Does God interfere in human affairs?

Question

Lactantius always spoke ill of Lucretius due his idea of a peaceful and undisturbed God that wouldn’t interfere with the world -for he foresaw in this the end of religion- but it is true a God deprived of its own perfection would be no God at all. It would be inconsistent with God’s nature to suffer from the very same affections that pull the strings of nerves and blood every human being is made of. No father would chose sides when his sons fight each other for petty things. If it were possible to drag God to our side he’d be deprived of his own will. Lactantius understood vengefulness as opposed to mercy and thought a merciless God a God deprived of forgiveness –for if God were deficient in one thing he would necessarily lack the other. What Lactantius does not see is that a God deprived of his perfection would be no pattern to follow and, therefore, this would be the same as basking in perpetual darkness. If God followed this path he would make his offspring orphan, there can be no doubt. It is not to God to turn human but to men to become like Gods.

Answer 1

Good going-- you answered your own question brilliantly, George.

It is easy to see, in the gross workings of history, that even the mass of people can't dispute, that God has not "interfered" excessively-- or, more correctly, has not intervened very much (since God, presumably an authority and creator, cannot "interfere" in His or Her own business!) He, She, or It has done neither, has typically done nothing whatever to help when millions of free African citizens were chained into slave ships, other millions of Jews in Europe exterminated. God did not "interfere" when a group of five-year-olds in Mexico, decked in their caps and gowns for kindergarten graduation, were blown away in a hurricane.

The history of God's gross and conspicuous non-intervention is too long to list in a thousand volumes. You gave us a good line: "..it is not to God to turn human but to men to become like Gods." Sounds like good old "Fred N." (I never could spell "Neitszche" with any self-assurance. Too many consonants.)

People becoming either godlike or godly hasn't happened, and I see no prospect that it will, but it is a good thought that we can ponder in those idle times when we aren't thinking and acting like some nutty breed of malicious monkeys. Collectively we are a potentially deadly ecological epidemic that is likely to be cured only in the process of killing off all life in the world hosting us. Insofar as our potential for becoming Gods, we are developmentally flawed. The angels, long ago probably spotting us as spiritual and moral retards, no doubt weep in frustration, unable to deny the apparent folly of a Creator who they, as His servants, are supposed to hail as all-loving and all-wise.

Mankind is good at making up gods, and perhaps, with the creation of robotics and artificial intelligence, scientists will someday learn how to create artificial love, wisdom, and omnipotence. If so, how will "G.O.D." (the Grand Ordering Device) judge Its creators?

(I happen to hope that there is a God who, in eternity, makes up for his laissez faire attitude in time. Contronted with evil and injustice, we continue to be reassured that God has His purposes, and, being an old man and ill, I grasp continually at these feeble straws of hope.)

As my temporal life wanes and eternity approaches, I shall be "dying with curiosity" as to how He, She or It is going to explain Him-, Her-, or Itself. Will God somehow come up with a good answer, squirming out of the widespread indictment for divine negligence, or merely snort flames and send all questioners and doubters to Hell?

Everybody has heard of the atheist who had his infant daughter christened-- "Just in case," he said. Before the material was banned eternally by the U.S. government, I understand that there was a company that manufactured asbestos burial gear that skeptics and doubters could be buried in-- just in case!

Answer 2

God would not ever be an interference because he is always there regardless. God is a form in everything and is a part of all what ever plays out is always with him and the only thing that interferes is a human and the imbalance we create with Gods perfect plan. This is his universe so how could that ever be true?

Answer 3

"i belief,God will interfere on our behalf when we ask Him to" So, you think that God has a plan for the universe, but He will CHANGE it, simply because you ASK him to? Let me give you the Word of the Day for you: ar·ro·gant (r-gnt) adj. 1. Having or displaying a sense of overbearing self-worth or self-importance. Additional Details If "innocent people suffer (and at) that time God can interfere on our behalf when we ask Him to", then WHY are children starving to DEATH all over the world? You REALLY don't think these things through, do you?

Answer 4

God could interfere but why shoud he ?

Do you think moronic actions of mortals will compel God to interfere ?

I think it is too childish to assume that.

Besides if humans either endorse Lucretius line of logic or the opposite, either way they are definining laws or criteria or policies under which God should operate ! Don't you think it is too immature for humans to conclude either way and put either kind of restrictions or constraints on God ?

You are trying to define how God does or should operate.
Do you think it is intelligent to draw such conclusions about the Ultimate, the God ?

Do you think your actions can make God do certain things ?
If yes, try it.

All the best.
Most of the times you won't succeed in making it happen.

God works with the world as per his own plans and decisions.
You and I can not "make" him do certain things we would like him to do.
His plans are known only to him. So are his decisions of
actions he will do with the world.

"Unknown are the ways of the One and the only !"

Frankly we humans can influence it very little, almost to negligible extent through our actions.

God can not only create and preserve (through mercy, forgiveness and othe means) but can also destroy.

You can't keep God as a showpiece in the glass cubicle of mercy, forgiveness and compssion. He is too big to be held in such a funny cubicle that mortals have created with their own mind and imaginations !

I am not endorsing Lactantius line of logic.
I am just pointing out obvious lacunae in both Lactantius and Lucretius lines of thinkings.
Both are slaves of logical thinking and do not go further.
That is the main lacunae and hurdle in these arguments and in fact the cause of such arguments.
With logic alone one can never get even lightyears distance closer to God. Logic is just too gross to catch even a glimpse of God.

If God is only full of all goodie goodie concepts like
"mercy, forgiveness, compassion, altruism, charity, philanthropist qualities" then he or she is basically impotent.
Basically such God is capable of doing nothing.
Such God can't even clean floor or do the dishes!
Forget running the empire of the world.
Such a God won't have a throne to sit, in fact he won't have even a chair to sit !

If God is such a being then let us call god Mr. Charity No. 1 and not God.

It is time that humans grow up and look up to God for what God really is !

With due respect to God and Lucretius and with the understanding that words are too limited to express anything about God, I will summarize my BELIEF as follows :

"In the great film being played on the canvas of nature which is called the world, God it neither an actor nor an actress in the film but is the producer director of this unparalleled World film."

Answer 5

You can see God in one of two ways: One, he lets us go to earth to deal with our existence on our own, then when we die, he debriefs us letting us know how we did; or, he preordains everything before we come to earth, and we basically sleep walk through our lives while events happen to us which we have no control over. I prefer to believe that God creates us and lets us go. The whole idea is to come to earth and deal with the flesh. I assume we were in a state of some kind before earth, and we will be in a different state after earth. In between these "states" we have to deal with being human--"the flesh". God doesn't have time to check on you every minute of every day. He/she has the entire universe to deal with. Can he check on you personally, sure, but why would she? He gave you the tools you need to be a decent human being at birth--use them...learn...grow...

Answer 6

If I believe in God and I do, how can I analyze him/her? I am not God. However, it is my belief that God does not interfere on the whole as far as free will is concerned. I do think we control our own destiny and our thoughts become things, we are the co-creators.

Answer 7

God does interfere with us. It is called salvation. However, I disagree with the statement, "men to become like Gods," because Gods image can't exist without Him. God's image is infinite man. God is one and there are no other gods beside Him.

Answer 8

If God does interfere, He does it in such a way that it looks like human interaction and not divine intervention

Answer 9

We are all alien. We are living blobs of energy. We are free to distribute our individual energy as we wish, the objective is to learn the key to Heaven. Once you are born, only one thing left you can do for sure is die. Remember, die one death, stop acting out. Time is not ours. Act as you already know the truth. Everything else will come, as it is meant to be, in the natural flow of things.

Answer 10

You can't psychoanalyze God. He is beyond Humanities experience. To answer the question - no. It is not necessary. Man's destiny was ordained at the very beginning.