad practice.

Guy friend at my work once said to me.. please don't follow me because I'm probably the most un-christianly person around.. I question things all the time.. I admit I don't understand everything. I told him I thought that was the most admirable thing I've ever heard from a Christian and that he is more of a Christian than any of the others.

Anybody can try to predict anything. And to the opposite, anybody can say that such and such predictions came true to just about any event in life. It's all a guessing game. Ever read your horoscope? How on earth did they know you were going to have a problem this week at work.. wow., that's truly amazing. A prediction come true. Pull your head outta your trunk.

The killing of innocent children/people? A guy at my work.. he says that's God's way of weeding out the evil and good. He says that God is going to pluck away the good from the earth and leave the evil behind to burn in hell so-to-speak. That's about as braindead as suicide people flying planes into buildings. I respond with "you really believe that crap?"

But you know what.. that's what religous people do.. they make up things to justify and make peace with themselves that what they were taught is right. They couldn't live with themselves if they ever found out that God never truly existed.

It's humanities way of explaining things.. that's all it amounts to. Can't figure it out, make something up.

Just like a question somebody posed.. Does time exist, or did we just make it up. There's so much information on the net showing how time really doesn't exist and that we did make it up - simply to put our minds at ease.. it's really interesting how nutty we are.

It's really simple. There's two sides to everything and if you are not willing to accept the fact that there are no other possiblities other than what you believe, then you are naive and braindead.

Answer 4

The world and what is has become are not the work of God. It is the result of sin. It is the result of man using his own free will for selfish gain and desires. God is very busy right now. He is getting his word spread by people on here and abroad, telling them of His Son, Jesus. Cancer, murder, aids, rape, abuse, theft, depression, all these come from man to satisfy his carnal nature. This carnal nature came into play the moment Eve was tempted.

We can't understand God's ways, for his ways are infinitely above ours. Don't worry, the world isn't perfect, but it is going as it is expected to go. God is in control... if he wasn't you wouldn't be enjoying the freedoms you have... think about it, there is a reason why this country is still the greatest in the world and it isn't from because of selfish, self-pleasing people who would rather bask in the sun than make a stand for what they want and believe in.

No country has ever stayed a world power forever, and why should we be different? What makes us special? Think about it. Take care.

Answer 5

'Evil' is a necessary corollary of free will. Your 'infant death' is not therefore "absurd" but a necessary condition of the system. You are using an emotional tool to try and obfuscate the argument.

Your understanding of the term 'activity' related to the Divine is incorrect and that is the reason for the problem.

The fact is that given the limitation of human intelligence and ability to assimilate information we can not 'know.' We don't have a settled understanding of such things as 'mind' or 'being,' much less the Infinite.

Answer 6

Ok. People don't seem to get this one. From the beginning, God gave us free will to do what we wanted. From the beginning humans have sinned- starting with the apple from the tree of knowledge. We have free will. God does not intervene in this free will. We have a choice between Good and Evil. Terrorists are Evil because they choose to be. Those schoolchildren go to heaven as well as the children. We are the ones that make this world evil, not him. We have a choice. What will you pick?

Answer 7

Hi Steve,
Did you ever hear the one about "free will?" Seriously, God doesn't kill children. God didn't cause cancer, and I am getting a serious feeling that you are mourning something or someone desperately and looking at a way to blame God or to turn your back on him without feeling guilty. Remember, angels exist on this earth, sometimes they just come packaged as our family, friends, or even the stranger on the street. I have seen too many unexplained acts of selflessness in my life to believe that God doesn't exist. I wish you well.

Answer 8

You are assuming that cancer and terrorist bombs are a result of God's inaction. They are a result of sin. The world is in the shape it is in because of the fall of man, reported in the first book of the bible. What we see around us is the effect of sin, through thousands and thousands of years.

Why doesn't God step in? He will. The bible tells us there is coming a time when God will make the swords into plowshares. He will rule with a rod of iron. These things, as recorded in the bible, will all happen in His timing.

You say because God does not prevent all evil, He is cruel. Well, okay, I understand you feel that way. But that is not my experience of God's character at all.

Answer 9

You are very ego-centric. Because God is not "visibly" acting in your life (or so you think) He must not be in anyone else's, either. I have had way too many ridiculously specific answers to prayer. God is involved in mine and many other's lives. Also, your claim for circular reasoning is strangely circular itself. You say its circular. We say how do you know? You say, "because it is." That is a premise dependent on the conclusion dependent on the premise, aka circular reasoning. And the debate is not whether we are lesser, but whether God acts in people's lives. That is your premise. You can't commit the "No true scotsman" fallacy now, can you!?

Answer 10

God isn't totally "active" in this life, because he "promised" he wouldn't be, it's right there in the Bible. However, "most christians" do not SEE it there because its not what they want to believe. They want to think is actively healing and changing things for them. But he's not. He's also not a prayer machine.

You see, SATAN is the ruler of this World, not God. And, until Christ returns with his kingdom, God won't interfere with our lives or in our world. (How could Satan NOT be the ruler when he himself offered it to Christ during his Temptation after his Fast of 40 days). If it wasn't Satan's to give, Christ would have rebuked him, saying so.

So, no, God is only partially inactive, working only for the small amount of people who are his, who worship's him, HIS WAY. In the next world, it will be a different story . . . and trust me, his way is so very easy to understand, its simple, that's why other christians don't want to accept it. It leaves "out" their favorite "parts" . . .

Its His Worship, HE GETS TO SET THE RULES. As God says, they will be hated on account of HIS NAME. And God is a Title.