If God created a cute little worm?

Question

..And god created a poor little child. Why did god 'intelligently design' the parasitic worm to best live in the little boy's eye? Presumably, if the boy has free will but the worm doesnt and the boy didnt wish the worm to be there, then who is to blame for this horrid 'mis-creation'?

David Attenborough met one such unfortunate little boy and cannot believe in gods existance with this example in mind.

Also, is HIV a product of creationist intelligent design or do you deny its existance? ..Id bet my horse and cart you cant answer that one logically!

Answer 1

First of all, 'free will' means that you are free to do as you desire, not free to have other things follow your wishes. The little boy may practice 'free will' in removing and killing the worm. And part of the reason I don't believe in the 'typical' idea of God that most theist faiths espouse, is because of this very sort of thing. Although, one might suggest that God did such a thing to show that only he is all-powerful, and that we can never truly know his thoughts. Perhaps the little boy will grow to be a doctor who finds a way to let the worms live in a different environment. If so, do we then have a situation that is good? Is the boy really unfortunate, or has he been given a unique opportunity to help others? You ask a good philosophy question.
The HIV question can be answered in much the same way, athough you don't allow for the option that it is NOT intellignet design but I do believe it's existence. But I'll stick with the spirit of the question. I'll assume that we're talking about the God of the Monotheists - the Christians, Jews, and Muslims. If you are following their belief, in a very strict manner, HIV could indeed be designed intellignetly. HIV, originally, was most readily spread among those who the Bible and Koran consider to be sinners - those who have extra-marital sex, and those who engage in drug use and other dangerous activities. Please note, I am not suggesting that HIV is limited to these groups, nor am I suggesting that I believe what I type - I do not. I am mostly Pagan, and bisexual, so I'm not 'dissing' gays and 'unbelievers'. But if you follow the premise of the question, that there is intelligent design and a 'god', then the religions who follow that god could easily believe that HIV was created to destroy those who do not follow their religion "religously".
(Side note: I do know that there are other ways to contract HIV. But I once heard a Christian say that there was always "collateral damage" in a war, and this was a war for 'our' morality and values. Sad.)

Answer 2

God created a perfect world, and out man in charge of it. Man chose to rebel against his Creator and broke the natural order of things. That is why there is suffering and death. And though you and I cannot see how, good does come out of everything: justice will be served and much mercy will be granted.

HIV is a mutation of an intelligently designed virus that is no longer doing the job it's supposed to be doing, either because it doesn't operate the way it was designed to do or because it was not intended to be active in humans, or both. Even today, most viruses are harmless, even though we don't know yet what good they do.

Now, where's that horse and cart you bet?

Answer 3

Ok. I found your question here. I'll give you some background so that you know up front where I am coming from. I was raised in a Christian home, and remained so afterwards. I don't currently consider myself a Christian, though I have formed my own spiritual path. Essentially, this is my prime directive: The Immediate Equalization of All Knowledge Among All Beings. I now evaluate everything within the context of that credo.

But to your point, this is an answer I gave someone else concerning the issue of creation. I hope that at least you will read and consider it. I am not preaching to you or anyone else. Just attempting to convey my understanding of our situation.

============================================
The Question:
Why did God (according to the Bible) cast Satan out of heaven?

I'm trying to understand why God would cast Satan down to earth
and then create mankind to inhabit earth, putting his precious new
creations in the presence of a being that has tried to undermine His
authority? Did Satan arrive after mankind, or before? For what
purpose did God have to allow mankind and Satan to co-habitate? Was
He testing us?
==============================================

My Answer:
This may be very unpleasant for some, but I will pose it anyway. I
understand your question, as I have asked it myself over many years
of speculation. So here it goes.

After the rebellion had started, there needed to be a way to combat
the accusations that had been made against God by Satan. But for
reasons of security, it was best that this conflict be contained.
Personally, I see the earth project as a petri dish environment, in
which the bacteria of the rebellion could be examined by all sentient
beings throughout the universe, without directly subjecting them to
further contamination. That may seem harsh, but it is nonetheless
very logical. Having a new species without prior experience with the
nature of God, provides the perfect opportunity for the character of
God to be evaluated regarding righteousness and the charges made
against it. God could demonstrate in a conclusive manner exactly what
the character of Satan is, and how flawed the argument against God
actually is. We are essentially the proving ground for the
exoneration of the governance of God.

I hope that helps.
Shingoshi Dao
==============================================

Continuing now with my response to you:
If we take the analogy of the petri dish, in which the sociological conditions of earth are to be examined by the inhabitants of the universe, we don't diminish the apparent cruelty of our condition. It might explain though the necessity of it. Everything that we experience would be considered the product of sin or evil or rebellion if you will. The hardship and cruelty then become emblematic of the conflict as it exists between good and evil. Yes, we're having to endure it. And I couldn't agree with you more that our condition is obscene. But can you think of any better way to confront and explain the consequences and threat of evil to the universe in a more sterile manner. I think the one thing we agree on is the existence of evil. At least that seems to be the very basis of your question, the acknowledgment of evil. And the sad thing is, there is no pretty or easy way of dealing with this. So here we are, and that's what we're stuck with.

I'm sorry for all of us. It is indeed cruel, and seemingly unjust. But then again, that's what evil is.

Shingoshi Dao

Answer 4

The Garden of Eden story is a myth. That doesn't have anything to do with whether or not it's true, it just says that it uses simple story elements to convey complicated ideas about the human condition. So far as we know (although that might be partly due to our own inability to communicate with other species), we are the only species which really has to deal with the notion that some actions are right and some are wrong. The closest any other creature seems to get is that being a Bad Dog brings punishment, and the punishment is simply the disapproval of the alpha dog or dominant human. But if we are the only creatures with a real concept of right and wrong, we are the only creatures which are capable of actually choosing to do something evil. We are capable of sin, in a way that a dog or cat isn't. In the myth, eating the fruit of the tree represents our gaining that capacity. (Really, it seems to come from our development of the ability to reason abstractly and to communicate with words.) The myth expresses the human condition in terms of simple physical actions and disobeying a command--much as we tend to think of the behavior of a dog, although actually dogs are simply obeying instincts including submission to the dominance of pack leaders. The Garden of Eden story is a myth about the human condition, as the notion of dogs being good or bad is a myth about their instinctive responses to pack relationships. We are capable of distinguishing good and evil: in the myth, this is because our ancestors ate the fruit that gave this ability. We are prone to misbehavior: in the myth, this is the inherited consequence of our ancestors' disobedience. The story doesn't make much sense when taken literally, but it represents a fundamental truth about the whole human race.

Answer 5

And so many rich men would rather spend their money on golden toilets, than to help a village have clean water to drink and bath in..
.http://travel.discovery.com/ideas/museums-culture/bathrooms/bathrooms.html
Now, my guess is this child got the cute little worm because he lives in poverty. He lives a short disease ridden life, while we in the western world, including David Attenborough live a life of wanton waste. If we were to share our resources the kid wouldn't have the worm to begin with..God's fault or OURS?
HIV..is horrible. It is especially horrid when it is a child that has it because his drug addicted mother gave it to him. Who's fault. God didn't want mom to be a prostitute and use drugs..
This life is far from Heaven, but man makes it hell through greed and all the other "sins".

Answer 6

Your question could be a very good title for a book, really. You could be a billionaire, at least!!! (give me a bonus, won´t you, as I came up with the idea, well sorry, that was stupid, must admit). Of course no human understands about this our so called world and what´s happening while I write and you read this,what´s time, life, eternity, could Einstein explain something of this our so called world, really? If you can explain them to me, I would be so satisfied and could die in peace, because I would not have any interesting, unsolved questions to think about.

How come the "Big Bang" happened, there must have been something there already or this "explosion" would not have happened, if it happened? How come there is an earth, oceans, sky, moon, sun etc., from where did that tiny, whatever cell or what you want to call it,come from that lead to things like the little worm, dinosaurs, apes = "Adam and Eve" = us stupid, pour people with brains that we hardly know how to use? We live for a while, new humans are born, more and more. (More HIV, our own stupidity!) Can our globe take it, or is there a new "Big Bang" in sight? If so WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THAT, will the earth "recycle" itself, will there be a new version of "Adam and Eve" (a new version of the fairy tale), or a "BIG "NOTHING" and is "NOTHING" "SOMETHING", you tell me what that "SOMETHING" would be, OK? Really was a pleasure writing to you! Warm greetings and a piece of advice from one human to another: "Carpe diem"!

Answer 7

If we were created perfectly and without need of help, would anyone care about that boy's suffering? We would want to get that parasite out of his eye without damaging the eye. Because that's what we would want someone to do for us if we were that boy.

I am not familiar enough with the idea of intelligent design to answer your second question. I always thought that it was a chastisement. You want to argue with God? Take it up with Him. Maybe He'll give you a dispensation or something. Maybe not. That's why He's God and we're not.

Answer 8

HIV is a disease alright but, would not be epidemic if people obeyed Godly principles concerning fornication. In fact, would barely be noticeable. Created perfect, humans would be resistant to all diseases if Adam had just kept obedient to God's rule. Instead, he left the protection of God for ruling himself. 6,000 yrs. later, after trying every sort of government, man has come down to the conclusion we cannot rule ourselves.

I don't understand your reference to a parasitic worm, but both things exist. In any case, man is to blame for our own disasters from turning away from God way back at the beginning. God has allowed both Satan and man to try to deal without Him. The world is in darkness and ignorance. (1John 3:8; Eph. 4:18) This will not always be the case.

The Bible promises God will again take charge of things to accomplish what He desired in Eden. Revelations 21:4 shows how on the cleaned up planet, earth, He will wipe out every cause of tears and pain from those alive and resurrected at that time. I would like to discover the proper purpose of mosquitoes.

Answer 9

Check out Clark Ashton Smith's The Dark Eidolon. A poor little beggar boy is trampled down by the horse of the evil prince, who is also the same age. As they both grow older the beggar boy, permanently crippled, holds resentment in his heart and eventually comes back to kill everyone and torture the prince as revenge. It is neat how Smith turns the tables in this story; a nice, innocent child starts out as the hero but ends up as the antagonist due to a simple grudge.

I don't believe this answers your question, but then again you weren't asking a question to begin with, you were just posting an atheist rant. What will happen to your hypothetical poor little boy? Will he grow up to be evil too simply because you don't think God exists? And all because of this hypothetical worm and a grudge against a God that doesn't exist.

Answer 10

Let's theorize that god exists. He made the earth for some unknown reason and created everything that there is, and then set us loose. Throughout the years we abbused what god had given us and had created the idea of war, jealousy and other such things. So now basically god is slowly getting his cheap laughs from making little creatures that burrow into the skull of small children. Thus god can now exist... it think hehe :S