There seem to be a lot of people today who seem to doubt the existence of God because they say "How could there be a God who would allow the existence of Hell where people suffer?" ... But that is so interesting, because in ancient times there were a lot of people who questioned the existence of God because they asked "How could there be a God who allows evil things to go unpunished?" In ancient times, especially in the Middle East, there was a lot of evil things people were doing that was absolutely horrific. Almost difficult to imagine today. So back then, people were doubting the existence of God because they did not see people getting horrific punishment. Now these days, in more peaceful civilized times, people are doubting the existence of God for the completely opposite reason, because they can't imagine why there should be horrific punishment. It's interesting, isn't it? And ironic.
Perhaps the irony is in the need to go to such extremes. Justice is about finding a balance. Either way, you get better results with positive reinforcement.
That's because anyone who isn't an idiot or a psychopath can think of an option somewhere between complete blindness and eternal torture.
i dont believe a loving god could condemn to eternity pain and suffering, i question why an infinite being would need any input whatsoever from puny humans i also believe a close look at what we call evolution will show cooperation more important than maybe "brute force" or similar
I think the more interesting question is why do people presume that a creator God would be benevolent towards its creation. Why does everyone presume a God who is good to us or even much likes us? Why is an evil God not considered? Perhaps a God who created us toy with us like a child kicking an anthill or the many sickos (including myself) who played "The Sims" and immediately wondered how many creative ways they could make the sims die.
for myself i break it down to since we exist at all it seems proof that good out weighs evil, and in Christianity the evil one is a god slightly less powerful
Doesn't that presume our existence (and us in particular over those who die young in horrific ways) to be good? I am not so sure that's a given.
not to me, it merely means overall good is stronger than bad or everything would have destroyed itself, i personally think many things considered "evil" are some type of psychiatric issue or othe NOT an outside force, and much could alleviate that by soul-searching or personal examinations, instead of finger pointing to an outside source
Hell must exist in order for free will to exist. Those who choose to seperate themselves from God cannot be made to exist blanketed in His presense for eternity in heaven. Therefore there must be a place void of God where they can exist instead. Given that God is the source of love, joy, peace, etc, a place void of God would be void of those things as well ...so, hell. 'Suffering' for those of us who enjoy those things, but perhaps not for those who reject those things. Or, at least, perhaps they would suffer more in an eternity where those things are constant.
if "god" meaning the universe were "perfect" antimatter and matter would annihilate, the fact that slightly more matter exists allows the universe to survive, it also been calculated all the forces we know of must exist with exactly the strength they have or the universe would also have collapsed, this i take as evidence of a creator of sorts, although we only know this particular little backwater of our universe, so who know whats all out there
I think perceptions such as good and evil are just human constructs. Nothing is inherently good or evil except that we label it so.
